We are happy to announce the release of Qt Creator 16!
Performance Improvements
Qt Creator 16 comes with many performance improvements, especially for the startup performance.
We improved the performance of the detection of the Qt ABI. Since Qt 6 we can retrieve the ABI from a configuration file instead of guessing it from the content of the libraries, which is now done asynchronously while collecting other information about the registered Qt versions.
On Windows hosts we reduced the time it takes for the first editor to open, by asynchronously loading the font cache already during startup.
For Python kits we already cached the information if `pip` and `venv` are usable with the corresponding Python installation. Now we asynchronously retrieve this ahead of time, so it is already available when we need it.
Editing
We removed the confusing "Mixed" indentation setting for the text and code editors and replaced it with a new option to auto-detect the indentation from the file content, which also is the new default behavior. The detected settings are shown in a new button in the editor toolbar, where you can also temporarily change them for the open document if the auto-detection went wrong. (Documentation)
For QML files we now add the value of the QML_IMPORT_PATH CMake variable to the imports passed to qmlls. Together with other fixes, this should make qmlls a viable option for most projects. However, qmlls still has known limitations, like that it does not work with the legacy imperative type registration. See also: Configure QML Language Server, Defining QML Types from C++, Modern QML modules, Port QML modules to CMake.
We added support for the Diagnostic.CodeDescription feature of the Language Server Protocol, and added the option to enable or disable language servers per project.
Projects
We have created a new settings category Preferences > SDKs to accomodate the Android, QNX, and MCU SDK preferences together with a new setting for the Windows App SDK there.
The Kits preferences are a bit more vertically compact now, because we moved some related settings to the same line. We also added an option for the run environment, additionally to the existing build environment. These are inherited by the build and run environments of all projects that use the kit. The build device type is now an explicit setting, instead of just inferred from the build device. This helps against accidentally switching to an incompatible device.
For CMake projects we simplified the project tree for directory hierarchies with empty intermediate directories, improved the performance when detecting changes of the CMake configuration outside of Qt Creator, and fixed issues with detecting the presence of the Ninja build tool.
Analyzers
Axivion Suite provides images for issues. The integration in Qt Creator now supports showing these in the issue details view.
The Coco integration can now actually configure CMake and qmake projects for code coverage instead of just being able to load and show an existing report. It adds a global preference page Preferences > Coco where you can set the directory where Coco is installed, if it wasn't detected automatically. Project-specific settings are used to specify CoverageScanner options. A new build step that enables the generation of the coverage report can then be added to a build configuration of the project. Find out more in the Documentation.
Version Control
The version control support in Qt Creator now detects if a file is under a supported version control even if the corresponding plugin is not enabled (for most version control systems). It then informs you that the plugin is available and gives you the option to enable it.
Platform Support
We fixed an issue on Windows FAT file systems, which lead to a lot of temporary files being created and only removed at Qt Creator shutdown.
Application output and C++ debugging is finally supported also on iOS devices with iOS 17 and later.
There have been many more fixes and improvements, please check our change log for more details!
Get Qt Creator 16
The new version is available under Qt Creator > Qt Creator 16.0.0 as an update in the Qt Online Installer (commercial, opensource). You also find commercially licensed offline installers on the Qt Account Portal, and opensource packages on our opensource download page. Qt Creator 16 is a free upgrade for commercial license holders.
Please post issues in our bug tracker. You can also find us on IRC on #qt-creator on irc.libera.chat, and on the Qt Creator mailing list.
You can read the Qt Creator Manual in Qt Creator in the Help mode or access it online in the Qt documentation portal.
