User Interface Compiler (uic)

This page documents the User Interface Compiler for the Qt GUI toolkit. The uic reads a user interface definition (.ui) file in XML as generated by Qt Designer and creates corresponding C++ header or source files. It can also generate an image file to embed raw image data in C++ source code.

Options

File Generation Options

Generate declaration:

uic  [options]  <file>

Generate implementation:

uic  [options] -impl <headerfile> <file>

<headerfile> - name of the declaration file

Generate image collection:

uic  [options] -embed <project> <image1> <image2> <image3> ...

<project> - project name
<image[0..n]> - image files

For convenience, uic can also generate declaration or implementation stubs for subclasses.

Generate subclass declaration:

uic  [options] -subdecl <classname> <headerfile> <file>

<classname> - name of the subclass to generate
<headerfile> - declaration file of the baseclass

Generate subclass implementation:

uic  [options] -subimpl <classname> <headerfile> <file>

<classname> - name of the subclass to generate
<headerfile> - declaration file of the subclass

General Options

-o file - write output to 'file' rather than to stdout.
-nofwd - omit forward declarations of custom classes in the generated header file. This is necessary if typedef classes are used.
-tr func - use func(sourceText, comment) rather than trUtf8(sourceText, comment) for internationalization.
-pch file - add #include "file" as the first statement in the implementation file.

Usage

uic is almost always invoked by make (1), rather than by hand.

Here are useful makefile rules if you only use GNU make:

    %.h: %.ui
        uic $< -o $@

    %.cpp: %.ui
        uic -impl $*.h $< -o $@

If you want to write portably, you can use individual rules of the following form:

    NAME.h: NAME.ui
        uic $< -o $@

    NAME.cpp: NAME.ui
        uic -impl $*.h $< -o $@

You must also remember to add NAME.cpp to your SOURCES (substitute your favorite name) variable and NAME.o to your OBJECTS variable.

(While we prefer to name our C++ source files .cpp, the uic doesn't care, so you can use .C, .cc, .CC, .cxx or even .c++ if you prefer.)

Trademarks

Qt 3.3.8