Qt5 | uic.exe | msys2 | ui_* will not generate

[VikingOfValhalla]

Synopsis of issue:

• after processing 1) qmake 2) make, no ui_mainwindow.h file is being generated:

make[1]: Entering directory '/c/Developer/GitHub/cpp_bug_tracker'
g++ -c -fno-keep-inline-dllexport -march=x86-64 -mtune=generic -Wa,-mbig-obj -O2 -Wall -Wextra -Wextra -fexceptions -mthreads -DUNICODE -D_UNICODE -DWIN32 -DMINGW_HAS_SECURE_API=1 -DQT_NO_DEBUG -DQT_WIDGETS_LIB -DQT_GUI_LIB -DQT_CORE_LIB -DQT_NEEDS_QMAIN -I. -I..\..\cpp\msys64\mingw64\include\QtWidgets -I..\..\cpp\msys64\mingw64\include\QtGui -I..\..\cpp\msys64\mingw64\include\QtCore -Irelease -I/include -I..\..\cpp\msys64\mingw64\share\qt5\mkspecs\win32-g++  -o release\mainwindow.o mainwindow.cpp
mainwindow.cpp:3:10: fatal error: ui_mainwindow.h: No such file or directory
   3 | #include "ui_mainwindow.h"
     |          ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.

• File Structure:

├── Makefile
├── Makefile.Debug
├── Makefile.Release
├── README.md
├── bug_tracker_diagram.drawio
├── current_design_status.png
├── debug
├── main.cpp
├── main.pro
├── mainwindow.cpp
├── mainwindow.h
└── release
    └── main.o

• mainwindow.h:

#ifndef MAINWINDOW_H
#define MAINWINDOW_H

#include <QMainWindow>
#include <QPushButton>
#include <QAbstractTableModel>



namespace Ui {
  class MainWindow;
}


class TestModel : public QAbstractTableModel
{
    Q_OBJECT

public:
    TestModel(QObject *parent = 0);

    void populateData(const QList<QString> &contactName,const QList<QString> &contactPhone);

    int rowCount(const QModelIndex &parent = QModelIndex()) const Q_DECL_OVERRIDE;
    int columnCount(const QModelIndex &parent = QModelIndex()) const Q_DECL_OVERRIDE;

    QVariant data(const QModelIndex &index, int role = Qt::DisplayRole) const Q_DECL_OVERRIDE;
    QVariant headerData(int section, Qt::Orientation orientation, int role = Qt::DisplayRole) const Q_DECL_OVERRIDE;

private:
    QList<QString> tm_contact_name;
    QList<QString> tm_contact_phone;

};



class MainWindow : public QMainWindow
{
    Q_OBJECT
    public:
        explicit MainWindow(QWidget *parent = nullptr);
        ~MainWindow();
    private slots:
        void handleButton();
    private:
        QPushButton *m_button_1;
        QPushButton *m_button_2;
        QPushButton *m_button_3;
        QPushButton *m_button_4;

        Ui::MainWindow *ui;
};
#endif // MAINWINDOW_H

• main.pro

TEMPLATE = app
TARGET = cpp_bug_tracker
QT += core gui widgets
SOURCES += main.cpp mainwindow.cpp
HEADERS += mainwindow.h
FORM += mainwindow.ui

• mainwindow.cpp (only the important parts):

#include "mainwindow.h"
#include "ui_mainwindow.h"


MainWindow::MainWindow(QWidget *parent) :
                    QMainWindow(parent), ui(new Ui::MainWindow)
{
    ui->setupUi(this);


    // Create button_1, make "this" the parent
    m_button_1 = new QPushButton("Submit Ticket", this);
    m_button_1->setGeometry(QRect(QPoint(20, 20), QSize(200, 50))); // size & loc
    connect(m_button_1, &QPushButton::released, this, &MainWindow::handleButton); // connect to slot

    // Create button_2, make "this" the parent
    m_button_2 = new QPushButton("Delete Ticket", this); // create button
    m_button_2->setGeometry(QRect(QPoint(20, 70), QSize(200, 50))); // size & loc
    connect(m_button_2, &QPushButton::released, this, &MainWindow::handleButton); // connect to slot

    // Create button_2, make "this" the parent
    m_button_3 = new QPushButton("Update Ticket", this); // create button
    m_button_3->setGeometry(QRect(QPoint(20, 120), QSize(200, 50))); // size & loc
    connect(m_button_3, &QPushButton::released, this, &MainWindow::handleButton); // connect to slot

    // Create button_2, make "this" the parent
    m_button_4 = new QPushButton("Assign Ticket", this); // create button
    m_button_4->setGeometry(QRect(QPoint(20, 170), QSize(200, 50))); // size & loc
    connect(m_button_4, &QPushButton::released, this, &MainWindow::handleButton); // connect to slot


    // lists
    QList<QString> contactNames;
    QList<QString> contactPhoneNums;;

    // Data
    contactNames.append("Rob");
    contactNames.append("Bob");
    contactNames.append("Tom");
    contactPhoneNums.append("32132321");
    contactPhoneNums.append("32155644");
    contactPhoneNums.append("13245648");

    // Create model:
    TestModel *PhoneBookModel = new TestModel(this);

    // Populate model with data:
    PhoneBookModel->populateData(contactNames,contactPhoneNums);

    // Connect model to table view:
    ui->tableView->setModel(PhoneBookModel);

    // Make table header visible and display table:
    ui->tableView->horizontalHeader()->setVisible(true);
    ui->tableView->show();

}

Development Environment:

• C++
• Library was downloaded through msys2 with:
  • pacman -S mingw-w64-x86_64-qt5 (Version: 5.15.3-1)
• uic.exe exists within msys64\mingw64\bin directory.
• Compiling through qmake & make.

Does anyone have any idea why ui_mainwindow.h is not being generated?

I've reviewed the qt5 docs:

• https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/uic.html : If you use qmake, uic will be invoked automatically for header files.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
-Tom

[SGaist]

Hi and welcome to devnet,

It's FORMS. You have it wrong (at least in what you posted).

[JonB]

@VikingOfValhalla

• I don't see any mainwindow.ui file anywhere in the hierarchy you show.
• FORM += mainwindow.ui I have no idea, maybe it shoudl be FORMS, or something else plural like for SOURCES/HEADERS??

[VikingOfValhalla]

Hi @SGaist , and thank you for the warm welcome!

I adjusted to FORMS, I didn't notice that before so thank you for that. I was tinkering with it for quite a while before posting this so it's entirely possible on the last adjustment of my .pro file I made a typo.

However, after adjusting FORMS it does seem to output a different error:

C:\Developer\GitHub\cpp_bug_tracker>qmake
WARNING: Failure to find: mainwindow.ui
WARNING: Failure to find: mainwindow.ui

C:\Developer\GitHub\cpp_bug_tracker>C:\Developer\cpp\msys64\usr\bin\make.exe
/usr/bin/make -f Makefile.Release
make[1]: Entering directory '/c/Developer/GitHub/cpp_bug_tracker'
make[1]: *** No rule to make target 'mainwindow.ui', needed by 'ui_mainwindow.h'.  Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory '/c/Developer/GitHub/cpp_bug_tracker'
make: *** [Makefile:45: release] Error 2

[Christian Ehrlicher]

@VikingOfValhalla said in Qt5 | uic.exe | msys2 | ui_* will not generate:

WARNING: Failure to find: mainwindow.ui

As you can see there is no 'mainwindow.ui' in your source directory.

[VikingOfValhalla]

Hi @JonB, yes that is correct. The mainwindow.ui should be generated by uic.exe per the documentation posted above: https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/uic.html
However, that is the problem I'm encountrering. I did need to make an adjustment to the FORMS per both your reply and @SGaist above. Please see additional error output as a result of the change that I posted a moment ago.

[Christian Ehrlicher]

@VikingOfValhalla said in Qt5 | uic.exe | msys2 | ui_* will not generate:

The mainwindow.ui should be generated by uic.exe per the documentation

No, you have to create it with the Qt designer. Or do you think the ui is generated automagically?

[VikingOfValhalla]

@Christian-Ehrlicher thanks for the response!
Yes I did think it would be created automatically.
Is there a way to create it without having to use Qt Designer? I tried searching for the documentation on how to create .ui files but I'm only finding the Qt Designer.
I would prefer to not need to use a gui when developing this small type of program (I can see a need for complex programs). It's part of the reason I'm not using Qt Creator.

Thanks!

[Christian Ehrlicher]

Then don't use a ui file and create the ui programatically by adding your widgets to a layout and showing them in a QWidget/QDialog/QMainWindow.

[VikingOfValhalla]

@Christian-Ehrlicher thank you for your help :)