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https://github.com/KDAB/cxx-qt

Safe interop between Rust and Qt
https://github.com/KDAB/cxx-qt

qt qt5 qt6 rust

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Safe interop between Rust and Qt

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# CXX-Qt



[![Github](https://img.shields.io/badge/github-kdab%2Fcxx--qt-informational?logo=github)](https://github.com/kdab/cxx-qt)

[![Book status](https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/kdab/cxx-qt/book.yml?label=book&logo=mdbook)](https://kdab.github.io/cxx-qt/book)

![GitHub Workflow Status](https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/kdab/cxx-qt/github-cxx-qt-tests.yml)

![License (MIT/Apache2.0)](https://img.shields.io/crates/l/cxx-qt)

[![REUSE status](https://api.reuse.software/badge/github.com/KDAB/cxx-qt)](https://api.reuse.software/info/github.com/KDAB/cxx-qt)

[![Contributor Covenant](https://img.shields.io/badge/Contributor%20Covenant-2.1-4baaaa.svg)](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md)



| Crate | Status |

| --- | --- |

| cxx-qt | [![docs.rs](https://img.shields.io/docsrs/cxx-qt?logo=docsdotrs)](https://docs.rs/cxx-qt) [![Crates.io](https://img.shields.io/crates/v/cxx-qt)](https://crates.io/crates/cxx-qt) |

| cxx-qt-build | [![docs.rs](https://img.shields.io/docsrs/cxx-qt-build?logo=docsdotrs)](https://docs.rs/cxx-qt-build) [![Crates.io](https://img.shields.io/crates/v/cxx-qt-build)](https://crates.io/crates/cxx-qt-build) |

| cxx-qt-lib | [![docs.rs](https://img.shields.io/docsrs/cxx-qt-lib?logo=docsdotrs)](https://docs.rs/cxx-qt-lib) [![Crates.io](https://img.shields.io/crates/v/cxx-qt-lib)](https://crates.io/crates/cxx-qt-lib) |

| qt-build-utils | [![docs.rs](https://img.shields.io/docsrs/qt-build-utils?logo=docsdotrs)](https://docs.rs/qt-build-utils) [![Crates.io](https://img.shields.io/crates/v/qt-build-utils)](https://crates.io/crates/qt-build-utils) |



If you want to get in touch with us, feel free to join our Zulip Chat at:

[https://cxx-qt.zulipchat.com](https://cxx-qt.zulipchat.com).

There we openly discuss all things about CXX-Qt development.



CXX-Qt is a set of Rust crates for creating bidirectional Rust ⇄ C++ bindings with [Qt](https://www.qt.io/).

It can be used to integrate Rust into C++ applications using CMake or used to build Rust applications with Cargo.

CXX-Qt provides tools for implementing [QObject](https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/object.html) subclasses in Rust which can

be used from C++, QML, and JavaScript. It consists of two parts:



* cxx-qt-lib, a library of Rust bindings to common QtCore and QtGui classes made with [CXX](https://cxx.rs/)



* cxx-qt & cxx-qt-build, a pair of Rust & C++ code generators which are a superset of CXX plus additional attributes

to interface with Qt's [signals & slots](https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/signalsandslots.html) and [property system](https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/properties.html).

The cxx-qt crate implements a macro for Rust code generation. cxx-qt-build is used in [Cargo build scripts](https://doc.rust-lang.org/cargo/reference/build-scripts.html)

to generate and compile the corresponding C++ code.



The [CXX-Qt Book](https://kdab.github.io/cxx-qt/book/getting-started/index.html) walks through a minimal example

step-by-step and documents CXX-Qt's features for the latest release. The [examples folder](./examples) contains

demonstrations of using threading, QQmlExtensionPlugin, and various other features.



CXX-Qt is tested on CI on Linux, Windows, and macOS (all on x86_64). It should work on other platforms that Qt and

Rust both support, however, these are not tested regularly.



CXX-Qt is in early development and the API changes frequently. For the latest documentation between releases, [install mdBook](https://rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/guide/installation.html)

and run `mdbook serve --open` in the [book folder](./book). It will open your own browser.

If you need to open it in another browser goto url [http://localhost:3000](http://localhost:3000).



## Comparison to other Rust Qt bindings



| Project | Integrate into C++ codebase  | Safe Rust | QML | QWidgets | Maintained1 | Binding mechanism |

|-------- | ---------------------------- | --------- | --- | -------- | ---------------------- | ----------------- |

| CXX-Qt  |  ✔                           | ✔         | ✔ | limited2 | ✔       | [cxx](https://cxx.rs) plus additional code generation to implement QObject subclasses in Rust and bind them to C++ |

| [qmetaobject](https://github.com/woboq/qmetaobject-rs/) | ✗ | ✔ | ✔ | ✗ | ✔ | [cpp](https://github.com/mystor/rust-cpp) macro to write C++ inline in Rust, plus Rust macros to create QObject subclasses from Rust structs |

| [Rust Qt Binding Generator](https://invent.kde.org/sdk/rust-qt-binding-generator) | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | limited2 | ✗ | generates Rust traits and C++ bindings from JSON description of QObject subclass |

| [rust-qt](https://rust-qt.github.io/) | ✗ | ✗ | ✔ | ✔ | ✗ | [ritual](https://rust-qt.github.io/ritual/) to generate unsafe Rust bindings from C++ headers |

| [qml-rust](https://github.com/White-Oak/qml-rust) | ✗ | ✔ | ✔ | ✗ | ✗ | [DOtherSide](https://github.com/filcuc/DOtherSide) C wrapper for QML C++ classes |

| [qmlrs](https://github.com/flanfly/qmlrs) | ✗ | ✔ | ✔ | ✗ | ✗ | own C++ library to bind QQmlApplicationEngine |

| [qmlrsng](https://github.com/nbigaouette/qmlrsng) | ✗ | ✔ | ✔ | ✗ | ✗ | [libqmlbind](https://github.com/seanchas116/libqmlbind) with [bindgen](https://rust-lang.github.io/rust-bindgen/) |

| [rust-qml](https://github.com/florianjacob/rust-qml) | ✗ | ✔ | ✔ | ✗ | ✗ | [libqmlbind](https://github.com/seanchas116/libqmlbind) |



1: maintained: supports Qt6 and repository has had nontrivial commits within last year as of August 2022



2: CXX-Qt and Rust Qt Binding Generator can be used to implement custom QObjects subclasses in Rust. C++

bindings for these QObject subclasses can be used in QWidgets applications, but these projects do not provide Rust

bindings for QWidgets APIs.



## Contributing to CXX-Qt



### Clone the Git repository



This repository contains symbolic links, which requires some setup on Windows 10 before cloning the repository.

First, [enable Windows Developer Mode](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/gaming/game-bar/guide/developer-mode)

to avoid needing administrator privileges to create symlinks. Then, enable symlinks in Git:



```shell

git config --global core.symlinks true

```



Now clone the Git repository:



```shell

git clone https://github.com/KDAB/cxx-qt.git

```



### Building



Ensure that you have the following installed



* C++ compiler

* [clang-format](https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ClangFormat.html)

* [CMake](https://cmake.org/)

* [Qt 5 and/or Qt 6](https://www.qt.io/)

* [Rust toolchain](https://www.rust-lang.org/)

* [mold](https://github.com/rui314/mold), [lld](https://lld.llvm.org/), or GNU ld.gold for Linux (lld is included in the XCode toolchain on macOS)



This repository's build system uses CMake, which calls Cargo under the hood to build all the

examples and tests. One example can be built and run with Cargo directly without using CMake:

`cargo run -p qml-minimal-no-cmake` (this example is also built in the CMake build). This

example does not link with GNU ld.bfd which is the default linker on most Linux distributions;

installing [mold](https://github.com/rui314/mold), [lld](https://lld.llvm.org/), or GNU ld.gold

(from GNU binutils but may be separate package) is required on Linux.



On Windows and macOS vcpkg can be used by adding `-D VCPKG=ON` to the CMake configure step to

automatically download release mode packages from GitHub Packages (this will take several minutes the first time you run CMake).

Note that debug symbols are not built in these packages.



CXX-Qt defaults to building with Qt6. If you want to build with Qt5 when both are installed,

or you want to tell vcpkg to use Qt5, add `-D USE_QT5=ON` to the CMake configure step.



```bash

cmake -S . -B build

cmake --build build

```



### Run the basic QML example



```bash

./build/examples/qml_minimal/example_qml_minimal

```



### Testing



Testing assumes that `cargo clippy` and `cargo fmt` are available, you may need to install these with `rustup component add clippy rustfmt`.



For testing the book, it assumes that [`mdbook`](https://rust-lang.github.io/mdBook/guide/installation.html) and [`mdbook-linkcheck`](https://github.com/Michael-F-Bryan/mdbook-linkcheck) are installed.



For license and memory testing, it assumes that you have [`reuse`](https://reuse.software/) installed (eg via `pip3 install reuse`) and [`valgrind`](https://valgrind.org/).



```bash

ctest --test-dir build

```



## Licensing



CXX-Qt is Copyright (C) Klarälvdalens Datakonsult AB, and is available under

the terms of the [MIT](https://github.com/KDAB/cxx-qt/blob/main/LICENSES/MIT.txt)

or the [Apache-2.0](https://github.com/KDAB/cxx-qt/blob/main/LICENSES/Apache-2.0.txt)

licenses.



Contact KDAB at  to inquire about additional features or

services related to this project.



The following CMake source files are available under the BSD-3-Clause



* [cmake/CompilerCaching.cmake](./cmake/CompilerCaching.cmake) - a helper for using sccache



# About KDAB



CXX-Qt is supported and maintained by Klarälvdalens Datakonsult AB (KDAB).



The KDAB Group is the global No.1 software consultancy for Qt, C++ and

OpenGL applications across desktop, embedded and mobile platforms.



The KDAB Group provides consulting and mentoring for developing Qt applications

from scratch and in porting from all popular and legacy frameworks to Qt.

We continue to help develop parts of Qt and are one of the major contributors

to the Qt Project. We can give advanced or standard trainings anywhere

around the globe on Qt as well as C++, OpenGL, 3D and more.



Please visit  to meet the people who write code like this.