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Create a Simple HMI Plugin

This page shows how to create the simplest client plugin from scratch on Windows with Qt Creator.

Complete the Client plugin (Windows) steps in Environment Overview first.

Goal​

Plugin nameBuild output
MyPluginMyPlugin.dll

1. Create the project​

1. Open the New Project wizard​

Start Qt Creator and choose File → New Project....

Open New Project

2. Select the template​

Select Library on the left, then C++ Library, and click Choose... to continue.

Select the C++ Library template

3. Set the project location​

Set Name to MyPlugin. Choose Create in according to the actual requirement, then click Next.

Set project name and path

4. Select the build system​

Set Build system to qmake, then click Next.

Select qmake

5. Select the Qt module​

Change Qt module to Widgets and leave the remaining fields at their defaults, then click Next.

Select the Widgets module

6. Click Next​

Click Next

7. Select the kit​

Select the configured Desktop Qt 5.15.2 MSVC2019 64bit kit (or an equivalent MSVC 64-bit kit). Enable Debug and Release. Click Next.

Select the build kit

8. Click Finish​

Click Finish

2. Edit the project files​

The wizard project cannot be built as a client plugin until the .pro file, header, and source are replaced as follows.

Until the development package is copied, the editor may report that plugincommon.h cannot be found. That is expected; it is resolved after Step 3 and Run qmake.

1. Edit MyPlugin.pro​

Open MyPlugin.pro and replace its contents with:

QT += widgets
CONFIG += c++11 plugin no_plugin_name_prefix
TEMPLATE = lib

DEFINES += PLUGIN_NAME=\\\"MyPlugin\\\"
#Enable log module
DEFINES += LOG_MIN_FILE_LEVEL=XPLUGIN_LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG

INCLUDEPATH += $$PWD/include

LIBS += -L$$PWD/lib/windows -lxplugin
#Use this configuration on ARM
#LIBS += -L$$PWD/lib/aarch64 -l:xplugin.so

HEADERS += myplugin.h
SOURCES += myplugin.cpp

Edit the project file

tip

On teach-pendant Linux / ARM, comment out the Windows link line and enable the lib/aarch64 line.

2. Edit myplugin.h​

Open myplugin.h and replace its contents with:

#ifndef MYPLUGIN_H
#define MYPLUGIN_H

#include "plugincommon.h"
#include "interface/interfacemanager.h"

namespace xplugin {
class MyPlugin : public PluginBase {
    Q_OBJECT
public:
    explicit MyPlugin(QObject *parent = nullptr) : PluginBase(parent) {
        setPluginLabel(tr("My Plugin"));
    }
    void init() override;
};
}

#endif // MYPLUGIN_H

Edit the header

3. Edit myplugin.cpp​

Open myplugin.cpp and replace its contents with:

#include "myplugin.h"
#include <QWidget>

XPLUGIN_REGISTER(PLUGIN_NAME, MyPlugin)

void xplugin::MyPlugin::init() {
    auto *w = new QWidget;
    CreateCenterWidget(PLUGIN_NAME, w);
}

Edit the source file

Notes:

  • XPLUGIN_REGISTER(PLUGIN_NAME, MyPlugin) registers the plugin in the xplugin namespace, so MyPlugin must be defined in that namespace.
  • PLUGIN_NAME must match DEFINES += PLUGIN_NAME=... in the .pro file. When packaging, the name field in the configuration file and the plugin file name must also match; see Creating the Plugin Package.

3. Copy headers and libraries from the development package​

From the client plugin development package, copy the include and lib directories into the same folder as MyPlugin.pro (D:\MyPluginDemo\MyPlugin in this walkthrough).

The package folder name varies by version. The screenshot uses xCorePlugin_v1.0.2.7 as an example; use the package actually obtained.

include and lib in the development package

After copying, the project directory should contain both the source files and the development-package folders:

Copy into the project directory

4. Run qmake and build​

1. Run qmake​

Choose Build → Run qmake.

Run qmake

When the Compile Output pane reports that qmake / jom finished successfully, continue with the build. Red markers in the editor may remain briefly; that is expected.

qmake finished

2. Build the project​

Choose Build → Build Project "MyPlugin" (or press Ctrl+B).

Build the project

If the build succeeds, skip items 3 and 4 in this section and go to the output files.

3. Change the build directory (if the build fails)​

If the Issues pane shows a message similar to the following, the default shadow-build directory often cannot resolve Qt headers via relative paths:

dependent '...\Qt\5.15.2\msvc2019_64\include\QtCore\QHash' does not exist

Build failure example

Change the Debug and Release build directories to short paths next to the project, for example D:\MyPluginDemo\Debug and D:\MyPluginDemo\Release.

  1. Open Projects on the left and open Build Settings for the current kit.
  2. Set Active build configuration to Debug and change Build directory to D:\MyPluginDemo\Debug.

Open Build Settings

Select the Debug build directory

Debug build directory updated

  1. Switch Active build configuration to Release and change Build directory to D:\MyPluginDemo\Release.

Default Release build directory

Release build directory updated

4. Build again​

After changing the build directories, choose Build → Build Project "MyPlugin" again.

Build again

jom.exe finished successfully in Compile Output indicates a successful build.

Build succeeded

5. Locate the build output​

On Windows the output is MyPlugin.dll. After the build-directory change above, the Release binary is:

D:\MyPluginDemo\Release\release\MyPlugin.dll

Locate the build output

For Debug, the path is D:\MyPluginDemo\Debug\debug\. If the build directory was not changed, the file is in Qt Creator’s default shadow-build folder.

On teach-pendant Linux, the corresponding output is a shared library (.so).

6. Package and import​

A successful build produces only the plugin library; it cannot be imported into the HMI yet. Continue with:

  1. Creating the Plugin Package to write the configuration file and package the plugin.
  2. Installation and Usage to import and enable the plugin.
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