Qt 5 Presentation in Google Play

As you may know, one of the major new features in Qt 5.1 is the technology preview of Qt for Android, and we felt it was time to put a demonstration of what you can do with it in the Google Play marketplace.

So we took Gunnar's Qt 5 Demo and made some minor alterations to the content to emphasize the things we want to show in Qt 5 for Android. The result of this is now available in Google Play, so jump on over there on your phone or tablet and take a gander!

The demo is based on one of the daily pre-release snapshots of Qt 5.1. Download the official release of Qt here.

As mentioned, Qt 5 for Android is a technology preview in Qt 5.1, so, though it's already rather mature, we recommend to take some caution before deploying to end-users with the current version. However, Google Play also supports Beta and Alpha testing, so here's a simple step-by-step list for making your own Qt application and publishing it to Google Play. For more information, please refer to the documentation.

• Start by getting a package from the link above.
• Download the Android SDK and the Android NDK.
• In your SDK, make sure you download one of the Java APIs. Any API level from 10 and up will do.
• Launch Qt Creator and set the paths to the SDK and NDK you downloaded in your Android options.
• Now you can start developing. You can use a regular empty Qt Project as a starting point, or you could use one of the templates, such as Qt Quick 2 Application.
• In your project settings, pick an Android kit, e.g. the one for GCC 4.7 and ARMv7.
• You should already be able to hook up your Android device by USB and deploy your Qt application to it, granted that the device has been set up for USB debugging. Just connect it and click on the Run button in Qt Creator.
• When your application is ready to be published, make sure you pick Release instead of Debug in your Project's build settings.
• Next, go into the Run Settings of your project, open Package Configurations and edit your application's package name (its identifier in Google Play), its name, its icons, etc.
• Finally, open the Sign Package tab and set up the keystore you want to use for signing your application. When debugging, your package is signed with a special debug key, but you can't use this for deploying to Google Play. Make sure you check the Sign Package check box.
• Once that is done, simply deploy your application again. When it has been built and signed, Qt Creator will open the folder where the final package is located. You're looking for the file called Something-Something-signed.apk.
• Now you can go to the Google Play Developer Console, where you can upload the .apk file and screen shots, add a description of your application, and, finally, publish it in Google Play.

Hope you enjoy writing new apps and building existing ones for Android. We're looking forward to seeing what you can do with Qt for Android in the coming months and years.