We’ve explained some of the architectural elements of building your own firmware over-the-air (OTA) soution for IoT and embedded systems in a previous blog. But what about the hardware requirements? Or processes? Let’s explore issues that are essential to solve for a robust OTA solution. Maximizing flash longevity Modern devices rely on solid-state drives, which […]

Qt Test is a framework designed for unit testing applications and libraries built with Qt. It provides all the standard features commonly found in unit testing frameworks, making it easier to write unit tests for Qt-based projects. We're happy to introduce the QtTest Runner - a Visual Studio Code extension for running Qt Tests via […]

Since we first announced it last year, our Vulkan wrapper KDGpu has been busy evolving to meet customer needs and our own. Our last post announced the public release of v0.1.0, and version 0.5.0 is available today. It's never been easier to interact with modern graphics technologies, enabling you to focus on the big picture […]

KDDockWidgets has launched its latest version 2.1. This release comes packed with over 500 commits, offering enhanced stability over its predecessor, version 2.0, without introducing any breaking changes. KDDockWidgets is a versatile framework for custom-tailored docking systems in Qt written by KDAB’s Sérgio Martins. For more information about its rich set of features, have a […]

In the last post of this series we learned that: erasing elements from the middle of a vector can be implemented, in general, via a series of move assignments, move constructions, swaps, destructions for types with value semantics, the exact strategy does not really matter for types with write-through reference semantics, the strategy matters, because […]

In the last post of this series we started exploring how to erase an element from the middle of a vector. We discussed that in principle there are several different possible ways to implement erase().For instance, a vector could move-assign over the elements to be erased: Alternatively, a vector could use rotations or some other […]

I was tasked to come up with a simple architecture for remote real time instantiation of arbitrary QML components. I’ve split my findings into 3 blog entries, each one covering a slightly different topic. Part 1 focuses on the software design pattern used to dynamically instantiate components. Part 2 shows how to layout these dynamic […]

In the last post of this series we discussed the usage of trivial relocation in order to optimize move construction followed by the destruction of the source. To quickly recap: objects of certain datatypes ("trivially relocatable" types) can be moved in memory by simply moving bytes; this can be used to optimize certain bulk operations […]

The container classes introduced in Qt 4 (Tulip, for the aficionados) had an interesting optimization: the ability to turn certain operations on the contained objects into byte-level manipulations. Example: vector reallocation Consider the reallocation of a QVector<T>: when the vector is full and we want to insert a new value (of type T), the vector […]

Hotspot is a standalone GUI designed to provide a user-friendly interface for analyzing performance data. It takes a perf.data file, parses and evaluates its contents, and presents the results in a visually appealing and easily understandable manner. Our goal with Hotspot is to offer a modern alternative to perf report, making performance analysis on Linux […]

In the two previous posts (Part 1 and Part 2), we looked at how to build bindings between C++ and Rust from scratch. However, while building a binding generator from scratch is fun, it's not necessarily an efficient way to integrate Rust into your C++ project. Let's look at some existing technologies for mixing C++ […]

The importance of updating your product after it’s in the field cannot be overstated. Not only is it essential for customer satisfaction with feature updates and bug fixes, but also for addressing security vulnerabilities. In this post, we’ll look at some key considerations and methodologies for updating embedded systems. Selecting an update approach Choosing the […]

Recently I was tasked to come up with an architecture for remote real time instantiation and updating of arbitrary QML components. This entry shows how you can use a simple variation of the factory method pattern in QML for instantiating arbitrary components. I’ve split my findings into 3 blog entries, each one covering a slightly […]

With the Qt WebEngine module, Qt makes it possible to embed a webview component inside an otherwise native application. Under the hood, Qt WebEngine uses the Chromium browser engine, currently the de facto standard engine for such use cases. While the task of writing a brand new standard-compliant browser engine is infamous as being almost […]

Developing embedded software is notoriously difficult – how can we simplify the process? Fortunately, there are lots of techniques you can use daily to help streamline your development. Embracing Automation The specialized nature of embedded systems extends the ramp-up time for developers and necessitates a higher level of expertise. Automating hardware-specific tasks, such as deploying […]

Managing the timing and context of signals and slots in multithreaded applications, especially those with a GUI, can be a complex task. The concept of deferred connection evaluation offers a nice and easy API, allowing for controlled and efficient signal-slot connections. This approach is particularly useful when dealing with worker threads and GUI threads. A […]

In today’s pervasively digital landscape, building software for a single platform is a 1990s approach. Modern applications, even those designed for specific embedded targets, must be adaptable enough to run seamlessly across various platforms without sacrificing efficiency or reliability. This is often easier said than done. Here are some key points to consider when developing […]

If you work on C++ projects on Windows that need to be built with multiple Visual Studio C++ compiler versions, you need some way to manage the installations of all these build environments. Either you have multiple IDEs installed, or you know about build tools (https://aka.ms/vs/17/release/vs_BuildTools.exe) and maybe keep only the latest full VS IDE […]

KDAB’s newest open-source library is now publicly available: KDSPDSetup! KDSPDSetup is a small library written in modern C++ (≥ 20) that initializes objects from the spdlog library by reading a toml configuration file. This makes setting up loggers more convenient and results in cleaner-looking code. Let's take a look at an example to see how […]

The robustness of Linux is widely acknowledged, but it can't quite match the microsecond management of a real-time operating system (RTOS) for time critical situations such as CNC machine instructions, vehicular control, or health sensor collection. If your software must record, manage, or control events within a narrow and precise time window and you’re invested […]