[GSoC] Plasma File Sender idea

[Aaron J. Seigo]

On Monday, March 5, 2012 16:20:46 Detlev Casanova wrote:
> That widget is based on the currently opened document in an application
> which means that

"currently opened" is a bit too specific. selecting files in a file manager would 
qualify, for instance. selecting a contact in a chat or from an addressbook 
would too. etc...

>  1) the application must be aware of the widget

it just needs to advertise its content using KActivities::ResourceInstance. 
this goes back to the concept of "strong separation of data, mechanism and 
visualization". the app just says "i've got <foo>" and then who knows what the 
system does with it ;)

note that in a kdelibs branch, we have it working with *any* kpart, without 
the application needing to think about it.

this is also independent of drag and drop which could also be used to trigger 
SLC.

>  2) Sending multiple files is not the aim of the widget

there's no reason it can't work on multiple files.

>  3) There are some clicks to do to have it done.

no more than in your suggestion...

> Also, currently, it only exists for Plasma Active but is in fact planned to
> be ported to Plasma Desktop.

there is no such thing as "exists for Plasma $ShellA, to be ported to 
$ShellB". the idea of components that work in any shell is probably the most 
basic, fundamental concept in plasma. so it is unsurprising, then, that i have 
SLC in my panel on my laptop. no 'porting' needed.

we have to get rid of this idea that things are specific to a shell from our 
head. it is fatally limiting and tempts us to design entire shells around 
specific features in ways that are unecessary.

> A problem I can see with this is that non aware applications wouldn't react
> with the widget, that could somehow discourage the user (why does it work
> with Gwenview but not with LibreOffice ?)

if you stick to drag hover as a trigger, it will work just fine. otherwise, 
there is very little to be done for non-kde apps.

-- 
Aaron J. Seigo
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