[Konversation-devel] [Bug 100313] New: marking chatlines for the purpose of extracting information for use in other information systems

[Rajeev J Sebastian]

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http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=100313         
           Summary: marking chatlines for the purpose of extracting
                    information for use in other information systems
           Product: konversation
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: Compiled Sources
        OS/Version: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: wishlist
          Priority: NOR
         Component: general
        AssignedTo: konversation-devel kde org
        ReportedBy: rajeev_jsv yahoo com


Version:            (using KDE KDE 3.4.0KDE 1.2KDE 1.2)
Installed from:    Compiled From SourcesCompiled From SourcesCompiled From Sources
OS:                Linux

[20:38] <insanekane> ok, off to add a wish to the konvi bug tracker :)
[20:38] <cartman> insanekane: shoot here first
[20:38] <cartman> :)
[20:39] <insanekane> well, i was thinking ... it would be nice to have checkboxes against each chat message ...
[20:39] <insanekane> so that the user can mark lines, and run scripts ...
[20:39] <insanekane> then a python script for eg, could automatically add stuff to wikis or things

........

[20:40] <cartman> ah
[20:40] <cartman> that requires a big interface change :/
[20:40] <insanekane> so, if i was asking a doubt in python on the python channel, and someone provided a good answer, then i could "mark" the lines and add them to a FAQ or something ...
[20:40] <insanekane> cartman: well, it could be an option right ?
[20:40] <motoom> Right now, you can select text in the chat window by dragging the mouse.
[20:40] <insanekane> motoom: hehe :)
[20:40] <motoom> Maybe this selected text can be queried using DCOP?
[20:41] <cartman> insanekane: well it would require a real scripting interface
[20:41] <cartman> insanekane: unless you select text via cursor
[20:41] <insanekane> motoom: good idea indeed .... thanks ... wonder why i didnt think of that :)

............


[20:43] <motoom> So Konv should make a private copy of any selected text in a separate buffer, each time when the user selects a block of text, and that buffer should be readable through DCOP...
[20:44] <motoom> then you can make a /postwiki script command which queries the buffered text and posts it somewhere

.............

[20:55] <insanekane> psn_: no, i do not restrict what the script can do, except for transfering the selection to some kind of information system ... say a issue tracking system, or a support ticketing system, or a wiki, or a FAQ :)

......

[20:57] <insanekane> psn_: problem is, too many systems needs to cooperate ... its simple enough to make a library in konversation ... but getting it to be used is a different matter
[20:58] <insanekane> library as in a set of functions that can be called by scripts

.........

[21:19] <insanekane> psn_: well, you dont need to use irc to evaluate the value of the idea ... its quite simple ... irc is one of the most dynamic problem fixing environments ... couple that with the lack of time developers spend on actual documentation ... equals, the requirement for greater and greater automation of documentation ... hence the wiki, and hence my new idea :)

..............

[21:20] <tightcode_away> insanekane: what may be an easir idea, and less cluttered than checkboxes would be a keypress + click which would select lines, then right click -> send selected lines to _choice of scripts or actions_

..........

[21:21] <insanekane> tightcode_away: hehe, thats for all the KDE developers to debate on ... the specific mechanisms of implementing it ... mine is just a damn idea ;)
[21:21] <tightcode_away> insanekane: a method of highlighting lines and next more within the original boundaries of using a highlighter (Versus highlighting because your nick is in it)
[21:22] <tightcode_away> s/next/text
[21:22] <insanekane> err ...
[21:22] <insanekane> i dont understand your last statement
[21:22] <tightcode_away> insanekane: then performing an action on the highlighted information
[21:23] <tightcode_away> insanekane: do you use any word processing software ? OO, staroffice, msoffice, etc... ?
[21:23] <insanekane> yes
[21:23] <tightcode_away> you know the highlighter function they all have ?
[21:23] <tightcode_away> highlight words, paragraphs, sentences etc... in a document...
[21:23] <insanekane> yes
[21:23] <tightcode_away> you know the highlighter function they all have ?
[21:23] <tightcode_away> highlight words, paragraphs, sentences etc... in a document...
[21:24] <insanekane> ok ....
[21:25] <tightcode_away> basically combine that with a right click perform action on highlighted text. Several firefox extensions do this. your idea could be the merger of the two things.
[21:25] <tightcode_away> ctrl+click drag = highligh / shifth+click drag = unhighlight then right click, send highlighted text to -> clipboard, wiki, google, email etc...
[21:28] <insanekane> hmm well, similiar to what i said, except for the actual mechanism
[21:28] <insanekane> err, not similiar ... exactly what i said ..
[21:28] <insanekane> i originally started with checkboxes and then settled on selections ..
[21:29] <insanekane> but so far, i think checkboxes could be a much simpler way ...





---------------------------------
I beg forgiveness from the Konvi developers for editing an IRC conversation for this wishlist entry :) But I think, it has adequately described the problem/wish. The reason I think checkboxes are better, are because:

1) I only need a method for quickly selecting a set of chatlines - multi-selections are nice :) but they are too complex to maintain when it is a long conversation, ie, the text selection is quite easy to lose , and one would have to start from scratch again.

2) Further editing is almost a given - most of the extracted information would possibly be formatted heavily to serve as generic documentation (ie, taken out of the context of a conversation). so there is no loss in marking an entire chat line.

3) by adding selecting only chatlines, it would be possible (for eg in konversation) to also add information like who answered the question, etc. This would be useful in identifying the source of the answer to add as a contributor in the documentation (in addition to the formatter)

Let me repeat one line I said during the conversation:

"irc is one of the most dynamic problem fixing environments ... couple that with the lack of time developers spend on actual documentation ... equals, the requirement for greater and greater automation of documentation ... hence the wiki, and hence my new idea :)"

I'm sure many of you too have had the urge to file a bug report, but found the process to be way too tedious: for e.g., in order to add this wishlist entry, i had to go through a lot of useless (to my untrained mind) forms such as whether i have compiled KDE or installed from prebuilt packages etc. But thats a story for another wishlist entry ;)

I can think of many places with which this feature could be used:
issue tracking system, 
support ticketing system,
wiki,
FAQ,
a joke site like bash ? ;)
etc
etc

Thanks for listening and thanks for KDE :)