Vijay Patil asked me to explain the application browsing component, so here it is:

At first, you get a panel with two columns - Favourites on the left, and application categories on the right.

When you choose a category, the Favourites column is replaced by the application categories, and the currently selected category is opened in the right column. (can anyone guess what is the ratio between left and right columns here, but without looking at the code?) As you can see, you get a breadcrumb bar above the list.

Now, there are two options for ‘what should happen when a subcategory is chosen’. One would be to hide the left column again like in the previous step, and the other is just to shrink the leftmost column like in the screenshot:

Later (the one in the screenshot) way is uglier, but more useful (for me, that is). Since I can not make up my mind about it, it will be configurable.

Just joking, I haven’t introduced a proper versioning, but the current state could be dubbed as “alpha 2″ (yes, I took the version from amarokers, but have no cute child-knight to show you to compete with their little wolf).

I got a bit of a development boost by Beojan Stanislaus who sent me a patch for a bug in the launcher applet concerning the layout and the size of the icons. After that I just couldn’t stop tinkering with it.

I’ll get into making the configuration interface soon, and then the polishing will begin.

I will skip doing the plug-in system for the first stable release, and will probably not succeed in replacing the current list widgets with a work-in-progress ones that will have real scrollbars and keyboard input support. (yes, Lancelot can not be manipulated by using only the keyboard at the moment, but that *is* the most important feature that I’m planing to add)

P.S. Are there any objections to make the “sections in the panel” instead of “one icon launches the menu with sections inside” as the default?

There are some news concerning applets for the embedded Plasma I mentioned earlier. There are two new plasma applets in the playground (trunk/playground/base/plasma/applets/embedded-ivan/) - one that shows the title of the currently active window (needed since I intend to remove the decorations of main windows) and a simple task manager/application launcher which is on the left.

They are not fully operational yet, and have no documentation on how to set them up, so don’t even bother. I just wanted to say that they exist.

The task manager/application launcher contains a predefined set of icons. Each icon represents one task or application. And when you click it, application is started, or in case it is already running, it is brought to front. Some say that MacOS X has something similar, but I wouldn’t know, I haven’t tried it. (please skip comments about OSX… they might get deleted instantly).

Cheerio!

So, this mail was sent today by Aaron on the panel-devel list:

Due to some fortunate events, I got my hands on a small (miniITX) all-in-one board based on AMD Geode, which you can see in the picture. It is a low-power thing without any coolers (not even passive ones).

My job was to install Linux on it. And I did just that - Debian GNU/Linux with KDE 4.1 beta which is in Debian’s experimental repositories. I hooked the system to my screen so that you can see what it looks like (although it was a bit odd to hook something like this to a 19″ screen). It behaves surprisingly well - the system is responsive and works very well (with all fancy Plasma animations)

The ultimate goal is to create an environment for systems that will have the ability to run only a limited set of predefined applications (for example a web browser, mail client and office suite). For this, there will be some changes to the screen you have in the screenshot, but I’ll talk about that a bit later.

Well, this is one of the Aaron-style “explain to the unbelievers why they are wrong”. This is in response to http://blog.kov.eti.br/?p=19 (or you can see the translated version)

Disclaimer: I have nothing against Gnome, I am mentioning it since it was used as a comparison in the original post.

Well, as all trolls on the internet, you have a couple of things obviously not clear to you.

1. Delusion 1. KDE is vapourware because Lancelot is not finished

   First of all, Lancelot is project in the late phase of development (like amarok2) - usable but not finished. See the definition of vapourware if you don’t see where you are mistaken.

   And, not to mention, that Lancelot was not intended to be a part of KDE’s base packages. It’s like saying that Gnome is vapourware because Gimmie is not finished.

2. Delusion 2. KDE is copying Windows (again, example is Lancelot)

   Well, as I see it, you either haven’t used the Windows’ menu, or you haven’t used Lancelot (I bet on the later). Apart from being a /menu/, what are the similarities? Comparing Lancelot to Kickoff or Gimmie (for Gnome) would be more accurate… although still incorrect.

   Besides Lancelot’s “copying” Windows what arguments do you have that other parts of KDE’s desktop are copying it?

3. Delusion 3. KDE stopped focussing on the desktop, and went to develop frameworks

   Developing a complete desktop environment (with a lot more high quality applications than Gnome has for instance) have to begin with building a solid set of frameworks so that later development of actual applications would be easier, and that applications reach new levels of integration. (compare the so called Gnome Office with KOffice)

   KDE 4.0 had most of the frameworks finished, and 4.1 is being built on that. If you are saying that KDE is still ignoring the desktop after the improvements in Plasma that will be in 4.1, than you’re either blind or just don’t want to see.

Conclusion: I was hoping that Aaron will be the only one that has to deal with persons like you, but, apparently (and unfortunately), I was not right.

Still not there

It is time to admit it - Lancelot will not be ready for 4.1. (like you didn’t see that coming)

I know I promised that it will be in a working shape by 4.o, and finished for 4.1, but there were a couple of obstacles for that goal.

• First, there is the fact that Decibel and Akonadi are not finished yet so Lancelot is not able to show the Contacts section. This was the main reason L was not released for 4.o, and still is a show-stopper. Unfortunately it is not the only one.
• Another thing are the problems introduced by the migration to WoC. It took me a lot of time to port everything to /new Plasma/ and there still are some glitches (mostly in the applet, not in the application) that I’m trying to fix.

Well, that is really all…

So, where are we?

The current state of L is not at all that bad when I come to think of it. I have started using it as my main ALI again, and I even use it instead of KRunner for most of the time. Most of the things that worked before WoC transition, work now as well - the application browser, system and documents sections and the KRunner integration.

(Currently) Known issues

• It crashes sometimes when browsing through the applications - currently under investigation
• It is uglier than before (lowest priority problem at the moment)
• It is not configurable (except for applet)
• Contacts section doesn’t work - under construction
• Slowness
• Smaller easily fixable problems

I had encountered a blog on Troll’s website (can not recall where exactly it was, and who posted it… if you find it, please notify me) about creating Java objects from C++. More precisely, creating Qt Jambi widgets and using them in a C++ program.

It gave me an idea. How about a Java-based Plasmoid? We have Python, JavaScript (ECMAScript) and what not, but no Java.

There still are no Java bindings for Plasma, but that doesn’t mean that there can not be Java Plasmoids. If you think that I’m talking gibberish, just look at the following screenshot. As you can see, there are a couple of plasmoids that say Java (to be exact, there are 4 of them).

No, they are not C++ plasmoids that just write ‘Java’ to fool you, those are applets written in Java. You have the code in Plasma’s playground (/trunk/playground/base/plasma/applets/java).

The main problem is setting up the environment.

1. First you have to install Java SDK (tested with SUN’s, it should also work with IcedTea),
2. then, you have to install (or compile) Qt Jambi which is a bit pain in the neck if you have Qt with debug symbols included.
3. And, once it is all installed, you need to set the environment variables both for compiling the applet, and running it in Plasma afterwards. You can use the environment.sh that is included with the source, and modify it to your needs. You also need to change the Jambi’s path in CMakeLists.txt.

Well, that should be all. When I find the time to try to generate Plasma bindings for Java, you will be notified (To be honest, I hope that someone will beat me to it)

Cheerio!

Although my intention was not to make the Contacts section for 4.1 (that is to disable it) and to wait for Telepathy and Akonadi to be integrated into KDE PIM, I just couldn’t wait.

Lancelot now shows on-line contacts from Kopete, altogether with contact pictures. Unfortunately, the D-Bus interface to Kopete is underpowered so the list updating is pooling-based. Alternative would be to make a Lancelot plug-in for Kopete, but that will have to wait for post-4.1 period (if the need for that remains).

No other IM applications are going to be supported for the time being. I intend to make the IM connections pluggable… but it will not be done for 4.1.

The next step will be to populate the left side of the window with e-mail related stuff such as unread messages from KMail.

Well, I confess that I could be called lazy and all, since there is not that much visible progress in Lancelot’s world. But I have a couple of excuses:

• Exams. Unfortunately, I have obligations beside KDE, Plasma and Lancelot. If somebody would like to pay me to do KDE work, I would gladly accept.
• Plasma breakage. As you probably know, Plasma went through API review and conversion to WoC. So, that had to be done for Lancelot as well. And it was quite painful since Lancelot is based on completely custom-made widgets (now in a separate liblancelot library).

So, enough complaining and excuses, Lancelot is now again in buildable state, and more importantly, in a screenshottable state:

(the wallpaper atm is from NetBeans projet’s website).

The news include:

• PUCK: Improvements to PUCK (Plasma UI Compiler) which now has an automatic module generator for custom classes. It parses the class definition and generates Python modules for PUCK (most Lancelot modules for PUCK are generated using this).
• libLancelot: The backgrounds for all widgets are based on SvgPanel.
• Lancelot launcher applet: The main applet is rewritten, and it has a few glitches at the moment. The configuration is now complying with the new Plasma’s configuration framework.
• Lancelot menu: Have I mentioned that it is screenshottable? Nothing more than that ATM.

That’s all for today. Cheerio!