Re: Further dev work?

[Matt Davey <mcdavey mrao cam ac uk>]

On Fri, 2007-12-28 at 16:22 -0500, Evan wrote:
> 
> I found the code for drag n' drop, as well as what I think are the gtk
> bindings nearer the bottom. I also skimmed through the basics of gtk
> here: http://www.gtk.org/tutorial/ Where exactly is the
> gnome_pilot_client_install_file that is being called? I searched
> through a couple of possible files but couldn't find it.

The 'install_file' method is actually defined in
gpilotd/gnome-pilot-client.gob, which is processed to create
gpilotd/gnome-pilot-client.c

You'll pretty soon discover that the gnome-pilot code is not pretty,
unfortunately.  The good news is that you probably don't need to look at
much of it to work on the code.

I'd encourage you see what you can do to improve the 'drag and drop'
functionality.  Here are some ideas for features.
     1. PDB/PRC files may always be installed.  We could add support for
        wrapping image files as done in 'par' and we could add support
        for text files by converting to memos or 'DOC'.  We should not
        accept files that we can't convert to PDBs (or alternatively we
        could support upload to removable media in a user-specified
        folder).  These options would need to be controlled via a 'per
        pda' set of preferences.
     2. File installation is virtually a 'hidden feature' at the moment.
        We could add 'install file...' as another option in the
        right-click menu for the applet.  This would pop up a file
        browser and let you select a file to install.
     3. We should add error handling when files can't be installed
        rather than having them sit in the queue, e.g. if the removable
        media directory didn't exist.
     4. Add management for the queue of files to install (see what's
        scheduled, per pda, and allow removal).

Of these, number 1 is probably the most useful, but none of them are
trivial.

> I noticed that lines 1292-1299 are commented out, and seem to refer to
> the ability to drag a text-file to the applet and have it install as a
> memo rather than a file. From what I understand about gnome-pilot,
> this doesn't sound too hard (maybe just extract the text and pass it
> to evolution as a new memo? is there an api for that?).

There is code in the 'memo-file' conduit (in gnome-pilot-conduits) that
supports conversion between text and memos.  I suspect, though, that
people wanting desktop support for memos will just paste text into
Evolution and use the evolution memo conduit.

>  Would this be a good basic project to help get me started, or is it
> more complicated then it looks? 

I would suggest adding support for image files, and blocking non pdb/prc
files would be a useful starting point.  As Tom has pointed out, we need
image support for when we come to support the Contacts database.  It may
be more complicated than you think, but we can try to help here.

Happy New Year,

Matt 

> Evan
> 
> On Dec 28, 2007 3:23 PM, David A. Desrosiers <desrod gnu-designs com>
> wrote:
>         On Fri, 2007-12-28 at 12:18 -0800, Reitsma, Rene - COB wrote:
>         > I mailed to this listserv some time ago when after a kernel
>         update in
>         > July 2007 my Z22 stopped syncing. My mail generated some
>         discussion 
>         > which I have followed but I have lost track of whether or
>         not anyone
>         > got the Z22 to work, and if so, how.
>         
>         
>         pilot-link 0.12.3 contains some fixes/workarounds that
>         directly apply to
>         the Z22 issue. 
>         
>         If you aren't using the libpisock version mated to 0.12.3,
>         then I would
>         strongly suggest building it and then building the necessary
>         components
>         that work with it, and try again (or wait for someone to build
>         packages 
>         based on those versions and ship them to your distro's package
>         repository).
>         
>         I know that the people with Z22 devices that tried these
>         workarounds
>         have it working, so it should work for you as well.
>         
>         
>         --
>         
>         David A. Desrosiers
>         desrod gnu-designs com
>         Skype...: 860-967-3820
>         
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>         
> 
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