KDDockWidgets 2.1 Released Stability, Fixes, and Enhancements

24.05.2024 Sebastian Springer No comments

KDDockWidgets has launched its latest version 2.1. This release comes packed with over 500 commits, offering enhanced stability over its predecessor, version 2.0, without introducing any breaking changes.

KDDockWidgets is a versatile framework for custom-tailored docking systems in Qt written by KDAB’s Sérgio Martins. For more information about its rich set of features, have a look at its GitHub repository.

What’s changed in version 2.1?

Here are the main highlights:

Bug Fixes:

For starters, KDDW 2.1 introduces a range of bug fixes aimed at enhancing stability and user experience. Less popular features like nested main-windows and auto-hide received lots of attention and window manager specific bugs such as restoring maximized windows were addressed.

KDDW is now memory-leak free, several singletons were leaking before. We’ve added a valgrind GitHub Actions workflow to prevent regressions regarding leaks.

QtQuick:

KDDW 2.1 also introduces improvements in QtQuick. New features include an API for setting affinities via QML, enabling mixing MDI with docking similar to QtWidgets, and fixing DPI issues of icons in TitleBar.qml for better scaling at 150% and 200%. Additionally, it resolves issues such as MDI widgets not raising when clicked on and various crashes related to MDI mode.

QtWidgets:

For QtWidgets, we’ve improved handling of the preferredSize argument when adding dock widgets. It was being ignored in some cases. Overriding DockWidget::closeEvent() can now be done to prevent closing. Several crashes were fixed and we’ve added a GitHub Actions workflow which runs the tests against a Qt built with AddressSanitizer.

These enhancements improve the functionality and stability of KDDW 2.1 across different Qt environments.

Miscellaneous:

KDDW 2.1 brings miscellaneous updates, including an upgrade to nlohmann json v3.11.3, the addition of a standalone layouting example using the UI toolkit Slint, and extensive testing on CI. Additionally, Config::setLayoutSpacing(int) has been added for increased customization.

Learn about all the changes here. Let us know what you think.

More information about KDDockWidgets

• • A manual on installation and usage written by KDAB’s Sérgio Martins.
  • Find out more about KDAB’s Qt tools.
  • A YouTube video about KDDockWidgets: