dist/changes-3.3.0-b1
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     1 Qt 3.3 introduces many new features as well as many improvements over
       
     2 the 3.2.x series. For more details, see the online documentation which
       
     3 is included in this distribution. The documentation is also available
       
     4 at http://qt.nokia.com/doc/
       
     5 
       
     6 The Qt version 3.3 series is binary compatible with the 3.2.x series.
       
     7 Applications compiled for 3.2 will continue to run with 3.3.
       
     8 
       
     9 ****************************************************************************
       
    10 *			    General					   *
       
    11 ****************************************************************************
       
    12 
       
    13 Qt library
       
    14 ----------
       
    15 
       
    16 Qt 3.3 is .NET enabled. This release shows how to use classes
       
    17 developed with Qt in a .NET environment. It includes an analysis of
       
    18 the different interoperability infrastructures provided by the .NET
       
    19 framework. An example demonstrates how to use both a manual approach
       
    20 with Microsoft's managed extensions to the C++ language, and also
       
    21 automated solutions based on COM and the ActiveQt framework to reuse
       
    22 native Qt classes and widgets in .NET projects. To learn more about Qt
       
    23 and .NET read the "Using Qt objects in Microsoft .NET" walkthrough
       
    24 found in the ActiveQt framework documentation.
       
    25 
       
    26 Qt 3.3 now supports IPv6 in addition to IPv4. New functions have been
       
    27 added for IPv6 support to QSocketDevice, QHostAddress and QDNns.
       
    28 
       
    29 Qt now includes a new tool class called QLocale. This class converts
       
    30 between numbers and their string representations in various languages.
       
    31 QLocale supports the concept of a default locale which allows a locale
       
    32 to be set globally for the entire application.
       
    33 
       
    34 Support for new 64bit platforms and compilers has been added for Qt
       
    35 3.3.  Qt now supports Itanium on both Linux (Intel) and Windows
       
    36 (VC++). Qt 3.3 now also officially supports FreeBSD.
       
    37 
       
    38 Qt 3.3 also supports precompiled headers for both Windows and Mac OS
       
    39 X. To use precompiled headers when compiling your Qt application
       
    40 simply add PRECOMPH and then specify the header file to precompile in
       
    41 your .pro file. To learn more about precompiled headers see the
       
    42 "Using Precompiled Headers" chapter in the qmake User Guide.
       
    43 
       
    44 Two new database drivers have been added to the SQL module, InterBase
       
    45 and SQLite. This makes it possible to write database applications that
       
    46 do not require a database server. SQLite is provided in the Qt 3.3
       
    47 distribution and can be enabled with either -qt-sql-sqlite or
       
    48 -plugin-sql-sqlite. The InterBase plugin also works with Firebird, the
       
    49 open source version of InterBase.
       
    50 
       
    51 QWidget has a new function setWindowState() which is used to make a
       
    52 widget maximized, minimized, etc. This allows individual settings for
       
    53 the minimized/maximized/fullscreen properties.
       
    54 
       
    55 Support for semi-transparent top-level widgets on Mac OS X and Windows
       
    56 2000/XP has also been added.
       
    57 
       
    58 Qt 3.3 includes in addition to this, numerous bug fixes and
       
    59 improvements. Special thanks goes to KDE for their reports and
       
    60 suggestions.
       
    61 
       
    62 
       
    63 Qt/Embedded
       
    64 -----------
       
    65 
       
    66 Added support for SNAP graphics drivers from SciTech Software. This
       
    67 gives access to accelerated drivers for more than 150 graphics
       
    68 chipsets.
       
    69 
       
    70 
       
    71 Qt/Mac
       
    72 ------
       
    73 
       
    74 Added support for Xcode project files in qmake.
       
    75 Added Tablet support for Mac OS X.
       
    76 Numerous visual improvements.
       
    77 
       
    78 
       
    79 Qt/X11
       
    80 ------
       
    81 
       
    82 Added support for Xft2 client side fonts on X servers without the
       
    83 RENDER extension.
       
    84 
       
    85 Added a new configure option (-dlopen-opengl) which will remove the
       
    86 OpenGL and Xmu library dependencies in the Qt library. The functions
       
    87 used by Qt in those libraries are resolved manually using dlopen()
       
    88 when this option is used.
       
    89 
       
    90 Improved support for the Extended Window Manager Hints.
       
    91 
       
    92 
       
    93 Qt/Windows
       
    94 ----------
       
    95 
       
    96 Added support for Windows Server 2003 (Win64/Itanium).
       
    97 
       
    98 
       
    99 Qt Motif Extension
       
   100 ------------------
       
   101 
       
   102 Clipboard operations now work between Qt and Motif widgets in the same
       
   103 application. Click-to-focus works with Motif widgets that are children
       
   104 of a QMotifWidget.
       
   105 
       
   106 
       
   107 ActiveQt Extension
       
   108 ------------------
       
   109 
       
   110 Two new functions, QAxFactory::startServer() and
       
   111 QAxFactory::stopServer(), can be used to start and stop an
       
   112 out-of-process ActiveQt server at runtime. The new functions
       
   113 QAxFactory::serverDirPath() and QAxFactory::serverFilePath() return
       
   114 the location of the COM server binary. Server binaries no longer
       
   115 need to implement a main() entry point function. A default
       
   116 implementation is used for out-of-process servers. IClassFactory2
       
   117 is supported for the development of licensed components, and
       
   118 QAxFactory supports the creation of non-visual COM objects. Class
       
   119 specific information can be provided directly in the C++ class
       
   120 declaration using the Q_CLASSINFO macro to control how objects and
       
   121 controls are registered and exposed. New helper classes and macros
       
   122 are avialable to make it even easier to expose object classes (see the
       
   123 QAxServer documentation for details).
       
   124 
       
   125 COM objects developed with ActiveQt are now supported in a wider range
       
   126 of clients, including Microsoft Office applications and .NET. Examples
       
   127 that demonstrate how to use the Qt objects from the examples in .NET
       
   128 languages like C# are included. QStringList is supported as a type,
       
   129 and QRect, QSize and QPoint are now supported datatypes for control
       
   130 properties and as reference parameters. Saving the controls to a
       
   131 storage or stream now includes the version number of the QDataStream
       
   132 used for the serialization (note that this might break existing
       
   133 storages).
       
   134 
       
   135 The QAxContainer library is now static even for shared configurations
       
   136 of Qt. This simplifies deployment and allows using both QAxServer and
       
   137 QAxContainer in one project, i.e. an OLE automatable application that
       
   138 uses COM objects itself. The semantics of QAxBase::setControl() have
       
   139 been extended to allow creating of COM objects on remote machines via
       
   140 DCOM, to create controls requiring a license key and to connect to
       
   141 already running objects. The implementation of QAxBase::dynamicCall()
       
   142 has been improved to support passing of parameter values directly in
       
   143 the function string. Three new classes, QAxScript, QAxScriptManager
       
   144 and QAxScriptEngine, can be used to script COM objects from within Qt
       
   145 applications using Windows Script Host.
       
   146 
       
   147 SAFEARRAY(BSTR) parameters are supported as QStringList. Calling COM
       
   148 object methods with out-parameters of type short is now supported (the
       
   149 parameters are of type int& in the Qt wrapper), and QVariants used for
       
   150 out-parameters don't have to be initialized to the expected type.
       
   151 Calling QByteArray functions in out-of-process controls no longer
       
   152 returns an error code. The control's client side is set to zero when
       
   153 the container releases the control.
       
   154 
       
   155 
       
   156 Qt Designer
       
   157 -----------
       
   158 
       
   159 Qt Designer, Qt's visual GUI builder, has received some speed
       
   160 optimizations, along with minor improvements to the menu editor.
       
   161 
       
   162 
       
   163 Qt Assistant
       
   164 ------------
       
   165 
       
   166 Qt Assistant now saves the states of the tab bars between runs. This
       
   167 enables users to start browsing where they ended their previous
       
   168 assistant session.
       
   169 
       
   170 Shortcuts for Find Next (F3) and Find Previous (Shift+F3) have been
       
   171 implemented.
       
   172 
       
   173 
       
   174 Compilers
       
   175 ---------
       
   176 
       
   177 Qt 3.3 adds support for two new compilers. The Intel C++ compiler is
       
   178 supported on Linux and FreeBSD. GNU gcc is supported on Windows using
       
   179 MinGW.
       
   180 
       
   181 Qt 3.3 no longer officially supports the Sun CC 5.0 compiler or the
       
   182 IRIX MIPSpro o32 mode.
       
   183 
       
   184 
       
   185 ****************************************************************************
       
   186 *			   Library					   *
       
   187 ****************************************************************************
       
   188 
       
   189 - QAction
       
   190 	Added a setDisabled() slot similar to QWidget::setDisabled.
       
   191 	Added an activate() slot which activates the action and
       
   192 	executes all connected slots.
       
   193 	Added showStatusMessage() and whatsThisClicked() signals.
       
   194 
       
   195 - QButtonGroup
       
   196 	Added QButtonGroup::selectedId property to allow mapping with
       
   197 	SQL property sets.
       
   198 
       
   199 - QCursor
       
   200 	Added new enum value Qt::BusyCursor.
       
   201 
       
   202 - QDom
       
   203 	The QDom classes are now reentrant.
       
   204 
       
   205 - QEvent
       
   206 	Added new event type WindowStateChange, obsoleting ShowNormal,
       
   207 	ShowMinimized, ShowMaximized and ShowFullScreen.
       
   208 
       
   209 - QHeader
       
   210 	The sizeChange() signal is emitted when the section sizes are
       
   211 	adjusted by double clicking.
       
   212 
       
   213 - QHostAddress
       
   214 	Added new constructor for IPv6 and new functions
       
   215 	isIPv6Address() and toIPv6Address(). Obsoleted the functions
       
   216 	isIp4Addr() and ip4Addr(), replacing them with isIPv4Address()
       
   217 	and toIPv4Address().
       
   218 
       
   219 - QListView
       
   220 	Improved alignment for text in QListViewItems. Right aligned
       
   221 	text now has the ellipsis on the left.
       
   222 	Keyboard search now uses the sort column as the column to
       
   223 	start searching in.
       
   224 	Improved branch drawing.
       
   225 
       
   226 - QLocale [new]
       
   227 	This new tool class converts between numbers and their string
       
   228 	representations in various languages.
       
   229 
       
   230 - QMacStyle
       
   231 	Allow disabling of size constraints.
       
   232 
       
   233 - QMovie
       
   234 	Added JNG support.
       
   235 
       
   236 - QPixmap
       
   237 	Support full alpha-maps for paletted (8-bit) images.
       
   238 	Support 16-bit grayscale PNG images with transparency.
       
   239 
       
   240 - QSocketDevice
       
   241 	Added setProtocol() and protocol() for IPv6 support.
       
   242 
       
   243 - QSound
       
   244 	Windows: Support loop related APIs.
       
   245 
       
   246 - QSplashScreen
       
   247 	Less intrusive stay-on-top policy.
       
   248 
       
   249 - QSql
       
   250 	Support for InterBase and SQLite.
       
   251 
       
   252 - QStatusBar
       
   253 	Draw messages with the foreground() color of the palette,
       
   254 	rather than with the text() color.
       
   255 
       
   256 - QString
       
   257 	Added support for %lc and %ls to sprintf(). %lc takes a
       
   258 	Unicode character of type ushort, %ls takes a zero-terminated
       
   259 	array of Unicode characters of type ushort (i.e. const
       
   260 	ushort*). Also added support for precision (e.g. "%.5s").
       
   261 	Changed arg() to support "%L1" for localized conversions.
       
   262 
       
   263 - QStyle
       
   264 	Add a new primitive element: PE_RubberBand.
       
   265 
       
   266 - QTextEdit
       
   267 	Reduced memory consumption by 20 bytes per line.
       
   268 	Added a getter for the currently set QSyntaxHighlighter.
       
   269 
       
   270 - QVariant
       
   271 	Comparison between variants where one of the variants is a
       
   272 	numeric value will compare on the numeric value. Type casting
       
   273 	between different variants is more consistent.
       
   274 
       
   275 - QWidget
       
   276 	Added setWindowOpacity() and windowOpacity() to support
       
   277 	transparent top-level widgets on Windows and Mac.
       
   278 	Added windowState() and setWindowState() to allow individual
       
   279 	setting of the minimized/maximized/fullscreen properties.
       
   280 
       
   281 - QWindowsStyle
       
   282 	Qt supports toggling of the accelerator underlines using the
       
   283 	Alt-key on Windows 98, 2000 and later. On other platforms this
       
   284 	change has no effect.