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Creating Custom Widget Plugins for the Integration

Creating a Plugin

First, create a new project by opening the new project dialog and selecting the Qt4 Designer Plugin project template. Then enter the project name and press OK. The following wizard lets you change the default file names and allows you to add additional Qt modules. To finally create the project click the Finish button.

When building the plugin, make sure to build it against the same Qt version as the version Qt Visual Studio integration uses internally. For example, if you are using the integration version 1.4.0, you have to use Qt 4.4.0; when using 1.4.1 you have to use Qt 4.4.1, and so forth. Also, the plugin has to be built in the 32bit release configuration. If there is a configuration or Qt version mismatch, a warning message will be shown at the beginning of the build process. In this case, the integration will not be able to load the plugin.

Deploying a plugin

Copy the plugin .dll into the plugins\designer directory of the Qt Visual Studio integration installation directory - usually located in C:\Program Files\Trolltech\Qt VS Integration. If the plugin depends on other libraries then those libraries also have to be copied to the plugins\designer directory.

Warning: Do not copy existing libraries in the .\bin directory of the integration. This will cause Visual Studio to crash.

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