Issue
138 January 2002
EXPLORING QNX
NEUTRINO
by
Duane Mattern
Start
• Installation
• Tools • Hareware
• Examples •
What's Missing?•
What You Get
•
Sources & PDF
TOOLS
You
won’t be able to use the C compiler until you install
it from the package. Follow the options under the package
manager for straightforward directions. You can connect
to the software repository on the QNX web site or on the
QNX CD, as illustrated in Photo 5. The packages include
Korean, Japanese, as well as Chinese langu-age supplements.
QNX RTP supports C and C++ with the GCC-2.95. There is
a qcc command, however, qcc is a front-end to GCC.
|
(Click
here to enlarge)
|
Photo
5—From the shelf, you can also run the Package
Manager. The Package Manager allows you to install
additional programs and applications from the QNX
web site or, as shown, from the CD-ROM. This step
has to be performed before a C compiler is available.
What you see here is a QNX CD from January. |
The
purpose of qcc is to provide an abstraction layer to mask
the differences between various compilers (GNU GCC, Watcom,
and Metrowerks). There is also cc front-end, which is
used to mask the differences between available compilers.
This front-end also invokes the appropriate compiler (C
or C++) based on file extensions and currently it invokes
GCC/G++.
For
project code management, the make, CVS, and RCS utilities
are part of this QNX distribution. If you prefer to do
cross development, there is a cross-compiler version of
the GCC compiler that will allow development on Windows
for a Neutrino target. But, I haven’t used it, because
self-hosting make more sense on x86 platforms.
Besides
compilers, let’s see what else you get. In the lower left-hand
corner of Photo 3a, there is a Launch button that is similar
to the Start button in Windows. This button brings up
a number of submenus. The default submenus are shown in
Table 1.
| Table
1—These QNX applications are available from
the shelf in the Photon GUI. |
Snapshot
(from the Utilities window) is the screen/window capture
utility I used to capture images for this article. Under
the Development menu, there is an option for PhAB, which
is the Photon Application Builder shown in Photo 6. This
is a neat utility that is similar to Visual Basic, except
that it is C-based. PhAB allows you to drag-and-drop various
controls to a desktop application.
|
(Click here to enlarge)
|
Photo
6 —One of the applications available from the
shelf is the Photon Application Builder, (PhAB). This
is an IDE for programming the Photon GUI. I works
similar to Visual Basic by generating C code stubs.
You can see scroll bars, push buttons, check boxes,
a calendar, and more. |
You
have to complete the code stubs provided by PhAppBuilder.
In my experience, it works reasonably well, but there
are caveats. Make sure you read the documentation before
starting a project, because certain restrictions are imposed
to prevent PhAB from wiping out your work. Also, not all
of the controls are fully functional. I was never able
to get horizontal charting control (PtTrend) to function
properly.
As
with any package, it takes a while to learn the nuances
before becoming proficient, but PhAB is a quick way to
get up to speed on developing applications for the Photon
GUI. Also, if you get serious about QNX, there is a wealth
of third-party tools. Check the QNX web site for purchasing
information.
