[Panel-devel] Plasma GHNS layout bundles

[Ryan Nickell]

On Saturday 08 October 2005 16:40, Nathan Humbert wrote:
> I have been working on the "Design GHNS ability to download Plasma
> preconfigured layout" task for a while.
> I think I have figured out the direction I think things should go and
> I would like to get some feedback before I
> do anything stupid :-)
>
> What I am thinking right now is the "bundle" would basically be a XML
> file that would store the basic settings
> (Kicker, Kmenu, etc) and a list of dependencies (Applets, background
> images, etc).

I also proposed something similar.  The "bundle" could be some new mimetype 
defined as a plasma layout type.  That "bundle" would have an xml file that 
defines relative layouts of different plasmoids similar to how kickerrc now 
holds information about applets in kicker.
 
> Then the GHNS client framework would 
> need to be expanded to read through this XML file and retrieve the
> dependencies from the appropriate GHNS repository.
> The expanded framework should also allow the user to choose which
> elements of the "bundle" they wish to get and
> allow them to opt for newer versions if available.

I'm not sure that it would need expanded as we've done some work with GHNS in 
SuperKaramba.  The xml file that we use for our application defines different 
information about each theme such as author, description, etc.  I don't see 
why we couldn't just have each layout item defined, and then the option to 
enable/disable that particular item would be up to the user.

Of course this means there is some configurable interface to viewing/selecting 
the layout items in kcontrol or someplace else.  My hope was to add a 
kcontrol module that does the GHNS downloading, viewing screenshot of layout, 
and management (i.e. uninstall, apply, etc.) similar to how Backgrounds are 
now, but more oriented towards the entire desktop.

>
> One big question I have right now is where this functionality should
> be implemented. Should it be generalized
> and put into the knewstuff framework or should it be implemented in plasma?

GHNS should be fine as it is now.  I'd shoot for how best to implement GHNS in 
plasma.  Maybe something like how I mentioned above.  My view may be a bit 
overkill since we already have a Theme Manager, but I think with the 
introduction of "workspaces" in plasma and the idea of plasma layout configs, 
it may be time to revisit the Theme Manager and breathe new life into it.

>
> Comments? Suggestions?
>
> Nathan Humbert

-Ryan Nickell