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diff --git a/doc/src/qt4-intro.qdoc b/doc/src/qt4-intro.qdoc index 5c2642e..3258586 100644 --- a/doc/src/qt4-intro.qdoc +++ b/doc/src/qt4-intro.qdoc @@ -78,6 +78,28 @@ The following features have been added to Qt since the first release of Qt 4: + In Qt 4.5: + \list + \o The WebKit browser engine included with Qt has been + upgraded to the latest upstream (trunk) version of WebKit, + bringing the latest features and improvements to Qt applications. + \o Qt for Mac OS X has been substantially rewritten to use + Apple's Cocoa API, enabling Qt applications to be deployed on + 64-bit Macintosh hardware. + \o The QtXmlPatterns module has been extended to cover XSLT, a + transformation language for XML documents. + \o Qt Script introduced its debugger, + providing error reporting for scripts, and to let users track down + bugs in their own scripts. + \o Qt 4.5 includes support for writing rich text documents as + OpenDocument files via the newly-introduced QTextDocumentWriter + class. + \o Qt Linguist can load and edit multiple translation + files simultaneously. + \o Support for ARGB top-level widgets (i.e., translucent + windows). + \endlist + In Qt 4.4: \list \o \l{QtWebkit Module}{Qt WebKit integration}, making it possible for developers @@ -87,8 +109,8 @@ \o \l{QtXmlPatterns Module}{XQuery and XPath} support, providing facilities for XML processing beyond that supported by the QtXml module. \o Support for embedded widgets in \l{Graphics View} scenes. - \o The \l{QtConcurrent} framework for concurrent programming using Qt paradigms and - threading features. + \o The \l{Threading and Concurrent Programming}{QtConcurrent framework} for + concurrent programming using Qt paradigms and threading features. \o An \l{QtHelp Module}{improved help system} that can be used in conjunction with Qt Assistant or as an independent help resource manager. \o Printing system improvements, including the QPrinterInfo, QPrintPreviewWidget @@ -435,6 +457,157 @@ */ /*! + \page qt4-6-intro.html + \title What's New in Qt 4.6 + + Qt 4.6 provides many improvements and enhancements over the + previous releases in the Qt 4 series. This document covers the + most important features in this release, separated by category. + + A comprehensive list of changes between Qt 4.5 and Qt 4.6 is + included in the \c changes-4.6.0 file + \l{http://qt.nokia.com/developer/changes/changes-4.6.0}{available + online}. A \l{Known Issues in %VERSION%}{list of known issues} + for this release is also available. + + Changes between this release and the previous release are provided + in the \c{changes-%VERSION%} file (also + \l{http://qt.nokia.com/developer/changes/changes-%VERSION%}{available online}). + + A list of other Qt 4 features can be found on the \bold{\l{What's + New in Qt 4}} page. + + \bold{Highlights} + + \tableofcontents + + \section1 Animation Framework + + The animation framework helps build highly animated, + high-performance GUIs without the hassle of managing complex + structures, timers, and easing curves, not to mention the large + state graphs that all animated GUIs tend to be full of. + + The framework makes it easy to animate \l{QObject}s, including + QWidgets, by allowing Qt properties to be animated. It also allows + creating custom animations and interpolation functions. Graphics + views are not left out--one can animate \l{QGraphicsWidget}s, + which inherits from QObject (and thereby enables properties). + + Animations are controlled using easing curves and can be grouped + together. This enables animations of arbitrary complexity. + + The API is easy to grasp with functions such as start(), stop(), + pause(), and currentTime(). Here is an image from one of the + examples that come with the framework: + + \image whatsnewanimatedtiles.png + + The animation framework also plugs into the new Qt Statemachine by + allowing an animation to be played when transitions are triggered. + The state machine framework is introduced in 4.6 and is described + below. + + \section1 State Machine Framework + + The state machine framework provides a robust state chart + implementation based on Harel statecharts and SCXML. Qt's API lets + you construct such state graphs and execute them. The key benefits + of a state machine are: + + \list + \o Simplify complex application semantics. + \o Use of states to reduce code bloat. + \o Use states to improve maintainability. + \o Makes event-driven programming robust and more + reusable. + \endlist + + It is especially the last item here that makes using a state + machine worthwhile. A key characteristic of event-driven systems + (such as Qt applications) is that behavior often depends not only + on the last or current event, but also the events that preceded + it. With statecharts, this information is easy to express. + + The framework fits neatly into Qt by allowing transitions to + trigger on signals and \l{QEvent}s. By inserting animations into + the state machine, it is also easier to use the framework for + animating GUIs, for instance. + + \section1 Multi-touch & Gestures + + The new multi-touch and gestures support enables user interaction + with more than one finger, and combines sequential touch inputs to + a 'gesture'. + + \image gestures.png + + The main benefits of this new functionality are: + + \list + \o Allow users to interact with applications in better ways. + \o Simplify finger-based interaction with UI components. + \o Allowing common basic gestures and multi-touch + gestures. + \o Enable extensibility. + \endlist + + \section1 DOM access API + + Web pages and XML both have very complex document object models. + The W3C selector API provides a very simple way to access and + manipulate such structures. This API makes it intuitive to access + DOM, helps reuse CSS selector knowledge, and gives little + maintenance or footprint overhead. + + \code + QWebElement document = frame->documentElement(); + QList<QWebElement> allSpans = document.findAll("span"); + QList<QWebElement> introSpans = document.findAll("p.intro span"); + \endcode + + \section1 Qt3D enablers + + As more of Qt, and more of the applications built on Qt go 3D, + API's should be provided to simplify this. Mainly, the new API + aims to make it more easy to create 3D applications with OpenGL. + It will also unify the Qt OpenGL codebase, and enable + cross-platform 3D codebase. + + The main features of the Qt3D enablers are currently: Math + primitives for matrix multiplication, vectors, quaternions + (client-side), and API for vertex and fragment shaders, GLSL/ES. + Future research will, among other things include stencils, +scissors, vertex buffers and arrays, texture manipulation, and + geometry shaders. + + \section1 Performance Optimizations + + As always, Qt continuously strive to optimize its performance. + For this release, we have: + + \list + \o Rewritten the QGraphicsView rendering algorithm. + \o Made QPixmapCache support efficient Key datastructure. + \o Reduced overhead in QNetworkAccessManager. + \o Added the QContiguousCache class, which provides efficient caching of + contiguous data. + \o Removed Win9x support. + \endlist + + \section1 Multimedia Audio Services + + Qt 4.6 comes with new classes for handling audio. These classes + provide low-level access to the system's audio system. By + specifying the audio format (QAudioFormat) and supplying audio + data through a QIODevice, you get direct access to the + functionality of the sound device. The API also comes with + functions to query audio devices for which audio formats they + support. + +*/ + +/* \page qt4-5-intro.html \title What's New in Qt 4.5 @@ -563,7 +736,7 @@ \section1 Improved Network Proxy Support Qt's networking classes have been updated with - \l{Network Programming#Support for Network Proxies}{improved proxy support}. + \l{QtNetwork Module#Support for Network Proxies}{improved proxy support}. This includes improved integration with system proxy settings and the added ability to handle non-trivial proxy cases. |