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How to Create Android Apps

You can use QtJambi to develop Qt-based applications for Android. Therefore, use Android Studio as IDE.

Start your software project with "No Activity" template. Specify your intended application name and package name. You can develop your application in Java or Kotlin. As minimum SDK version choose API 26 or higher. (If you need to support lower API versions you'll have exclude certain features).

The new project consists of several directories, most important manifests, java, and res.

Manifest

The next step is to adapt the AndroidManifest.xml specification to be found in manifests. Add the following activity to the <application> tag:

	<activity
		android:name="org.qtproject.qt.android.bindings.QtActivity"
		android:exported="true">
		<intent-filter>
			<action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
			<category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
		</intent-filter>
		<meta-data
			android:name="android.app.lib_name"
			android:value="QtJambi" />
	</activity>

(If you are using Qt5 the path is org.qtproject.qt5.android.bindings.QtActivity)

Resource Entries

Next step is to add several resources to the project that are needed by Qt library. Therefore, go to directory res/values and open the file strings.xml. Add the following entries to the <resources> tag:

    <array name="qt_libs">
        <item>armeabi-v7a;c++_shared</item>
        <item>arm64-v8a;c++_shared</item>
        <item>x86_64;c++_shared</item>
        <item>x86;c++_shared</item>
    </array>
    <array name="bundled_libs"></array>
    <array name="load_local_libs"></array>
    <string name="static_init_classes"></string>
    <string name="use_local_qt_libs">1</string>
    <string name="bundle_local_qt_libs">1</string>

Dependencies

A critical resource for QtJambi is available Qt library. Download Qt installer and install Qt binaries for Android. Android projects need Qt to be available as jar bundles. Therefore, follow the instructions here to create Qt bundles. Copy the required bundles to the app folder of your software project, e.g. for ABI arm64-v8a:

  • qt-lib-core-native-android-arm64-6.4.1.jar
  • qt-lib-core-native-android-common-6.4.1.jar
  • qt-lib-gui-native-android-arm64-6.4.1.jar
  • qt-lib-widgets-native-android-arm64-6.4.1.jar

Several libraries have a native-android-common component.

The next step is to add all required QtJambi libraries to the project. Therefore, open the file app/build.gradle. Add the following lines to the dependencies section (for ABI arm64-v8a):

    implementation 'io.qtjambi:qtjambi:6.4.2'
    implementation 'io.qtjambi:qtjambi-native-android-arm64:6.4.2'
    implementation files('qt-lib-core-native-android-arm64-6.4.1.jar',
                         'qt-lib-core-native-android-common-6.4.1.jar',
                         'qt-lib-gui-native-android-arm64-6.4.1.jar',
                         'qt-lib-widgets-native-android-arm64-6.4.1.jar')

Exchange android-arm64 by android-arm (armeabi-v7a), android-x86 (x86) or android-x64 (x86_64).

In case you add further qtjambi modules you might need to add the following code to the android section:

	packagingOptions{
        exclude 'META-INF/INDEX.LIST'
    }

Implementation

Now, your Android project's configuration is finished. The next step is to develop the application. QtJambi expects a start-up class in the application's top level package called Main. I.e. if your application package is com.myapp then create the Java class com.myapp.Main containing a static main method:

package com.myapp;

import io.qt.widgets.*;

public class Main{
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        QApplication.initialize(args);
        QMessageBox.information(null, "QtJambi", "Hello World!");
        QApplication.shutdown();
    }
}

Alternatively, if you decide to use Kotlin, create a Kotlin file called main in your application package:

package com.myapp

import io.qt.widgets.*

fun main(args : Array<String>){
    QApplication.initialize(args)
    QMessageBox.information(null, "QtTest", "Hello World!")
    QApplication.shutdown()
}

Read more about how to develop with QtJambi.