ORE Studio Qt Plugin Refactor — Implementation Plan

projects/ores.qt.api/
  CMakeLists.txt
  include/ores.qt.api/
    export.hpp
  src/
  modeling/
    ores.qt.api.org

The include prefix changes from ores.qt/ to ores.qt.api/ for all moved files. All internal ores.qt consumers update their #include paths in one shot. No forwarding headers.

CMakeLists.txt uses Boost export macros and hides symbols by default on GCC/Clang (see architecture doc).

(†) PartyPickerDialog only appears in LoginDialog (host) today. Moving it here avoids a future dependency of ores.qt.app on ores.qt.party.so.

ores.qt retains all domain controllers and dialogs. Its CMakeLists.txt replaces the large PUBLIC list with just:

target_link_libraries(ores.qt.lib PUBLIC
    ores.qt.api            # shared — provides everything above
    ores.ore.lib ores.ore.api.lib ores.storage.lib
    ores.marketdata.api.lib ores.http.api.lib ores.refdata.core.lib
    ores.analytics.api.lib ores.trading.api.lib ores.compute.api.lib
    ores.scheduler.api.lib ores.reporting.api.lib
    ores.shell.lib ores.dq.api.lib ores.synthetic.api.lib
    ores.assets.api.lib ores.workflow.lib
    ores.connections.lib ores.variability.api.lib
    ores.telemetry.lib ores.controller.api.lib ores.security.lib
    Qt6::Charts)

ores.qt.api sets CMAKE_AUTOMOC ON (for Q_OBJECT classes). It has a small number of .ui files (EntityDetailDialog.ui, ProvenanceWidget.ui) which are moved alongside their classes. AUTOUIC search path is set to the ores.qt.api/ui/ subdirectory.

ores.qt retains the rest of the ui/ directory. The AUTOUIC search path on ores.qt.lib points to both ores.qt/ui/ and the generated include dirs from ores.qt.api.

All public headers in ores.qt.api use the include prefix ores.qt.api/. Every file in ores.qt that includes a moved header changes from:

#include "ores.qt/EntityController.hpp"

to:

#include "ores.qt.api/EntityController.hpp"

This is a mechanical search-and-replace across the whole ores.qt source tree. Do it as a single commit so the diff is obviously a rename with no logic changes.

All classes and free functions in ores.qt.api that are used by consumers (plugins or the host) must be annotated with ORES_QT_API:

class ORES_QT_API ClientManager : public QObject { ... };
class ORES_QT_API EntityController : public QObject { ... };
struct ORES_QT_API plugin_context { ... };

Inline functions, private implementation classes, and template helpers do not need the annotation. The Q_OBJECT macro classes need it so that their staticMetaObject is exported and qobject_cast works across the .so/.dll boundary.

• Verify qobject_cast<EntityController*> still works across the boundary (the critical test: open a currency window after login).
• On Windows: verify ores.qt.api.dll is produced and all symbols resolve. If any symbol is missing ORES_QT_API, the linker will give a specific unresolved symbol error — fix it.
• The ores.qt.lib size on Windows should now be well under 2 GB in debug.

IPlugin, plugin_context, PluginRegistry are already present from Step 1 (their files were created in the skeleton). In this step, add the full implementation of PluginRegistry::load_from_directory() (see architecture doc).

LegacyPlugin is a temporary glue class. It holds all the controller unique_ptr members that currently live in MainWindow, and implements IPlugin:

class LegacyPlugin final : public QObject, public IPlugin {
    Q_OBJECT
    Q_PLUGIN_METADATA(IID "ores.qt.IPlugin/1.0" FILE "legacy_plugin.json")
    Q_INTERFACES(ores::qt::api::IPlugin)
public:
    QString name() const override { return "ores.qt.legacy"; }
    int load_order() const override { return 999; } // loads last
    void initialize(QMainWindow*, QMdiArea*) override {}
    void on_login(const plugin_context& ctx) override;
    void on_logout() override;
    QList<QMenu*> create_menus() override;
private:
    // all 50+ controller unique_ptrs move here
    std::unique_ptr<CurrencyController> currencyController_;
    // ...
};

LegacyPlugin is built as a shared lib (ores.qt.legacy) deployed to plugins/. It links everything ores.qt.lib currently links.

MainWindow sheds all controller members and all domain-specific menu connections. What remains:

• MDI area, status bar, system tray
• Login/logout flow (calls PluginRegistry::instance().load_from_directory() then plugin->on_login() on each)
• Window menu management (iterates DetachableMdiSubWindow tracked by plugins)
• File, Connection, Window, Help menus (the only host-owned menus)

The MainWindow.ui currently has 20+ hardcoded domain menus (menuTrading, menuRefData, menuSystem, etc.). Strip it to:

• menuFile (Exit, About)
• menuConnection (Connect, Disconnect, Connection Browser)
• menuWindow (Tile, Cascade, Detach All, window list)
• menuHelp

All domain menus are inserted dynamically after menuConnection and before menuWindow by iterating plugin->create_menus() on login.

LegacyPlugin::create_menus() re-creates the full set of current menus as QMenu* objects constructed in code (no .ui), using the same action names and connections as today. This is the largest piece of work in Step 2 but is entirely within LegacyPlugin.

• All 20+ menus must appear and function as before (populated by LegacyPlugin).
• Window menu "list of open windows" still works (controllers register their windows via the shared allDetachableWindows_ mechanism; this now goes through plugin context signals).
• Plugin loading failure should print a clear error and continue, not crash.

Structure mirrors ores.qt.api (include/src/ui/modeling).

Account*, Role*, Tenant*, TenantType*, SystemSetting*, BadgeDefinition*, BadgeSeverity*, App*, AppVersion* — controllers, detail dialogs, history dialogs, MDI windows, item delegates, and widgets.

Also: TenantOnboardingWizard, TenantProvisioningWizard, AppProvisionerWizard.

Client models: ClientAccountModel, ClientRoleModel, ClientTenantModel, ClientTenantTypeModel, ClientSystemSettingModel, ClientBadgeDefinitionModel, ClientBadgeSeverityModel, ClientAppModel, ClientAppVersionModel, ClientHostModel.

The corresponding .ui files move to ores.qt.admin/ui/.

AdminPlugin::on_login() creates all admin controllers (same logic currently in LegacyPlugin::on_login() for these types).

AdminPlugin::create_menus() returns:

• Admin menu: Accounts, Roles, Tenants, System Settings
• Configuration menu: Badges, Apps, App Versions

• BadgeCache remains in ores.qt.api; BadgeDefinitionController (which populates it) moves to admin. After login, admin plugin populates the cache via plugin_context.badge_cache.
• All admin menu items open the correct windows.
• LegacyPlugin shrinks by the admin section.

Compute* (DashboardController, DashboardMdiWindow, ConsoleController, ConsoleWindow, TaskViewModel, TransferModel), JobDefinition*, Queue* (ChartWindow, DetailDialog, MonitorController, MonitorMdiWindow, CreateQueueDialog), Report* (all four entity types: Type, Definition, Instance + corresponding dialogs), Batch*, Workunit*, CronEditorDialog, CronExpressionWidget, CronFieldWidget, TransferProgressDelegate.

Client models: ClientJobDefinitionModel, ClientQueueModel, ClientReportTypeModel, ClientReportDefinitionModel, ClientReportInstanceModel, ClientBatchModel, ClientWorkunitModel.

• Compute menu: Compute Dashboard, Compute Console, Job Definitions, Queues
• Reporting menu: Report Types, Report Definitions, Report Instances

Currency*, Country*, ChangeReasonCategory*, ChangeReason* (controller, detail dialog, history dialog, MDI window — not ChangeReasonDialog or ChangeReasonCache, those stay in ores.qt.api), OriginDimension*, NatureDimension*, TreatmentDimension*, CodingSchemeAuthorityType*, CodeDomain*, DataDomain*, SubjectArea*, Catalog*, CodingScheme*, Methodology*, Dataset* (all four variants + ViewDialog), DatasetBundle*, DayCountFractionType*, BusinessDayConventionType*, FloatingIndexType*, PaymentFrequencyType*, LegType*, MonetaryNature*, RoundingType*, PurposeType*, ConcurrencyPolicy*.

Also: ImportCurrencyDialog, OreImporter (if ORE import is refdata-scoped — otherwise moves to trading in Step 8).

Client models for all the above (~30 Client*Model classes).

Menus map to the current menu groupings in MainWindow.ui:

• Data menu
• Auxiliary Data menu
• Classifications menu
• Dimensions menu

• ChangeReasonController and ChangeReasonCategoryController move here. ChangeReasonCache and ChangeReasonDialog stay in ores.qt.api. Double-check that the includes are correct after the move.
• Cross-domain signal CurrencyController::showRoundingTypesRequested(): replace the MainWindow wiring with an event bus message published by CurrencyController and subscribed to by RefdataPlugin.

Party* (Controller, DetailOperations, HistoryDialog, MdiWindow), Counterparty* (Controller, DetailOperations, HistoryDialog, MdiWindow), BusinessCentre*, BusinessUnit*, BusinessUnitType*, PartyType*, PartyStatus*, PartyIdScheme*, ContactType*, LeiEntityPicker, PartyProvisioningWizard.

Client models: ClientPartyModel, ClientCounterpartyModel, ClientBusinessCentreModel, ClientBusinessUnitModel, ClientBusinessUnitTypeModel, ClientPartyTypeModel, ClientPartyStatusModel, ClientPartyIdSchemeModel, ClientContactTypeModel.

• Organization menu: Parties, Counterparties, Business Centres, Business Units

MarketDataController, MarketFixingsMdiWindow, MarketFixingDetailMdiWindow, MarketObservationMdiWindow, MarketSeriesMdiWindow, PricingEngineType*, PricingModelConfig*, PricingModelProduct*, PricingModelProductParameter*, CurrencyMarketTier*, DataLibrarianWindow, PublicationHistoryDialog, PublishBundleWizard, PublishDatasetsDialog.

Client models: ClientMarketFixingModel, ClientMarketObservationModel, ClientMarketSeriesModel, ClientPricingEngineTypeModel, ClientPricingModelConfigModel, ClientPricingModelProductModel, ClientPricingModelProductParameterModel, ClientCurrencyMarketTierModel.

• Market Data menu: Market Fixings, Observations, Series, Pricing Models
• Assets menu (if applicable)

Portfolio*, Book*, BookStatus*, Trade* (controller, detail dialog, history, MDI window), OrgExplorerMdiWindow, OrgExplorerTradeModel, OrgExplorerTreeModel, PortfolioExplorerMdiWindow, PortfolioExplorerTradeModel, PortfolioExplorerTreeModel, ImportTradeDialog, OreImportController, OreImportWizard, OreImporter, CompositeLegsWidget.

Also: IInstrumentForm, InstrumentFormRegistry, all *InstrumentForm classes added by the recent trade dialog PRs.

Client models: ClientPortfolioModel, ClientBookModel, ClientBookStatusModel, ClientTradeModel.

• Trading menu: Portfolios, Books, Trades, Import, ORE Import

target_link_libraries(ores.qt.trading PRIVATE
    ores.qt.api
    ores.trading.api.lib
    ores.ore.lib
    ores.ore.api.lib
    ores.storage.lib
    Qt6::Core Qt6::Gui Qt6::Widgets)

After this step LegacyPlugin should be empty (no more controllers). It can be deleted.

1. Rename ores.qt project directory to ores.qt.app. The executable output name stays ores.qt (OUTPUT_NAME ores.qt).
2. Delete LegacyPlugin class and its CMake target.
3. Update the top-level CMakeLists.txt (projects list), projects/modeling/system_model.org, and CI configuration.
4. Update Component Creator skill (now there are 7 Qt plugin projects, not 1).
5. Rename the analysis branch and raise the final PR against main.

Each extracted project gets a ui/ subdirectory. AUTOUIC is configured per-target:

set(CMAKE_AUTOUIC ON)
set_target_properties(ores.qt.admin PROPERTIES
    AUTOUIC_SEARCH_PATHS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/../ui)

During the migration, moved headers retain the ores.qt/ include prefix within their new project (e.g., ores.qt.admin/include/ores.qt/AccountController.hpp). This keeps the number of source-file changes manageable — only files in ores.qt that include moved headers need updating (to use the new target's include directory, which exposes the same path prefix).

Post-migration (optional, Step 9 or later): rename prefixes to ores.qt.admin/, ores.qt.refdata/, etc. to align with the rest of the project naming convention. This is a separate mechanical PR.

Define a header ores.qt.api/include/ores.qt.api/ui_events.hpp with constexpr std::string_view constants for all inter-plugin navigation messages. This prevents string drift as more cross-plugin navigation is identified during the extraction steps.

namespace ores::qt::api::ui_events {
    constexpr std::string_view show_rounding_types  = "ui.show.rounding_types";
    constexpr std::string_view show_monetary_natures = "ui.show.monetary_natures";
    constexpr std::string_view show_market_tiers     = "ui.show.currency_market_tiers";
    // ... add more as discovered during extraction
}

For each extraction step, confirm before raising the PR:

• [ ] Plugin .so/.dll produced and placed in plugins/ by the build
• [ ] Application starts and loads the plugin without errors in the log
• [ ] All menus for the extracted domain appear and are functional
• [ ] Login and logout cycle works (windows open, close cleanly on logout)
• [ ] CI passes (Linux + Windows build)
• [ ] LegacyPlugin no longer contains the extracted controllers