Re: libgnome-applet, GnomeApplet, etc. etc.

[Tom Tromey <tromey redhat com>]

>>>>> "Davyd" == Davyd Madeley <davyd madeley id au> writes:

Davyd> We also wanted to handle the programatic addition and removal of applets
Davyd> to allow for hardware hotplugging and possible implement some sort of
Davyd> interface that allowed for applets to be dragged to and from the desktop
Davyd> and the panel (similar to something in KDE's Plasma).

Lately I've hacked up netx (a free java web start implementation; also
called "JNLP") so that it is possible to download a java application
and generate a .desktop file for it.

What I'm trying to aim for is the ability to drag a .jnlp link from
mozilla to the panel (or desktop), and (1) have a launcher show up,
and (2) download and cache the application immediately (so that you
can unplug your laptop and the app will still work).

I still haven't looked at the panel side of this ... maybe you could
give me a pointer.

I did think up one oddity that would be nice to address.  With JNLP
you can specify that an application is only useful online.  Ideally
this would translate into the launcher being disabled when there is no
net connection.  But, afaik, there's no way to have predicates like
this on a launcher.

Perhaps instead of generating .desktop files and launchers, I ought to
be looking at writing my own panel applet that handles JNLP stuff
directly?  You tell me :-)

Tom