Bitcoin-Qt, the future Bitcoin client GUI [user input needed]

[Bitsky]

Can't wait to see an installer for Windows for this GUI. It looks great.

Some suggestions:
- Add sendmany support
- Make it possible to select the sender address.
- Import/Export single addresses (for merging wallets)
- Require a password to open a wallet (encrypted wallet)
- Require a password to make a transaction
- Add a button that converts the balance to a pre-selected currency
- Option to delete an address (for the sake of overview, or don't auto-create them)
- Make it a light client (download headers only, not the complete chain)
- Display the label instead of the address in the main list

I'm aware that some suggestions belong more to the core development; but if at some point those two projects are merged, the GUI would have already taken care for that.

[tschaboo]

Hello John,

thanks for your comments.

10.) You are giving instructions in your readme how to compile it in ubuntu. On a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04 I needed the following not mentioned packages to get it building: build-essential, libboost-dev, [libboost-system-dev libboost-filesystem-dev libboost-program-options-dev libboost-thread-dev | libboost-all-dev], libssl-dev and libdb4.8++-dev. Actually it didn't build, because setPlaceholderText in QLineEdit was introduced in Qt4.7 and Ubuntu 10.04 comes with Qt4.6. I commented them out.

I'll update the instructions... I've also changed the placeholders to only be compiled for Qt 4.7+.

Regarding the build instructions: you can remove "libboost-all-dev" as it was meant as an alternative to installing the smaller packages. -all-dev includes them.

I pulled your changes but it doesn't compile because of another occurence of setPlaceholderText in the file ui_sendcoinsdialog.h generated from sendcoinsdialog.ui (addAsLabel).

[wumpus]

I pulled your changes but it doesn't compile because of another occurence of setPlaceholderText in the file ui_sendcoinsdialog.h generated from sendcoinsdialog.ui (addAsLabel).

This doesn't make sense. Why is that code generated in a Qt version that doesn't support it?

I cannot put #ifdefs in generated code, obviously, so I don't see a way to solve this :/

Seems the problem is more common, it results from a mixup between uic version and Qt header version:
http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.comp.kde.users.kdevelop/6629

Edit: I'll move all setPlaceholderText to application code instead of .ui scripts so I can guard them with #ifdef...

[wumpus]

Started working on windows version, by popular request.

[wumpus]

Windows build instructions:

• Get the latest version of bitcoin-qt from github
• Get the QT windows SDK http://qt.nokia.com/downloads/sdk-windows-cpp and install it. You don't need the Symbian stuff, just the desktop Qt.
• Download and extract the dependencies ( http://download.visucore.com/bitcoin/qtgui_deps_1.zip *) and copy the contents of "deps" to "X:\QtSDK\mingw", replace X:\ with the location where you installed the Qt SDK
• Open the .pro file in QT creator and build as normal

Please help testing!

* GPG signature signed with the key in my undersign can be found here: http://download.visucore.com/bitcoin/qtgui_deps_1.zip.sig . You can of course also build the dependencies (openssl, boost, dbcxx) yourself.

[gigabytecoin]

Started working on windows version, by popular request.

AWESOME!

Thank you.

Gorgeous work by the way, keep it up!

[Bitsky]

Windows build instructions:

• Get the latest version of bitcoin-qt from github
• Get the QT windows SDK http://qt.nokia.com/downloads/sdk-windows-cpp and install it. You don't need the Symbian stuff, just the desktop Qt.
• Download and extract the dependencies ( http://download.visucore.com/bitcoin/qtgui_deps_1.zip *) and copy the contents of "deps" to "X:\QtSDK\mingw", replace X:\ with the location where you installed the Qt SDK
• Open the .pro file in QT creator and build as normal

Please help testing!

* GPG signature signed with the key in my undersign can be found here: http://download.visucore.com/bitcoin/qtgui_deps_1.zip.sig . You can of course also build the dependencies (openssl, boost, dbcxx) yourself.

Sadly the QT SDK cannot be installed on a Windows prior to XP, and in XP I don't have the 8GB free which it needs.

[kwukduck]

Looking really good.

[wumpus]

Thanks everyone!

Sadly the QT SDK cannot be installed on a Windows prior to XP, and in XP I don't have the 8GB free which it needs.

You can also use MinGW+MSys on more limited systems (do qmake && make). In addition to the deps that I provide, you'll also need to get the Qt libraries/includes.

Or cross-compile from Linux but that's more involved.

I might eventually upload an executable installer directly, but this is better for now as the state of the code is still very much in flux and there are no official releases.

[wumpus]

Tab-ification of the UI, phase 1





The overview tab should have:

• Balance (confirmed and unconfirmed)
• Last N received transactions
• Last N sent transactions

Also, the address book, list of received addresses etc might be better as tabs instead of dialogs as well.

[drawoc]

Shouldn't the Generate transactions that haven't matured yet still display the clock symbol?

Anyway, the tabs are nice. Keep up the good work!

[wumpus]

Shouldn't the Generate transactions that haven't matured yet still display the clock symbol?

Hm I agree that'd make sense... I was thinking of using different icons for that (confirmed but not matured), but that isn't really needed and probably overcomplicated

Done;

- Generated transactions don't have spam in the "Address" column anymore and show a clock depending on their maturity.

- Also I call them "mined" now instead of "generated", as that's the going word for it now:

[Pieter Wuille]

3.) I'm not that experienced with build-systems but my colleages advised me to only use autotools if it's really necessary or you are already fluent in using them, otherwise there are less frustrating options, cmake was mentioned explicitly; autotools was called obsolete. Maybe we should ask the core developers, why they want to use autotools and if they considered alternatives.

I've pitched CMake in the mailing list. I wonder what the reply will be \o/ Some people might be annoyed though because they went through all the trouble to port it to autotools which is no small feat. On the other hand, Mac/Windows was problematic with autotools.

The discussion seems to have died out. I've bumped the thread.

I'd like to have the delete button activated with a tooltip "Delete the selected address from the address book. You will still be able to receive coins to this address". It's clear to me that this new workflow will need a change in the backend, namely having the possibility to set an address record as "hidden" in the database. But IMHO this is worth the change.

The "hidden address" thing using a flag is a good idea, both for receiving and sending addresse (for the reasons that you mention). We'd have to be really sure that this is safe, though. I'll have to think about it a bit.

Currently, it's possible for (receiving) addresses to not be in the address book at all. Those are considered change addresses by the wallet interface. I don't think that's exactly what you need, since deleting an address on which you've received money would confuse the user interface.

6.) I think the "Set as default receiving address" is obsolete now? If not, please tell me what it does. (And it probably should be disabled by default).

I think so. I don't really understand the default receiving address stuff either. I don't think it's used anywhere in the Bitcoin core code. I need to check this and if that's the case, completely nuke it.

The current proposed wallet encryption patch will use the default address for generations, if no fresh pool key is available. I doubt it's necessary to show this in the user interface, though. It seems like a legacy way of showing people "this is the address you should use".

  b.) If you add a new entry without giving the address (just the label) it says: "The address is already in the address book.". I think it should not even allow an entry without a valid address.

It should indeed check addresses for validity before adding to address book.

See pull request 358.

[wumpus]

The discussion seems to have died out. I've bumped the thread.

Thanks!

Currently, it's possible for (receiving) addresses to not be in the address book at all. Those are considered change addresses by the wallet interface. I don't think that's exactly what you need, since deleting an address on which you've received money would confuse the user interface.

It's close, but not exactly what is needed.

Effectively, the only thing it has to do is hide the address in the UI. Internally, nothing special has to happen, and the address should still be in the address book for lookup purposes.

The current proposed wallet encryption patch will use the default address for generations, if no fresh pool key is available. I doubt it's necessary to show this in the user interface, though. It seems like a legacy way of showing people "this is the address you should use".

OK, seems it was a good idea to hide it from the user interface then.

Update:

• CSV export of the transaction history has been implemented. Up next: address book export.

[kripz]

make
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/sendcoinsdialog.ui -o ui_sendcoinsdialog.h
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/addressbookpage.ui -o ui_addressbookpage.h
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/aboutdialog.ui -o ui_aboutdialog.h
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/editaddressdialog.ui -o ui_editaddressdialog.h
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/transactiondescdialog.ui -o ui_transactiondescdialog.h
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/overviewpage.ui -o ui_overviewpage.h
g++ -c -pipe -O2 -fdiagnostics-show-option -Wall -Wno-invalid-offsetof -Wno-unused-variable -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-sign-compare -Wno-char-subscripts -Wno-unused-value -Wno-sequence-point -Wno-parentheses -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-switch -D_REENTRANT -DQT_GUI -DQT_NO_DEBUG -DQT_GUI_LIB -DQT_CORE_LIB -DQT_SHARED -I/usr/share/qt4/mkspecs/linux-g++ -I/usr/include/qt4/QtCore -I/usr/include/qt4/QtGui -I/usr/include/qt4 -Isrc -Isrc/json -Isrc/cryptopp -Isrc/qt -I. -I. -o bitcoin.o src/qt/bitcoin.cpp
In file included from src/qt/bitcoin.cpp:8:0:
src/headers.h:43:20: fatal error: db_cxx.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
make: *** [bitcoin.o] Error 1

How to fix? Currently running debian wheezy.

[error]

make
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/sendcoinsdialog.ui -o ui_sendcoinsdialog.h
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/addressbookpage.ui -o ui_addressbookpage.h
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/aboutdialog.ui -o ui_aboutdialog.h
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/editaddressdialog.ui -o ui_editaddressdialog.h
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/transactiondescdialog.ui -o ui_transactiondescdialog.h
/usr/bin/uic-qt4 src/qt/forms/overviewpage.ui -o ui_overviewpage.h
g++ -c -pipe -O2 -fdiagnostics-show-option -Wall -Wno-invalid-offsetof -Wno-unused-variable -Wno-unused-parameter -Wno-sign-compare -Wno-char-subscripts -Wno-unused-value -Wno-sequence-point -Wno-parentheses -Wno-unknown-pragmas -Wno-switch -D_REENTRANT -DQT_GUI -DQT_NO_DEBUG -DQT_GUI_LIB -DQT_CORE_LIB -DQT_SHARED -I/usr/share/qt4/mkspecs/linux-g++ -I/usr/include/qt4/QtCore -I/usr/include/qt4/QtGui -I/usr/include/qt4 -Isrc -Isrc/json -Isrc/cryptopp -Isrc/qt -I. -I. -o bitcoin.o src/qt/bitcoin.cpp
In file included from src/qt/bitcoin.cpp:8:0:
src/headers.h:43:20: fatal error: db_cxx.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
make: *** [bitcoin.o] Error 1

How to fix? Currently running debian wheezy.

apt-get install libdb4.8++-dev

[kripz]

Had to install older versions from squeeze

[error]

I'm guessing it's this http://packages.debian.org/wheezy/libdb4.8-dev because qheezy doesnt have libdb4.8++-dev

No, it is definitely libdb4.8++-dev. No idea why it isn't in testing yet.

[kripz]

I grabbed the versions from squeeze manually, compiling now, lets see if it works.

EDIT: Doesnt work. Installed libdb4.8* from squeeze. compiled and now it doesnt run.

EXCEPTION: 22DbRunRecoveryException       
DbEnv::open: DB_RUNRECOVERY: Fatal error, run database recovery       
bitcoin in Runaway exception       

terminate called after throwing an instance of 'DbRunRecoveryException'
  what():  DbEnv::open: DB_RUNRECOVERY: Fatal error, run database recovery
Aborted

Deleted my wallet and still doesnt run.

[wumpus]

Deleted my wallet and still doesnt run.

There should be no need to delete anything!

Can you try pointing it at a completely new directory using -datadir=<dir>?