source: trunk/doc/src/declarative/qdeclarativeperformance.qdoc@ 846

/****************************************************************************
**
** Copyright (C) 2011 Nokia Corporation and/or its subsidiary(-ies).
** All rights reserved.
** Contact: Nokia Corporation ([email protected])
**
** This file is part of the documentation of the Qt Toolkit.
**
** $QT_BEGIN_LICENSE:FDL$
** Commercial Usage
** Licensees holding valid Qt Commercial licenses may use this file in
** accordance with the Qt Commercial License Agreement provided with the
** Software or, alternatively, in accordance with the terms contained in a
** written agreement between you and Nokia.
**
** GNU Free Documentation License
** Alternatively, this file may be used under the terms of the GNU Free
** Documentation License version 1.3 as published by the Free Software
** Foundation and appearing in the file included in the packaging of this
** file.
**
** If you have questions regarding the use of this file, please contact
** Nokia at [email protected].
** $QT_END_LICENSE$
**
****************************************************************************/

/*!
\page qdeclarativeperformance.html
\title QML Performance

\section1 Opaque Items

Items hidden behind an opaque item incur a cost.  If an item will be enitrely
obscured by an opaque item, set its opacity to 0.  One common example of
this is when a "details" page is shown over the main application view.

\section1 Clipping

\e clip is set to false by default.  Enable clipping only when necessary.

\section1 Anchors vs. Binding

It is more efficient to use anchors rather than bindings to position items
relative to each other.  Consider this use of bindings to position rect2
relative to rect1:

\code
Rectangle {
    id: rect1
    x: 20
    width: 200; height: 200
}
Rectangle {
    id: rect2
    x: rect1.x
    y: rect1.y + rect1.height
    width: rect1.width - 20
    height: 200
}
\endcode

This is achieved more efficiently using anchors:

\code
Rectangle {
    id: rect1
    x: 20
    width: 200; height: 200
}
Rectangle {
    id: rect2
    height: 200
    anchors.left: rect1.left
    anchors.top: rect1.bottom
    anchors.right: rect1.right
    anchors.rightMargin: 20
}
\endcode

\section1 Images

Images consume a great deal of memory and may also be costly to load.  In order
to deal with large images efficiently it is recommended that the Image::sourceSize
property be set to a size no greater than that necessary to render it.  Beware that
changing the sourceSize will cause the image to be reloaded.

Images on the local filesystem are usually loaded synchronously.  This is usually
the desired behavior for user interface elements, however for large images that
do not necessarily need to be visible immediately, set the Image::asynchronous
property to true.  This will load the image in a low priority thread.

\section1 View Delegates

Delegates must be created quickly as the view is flicked.  There are two important
aspects to maintaining a smooth view:

\list
\o Small delegates - keep the amount of QML to a minimum.  Have just enough
QML in the delegate to display the necessary information.  Any additional functionality
that is only needed when the delegate is clicked, for example, should be created by
a Loader as needed.
\o Fast data access - ensure the data model is as fast as possible.
\endlist

\section1 Image resources over composition

If possible, provide a single image resource, rather than using composition
of a number of elements.  For example, a frame with a shadow could be created using
a Rectangle placed over an Image providing the shadow.  It is more efficient to
provide an image that includes the frame and the shadow.

\section1 Limit JavaScript

Avoid running JavaScript during animation.  For example, running a complex
JavaScript expression for each frame of an x property animation.

\section1 Rendering

Often using a different graphics system will give superior performance to the native
graphics system (this is especially the case on X11). This can be configured using
QApplication::setGraphicsSystem() or via the command line using the \c -graphicssystem
switch.

You can enable OpenGL acceleration using the \c opengl graphics system, or by setting a
QGLWidget as the viewport of your QDeclarativeView.

You may need to try various options to find what works the best for your application.
For embedded X11-based devices one recommended combination is to use the raster graphics
system with a QGLWidget for the viewport. While this doesn't guarantee the \bold fastest
performance for all use-cases, it typically has \bold{consistently good} performance for
all use-cases. In contrast, only using the raster paint engine may result in very good
performance for parts of your application and very poor performance elsewhere.

The QML Viewer uses the raster graphics system by default for X11 and OS X. It also
includes a \c -opengl command line option which sets a QGLWidget as the viewport of the
view. On OS X, a QGLWidget is always used.

*/