Re: gnome-vfs API freeze items

[Jens Finke <jens triq net>]

Hi,

On 1 Sep 2001, Jonathan Blandford wrote:
>
> > > > * 8544 - [API] add thumbnail support
> > > >      Note: I would personally make this a 2.2 item, but Lutz seems to
> > > >      want it. It will almost certainly end up 2.2 unless Lutz steps up
> > > >      to the plate with some code soon. :-)
> > >
> > > I thought the thumbnail spec being worked on just listed a place where
> > > you could find thumbnails.  I don't see why we need special support in
> > > GNOME-vfs for it?
> >
> > Digital cameras can provide thumbnails directly. See the bug report. I
> > don't know if this will really need an API change, maybe the
> > thumbnails can just magically appear in URI space where the thumbnail
> > spec specifies (I guess I need to read the thumbnail spec and comment
> > at some point).
>
> That's what I think makes the most sense.  A separate thumbnail API
> seems redundant to me.

I am the author of the current thumbnail spec and want to share my vision
with you here.

The thumbnail spec defines a way how and where to store thumbnails.
Since this became quit complex it involves much more than just loading a
image like  ~/.thumbnails/my-thumb.png (see also the spec at
http://triq.net/~pearl/thumbnail-spec/). So there is a need for a library
which handles all this stuff and which has a simple API like

GdkPixbuf*
thumb_factory_request_thubmnail (gchar *image_path)

It then would try to find exisiting thumbnails or creates a new one if
neccessary. If any gnome program needs to implement this functionality
seperately this would result in unneccessary code duplication.

The broader vision for this is to support not only image thumbnails but
also previews for HTML, PDF, text or other filetypes (based on mime-type
identification and a plug-in system, maybe through bonobo). Anyway, I am
currently working on a seperate library, which supports all this (at least
for simple images). Since I don't want to add yet another library to the
gnome platform I think something like gnome-vfs could be the right place
if my work is matured enough.

However, at least for my code this is definitely a 2.2 issue.

Regards,

   Jens