Add README for developers on Windows (x86 & ARM)

.gitignore

@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@ ui_*.h
 Makefile*
 *-build-*
 build
+install
 
 # QtCreator
 

README.md

@@ -136,19 +136,21 @@ To allow incoming connections, create a firewall rule:
 
 ---
 <!-- BUILD -->
-## Build QE3 (Qt6 version)
+## Build
+
+### Linux Build QE3 (Qt6 version)
 ```
 git clone https://github.com/Quick-Event/quickbox.git
 cd quickbox
-git sw qe3
+git switch main
 git submodule update --init --recursive
 mkdir build
 cd build
 cmake .. -DCMAKE_GENERATOR:STRING=Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE:STRING=Debug -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH:PATH=/home/fanda/app/qt5/6.6.2/gcc_64
 cmake --build . 
 cmake --install . --prefix /path/to/install/qe3
 ```
-## Run QE3 from QTC (Qt6 version)  
+### Linux Run QE3 from QTC (Qt6 version)  
 When QE3 is run from QTC (QT Creator), some symlinks must be created to load QML modules.
 1. build QE3 manually and run `cmake --install ...` as described in previous chapter.
 2. Open `CMakeLists.txt` as project in QTC
@@ -162,6 +164,9 @@ ln -s /tmp/qe3/bin/reports reports
 ln -s /tmp/qe3/bin/translations translations
 ```
 
+### Windows Build
+See the [README_WINDOWS.md](README_WINDOWS.md) for detailed guide how to get the build working on Windows.
+
 ---
 <!-- CONTRIBUTING -->
 ## Contributing

README_WINDOWS.md

@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+# Building QuickEvent on Windows
+
+This guide covers building QuickEvent on Windows (including Windows ARM). The build targets x86_64 using MinGW, which runs natively on x64 and via emulation on Windows ARM.
+
+It is heavily inspired by the `.github\workflows\installer.yml` GitHub workflow.
+
+---
+
+## Tools to Install
+
+### 1. Qt 6.10.x (includes MinGW and CMake)
+- Download the Qt Online Installer from https://www.qt.io/download-qt-installer
+- In the installer, select:
+  - **Component**: `Qt 6.10.x → MinGW 64-bit` (`win64_mingw`)
+  - **Required extra modules**: `Qt Serial Port`, `Qt Multimedia`
+  - Under **Tools**: ensure `MinGW 13.1.0 64-bit` and `CMake` are checked (they are by default)
+- Note your Qt install root (e.g. `C:\Qt` or `C:\dev\Qtx86`)
+
+> Qt bundles the correct MinGW variant (msvcrt, not ucrt) under `Tools\$MINGW_VER\`. No separate MinGW install is needed.
+
+### 2. PostgreSQL 17 — x86-64 build required
+- **Windows ARM users**: do NOT use `winget` — it may install the ARM64 native version, which cannot be loaded by the x86_64 binary.
+- Use Chocolatey (delivers x64): `choco install postgresql17 -y`
+- Or download the **Windows x86-64** installer explicitly from https://www.enterprisedb.com/downloads/postgres-postgresql-downloads
+- Required for `libpq` headers at build time and DLLs at runtime
+
+### 3. OpenSSL 3.x — x86-64 build required
+- **Windows ARM users**: do NOT use `winget` — it may install the ARM64 native version.
+- Use Chocolatey (delivers x64): `choco install openssl.light --version=3.1.4 -y`
+- Or download **Win64 OpenSSL** (not Win ARM64) from https://slproweb.com/products/Win32OpenSSL.html
+- Required at runtime for Qt's network/SSL support
+
+---
+
+## Build Commands
+
+Run the following from a **PowerShell** terminal.
+
+Set `$QT_ROOT` to your Qt install folder. Everything else is derived from it:
+
+```powershell
+$QT_ROOT = "C:\dev\Qtx86"   # adjust to your actual Qt install root
+$QT_VER  = "6.10.3"         # adjust to the installed Qt version
+$MINGW_VER = "mingw1310_64" # adjust to the installed Qt version
+$QUICKBOX_ROOT = $PWD       # adjust to the quickbox repo root if necessary
+```
+
+One-time PATH setup (restart PowerShell after running this):
+```powershell
+$p = [Environment]::GetEnvironmentVariable("PATH", "User")
+[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("PATH",
+  "$p;$QT_ROOT\Tools\CMake_64\bin;$QT_ROOT\Tools\$MINGW_VER\bin",
+  "User")
+```
+
+Configure, build, and install:
+```powershell
+$env:CC  = "$QT_ROOT\Tools\$MINGW_VER\bin\gcc.exe"
+$env:CXX = "$QT_ROOT\Tools\$MINGW_VER\bin\g++.exe"
+
+cmake `
+  -S "$QUICKBOX_ROOT" `
+  -B "$QUICKBOX_ROOT\build" `
+  -G "MinGW Makefiles" `
+  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release `
+  "-DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=$QT_ROOT\$QT_VER\mingw_64" `
+  -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX="$QUICKBOX_ROOT\install" `
+  -DUSE_QT6=ON `
+  -DMINGW=ON `
+  -DQF_BUILD_QML_PLUGINS=ON `
+  -DBUILD_TESTING=OFF
+
+cmake --build "$QUICKBOX_ROOT\build" --parallel
+cmake --install "$QUICKBOX_ROOT\build"
+```
+
+---
+
+## After Install — Bundle Dependencies
+
+After installing, run `windeployqt` to copy Qt plugins and DLLs, then manually copy runtime libraries:
+
+```powershell
+$PG_BIN = "C:\Program Files\PostgreSQL\17\bin"   # Update this
+$SSL_DIR = "C:\Program Files\OpenSSL"            # Update this
+
+
+# Deploy Qt DLLs and plugins
+& "$QT_ROOT\$QT_VER\mingw_64\bin\windeployqt.exe" `
+  -serialport -multimedia `
+  --qmldir "$QUICKBOX_ROOT\install\bin\qml" `
+  --qmldir "$QUICKBOX_ROOT\install\bin\reports" `
+  "$QUICKBOX_ROOT\install\bin\quickevent.exe"
+
+# Copy MinGW runtime DLLs
+Copy-Item `
+  "$QT_ROOT\Tools\$MINGW_VER\bin\libstdc++-6.dll", `
+  "$QT_ROOT\Tools\$MINGW_VER\bin\libgcc_s_seh-1.dll", `
+  "$QT_ROOT\Tools\$MINGW_VER\bin\libwinpthread-1.dll" `
+  "$QUICKBOX_ROOT\install\bin\"
+
+# Copy PostgreSQL runtime DLLs
+Copy-Item `
+  "$PG_BIN\libiconv-2.dll", "$PG_BIN\libintl-9.dll", `
+  "$PG_BIN\liblz4.dll", "$PG_BIN\zlib1.dll", "$PG_BIN\libpq.dll" `
+  "$QUICKBOX_ROOT\install\bin\"
+
+# Copy OpenSSL runtime DLLs (path may vary by OpenSSL install)
+Copy-Item "$SSL_DIR\libssl-3-x64.dll", "$SSL_DIR\libcrypto-3-x64.dll" `
+  "$QUICKBOX_ROOT\install\bin\"
+```
+
+---
+
+## Verification
+
+Run `install\bin\quickevent.exe` — it should launch without any missing DLL errors. Connect to a local SQLite or PostgreSQL database and load an event to verify Qt SQL works end-to-end.
+
+---
+
+## Notes on Windows ARM
+
+Quickbox currently has no native ARM64 build support. Building x86_64 with MinGW and running via Windows ARM's built-in x64 emulation is the recommended approach and mirrors the CI configuration exactly.
+
+**Critical**: An x86_64 emulated process cannot load ARM64 DLLs. On Windows ARM, `winget` may install ARM64-native versions of PostgreSQL and OpenSSL. Use Chocolatey or download explicit x86-64 installers as described above — otherwise the app will fail to start with missing or incompatible DLL errors.