Trolltech has released a Version 4.4 of Qt. Key features added to the framework in Qt 4.4 include functionality that let developers create applications that blend content from the live Web into native desktop and mobile applications. Qt 4.4 also makes it easier to deliver a consistent user experience across Windows, Macintosh, and Linux systems, as well as on mobile devices.
As a tool for building cross-platform applications, QT provides a common framework to deliver applications and services across both desktops and devices. Qt 4.4 extends the reach of those applications so they can also be deployed on devices running Windows Embedded CE, which runs on a variety of devices-from smartphones and barcode readers to consumer products like set-top boxes and digital picture frames.
"With Qt 4.4 we advanced three of our key design goals; first, giving developers the ability to develop cutting edge user interfaces, second, enabling them to more efficiently develop faster, high performance applications, and finally extending our vision of Qt Everywhere by adding support for Windows CE," said Benoit Schillings, Trolltech CTO.
In addition to the integration of WebKit and Windows Embedded CE support, Qt 4.4 includes more than 100 new classes and incorporates a number of performance improvements. The new features in Qt 4.4 include:
- Qt WebKit Integration. Qt now incorporates WebKit, the open source browser engine inside Apple's Safari browser, the Apple iPhone and millions of Nokia smartphones. The integration lets developers blend web and native content and functionality, create innovative user interfaces, and deliver a consistent, web-enriched user experience.
- Qt for Windows CE. In addition to its existing embedded Linux support, Qt now also supports Windows CE, delivering a single API for both operating systems. This allows consumer electronics manufacturers to shorten time to market and lower costs by unifying skills, people and code. Code can be moved from desktop to desktop, desktop to embedded devices and from one embedded device to another.
- Multimedia framework. Qt now includes support for Phonon, a multimedia framework developed in conjunction with the KDE community. Phonon makes it easy to include multimedia playback in C++ applications so developers can easily integrate rich multimedia content into applications.
- Widgets in Graphics View. Qt now also adds the flexibility of embedding widgets into a scene, bringing layouts, styling, pop-ups and even window decorations into the canvas realm, and allowing the rotation, scaling, and application of perspective transformations to widgets.
- Concurrency Framework. Qt now includes an API that makes it easy to develop multithreaded applications and take advantage of multi-CPU systems.
- Enhanced XML support. Qt now incorporates support for the XQuery standard. This enables developers to query, extract and transform data from XML encoded content in Qt-based applications.
You can download and try Qt 4.4 here.
