by Jens Bache-Wiig and Marius Storm-Olsen

Qt is best known for its cross-platform capabilities. However there are many compelling reasons for using Qt even if you are currently only targeting the Windows platform.

Development

Qt is seamlessly integrated with Visual Studio, including things like form design, code completion, online documentation and new project templates. This means you can keep all your existing tools and habits while developing Qt based applications. Applications can be compiled into a single executable that works with all supported versions of Windows.



ActiveX technology is fully supported, meaning that your components can be seamlessly embedded into any existing .NET based applications. It also means that you can use native ActiveX components inside your Qt widgets.

Qt applications are pure native C++ applications, while also providing many of the concepts missing in the C++ standard. This includes class introspection as well as signals and slots (corresponding to C#'s "events and delegates"). But most important of all is that the API has been designed with a strong focus on readability and real world usage.

Customization

Qt widgets make full use of the windows theme engine, meaning that they look exactly like their Windows counterparts even on Windows Vista. In addition they can be infinitely customized by designing custom styles. In 4.2 we added an innovative new feature making it possible to do this without any programming involved. Widgets can now be redesigned using only a style sheet, a concept that is already familiar to designers through its widespread use on the web.



Qt applications can also make use of popular new technologies such as Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), enabling you to use smooth scaling graphics throughout your interface. Qt 4.2 also introduces the Graphics View, an advanced framework for developing interactive graphics applications.

By using OpenGL technology, advanced 3D graphics can be seamlessly integrated and blended with traditional widgets making it possible to create truly spectacular interfaces.

The future

We currently focus on introducing several exciting new Vista features into Qt. If you start developing your application today, you can be assured that it will run smoothly and look great on Vista when it becomes available.