CopperSpice

Introduction

CopperSpice is a set of individual libraries which can be used to develop cross platform software applications in C++. It is a totally open source project released under the LGPL V2.1 license and was initially derived from the Qt framework. Over the last several years CopperSpice has completely diverged, with a goal of providing a first class GUI library to unite the C++ community.

Our motivation for developing CopperSpice was to change the fundamental design and turn the existing framework into a set of libraries for C++ developers. We are accomplishing this by leveraging modern C++ functionality, new technology, and modern tooling. CopperSpice currently requires C++17 or newer.

The libraries available in CopperSpice include:

• CsCore
• CsGui
• CsMultimedia
• CsNetwork
• CsOpenGL
• CsScript
• CsSql
• CsSvg
• CsVulkan
• CsWebKit
• CsXml
• CsXmlPatterns

There are also several open source BSD licensed libraries which are used by CopperSpice and available as stand alone libraries for anyone developing C++ applications.

• CsCrypto
• CsLibGuarded
• CsPaint
• CsPointer
• CsSignal
• CsString

System Requirements

To use the CopperSpice libraries a C++17 compiler and a C++17 standard library are required.

CopperSpice CMake build files are provided with the source distribution. We recommend your projects should also use CMake and Ninja for the build system.

For additional information about building from source, refer to our CopperSpice Overview Documentation or the KitchenSink demo application for sample CMake project files.

Building

The CopperSpice libraries are built using the CMake build system.

Using the CopperSpice Libraries

• Any C++ application using CopperSpice can be built with CMake or any build system which imports CMake files
• CopperSpice can be linked directly into any standard C++ application

Documentation

Overview

The CopperSpice Overview documentation includes information on building CopperSpice, downloading prebuilt binary files, package requirements, setting up an application which links with CopperSpice, migrating to CopperSpice, and general configuration information.

https://www.copperspice.com/docs/cs_overview/index.html

API

The API contains full class documentation and multiple tutorials for CopperSpice and is available directly on our website and from our download page.

https://www.copperspice.com/docs/cs_api/index.html

Offline

Both the CS Overview and API documentation can be downloaded for offline use. They are available in a compressed tar file or zip format.

https://download.copperspice.com/copperspice/documentation

Major Enhancements

• Reflection
  • No Meta-Object Compiler is required for generating meta data, all references were removed
  • The functionality provided by moc was replaced with compile time templates
  • CopperSpice automatically generates meta data for processing Signals/ Slots and Introspection
  • A template class can now inherit from QObject with no restrictions on types
  • Complex data types such as QMap<QString, int> can be used for signal or slot arguments

• Enhanced Functionality
  • CopperSpice makes extensive use of modern C++ features
    • constexpr, lambda expressions, templates, variadic templates, template variables
    • move semantics, structured bindings, tuple, decltype, SFINAE, and type traits
  • Redesigned all container classes to use the C++ standard library containers, iterators, and algorithms
  • Refactored all Mutex and Lock classes
  • CopperSpice includes a majority of the Qt 5 classes
  • Platform independent plugin system based on standard C++
  • High DPI Rendering Support
  • Redesigned pointer classes

• Integration of CsLibGuarded
  • Used to manage shared data

• Integration of CsSignal
  • Improved thread aware Signal/Slot delivery
  • Increased efficiency while maintaining the full Signal/Slot API
  • Deadlocks in Signal/Slot processing have been eliminated

• Integration of CsString
  • Improved storage to properly represent Unicode strings
  • QString8 (UTF-8) and QString16 (UTF-16) classes
  • Added QStringView, QStringParser, and QRegularExpression

Presentations

Our YouTube channel contains videos about C++, graphics, build systems, CopperSpice, DoxyPress, and other topics related to software development.

https://www.youtube.com/copperspice

Links to technical presentations recorded at CppCon, CppNow, embBO++, MeetingC++, and code::dive, can be found on our presentation page.

https://www.copperspice.com/presentations.html

Authors and Key Contributors

The CS team welcomes contributors of all skill levels. When submitting a pull request please observe our Coding Style Guidelines.

https://www.copperspice.com/style_guide/source_code_style.html

• Ansel Sermersheim
• Barbara Geller
• Jan Wilmans
• Tim van Deurzen
• Paul Bendixen
• Peter Bindels
• Mortaro Marcello
• Adam Mensel
• Robin Mills
• Ivailo Monev
• Adam Mensel
• Matan Nassaw
• Jeff Cohen
• Daniel Pfeifer
• Zbigniew Skowron
• Johan Förberg
• Dennis Menschel

License

This library is released under the LGPL V2.1 license. For more information refer to the LICENSE file provided with this project.

References

• Website: https://www.copperspice.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/copperspice_cpp
• Email: [email protected]

• Github: https://github.com/copperspice

• Forum: https://forum.copperspice.com
• Journal: https://journal.copperspice.com