getting_started.md

Getting Started

Requirements

• CMake 3.24+
• C++20 compiler
• Qt 6.7+
• Qt modules: Core, Gui, Qml, Quick

Build The Project

cmake -S . -B build
cmake --build build

Useful targets:

• ScintillaQuick
• scintillaquick_minimal_editor
• scintillaquick_embedded_benchmark

If BUILD_TESTING is enabled, test executables are built as well.

Run The Example

After building, run:

./build/scintillaquick_minimal_editor

On Windows with a multi-config generator, use the matching configuration path, for example:

./build/Debug/scintillaquick_minimal_editor.exe

Install And Consume

Install the package:

cmake --install build --prefix <install-prefix>

Then consume it from another CMake project:

find_package(ScintillaQuick CONFIG REQUIRED)
target_link_libraries(my_app PRIVATE ScintillaQuick::ScintillaQuick)

The installed package includes Scintilla's public headers. Scintilla internal implementation headers are not part of the installed interface.

Minimal Integration Pattern

Typical C++ integration looks like this:

1. Create a QGuiApplication.
2. Create a QQuickWindow or parent QQuickItem.
3. Instantiate ScintillaQuick_item.
4. Attach it to the Qt Quick scene.
5. Set geometry, font, and initial text. The first-party examples and tests use the shared helper in examples/common/scintillaquick_font.h to select a bundled fixed-font family. By default it picks Cascadia Code, and SCINTILLAQUICK_FIXED_FONT_FAMILY can switch it to Cousine.
6. Drive editor behavior with Scintilla messages through send().

See examples/minimal_editor/main.cpp for a complete runnable example.

Testing

Run the registered test suite with:

ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure

Registered tests currently include smoke, frame-validation, visual-regression, and benchmark-backed coverage.

On Windows, visual tests require a desktop session because they create and show a QQuickWindow.