So it looks like the QtWS 2019 videos are up on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmwAeS_ojPA "Qt 6 will bring massive improvements to QML and 3D development"
At time 53:40 Lars is asked a question about mobile, and answers "We will continue to support them. Was that the answer you were looking for? (giggles)" - Actually, no it is not. At 57:00 Lars takes another question about mobile, and responds with a hesitant "Um, yes..." and continues" We have a lot of ideas... want to make sure Qt is working nicely on mobile.. things have been moving quickly... have to catch up there". Actually the QA segment ended up being bookended by Mobile questions. Well I'm glad to hear Lars admit that there is catching up to do, but I take issue with the claim that things have been moving quickly. The majority of mobile features that I and others are requesting are not bleeding edge, it is basic things, like * NFC on iOS (Available iOS 11, September 19, 2017, 2+y) * Media keys (volume, play/pause, etc., Since before Qt 5.2) * Push Notifications (Since before Qt 5.2) * Display control (Since before Qt 5.2) * Battery Info (Since before Qt 5.2) * Vibration/haptics control (Since before Qt 5.2) * DeviceInfo (model, OS version, hardware enumeration, etc) * Biometric authentication * Datatype conversion (Java and ObjC to Qt types and back) Many of these are not that hard, the code is known and settled, I've posted code where I think it helps, but the issue is for every app I make, I have the friction of adding 8 of my own classes to every project... which is composed of bout 8 files, and the tome doctoring manifests and plists). The expense of these classes is over, but these classes that took me days to create and test in environments where I am not expert. I hack at native Objective C and Android, and those experiences are troubling. I don't mind for some really weird feature, but what is being asked for by me and the community is pretty basic stuff. Objective-C code examples are becoming rarer as Swift takes over. The experience of using Eclipse or XCode is another problem itself, as the Qt integration is less than ideal. (Even ignoring having to use 2 IDEs to code.) Mobile (in general) really hasn't advanced in any way that Qt needs to react to, there's a lot of new biometrics stuff, but really we only need a way to integrate for authentication. (Fingerprint, FaceID, etc) Also the only thing I know Android has changed lately is the permission requests, but Qt already has a helper for that. A lot of these needs are tracked at: https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-74049 which was opened 11 months ago, but there has not been *any* activity, at least visibly. However I have had several mobile support issues serviced and closed, but I also have a commercial support agreement. If you are interested in my current code (that I recently refactored to be more granular than a monolithic catch-all shim that I had before) I can see about getting it shared to Qt, at least as inspiration (I don't use D-ptrs and am not subject to binary compatibility constraints). I think the most complicated bit on anyone's list is the Push Notifications, as the two platforms have different message structures. So my question to Lars is: Lars, can we get a better (in terms of: better stated, more attention, schedule clarity) commitment to mobile in 2020? I think with not a lot of effort we could get everything of what we are asking for, and then we can get out of your hair. _______________________________________________ Interest mailing list Interest@qt-project.org https://lists.qt-project.org/listinfo/interest
