RFC: Managing remote folders, KNetAttach sequel

[George Staikos]

I gave this a try and I'm quite impressed.  We need this in KDE 3.4.  Let's 
move knetattach over to kdebase and activate compilation of remote:/.  
KNetAttach needs support for FTP meanwhile, and some graphics.  Any artists 
or GUI gurus feel like hacking at the UI to make it a bit more pretty?

Also, any suggestions on where we should place remote:/ and/or knetattach to 
make them quite prominent?

On Monday 29 November 2004 17:51, Kévin Ottens wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> Two weeks ago, Georges Staikos mailed about KNetAttach. This nice wizard
> allows to add links to remote folders on your desktop. It's very convenient
> to help users "find" ioslaves easily without typing unfriendly URLs.
>
> Then, I worked on a remote:/ ioslave and patched knetattach to be aware of
> remote:/. This way the new entires are available on remote:/ instead of the
> desktop itself (which could populate rapidly for example). Currently
> remote:/ displays all the knetattach entry saved by the user and a special
> entry to launch the knetattach wizard.
>
> The solution is still a bit rough, and we need to be sure of the path to
> follow before going further...
>
> The goal of KNetAttach+remote:/ is to allow to browse remote folder easily
> for the user. It should be easily reachable.
>
> ------
>
> Other desktops have their own solutions for this problem.
>
> 1) Gnome
> They use a dialog like this one:
> http://www.tectonic.co.za/graphics/connecttowhat.png
> And (afaik) it adds the resulting links on the desktop.
>
> 2) Mac OS X
> Use a dialog like this one:
> http://www.oreillynet.com/network/2000/11/10/osx_webdav/connect.jpg
> And it adds links on the desktop.
>
> 3) MS Windows
> Use a wizard (afaik)
> And it adds link in a "My Network Places" folder.
> I'm really windows illiterate... so if someone has better informations on
> this...
>
> ------
>
> Our typical use cases are:
>
> 1) A user wants to access a remote share for the first time. He will use
> knetattach for this.
>
> 2) A user wants to go back to a previously saved location. He will use the
> resulting link for this.
>
> Then, it should be easy to find the wizard or the desktop files when you
> have in mind to browse remote share.
>
> ------
>
> We have currently four solution to reach our goals (having knetattach and
> its links easy to reach):
>
> 1) Modify nothing
> remote:/ is reachable in system:/ and we have a link to system:/ on the
> desktop.
>
> 2) Add a link to remote:/ on the desktop
> This way the links and the wizard are one click away from the desktop.
> Maybe as a bonus we can remove the remote:/ entry from system:/ (system
> would be only about local locations then).
> There's an issue there, how do we ensure that this link is created for
> people upgrading? Recently links to system:/ and to trash:/ have been added
> to the desktop. Do user upgrading their install will have those new links?
> I'd like some more information on this.
>
> 3) Add links created from knetattach to the desktop itself
> Does it means that remote:/ is useless then? :-/
>
> 4) Make a kicker menuext
> It's of course compatible with 1, 2 and 3... It's just another way to
> access the links and the wizard.
>
> ------
>
> I personally prefer 1) or 2) because I'd really dislike seeing more and
> more links added to the desktop.
> Both solutions 1) and 2) allow a quick access to remote, with a plus for
> 2). I see another advantage to 2) with its bonus, it's that it gives a
> better separation between accessing something locally or on the network
> (system:/ becoming dedicated to local things).
>
> I surely miss a lot of things... and since I need some sleep, I let you
> comment and add more thoughts on this. ;-)
>
> Regards.

-- 
George Staikos
KDE Developer				http://www.kde.org/
Staikos Computing Services Inc.		http://www.staikos.net/