Re: gnome-recent in libegg

[James Henstridge <james daa com au>]

James Willcox wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've created some code that stores recently used files called
> gnome-recent (it was mentioned on this list before).  It has a
> model-view design, and currently has gtk+ and libbonoboui "views" which
> are used to reflect the current contents of the file list.  Currently
> gedit is using this code, and an older modified version is in gdl.  It
> is probably still far from perfect, but I would like to get it into
> libegg so at least people will see it.  It currently lives in CVS module
> gnome-recent.  What do you guys think?
>  
Sounds like a good idea to have in libegg.

It would probably be a good idea to do a writeup of how the code should 
be used.  Maybe include some comparisons with how windows and MacOS 
handle this.  Some other things you might want to consider are:

   * recently used documents for a particular application (like the
     list often found at the bottom of the file menu), or desktop wide
     (like the documents submenu off the start menu on windows), or both?
   * Should programs that edit the same file types have the same recent
     lists? (ie. is it the 4 last documents edited with GEdit, or the 4
     last text/plain documents edited?)

I am sure you can think of other things.  Looking at these issues should 
help make sure the code is useful to the maximum number of people. 
There was some code to handle recent documents in older versions of 
libgnome or libgnomeui, but no one ever used it (I can't remember if it 
was due to it being a bad API, lack of visibility or something else). 
It would be good to make sure the replacement is done right.

Note that writing this up is not a waste of time -- it can become part 
of the documentation of your code.  It will also make it easier for 
others to comment/contribute.

James.

--
Email: james daa com au              | Linux.conf.au 2003 Call for Papers out
WWW:   http://www.daa.com.au/~james/ |   http://conf.linux.org.au/cfp.html