Preferred Applications revisited, part two

[Luca Cavalli <loopback slackit org>]

Hi,
few days ago I posted a message about my intention to rewrite Preferred
Applications capplet using a more modern gui (similar to the one you can
see in gnome-volume-properties), and, as a second step, to extend it
supporting other application categories. Well, step one is done.
Attached to bug #171872 [1] you can find a tarball with the source code
of the applet and a screenshot of the gui.

* Applications info are now stored in an external XML file. Paolo
Borelli (pbor) suggested me also another nice idea: to use .desktop
files stored somewhere like
$XDG_DATA_DIRS/gnome-default_apps/web_browsers,
$XDG_DATA_DIRS/gnome-default_apps/mail_readers, and so on... This will
also remove the libxml dependency. It is not as Sebastien suggested
(using .desktop files from /usr/sharep/applications/, extended with an
entry to specify the application category, i.e. "Feature: web_browser"
for apps capable to open url links), but a sort of. Comments are
welcome.

* Now users can choose where to open web links: in a new window or in a
new tab inside the current browser instance. If the selected web browser
doesn't support this option the radio buttons are disabled.

* when users fill the web browser command directly in gconf editor, the
capplet should be smart enough to select the correct web browser open
mode (window or tab) radio button.

* there is a tooltip which informs users about the %s option, when they
use custom commands.

* Opera web browser has been added to the list.

* This is a first (second, to be honest, the first had a little bug)
release and code needs to be cleaned up, maybe a bit reorganized... I'm
waiting for your suggestions and patches.

Ciao,

Luca


[1] http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=171872