Question regarding QGC's file system when running on Windows OS

QGroundControl
1

So I was trying to figure out from where the QGC loads the PX4 Airframes data.

With ‘PX4AirframeLoaderLog’ debug output enabled, I observed the following output :

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Here’s what I find puzzling about it

  1. My computer doesn’t have ‘projects’ folder under the C: drive, so what’s up with that?
  2. Seems like ‘:’ inside ‘:/AutopilotPlugins/PX4’ is a shorthand expression for the ‘src’ folder, but where is it actually located at?

The closest I’ve gotten inside QGC’s file system is at “C:\Program Files\QGroundControl” folder. But the folder lists :

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Where could I find the actual folders such as ‘AutopilotPlugins’?

2

Most likely those are the build directories and the files are packaged into the executable.
C:\Projects is like the standard directory where projects are created with visual studio.

You could take a look at the source code.

This link will go to that directory and you can browse from there.
Also read this:

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3

Things that start with a “:” refer to the Qt resource file system which is built into the code.

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4

Hmm yes, I guess it’s package into the executable itself.

5

Thank you for the pointer, interesting to learn about the Qt Resource system. Learned a lot! https://doc.qt.io/qt-5/resources.html

I’m still puzzled about the “C:\projects” directory though. Where is that directory structure coming from? Qt Build system? Or is it a default behavior for Qt Applications?

6

Did someone build this version for you? If so, that was there source code directory structure.

7

I installed it on my Windows Laptop via Qgroundcontroller installer.

Oh, so you mean the debug output paths e.g. C:/projects are virtual in a sense? Not an actual path in my local file system?

8

It just refers to the source file location when it was built. I guess CI builds from c:\projects.

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