A simple live coding environment for QML

Standalone use:

dqml file.qml

Will track the directory where file.qml is located and continuously update the view depending on changes in the filesystem when qmlfiles and images there are changed.

To add more directories to be tracked, specify them with --track [path]:

dqml --track qml --track images --track . file.qml

Remote use:

On the host machine, run:

dqml --monitor address port

Will track changes in the current directory and push them to the server. If the server is disconnected or not yet ready, it will keep trying to reconnect to the specified address.

Then on the server, run:

dqml --server port file.qml

To add more directories to track, specify them with --track [id] [path]. The [id] is used to identify a directory between monitor and server. Say that your application is located in /home/me/myapp on the host machine and is deployed to /usr/shared/myapp on the target machine and you are interested in exposing the subdirectories 'qml' and 'images' the commands would be as follows:

On the host machine:

dqml --monitor address port --track qmlfiles /home/me/myapp/qml --trace /home/me/myapp/images

On the target machine:

dqml --server port --track qmlfiles /usr/share/myapp/qml --track /usr/share/myapp/images

Limitations:

• Both the server and monitor operate on files, so QML files and images inside qrc cannot be updated and worked on.

• The reevaulation of code in the server is 'dumb'. It clears the QQmlEngne's component cache and reloads all files. The toplevel QML object is destroyed. This means that any JS/QML state the application has built up by the time the reevaluation happens, will be lost. C++ state should be fine, assuming the C++ code can handle the JS/QML being recreated.