path: root/doc/appicon.doc

/****************************************************************************
**
** Qt Application Icon Usage Documentation.
**
** Copyright (C) 1992-2008 Trolltech ASA.  All rights reserved.
**
** This file is part of the Qt GUI Toolkit.
** EDITIONS: FREE, PROFESSIONAL, ENTERPRISE
**
** This file is provided AS IS with NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THE
** WARRANTY OF DESIGN, MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
**
****************************************************************************/

/*!
\page appicon.html

\title Setting the Application Icon

The application icon, typically displayed in the top-left corner of an
application's top-level windows, is set by calling the
QWidget::setIcon() method on top-level widgets.

In order to change the icon of the executable application file
itself, as it is presented on the desktop (i.e. prior to application
execution), it is necessary to employ another, platform-dependent
technique.

\tableofcontents

\section1 Setting the Application Icon on Windows

First, create an ICO format bitmap file that contains the icon image. This
can be done with e.g. Microsoft Visual C++: Select "File|New...", then
select the "File" tab in the dialog that appears, and choose "Icon". (Note
that you do not need to load your application into Visual C++; here we are
only using the icon editor).

Store the ICO file in your application's source code directory, for
example, with the name, "myappico.ico". Then, create a text file
called e.g. "myapp.rc" in which you put a single line of text:
\code
IDI_ICON1               ICON    DISCARDABLE     "myappico.ico"
\endcode

Finally, assuming you are using \link qmake-manual.book qmake\endlink
to generate your makefiles, add this line to your "myapp.pro" file:

\code
RC_FILE = myapp.rc
\endcode

Regenerate your makefile and your application. The .exe file will now be
represented with your icon e.g. in Explorer.

If you do not use \link qmake-manual.book qmake\endlink, the necessary
steps are: first, run the "rc" program on the .rc file, then link your
application with the resulting .res file.

\section1 Setting the Application Icon on Mac OS X

The application icon, typically displayed in the application dock
area, is set by calling QWidget::setIcon() on a top-level widget. It
is possible that the program could appear in the application dock area
before the function call, in which case a default icon will appear
during the bouncing animation. 

To ensure that the correct icon appears, both when the application is
being launched, and in the Finder, it is necessary to employ a
platform-dependent technique.

Although many programs can create icon files (\c .icns), the recommended
approach is to use the \e{Icon Composer} program supplied by Apple (in the
Developer/Application folder). \e{Icon Composer} allows you to import several
different sized icons (for use in different contexts) as well as the masks
that go with them. Save the set of icons to a file in your project
directory.

If you are using \link qmake-manual.book qmake\endlink to generate
your make files, you only need to add a single line to your \c .pro
project file. For example, if the name of your icon file is
\c{myapp.icns}, and your project file is \c{myapp.pro}, add this line
to \c{myapp.pro}:
\code
RC_FILE = myapp.icns
\endcode
This will ensure that \link qmake-manual.book qmake\endlink puts your
icons in the proper place and creates an \c{Info.plist} entry for the
icon.

If you do not use \link qmake-manual.book qmake\endlink, you must do
the following manually:
\list 1
\i Create an Info.plist file for your application (using the
PropertyListEditor, found in Developer/Applications).
\i Associate your .icns record with the CFBundleIconFile record in the
Info.plist file (again, using the PropertyListEditor).
\i Copy both the icns and your Info.plist into your application bundle
Resource directory.
\endlist

\section1 Setting the Application Icon on common Linux desktops

In this section we briefly describe the issues involved in providing
icons for applications for two common Linux desktop environments:
\link http://www.kde.org/ KDE\endlink and \link http://www.gnome.org/
GNOME\endlink. The core technology used to describe application icons
is the same for both desktops, and may also apply to others, but there
are details which are specific to each. The main source of information
on the standards used by these Linux desktops is \link
http://www.freedesktop.org/ freedesktop.org\endlink. For information
on other Linux desktops please refer to the documentation for the
desktops you are interested in.

Often, users do not use executable files directly, but instead launch
applications by clicking icons on the desktop. These icons are
representations of `desktop entry files' that contain a description of
the application that includes information about its icon. Both desktop
environments are able to retrieve the information in these files, and
they use it to generate shortcuts to applications on the desktop, in
the start menu, and on the panel.

More information about desktop entry files can be found in the
\link http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/desktop-entry-spec
Desktop Entry Specification\endlink.

Although desktop entry files can usefully encapsulate the application's details,
we still need to store the icons in the conventional location for each desktop
environment. A number of locations for icons are given in the
\link http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/icon-theme-spec
Icon Theme Specification\endlink.

Although the path used to locate icons depends on the desktop in use,
and on its configuration, the directory structure beneath each of
these should follow the same pattern: subdirectories are arranged by
theme, icon size, and application type. Generally, application icons
are added to the hicolor theme, so a square application icon 32 pixels
in size would be stored in the \c hicolor/32x32/apps directory beneath
the icon path.

\section2 KDE

Application icons can be installed for use by all users, or on a per-user basis.
A user currently logged into their KDE desktop can discover these locations
by using \link http://developer.kde.org/documentation/other/kde-config.html
kde-config\endlink, for example,
by typing the following in a terminal window:

\code
kde-config --path icon
\endcode

Typically, the list of colon-separated paths printed to stdout includes the
user-specific icon path and the system-wide path. Beneath these
directories, it should be possible to locate and install icons according
to the conventions described in the
\link http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/icon-theme-spec
Icon Theme Specification \endlink.

If you are developing exclusively for KDE, you may wish to take
advantage of the \link
http://developer.kde.org/documentation/other/makefile_am_howto.html
KDE build system\endlink to configure your application. This ensures
that your icons are installed in the appropriate locations for KDE.

The KDE developer website is \l{http://developer.kde.org/}.

\section2 GNOME

Application icons are stored within a standard system-wide directory containing
architecture-independent files. This location can be determined by
using gnome-config, for example by typing the following in a terminal
window:

\code
gnome-config --datadir
\endcode

The path printed on stdout refers to a location that should contain a directory
called \c{pixmaps}; the directory structure within the \c pixmaps
directory is described in the \link
http://www.freedesktop.org/Standards/icon-theme-spec Icon Theme
Specification \endlink.

If you are developing exclusively for GNOME, you may wish to use
the standard set of \link
http://developer.gnome.org/tools/build.html GNU Build Tools\endlink,
also described in the relevant section of
the \link http://developer.gnome.org/doc/GGAD/ggad.html GTK+/Gnome
Application Development book\endlink. This ensures that your icons are
installed in the appropriate locations for GNOME.

The GNOME developer website is \l{http://developer.gnome.org/}.

*/