Question on methodology: new project ahead, how to approach?

[gardiol]

I will not pass on QML, just for now.

What is the point in QML if i only need to target Symbian and MeeGo?

A simple mockup widget gui will do, also on desktop, for the time being. Before wasting long time on widgets, i will check again what are the best options anyway! I don't want to do hard work on QtQuick 1.0 just to throw it away! Anyway, QtQuick 1.0 is so much different from 2.0? Rewriting from 1.0 to 2.0 would it be hard or long?

[wysota]

I edited my previous post in the meantime, most of your doubts are answered there.

[gardiol]

Thanks!
ok, so now i am more confused than before...

Well, i guess QtQuick 2 is not a "superset" of QtQuick 1, so if i use QtQuick 1 it's going to work magicly on QtQuick 2 platforms... right? It's more like the Qt3 -> Qt4 migration, where "it worked, but soon had to be fixed" (maybe without the Qt3Support compatibility layer, in this case).

Ok, i will quickly fix a working stubb UI with widgets, just to get the core going, besides automated tests which do not need any UI. It should take very little time (like half day). Later on i will try to figure out how to implement some more complete UI prototypes using QtQuick 1 and do some real world testing on Symbian/MeeGo.

The widget stubb should work also for initial android integration, i guess.

Then a decision will have to be made: develop a QtQuick 2.0 port alongside the 1.0 or go Java UI. I agree, it's not easy or nice, but if properly planned even JNI can be smoothed out a bit...

To be honest, at the moment i have a port of the older release on Android using Necessitas. Ministro is a pain (99% of my android users complained about ministro and downloading Qt libs, they either do not understand what is going on OR plainly believe it's a malaware trying to take over the phone. And they are focused users who got the "beta" android release directly from my own private email! i shudder at releasing something like that on Google Play! it would be KILLED by bad reviews without even having started the application). So i would prefer going with embedded libs, but this means a huge download, and more drawbacks.

I don't know, yet, what is best. A native UI with a plain C++ core would be better for the users... worse for me of course.

[wysota]

Well, i guess QtQuick 2 is not a "superset" of QtQuick 1, so if i use QtQuick 1 it's going to work magicly on QtQuick 2 platforms... right?

If you change the import statements then 90% of things are going to work.

Then a decision will have to be made: develop a QtQuick 2.0 port alongside the 1.0 or go Java UI. I agree, it's not easy or nice, but if properly planned even JNI can be smoothed out a bit...

I think that if you have the full power of Qt to develop your "core" and then you constrain yourself (in your own free will) to give up all that power in favour of using Java UI then that's not a good project decision.

[gardiol]

Thanks for all the good info!

At the moment, i will keep working on the "core", that's where most of the effort will go anyway. the "presentation" layer must be independent and i will choose the best options when i get to it. In this way, also, the core will be much more independent too.

Anyway, i believe the path is still not clear.

Widgets are not good for mobile, not supported and not working properly.
QtQuick is fragmented (1.0 Symbian, 2.0 future, 90% easy to port, but i would still need to maintain two ports)

Probably i will make a Qtquick 1.0 UI for Symbian, then see if it's worthwhile to upgrade to 2.0 for Android or choose a Qt-less solution. This will depend on the state of Qt integration with Android in the next 6 months.

[wysota]

You have to be aware Symbian is more and more obsolete every day and hardware it is used on is not strong enough to support QtQuick 2. If you don't need QtQuick 2 features, you can still use QtQuick 1 with Qt5 -- it is deprecated but it is not going to vanish.

[gardiol]

I know Symbian is pratically obsolete. Still, what is the way forward?

I want to keep supporting Qt in all the means i can... so one QML UI will be developed... maybe Symbian will be ventually dropped... and maybe at the same time AndroidQt support will be good enough for my application...

We will see!

Again, thanks for all the support, at least i know it's too soon so head into QML until i have my "core" ready and a clearer way forward.

ps: Symbian might be obsoleted, but still my Nokia 5800XM gives me almost 12 hours of continous GPS tracking with one stock battery! My Galaxy SII with 2Ah battery does not reach 6 hours, so it's useless for my application target!