TrafficControl: Adding a Program Icon to the Ececutable

A program should not only be functional, it must also look like a functional program. The default icon for executables clearly suggest that the program is more a stub/pet project than a mature software.

Creating an icon is quite simple:

• Start with creating an image that you want to have as an icon

• Use any tool to create a corresponding icon, for example http://icoconvert.com/

• Add the icon file to the Qt project's Resources folder. 
• Create a .rc file that points to the icon file.

• Finally, include the rc file  in the pro file.
• Run QMake and compile the program. The executable will now have a window icon.

Note that unless you include/provide the Qt libraries into that executable, the program won't run outside of the Qt environment. I've written about dynamic linking in another blog post.