(Minor Update 4/11/09) : New version 1.2.8

- Mime Type integration... mostly you will notice icons for certain filetypes... doc files and excel files have nice icons, and there are simple icons for .cpp, .py, .sh, .csv, .rtf, .cs, .h files.
- Removed Debian Hack since its not needed any more
- Added geany, pygtkeditor, leafpad

Thaks goes to hvacengi for the gui editor, which allows you to configure everything... without having to use xterm.

Dbus-Switchboard Version 1.2.8

You may need a reboot after first install.

Overview :
Normally, the File Manager and web browser can only launch hildonized programs, passing parameters over dbus messaging. DBus-Switchboard intercepts those messages for certain mime types (file types) and passes them over the command-line to programs which were not coded for dbus (like mplayer and transmission).

So basically, you install the dbus-switchboard program. Immediately certain filetypes should be 'activated'... for instance bittorrents and the last chance 'catch-all' mime type : application/octet-stream. Pretty much if your maemo os doesnt know what mime type a file is, then it just calls it application/octet-stream... which will pick up xls, csv, flv, gpx... pretty much all the types which dont already have a nokia app to handle it.

If you want to take over a type currently handled by a maemo application you would load the dbus-switchboard gui program and go to the defaults tab to enable intercept of that mime type. You can find the mime type of a file by tapping-and-holding the file in file manager and choose 'Details' and the 'type' is the entry you will need to intercept in the 'defaults' tab of dbus switchboard gui.

Once intercepted, you will need to have an application in the xref tab which maps the actual file extension of such files to a 'handler' which is specially formed command line for launching programs which accept command line parameters.

So the mapping goes OS->(defaults)->DBus-Switchboard->(xref)->(handlers)-> finally to the app you want to use.

All configuration is done in the (defaults), (xref), and (handlers) tabs.

Parameter Options :
Dbus-Switchboard gets a filename from Dbus when a file is launched from file manager or microb browser... this filename is not always in a format which command line programs understand. I provide several parameter (filename) formats which convert special chars to hex encodings, or vise versa and also provide gnome vfs file format (file://) or traditional volume mounting (/home/user/test.doc)

Example of param evaluations :

%params% : file:///media/mmc1/My%20Sample.doc
%params2% : /media/mmc1/My%20Sample.doc
%realparams% : converts any hex to actual symbols... you will probably need quotes
%realparams2% : same as above but forces filename starts with file://


Main functionality supported :

- AVI support for mplayer (enable video/x-msvideo) in defaults tab
- torrent support for Transmission (automatically enabled application/x-bittorrent)
- XLS and CSV files are now associated with Gnumeric
- XLS support using OpenOffice Calc (debian chroot)
- GPX file support using maemo-mapper
- DOC viewer using Antiword to convert PDF for display (download antiword here).
- DOC, ODT support using OpenOffice Writer (debian chroot)
- PPT (powerpoint) support using OpenOffice Impress (debian chroot)
- Evince for PDFs (enable application/pdf in defaults tab)
- MID (midi file) support for timidity
- Ebook formats PDB, MOBI, CHM, RTF support using fbreader (CHM support in fbreader is limited)

Other programs can be added within the program. To determine the mime type associated with your file, tap-and-hold stylus on you file in File Manager and view details to see the 'type'... if not already associated (and not blank), then that type should be enabled in dbus-switchboard's defaults tab and an appropriate handler and xref should be set up to handle files of similar extension (.rm, .cbz, .mp4)

For FBReader, check out http://memoware.com and look primarily for Plucker, Mobipocket, or RTF. PDB files come in various formats but i have only had luck with the pdb files in Plucker format.

Once installed you can enable and disable which defaults (mime types) dbus-switchboard will intercept. For example, double clicking on 'x-mp3' in the defaults tab will route all mp3's to XMMS by default, or it could go to whatever other program you configure it for.

Currently the main tabs you should use are Xrefs, Handlers, and Defaults (screenshots at end of post). The Urls and Uri tabs are not functional but the should usually not be used anyways.

Parameter handling is inconsistent among the maemo apps available. Some only accept dbus parameters, some only accept command line parameters, some accept both dbus and command line parameters, and some accept neither.

If you attempt to associate an application i haven't configured it for, it may or may not work or require specially forming the command line setting in dbus-switchboard config files before it will accept it. Experiment launching files yourself from xterm to get the command line right.

If you figure out new apps that work, let me know and i'll add them to configuration files.

To debug (if association doesnt work), load in xterm dbus-switchboard.py so that future request are logged (visible) in xterm console. This isnt necessary though since hildon will launch it invisibly if you dont manually have it loaded.