@@ -1,6 +1,10 @@ +FrontPage/[Kexi Forms|Forms] +  !!KFormDesigner FAQ   -!Why don't we use Qt Designer? Why inventing the wheel a second time? +@@@ + +!Why don't we use [Qt Designer|http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt/designer.html]? Why inventing the wheel a second time?  As a short answer, I would say because Qt Designer is not good enough, at least at code level. Ever tried to read (and understand) its code?    First, KFormDesigner is the form plugin in Kexi, and we couldn't wait for Qt4 Designer to be released (not before 2005). And who knows when KDE 4.0 will be out?

@@ -21,3 +25,17 @@  KDevelop can't wait for Qt4 too. That's why they have their own Qt Designer fork (kdevdesigner) which integrates with KDevelop and that's why they are very interested in KFormDesigner progress. KFormDesigner integration with KDevelop will happen very soon (it's just the matter of implementing KInterfaceDesigner::Designer interface).    So KFormDesigner will soon be used in Kexi, KDevelop and Kommander, as a standard in KDE. + +!I like KFormDesigner - nice Qt Designer fork after all.. +One correction: KFD __is not a fork__ of Qt Designer. KFD is an fully original work with no code taken from Qt Designer. Thus, among other reasons, it was possible to release it under GNU Library General Public License (read: LGPL, not GPL). LGPL is a standard license for KDE components. + +!But I couldn't say bad word about Qt Designer - it works for me +You are most probably experienced user if not a developer, do you? I am developer and Qt Designer is great tool __for me__. KFormDesigner is also for "typical" user. Here are just examples of why you as __non-developer__ can be confused with QtDesigner (used as a component for creating simple forms): + +* Class names: "Q" prefix is not necessary unless you know you're developing with Qt Framework + +* Redundancy in widgets set: eg. QPushButton and KPushButton: why should you care about what to pick? KDE user will, undoubtely, pick a KPushButton, savvy KDE developer probably too + +* Menu/actions system: KDE has KXMLGUI framework, KActions, Human Interface Guidelines. Icons are most often provided by factories instead of embedding images inside .ui files. + +* Adding a code: KJSEmbed and Python are coming into standard KDE toolset. QtDesigner prefers C++ way of doing things ad presenting (and even QSA's Java Script is only for extending apps functionality).