Let’s start this week with a new set of resources that will help you through the road of learning Qt and Qt Quick.

QML Elements

In the “Qt Quick Elements, Part 1” video, Nigel Hietala guides you through the first steps of using QML elements, introducing some basic concepts as Border Images and Behaviors by using Qt Creator.

Offline Storage API

A new article on Forum Nokia Wiki shows how the JavaScript openDatabaseSync() function from the Offline Storage API can be used to access local storage through a SQL database. This API can be easily used in your QML applications to save settings, user’s data and all other information that should be persisted through different usages of your app.

By using the code snippet illustrated in this article, you’ll be able to access local storage with just few code lines:

// Initialize the database
Storage.initialize();
// Sets a value in the database
Storage.setSetting("mySetting","myValue");
// Sets the textDisplay element's text to the value we just set
textDisplay.text = "The value of mySetting is:\n" +
      Storage.getSetting("mySetting");

Check out the full article: How-to create a persistent settings database in Qt Quick (QML).

Notifications API

I’d also like to re-propose a webinar that introduces the Notifications API, a technology that allows you to easily add a complete notifications mechanism to your Qt apps, via a lightweight and customizable approach.

The Notifications API makes it easy to add real-time push notifications to your client applications running on Nokia devices. As shown in the diagram below, applications access the Nokia-hosted Notification Server through two separate interfaces that you integrate in your applications:

• The Service API provides access to the Notification Server through an HTTP REST interface. Your service uses this interface to send notifications.
• The Client API allows applications on the device to register and receive notifications from the Notification Server. The Client API is available for Qt on Symbian devices. QML support will also be available in the near future.

You can view the full webinar recording here.

Happy coding!

Today I’d like to continue the series of useful Qt Quick resources, by proposing an interesting presentation by Juha Ristolainen, aka Riussi, who does an excellent job of introducing you to the main concepts of this technology.

The topics covered by this presentation include:

• Elements
• Images
• Gradients
• Layouts
• Animations
• Data Models
• User Inputs

Enjoy the presentation!

The Quick Competition 2011 is running, and it’s the right time to get started with Qt Quick development (and get some great reward!)

So, here is a series of resources that will definitely help to do the first steps with this technology.

Developing UIs with Qt 4.7 and Qt Quick

In this webinar, the presenters show how to use Qt 4.7 and Qt Quick to develop killer UIs for Symbian devices such as the Nokia N8 mobile computer. Three different recordings are available:

• Portuguese recording
• Spanish recording
• EMEA recording
  

Open Source projects Forum Nokia Projects

Forum Nokia Projects hosts various projects based on Qt Quick that will definitely help you to get acquainted with some Quick techniques. Some examples are:

• DJ Turntable: a Qt Quick application that allows the user to scratch audio with the turntable and play predefined background beats, or create their own beats with the drum machine. The purpose of the application is to demonstrate the integration of Qt Quick and the Qt Mobility audio interface.
• Touch’n'learn: a collection of finger friendly learning games for your Qt enabled [mobile] touch device. So far, there are counting, reading and clock reading lessons.

Forum Nokia Wiki – Qt Quick articles

Forum Nokia Wiki is the best place to find technical articles that cover mobile development for all Nokia platforms, and the Qt Quick category is rapidly populating with new and rich articles, as these:

• Using Flickable to implement a view change animation
• Implementing orientation change animation with QML

Let’s start!

Forum Nokia just launched a new competition for all Qt Quick developers!

Here is the official announcement:

The Qt SDK 1.1 Tech Preview is now available, and comes with cool new features like Design for visually creating QML UIs, and seamless deployment support for both Symbian and Maemo. To encourage you to play with it, we’re having a “Quick Competition” – you have roughly 6 weeks to either:

• create an amazing app in Forum Nokia Projects that will catch the eye and please the “inner nerd”, or
• write a great Qt Quick article, tutorial or guide (with code) on the Wiki

If you’re a Qt developer, this is a great chance to win a brand new Nokia E7. And, if you’re not familiar with Qt Quick, here a good place to start!