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Exporting a Qt Design Studio project for C++ development

Before you export a Qt Design Studio project for Qt Creator, install the following:

To export a Qt Design Studio project for Qt Creator:

  1. Create or open a Qt Design Studio project with Qt Design Studio 4.5 or above.

    Note: If you are creating a new project in Qt Design Studio, select a Target Qt Version that is not higher than the Qt version used in your Qt Creator.

  2. Go to File > Export Project > Enable CMake Generator. This creates a CMakeLists.txt file in your project folder.

    Note: Enabling this option tracks the changes made to the project in Qt Design Studio and automatically updates in Qt Creator. The connection works unless you deactivate the option.

    {Exporting a Qt Design Studio project to CMake.}

Opening the Qt Design Studio project in Qt Creator

Open the CMakeLists.txt file in Qt Creator:

  1. In Qt Creator, select File > Open File or Project.
  2. From your project folder, select CMakeLists.txt. Then select Open.

    {Project folder after CMake generation.}

  3. Select the Qt version and then Configure Project.

    Note: If your Qt Design Studio project was created with a later Qt version than the one available in Qt Creator, the import doesn't work. Use Qt Online Installer to install the latest Qt version. If successfully opened, you see all files in the Projects view.

    {Qt Design Studio projects in Qt Creator after successful import.}

  4. To run the project, select the run dropdown from the top toolbar, and then select Live Preview.

Note: Qt Design Studio 4.4 and earlier versions have a project structure where different explicit import paths such as imports or asset_imports reference assets such as images or mesh files separately in their own scope. So, linking them from one module to another does not work in the generated CMake-based C++ application. Such cross-modular references are not considered good practice. Since Qt Design Studio 4.5, this issue has been solved. All the import assets are now bundled in the same folder, so the CMake generation works properly.

Available under certain Qt licenses.
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