Cross GUI Migrations

As organizations make the switch to Trolltech's Qt framework for C++, they are faced with the option of switching GUI toolkits for their existing applications. The cross platform and productivity benefits of Qt are so compelling, and the effort required to switch GUI toolkits is so great, that companies often find themselves having to choose between upgrading their existing code base or responding to the market demand for new functionality.

ICS' Cross GUI Porting Services offer a solution to this dilemma by allowing an organization's engineers to continue using their market and application area knowledge to respond to customer requests, while ICS takes their code base and migrates it to Qt. ICS has done this for many clients and has developed a process that minimizes the overhead on the organization's engineers and reduces the lost effort due to merging the code between the two development teams. In brief, the process is:

I. Source Code Review
Prior to providing a proposal, ICS reviews the application source code and assesses the degree of difficulty of the port. We have ported from most popular GUI toolkits to Qt and based on our experience, along with a review of your source code, we can provide an informed proposal with a realistic timeframe and cost estimate.

II. Duplicate the Build Environment
The key to avoiding any interference with the application development team is to create our own build system at our facility. During this process, we collaborate with our client's team on various issues regarding future source code merges and the running of any existing regression tests.

III. Port to Predefined Merge Point(s)
Before we start the project, we define one or more merge points that are about 4-5 weeks apart. At these points, we merge the changes made by the client's team into our source branch. The goal here is to minimize the effort required to merge the changes between the two source code branches.

IV. Run System Level Regression Tests
After the final merge point, we run the client's system level regression tests and correct any errors discovered.

V. Onsite Delivery and Acceptance Tests
The final step is for our engineers to deliver the modified source code personally to our client's site, ensuring that the software builds in their environment. At this point, we also provide any Qt training or client technology transfer training that is requested.

ICS' Cross GUI Porting Services are ideal for an organization with an active development roadmap that just does not have the time or resources to stop everything and do a port. This service allows clients to keep their expertise focused on satisfying market requirements while we use our expertise to quickly and economically port their application from its past into its future.

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