qml.qdoc

Go to the documentation of this file.

// Copyright (C) 2025 The Qt Company Ltd.
// SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Qt-Commercial OR GFDL-1.3-no-invariants-only
 
/*!
    \page qtquick-qml-runtime.html
    \title Prototyping with the QML Runtime Tool
    \target qml_runtime_tool
    \ingroup qtqml-tools
    \ingroup qttools
 
    \brief Utility to test and load QML files
    Qt includes the \c qml executable, a utility that loads and displays QML
    documents.
 
    The \c qml utility is meant mainly for testing your QML applications and
    components. To launch a QML application in a production environment, often
    you need to develop a custom C++ application, or bundle the QML file in a
    module. See \l {Deploying QML applications} for more information.
 
    \c qml can instantiate any QML type you provide, as is, even if there is
    nothing to display. To display QML content with the root object other than
    \l Window, \c qml wraps this content in a \l Window.
 
    Therefore, when moving from a prototype developed with \c qml to
    a C++ application, you need to either make sure the root element is a
    \l Window, or create a \l QQuickView in C++ to hold the root \l Item.
    But in the meantime, you can load and test parts of your prototype
    separately with the \c qml tool.
 
    To load a .qml file, provide the file path on the command prompt:
 
    \code
    $ qml myqmlfile.qml
    \endcode
 
    To see the configuration options, run \c qml with the \c --help argument.
 
    When the root object in the QML file that you are loading is an Item
    rather than a Window, it needs to be wrapped in a \l Window to be shown.
    While this work is pending, the top-level object that is already loaded
    is represented by a \c PartialScene object.  The \c qml tool then loads
    additional QML files to decide what to do next: one is a configuration
    file that specifies in what sort of container to wrap the \c PartialScene.
    The \c PartialScene.container property gives a URL pointing to QML source
    code for the container component, which normally should declare a \l Window
    in which to wrap the \l Item that was loaded first. Thus, the process of
    wrapping an Item into a Window is programmable; and by default, these
    two additional QML files are loaded from resources inside the qml
    executable.  You can list the available configurations with the
    \c --list-conf command:
 
    \code
    $ qml --list-conf
    Built-in configurations:
      default
      resizeToItem
    \endcode
 
    The \c default configuration provides default behavior: the root Item will
    be resized to fill the wrapper Window at startup, and also when the user
    resizes the window. The alternative \c resizeToItem configuration works the
    other way around: the Item can programmatically set its own size (for
    example by creating bindings to its own \c width and \c height properties),
    and the wrapper Window will be resized to fit (subject to any limits
    that may be imposed by the window system).  You can choose either of
    these using the \c -c or \c --config option:
 
    \code
    $ qml -c resizeToItem selfResizingItem.qml
    \endcode
 
    Additional configurations can be added by creating configuration
    directories in \l QStandardPaths::AppConfigLocation, each with two QML
    files inside: a configuration file named \c configuration.qml, and a QML
    file that declares the Item wrapper, which can have any name. If this has
    been done, the \c {qml --list-conf} command will also list those extra
    configurations, while the \c --verbose option will expand those to give the
    complete paths to those configurations, and the additional locations that
    were searched:
 
    \code
    $ qml --list-conf --verbose
    Built-in configurations:
      default
      resizeToItem
    Other configurations:
      /home/myuser/.config/QtProject/Qml Runtime/simplest
    Checked in:
      /home/myuser/.config/QtProject/Qml Runtime
      /etc/xdg/QtProject/Qml Runtime
    \endcode
 
    Here is an example \c configuration.qml file:
 
    \qml
    import QmlRuntime.Config
 
    Configuration {
        PartialScene {
            itemType: "QQuickItem"
            container: Qt.resolvedUrl("ItemWrapper.qml")
        }
    }
    \endqml
 
    And here is the simplest-possible \c ItemWrapper.qml that the \c container
    property could point to:
 
    \qml
    import QtQuick
 
    Window {
        required property Item containedObject: null
        onContainedObjectChanged: {
            if (containedObject == undefined || containedObject == null) {
                visible = false;
            } else {
                containedObject.parent = contentItem;
                visible = true;
            }
        }
    }
    \endqml
 
    When these files have been created, you can use the \c {qml -c} option
    giving the name of the directory containing the \c configuration.qml file,
    which specifies the path to the container object:
 
    \code
    $ qml -c simplest mycomponent.qml
    \endcode
 
    The \c qml runtime will directly set the \c containedObject property, which
    is required to have that name; and when it is set, the \l Item will be
    reparented to the \l Window and shown. Since this Window is declared in
    QML, when you write your own wrapper window, you are free to add whatever
    additional features you would like: to handle resizing in a customized
    way, or to add capabilities that you may find useful during prototyping.
 
    Regardless of what was found in \c AppConfigLocation, you can alternatively
    use the \c {qml -c} option giving the complete path to the
    \c configuration.qml file, and it can in turn specify the complete path to
    the container object; so these files can be located anywhere.
 
    In addition to the features that can be declared in the configuration files,
    the \c qml tool also provides a few more features via command-line options.
    Use the \c --help option to get an up-to-date list.
*/