Download and Install

  • Dependencies:
    Qt depends on C/C++. Meanwhile, Qt’s 3D interface depends on OpenGL lib. Therefore, gcc/g++ complier and OpenGL lib are required. Open a terminal and enter the following commands so that these dependencies will be installed.

    1
    2
    $ sudo apt-get install mesa-common-dev
    $ sudo apt-get install ligblul-mesa-dev -y

  • Download:
    Download the .run file in your required version.

  • Install:
    Go into the download folder, open a terminal and enter the following command.
    After that, a GUi Setup interface will be opened. Choose your expected path and just click next, Qt5 will be installed automatically.

    1
    2
    $ chmod +x qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.x.x.run
    $ ./qt-opensource-linux-x64-5.x.x.run

Configure Environment Path

Add Qt5 path to environment path so that we can use it to complie our projects.

  1. open ~/.bashrc in the terminal and add the following commands.
1
2
3
4
export QTDIR=/install/path/QT5/5.x.x/gcc64$QTDIR
export PATH=$QTDIR/bin:$PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$QTDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH
export PATH=/install/path/QT5/Tools/QtCreator/bin:$PATH
  1. Open qtcreater by terminal each time.

Configure ROS Workspace

  • Install qt-ros-plugin:
    Download link: Download the Xenial Offline Installer and execute it to open the GUI Setup interface.

  • Execute qt-ros-plugin:
    open a terminal and enter the following command.

    1
    $ qtcreator-ros

  • Create a ROS node with GUI

    • Create Workspace
      Open qtcreator-ros and click New Project


      Choose Workspace name and its path.



      Finally, we will get this file structure.

    • Create Package
      • Qt4
        Use qt_ros tool, go into the src folder and enter the following commands in terminal to install and create qt package.
        After execute these commands, a package will be created and its CMakelist.txt contains commands that use Qt4.
        1
        2
        $ sudo apt-get install ros-kinetic-qt-ros
        $ catkin_create_qt_pkg
      • Qt5
        • Use qt_ros tool to create package as Qt4, and then change its CMakelist.txt
        • Modify CMakelist.txt
          Change the CMakelist.txt contents as followed.
          1
          2
          3
          4
          5
          6
          7
          8
          9
          10
          11
          12
          13
          14
          15
          16
          17
          18
          19
          20
          21
          22
          23
          24
          25
          26
          27
          28
          29
          30
          31
          32
          33
          34
          35
          36
          37
          38
          39
          40
          41
          42
          43
          44
          45
          46
          47
          48
          49
          50
          51
          52
          53
          54
          55
          56
          57
          58
          59
          60
          61
          62
          63
          64
          65
          66
          67
          68
          69
          70
          71
          72
          73
          CMAKE_MINIMUM_REQUIRED(VERSION 2.8.11)
          PROJECT(test)

          SET(CMAKE_INCLUDE_CURRENT_DIR ON)

          ## Compile as C++11, supported in ROS Kinetic and newer
          add_compile_options(-std=c++11)

          ## Find catkin macros and libraries
          find_package(catkin REQUIRED COMPONENTS
          roscpp
          )

          ###################################
          ## catkin specific configuration ##
          ###################################
          catkin_package(
          #  INCLUDE_DIRS include
          #  LIBRARIES gacui
          #  CATKIN_DEPENDS roscpp message_runtime
          #  DEPENDS system_lib
          )

          ##############################################################################
          # Qt Environment
          ##############################################################################
          find_package(Qt5 REQUIRED COMPONENTS
              Widgets
              WebEngineWidgets
              )

          ##############################################################################
          # Sections and Resources
          ##############################################################################

          # Rename Path
          file(GLOB QT_FORMS RELATIVE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} ui/*.ui)
          file(GLOB QT_RESOURCES RELATIVE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} resources/*.qrc)
          file(GLOB_RECURSE QT_MOC RELATIVE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} FOLLOW_SYMLINKS include/gacui/*.h)

          QT5_ADD_RESOURCES(QT_RESOURCES_CPP ${QT_RESOURCES})
          QT5_WRAP_UI(QT_FORMS_HPP ${QT_FORMS})
          QT5_WRAP_CPP(QT_MOC_HPP ${QT_MOC})


          ##############################################################################
          # Sources
          ##############################################################################

          file(GLOB_RECURSE QT_SOURCES RELATIVE ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} FOLLOW_SYMLINKS src/*.cpp)

          ###########
          ## Build ##
          ###########

          ## Specify additional locations of header files
          INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES(
          # include
          ${catkin_INCLUDE_DIRS}
          )

          ## Add cmake target dependencies of the library
          # add_dependencies(${PROJECT_NAME} ${${PROJECT_NAME}_EXPORTED_TARGETS} ${catkin_EXPORTED_TARGETS})

          ## Declare a C++ executable
          ADD_EXECUTABLE(${PROJECT_NAME}_node ${QT_SOURCES} ${QT_RESOURCES_CPP} ${QT_FORMS_HPP} ${QT_MOC_HPP})
          ADD_DEPENDENCIES(${PROJECT_NAME}_node ${${PROJECT_NAME}_EXPORTED_TARGETS} ${catkin_EXPORTED_TARGETS})
          TARGET_LINK_LIBRARIES(${PROJECT_NAME}_node
          ${catkin_LIBRARIES}
          )

          qt5_use_modules(${PROJECT_NAME}_node Widgets WebEngine WebEngineWidgets)

    • Compile package
      Open a terminal in root folder of workspace and then execute the following command.
      1
      $ catkin_make

Install Qt on PX2 or TX2 Platform

Because PX2 or TX2 use different CPU framework(Arm64) from PC(i386), another install package is necessary to install on these platforms. levi-armstrong has provided a useful ppa repository for Ubuntu on Arm64 framework, so that we can use this repository to install Qt conveniently.

Use the following commands to install:

1
2
3
4
5
6
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:levi-armstrong/qt-libraries-xenial
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:levi-armstrong/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install qt59creator
# install qt-creator-plugin-ros(optional)
sudo apt-get install qt57creator-plugin-ros

After installing Qt by the previous commands, a folder named qt59 can be found at /opt/. In order to use it, it’s necessary to add this directory to ENV PATH.

1
2
export PATH=/opt/qt59/bin:$PATH
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/opt/qt59/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

References