What options are available for C++ GUI development with Ubuntu?

Question

I know about Qt as an C++ software development framework for front end applications and I am aware of Eclipse as an IDE for Java and C++, but I was wondering if anyone could provide recommendations of any other IDE that allows rapid GUI application development on Ubuntu. To date all of my Ubuntu side development has been command line based and so Makefiles and Eclipse have been sufficient. Now I need to write a GUI app to run on Ubuntu and would welcome any suggestions of a good tool to do so. Many thanks

Solution 1

If i use Qt i would use QtCreator instead. For GTKMM i would use emacs/gedit/anjuta or eclipse with pkg-config plugin. In my experience i found Gtkmm more close to STL and C++ in general, you can also use boost in some places. Qt is a more complete framework which provides things that are also available on boost and STL. Try both and see what you like better.

Solution 2

How about using Glade and C++: http://glade.gnome.org/

Gtk+ interface builder which spits out an XML definition that can be parsed in GTK+.

I haven't used it with C++, but it works well with python and GTK.

Comments

[hytromo]

Qt allows you very rapid gui development. You just place the buttons, go to the slot you want (e.g. clicked()) and write your code.... Couldn't be simpler...

[flower]

I think that you should consider some scripting oriented language combined with some high level framework, pyQT looks like a better solution for you, C++ and the word "simple" are not a good pair, C++ needs coding, bugfixes, compilation skills, and in general terms, needs time and skills, with something like pyQT you can assume that others will do the a big portion of your job for you.

[mathematician1975]

@user827992 Yes I know that there are other options, but I specifically need a C++ solution. I will be importing other library software which is where the bulk of the functionality resides. I just need the linux front end on top.

[mathematician1975]

@user827992 not yet. I thought I would ask here to see what software is actually available before committing to a particular IDE. Qt seems well regarded though that is clear from the replies and comments

[Jo-Erlend Schinstad]

Glade is very nice and it's interfaces works with many languages, but GTK and Qt are different toolkits.

[Ian B.]

I didn't interpret the question such that he was limited to Qt, only that he was aware of it. If he's going to develop on Ubuntu, why not go with Gtk?

[mathematician1975]

@IanB. Yes that is correct - I was looking for options other than Qt. Thanks for your answer.

[Jo-Erlend Schinstad]

In that case, I very much agree with Ian. GTK is very nice and Glade is a good tool for GUI construction.