Qt Creator VNC Client Plugin

A plugin for Qt Creator that provides an integrated VNC client, allowing you to connect to remote VNC servers directly from the IDE.

Features

• Connect to VNC servers with various protocol versions (3.3, 3.7, 3.8)
• Support for different security types (None, VNC Authentication, Tight, TLS)
• View and interact with remote desktops within Qt Creator
• Full keyboard and mouse event forwarding to the remote system
• Dock-based UI that can be positioned anywhere in the IDE
• Simple and intuitive interface with connection status indicators
• Keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Alt+V) for quick access

How to Build

Create a build directory and run:

cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<path_to_qtcreator> -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo <path_to_plugin_source>
cmake --build .

where <path_to_qtcreator> is the relative or absolute path to a Qt Creator build directory, or to a combined binary and development package (Windows / Linux), or to the Qt Creator.app/Contents/Resources/ directory of a combined binary and development package (macOS), and <path_to_plugin_source> is the relative or absolute path to this plugin directory.

Testing

The plugin can be built with tests by passing the -DWITH_TESTS=ON option to CMake:

cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=<path_to_qtcreator> -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo -DWITH_TESTS=ON <path_to_plugin_source>
cmake --build .

How to Run

Run a compatible Qt Creator with the additional command line argument:

-pluginpath <path_to_plugin>

where <path_to_plugin> is the path to the resulting plugin library in the build directory (<plugin_build>/lib/qtcreator/plugins on Windows and Linux, <plugin_build>/Qt Creator.app/Contents/PlugIns on macOS).

You might want to add -temporarycleansettings (or -tcs) to ensure that the opened Qt Creator instance cannot mess with your user-global Qt Creator settings.

When building and running the plugin from Qt Creator, you can use:

-pluginpath "%{buildDir}/lib/qtcreator/plugins" -tcs

on Windows and Linux, or

-pluginpath "%{buildDir}/Qt Creator.app/Contents/PlugIns" -tcs

for the Command line arguments field in the run settings.

Usage

1. After installing the plugin, you can access the VNC client from the "Tools > VNC Client" menu or by using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Alt+V.
2. Click on "Open VNC Client" to open the VNC client dock widget.
3. Enter the VNC server details:
   • Host: The hostname or IP address of the VNC server (default is "localhost")
   • Port: The port number (default is 5900)
4. Click "Connect" to establish a connection to the VNC server.
5. Once connected, you can interact with the remote desktop directly within Qt Creator:
   • Mouse clicks and movements are forwarded to the remote system
   • Keyboard input is sent to the remote system
   • The remote desktop is displayed in real-time
6. The connection status is shown at the bottom of the widget.
7. Click "Disconnect" to close the VNC connection when you're done.

Requirements

• Qt Creator 6.0 or later
• Qt 6 with QtVncClient module
• C++20 compatible compiler

License

This project is licensed under LGPL-3.0-only OR GPL-2.0-only OR GPL-3.0-only.

Development

The plugin is structured with the following main components:

• qtcreatorvncplugin.cpp: Main plugin implementation that integrates with Qt Creator
• vncwidget.h/cpp: The VNC client widget and view implementation
• qtcreatorvncpluginconstants.h: Constants used throughout the plugin

This plugin depends on the QtVncClient library, which provides the core VNC protocol implementation. The QtVncClient library needs to be installed as a Qt module for the plugin to build and function correctly.

Contributions are welcome! Please ensure your code follows the existing style and includes appropriate tests.