[Kde-pim] GSOC 2010 ::KDE idea - facility for sending short messages Draft for GSOC 2010 kde related project.

[Maciej Mrozowski]

On Sunday 07 of February 2010 10:03:00 Boris shtrasman wrote:
> Hi ,
> I have an idea to implement on GSOC 2010, the changing information can be
> found at http://bit.ly/b1NkZZ (I will update it daily).
> full copy :
> // start
> This is a draft for my idea , pre SRS document - sorry for any grammar or
> spelling errors.
> 
> Idea:
> library that will provide multiway SMS send capabilities for kontact
> applications.
> 
> Implementation:
> 
> I will use existing code in kmobiletools and create new code of my own to
> handle the AT commands for phones that aren't supported.
> To send messages over VoIP I will use PjSIP.
> 
> At the end there will be a simple solution for sending in order to
> send/receive sms via kontact applications.
> I believe that the best place to put the codeis with in kontact.
> 
> Who can benefit from it ?
> kopete and kmail , using Kde facility to send sms on email instead of SMSer
> for example. This feature will enable easy to use add-ons for any PIM
> related messaging.
> 
> What is currently possible:
> 
> writing your own script , invoking third party programs to send sms. no
> single solution for SMS.
> 
> Who are the users (stakeholders) :
> 
> Developers of kopete and kmail,
> End users with the need for sms : from business men to geeks , anyone with
> mobile phone or perhaps a DECT phone that can accessed by AT commands that
> wish to just do his work from kontact. No need to copy the phone number
> from kaddressbook and manually dial. Just send message from kopete. A
> spare mobile ? just connect at home and any email will be sent by sms.
> 
> But what about notifications ? In many places the mobile networks are much
> better then wireless areas (Africa , Middle east , Thailand etc ... ). A
> person without any special knowledge can use this library to send
> notifications to one or many contacts, what about braking news ?
> At the last war in the middle east there was no good solution to know when
> you need to find shelter (since there much less people owning a radio then
> mobile phones) - person can connect his mobile phone to computer and use it
> to send alert messages (at 2008 people actually used that approach to
> notify farmers at the fields). Your have some network connection in
> disaster zone ? plug your mobile to the laptop and directing the RSS, It
> will cost you but it could help everyone else. Also there is the backend -
> sms to email simple and elegant way to communicate. just text someone and
> an email will be sent.
> 
> Expected results:
> 
> After two months of work - library that can send and receive short messages
> from configurable resources.
> 1) Mobiles - using AT commands and third part libraries.
> 2) VoIP - connection to OpenSips and sending SMS using it as a gateway.
> 
> Few extra notes :
> Full documentation to the project.
> Pre built unit test for all aspects.
> Regression tests.
> 
> There two aspects of the project :
> 
> Sending sms via phone:
> 
> Currently the only kde solution for sending sms is kmobiletools, I wish to
> use part of the code with my additions to support much more mobile phones.
> For tools/features that kmobiletools can't deal with I will use gnokii and
> other short messaging implementation mechanisms.
> 
> Sending sms via VoIP:
> There are many options and I prefer the PjSIP project for that.
> 
> Some technical info :
> 
> messages will be held in a message queue so there will be the ability to
> send asynchronously.
> an event will be sent back describing success or failure for some messages.
> messages encoding will be used as phone default (for example UTF16 for
> Russian). maximum length will be tested by library rather then by invoking
> the phone.
> 
> // end of idea

How about using libgnokii solely to access phone? It's the most compatible 
suite to access mobile phones on Linux around. KMobiletools uses only AT and 
trying to use it always resulted in application being frozen.

I wonder maybe writing akonadi sms (or akonadi-gnokii) resource would be 
better (if it's not there already)? Since everything in KDE-pim moves to 
akonadi where possible now, I think it would be better idea to use this 
framework rather than write dedicated KDEPim library with custom library 
interface.

Using gnokii as third party library in my opinion should be preferred over 
writing custom AT/USB/Bluetooth phone library. One has to consider the fact, 
that someone will need to maintain this code after GSOC is done if this code 
is meant to stay in KDEPim and it's easier to achieve when code is simple and 
preferably doesn't require constant updates to make it compatible with new 
phone models.

-- 
regards
MM
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