Why we shouldn't install header files created by UIC

[Matt Rogers]

On Wednesday 06 April 2005 11:57 am, Richard Dale wrote:
> On Wednesday 06 April 2005 18:32, Matt Rogers wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > As I'm going through and changing the main settings widget to look nicer
> > (screenshot at
> > http://www.sourcextreme.com/projects/kdevelop/newmainsettings.png), I've
> > noticed that we're installing a header file that's based of a .ui file
> > and calling it public API (i.e. we're not saying these headers are
> > private and they shouldn't be used). There are several reasons why this
> > is bad, and here's the two that i can think of ATM:
> >
> > 1. No BC. the header file may or may not change depending on what version
> > of uic is used to generate the file. If we didn't autogenerate the .h and
> > the .cpp file everytime, this wouldn't be as much of a problem, but we
> > do, so it is a problem.
> >
> > 2. No encapsulation. All the data members are public. You change a
> > variable name (as I have done) and you break BC, which goes back to point
> > number 1.
> >
> >
> > The solution to this is to create a new class that contains a pointer to
> > the UIC generated class and make this class part of the public API.We
> > can't base the new class off of the UIC generated class because you'll
> > still run into the above two points. Anyways, i still plan to go forward
> > with my changes, so i hope nobody cares that we're breaking BC.
>
> Haven't we already had a discussion about this a couple of months ago?
> Surely just not installing a .ui generated header file is the solution?
>
> -- Richard

No, IIRC, that was about virtual destructors in uic classes when used as base 
class. Yes, not installing a .ui generated header file is a solution, but in 
cases where, for whatever reason, we need to make the UI part of the public 
API, we shouldn't just use the class generated by uic. That was my point, 
which i apparently didn't do a very good job of conveying

Now, the question becomes: Do we need to install settingswidget.h (which is 
created from settingswidget.ui) as public api? If not, does anyone care if I 
change the Makefile.am to not install it?

Matt