[Kde-pim] KMail and multiple KMMainWidgets

[Szymon Stefanek]

On Tuesday 27 May 2008, Ingo Klöcker wrote:

> I'm using multiple main windows because of the fact that all new
> messages in a folder are marked as unread as soon as one leaves this
> folder. So when I'm reading the new messages in my inbox I cannot
> quickly switch to another folder to look something up and then switch
> back to my inbox because this would cause all not yet read new messages
> in my inbox to lose their 'new' status.
>
> > - Would you notice if we removed the support at all ?
>
> Yes, I would notice.

Hehe.. you were the KMail mantainer.. I bet you would notice :P
You're also a very advanced user from this point of view.

I use KMail since many years and I have discovered the "multiple
toplevel windows" feature only once I've found it in the sources...
(that is some weeks ago).

> Note, that I do not really need multiple main windows for the above, but
> I really want to be able to open several folders at the same time.
> Adding folder tabs (with message list and message preview pane) would
> be a possible alternative solution for this. Or a separate folder
> window (i.e. a main window without the folder list).

I can come out with several solutions.

A very simple one could be a special kind of selection: middle click for 
example. Middle Click would not remove the "new" state of messages when 
switching folders... Et voila' :)

Another one (but more complex) would be to have multiple 
Headers/MessagePreview panes, as you suggest. We could implement this by 
still keeping the same unique mHeaders pointer in the sources: it would just 
point to the active tab. The inactive ones would just sit 
there "disconnected" and de-facto invisible.

Yet another (but more questionable and maybe more resource consuming) approach 
would be to change a bit the meaning of the "new" flag. We could switch
from "new" to "unread" by either reading a message (displaying it in the
preview pane) or by a configurable timeout (say, 2 hours by default) and not 
by selecting a folder and then selecting another. 

If you think of it, the actual new->unread state change is also very 
susceptible to trivial errors: who doesn't select the wrong folder once
in a while ? By selecting the wrong folder you loose the "new" status
for all the messages inside.

-- 

Szymon Stefanek

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