Gnome 2 Applets Simplified project


Introduction and goals

Gnome 2 Applets Simplified (g2as) is an athempt to simplify the writing of Gnome 2 panel applets. It all started with that I wanted to use the Gnome 2 panel and I wanted to have some of my favorite window maker applets running as gnome 2 panel applets. It grew to become some kind of generic interface between the any applet and gnome 2.
Quite similar to those that exists for window maker applets (wmgeneral & libdockapp).

News

- 24th July 2002 - First public release - g2as-applets v0.1 and g2as v0.5.0

Status

All is still on the development stage, but it is fully functional and I've ported some window maker applets and written some new ones from scratch. See the Applet section.
The biggest problem with gnome applets, comparing to window maker applets, are that you can't use the command line for giving different options and settings to your applet.
Therefore you have to make a preference window, if you want the user to be able to change some settings. I've done preference windows for some of those applet below, using Glade.

Applets

To download ALL applets listed below and g2as in one file go here: (bz2 ~411 kb) or (gz ~619 kb)

If you want to download just some applets, you need to download the g2as too, since it is NOT included in each applet package.
Remember that every applet wants the g2as code to be in the relative catalog ../g2as/

Only the g2as(Gnome 2 Applets Simplified) code can be downloaded here (<9 bk). It comes with some Makefiles and Configure script templates that can be useful if you write your own applets.

Notice that all g2as ports start on version 0.1, no matter what their windowmaker applet version were.

Bubblemon v0.1

Shows some bubbles that depends on the CPU load. There is also a swimming duck.
Port: Yes, from Timecop's Bubblemon v1.4
Size: 50 kb
Download: g2as bubblemon-0.1

Cube v0.1

Rotates a random selected 3D object and displays the current CPU load.
Port: Yes, from Timecop's wmCube/GDK v0.98p2
Size: 39 kb
Download: g2as cube-0.1

Fishtime v0.1

Displays an analog clock with date and some swimming fishes.
Port: Yes, from Timecop's Fishtime v1.23
Size: 38 kb
Download: g2as fishtime-0.1

Grabber v0.1

Shows a slide show of 1-5 local and/or remote images.
Port: No
Size: 33 kb
Download: g2as grabber-0.1

Leds v0.1

Displays the status leds of your keyboard. Usefull if you have a wireless one.
Port: No, but the graphics are taken from the epplet E-Leds 0.2 by Mathias Meisfjordskar (mathiasm at ifi dot uio dot no)
Size: 33 kb
Download: g2as leds-0.1

Moonclock v0.1

Shows the face of the moon and some data at your location.
Port: Yes, of Mike Henderson's (mghenderson at lanl dot gov) wmMoonClock-1.26
Size: 124 kb
Download: g2as moonclock-0.1

Omikuzi v0.1

Shows your luck for today in tradition japanese style.
Port: Yes, from Makoto Sugano's (m-sugano at 01 dot 246 dot ne dot jp) wmomikuzi 0.122
Size: 44 kb
Download: g2as omikuzi-0.1

Pal v0.1

A pal that tells you wise things.
Port: Yes, from A.Sleep's (a.sleep at asleep dot net) wmpal-0.5
Size: 122 kb
Download: g2as pal-0.1

Sun v0.1

Tells you when the sun rises and set.
Port: Yes, of Mike Henderson's (mghenderson at lanl dot gov) wmSun-1.03
Size: 48 kb
Download: g2as sun-0.1

Tetris v0.1

Tetris..no need to say more..
Port: From srs25 at cornell dot edu's wmtetris-0.1. Homepage is gone or unknown to me.
Size: 37 kb
Download: g2as tetris-0.1

Weather v0.1

Tells you about the weather at any place.
Port: No, but some graphics are taken from gforecast
Size: 38 kb
Download: g2as weather-0.1


Sourceforge download page for g2as

How to write applets with g2as

There is no documentation yet, and there might be changes in the API. I think best start is to start looking on one of the simplier applets, like omikuzi, and it will probably give you a good start. Something that might be important to know is that atleast stdout & stderr are closed for gnome 2 panel applets, so you won't see any printf's you do. Therefore I've written a substitute for printf() that is named deprintf() that opens a textarea in a new window. (look at the file debugwindow.c) But that window isn't threaded, so it doesn't handle segfaults that good.

Need help?

Don't hesitage to mail me about any questions about g2as!
If you plan to write an applet that uses g2as, and need some help, mail me!
Need some new features for your applet? Mail me!
Want some window maker applet ported? Mail me!
(mail address se bottom of the page)

Links

Sherman's aquarium - My other project.
Sherman's Lagoon - Home page of my favorite comic.
Ben Sinclair's dockapp warehouse - A big collection of window maker applets
SourceForge Logo Gnome 2 applet simplified project by Jonas Aaberg cja at gmx dot net.