Develop Qt Online with Felgo Cloud IDE - Best Qt Creator Alternative

Control your app lifecycle with features like issue tracking, and rely on a cloud-based build environment for your releases. Prototype your demos online, showcase ideas, or handle customer requests on-the-go. This cloud-based development environment for Qt should not be missing in your toolbox.

A Developer’s Journey - Early Monday Business

As a software engineer, you can use different tools and programming languages that make your work easier. Grab a laptop, download an application development tool and get creative. Though it’s not that simple, actually.

There are many target platforms, development kits, languages, processor types, compilers, and technologies stacked on top of each other. All the related lower-level tools require installation, setup, and maintenance.

Felgo Cloud IDE 3.7.0

Imagine the following situation: On Friday, before leaving the office, you tried to update your SDK and build tools. Based on experience, you are hesitant when new versions get released. Incompatibilities or changed APIs often lead to unwanted side-effects. Something broke this time as well. You decide to take a fresh look on the next early Monday train...

... the phone rings! Your client reports an unexpected issue in last week’s app release. That’s bad news if you’re on a train, with a messed up local build environment.

So you give up? Definitely not! You calmly enter the browser, and open your project in the Cloud IDE.

After making some code changes with the web editor, you connect your mobile phone. This lets you instantly see changes and test your fixes. All looks good … so you commit the work and close the bug report.

The train soon arrives at your station. You quickly start a job to compile the app in the cloud. While you walk to the office, the cloud servers build the new version for you. You can send it out when you’re there. Then you can focus on fixing your local toolchain again.

Local Toolchain: Application Development with Qt Creator

Qt Creator offers the best experience for Qt application development and is most popular among the community.

logo_QC

It is a full-featured integrated development environment (IDE) that offers everything you need:

Code Editor with Auto-Completion
Qt Designer for UI Building
Offline Documentation
Debugging and Profiling
Build and Run Applications
Project Wizards and Templates
Develop on Windows, Linux, or macOS desktop
Create and deploy applications for Desktop, Mobile, and Embedded

The IDE configures and automates platform-specific tools and compilers depending on your selected Build Kit. It thus streamlines compilation and deployment to multiple target platforms from a single source.

But in the end, Qt Creator is not responsible for the actual build tools of a certain target platform. It simply operates them. You have to install, setup and maintain a compatible and working configuration yourself.

“Improving daily work is even more important than doing daily work.”
― Gene Kim

Qt Creator is the best Qt IDE and the recommended way to go for your daily development work. Still, having to depend on the availability and compatibility of local build tools can be a big pain point at times. A stable server environment removes friction between technologies and reduces individual maintenance work. So we brought Qt Creator to the web, with the Felgo Cloud IDE.

Felgo Cloud IDE: Develop Qt & QML in the Browser

A cloud solution eliminates the need for an own, functional development environment. This can save a lot of time and worries if you don’t have Qt Creator and local toolchains at hand.

Web IDE for Online Qt Development

The Felgo Cloud IDE is a web-based development environment for Qt and QML projects right within your browser. Access and edit your Qt projects from anywhere in the world, without installing anything on your computer.

The Cloud IDE allows to:

Create or import Qt and Felgo projects.
See project files and open the source code for web editing.
Modify code with syntax highlighting and auto-completion.
Preview your app in the browser. (with Felgo for WebAssembly)
Connect test devices using Felgo Live.
See the device log for debugging.
Browse the documentation like in Qt Creator.
Make changes and commit your work.

Felgo includes an app preview directly inside the Cloud IDE and supports hot reloading for QML while developing. Every time you change the code and press Ctrl+S (or Cmd+S for macOS users), you can view the result in realtime.

In addition to the Web Client, you can also connect mobile devices. To do so, install the Felgo Dev App on your phone. Then connect the app to the Cloud IDE to run your project. Each connected device sends the log output right back to your browser. Open one of the included app demo templates to try it out.

To learn more about using the Cloud IDE, see the documentation. The main benefits are:

Faster Onboarding: New Developers can start right away and contribute from the first day. No installation required.
Contribute Everywhere: There’s no need to have your work environment with you at all times. You can still make changes on-the-go.
Explore Features and Components: Browse examples and test the capabilities of components.
Develop Prototypes: Build a wireframe application within minutes or incorporate your own features to existing demos.
Try Ideas or Evaluate Bugs: The Cloud IDE is a perfect playground for your ideas. You can also evaluate issues and try different solutions.
Showcase your App: You can show a quick app preview in your meetings, no matter which notebook you are presenting on.

The Cloud IDE is another step towards friction-less app development, and a solution that should not miss in your Qt toolbox. To code with your local environment instead, just pull the latest changes on your system and start up Qt Creator.

To see it all in action, be sure to register for the live webinar on Wednesday, March 11:

Build and Deploy your Qt Application in the Cloud

The Cloud IDE brings you a full web editor with auto-completion, syntax highlighting and integrated documentation. You can test your changes with the Felgo Dev App on your device, or with the app preview in your browser.

If you want to compile, sign & package your application to deliver new releases, integrate the project with Felgo Cloud Builds. It can build your Qt project for all target platforms with the press of a button.

CloudBuildsGraphic - Felgo Cloud IDE

Felgo provides a centralized and stable build environment for every Qt target platform. This means that you, as a developer, do not need the toolchains for every platform on your machine. Problems resulting from different systems and tooling environments no longer affect your release. Every build is created with the same system configuration, Qt version and dependencies.

You can also trigger macOS or iOS builds from Windows, where it’s not possible to install required tools for those systems. Cloud Builds compiles and signs your app for all selected platforms at the same time. Once the job finishes on the server, you can download the runnable application package.

cloud-builds-desktop-build

For mobile platforms, you also have the option to set up automatic deployment to app store testing tracks. New versions then directly appear in the app dashboard of your Google Play Store or Apple App Store account. You can later publish the app for testing or move it to production.

GitLab Lifecycle Management & DevOps for Qt

Apart from an IDE, a developer also requires collaborative tools for project planning, bug reporting, source code management and more. Felgo is an official GitLab Technology Partner and the Cloud IDE extends GitLab with custom integrations for web-based Qt development.

GitLab is a popular, web-based lifecycle tool for software development and IT operations (DevOps). It offers many useful features, like a built-in Git-repository manager, issue tracking, code review, and more:

Complete DevOps Platform: Bring the development and operations teams into a single app. Deliver your software within minutes, while reducing cost and risk at the same time.
Project Management and Code Review: There is a single source of truth for every change, and anything relevant gets linked automatically. Get full control over collaborative development and new releases.
Shorter Delivery Cycles: It takes less time to go from an idea to having the change live. You can adjust to changing needs faster, and provide the best value for your customers.

The Felgo Cloud IDE is based on GitLab and extends it with IDE capabilities for Qt development. This means that you get all GitLab lifecycle management features along with the Cloud IDE as well. It provides you with a unique GitLab instance made for Qt and Felgo projects.

Use the Cloud IDE to host and manage your Git project, collaborate with your team, track issues, and develop online whenever needed. What are you waiting for?