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Posts: 3 | Thanked: 3 times | Joined on Feb 2010 @ Moscow, Russia
#91
Shepherd is an application a lot of users would like to see done, with a rich set of actions and with integration into desktop. As a student, who is eligible for the Google Summer of Code program, I can help with getting this done and doing all the menial work it takes to develop an app of good quality.

First, is such collaboration possible? And if it is, what is still unimplemented amongst the desired features?

Thanks.

Last edited by shvedsky; 2010-04-08 at 07:09.
 

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#92
Originally Posted by shvedsky View Post
Shepherd is an application a lot of users would like to see done, with a rich set of actions and with integration into desktop. As a student, who is eligible for the Google Summer of Code program, I can help with getting this done and doing all the menial work it takes to develop an app of good quality.

First, is such collaboration possible? And if it is, what is still unimplemented amongst the desired features?
More helping hands are always welcome ! We already have a GSoC application (and one submitted student proposal which is concentrating on the API and verious plugins mentioned in this thread), but that does not mean you can’t make your own proposal ! As for the thinnest of all areas, that must be the Qt GUI, and our current proposal is also more plugin oriented.

Also, regardless of GSoC I’d like to see some contributors/volunteers ! The reason the code/app is not in extras-devel is that it’s all too easy to brick yourself with incorrect power management or network settings, but if you’re a developer, it’s not that much of an issue and a lot of stuff *can* be done even on desktops (Qt FTW) so join in to make the project ready for Extras !
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#93
Originally Posted by attila77 View Post
More helping hands are always welcome ! We already have a GSoC application (and one submitted student proposal which is concentrating on the API and verious plugins mentioned in this thread), but that does not mean you can’t make your own proposal ! As for the thinnest of all areas, that must be the Qt GUI, and our current proposal is also more plugin oriented.
The thing is that making up a succesful proposal (with high chance to be accepted) requires outlining the schedule of what will be done. Maemo has a lot of project ideas, and competition will be high. So the proposal to improve shepherd should look as good as possible in the eyes of mentors. And as usual it should be done "by yesterday" so it's only several hours left to deadline (but that's totally my fault).

I couldn't find source code of shepherd anywhere, so I'll try to outline what tasks there are in the project and what progress is made. It's just my guesses, and sorry if I offend you with underestimation. :-) I'll rely on the following guesses in my proposal, but if you correct something, I can fix my proposal as well.
  • A nice, non-geeky GUI in Qt - GUI currently is very basic, and the Qt features used suffer from platform bugs
  • API for plugins - works, but needs improvement
  • Plugins (both conditions and actions) - several basic ones are ready, creating more plugins is necessary
  • Scheduling functionality - completed and very powerful
  • Integration with the OS (in plugins) - needs improvement, so that user just clicks buttons and doesn't input scary numbers :-)
  • integration with a mapping application for location-based conditions - not done

Did I miss or underestimated completion of something?

Last edited by shvedsky; 2010-04-09 at 10:51.
 

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#94
Originally Posted by shvedsky View Post
So the proposal to improve shepherd should look as good as possible in the eyes of mentors.
Well, likely I'd be that mentor (already talked about it with vdvsx, our GSoC coordinator).

[*]A nice, non-geeky GUI in Qt - GUI currently is very basic
Technically, there *is* no GUI currently The core uses Qt, but is set/communicated with via config files (which we would need the GUI for, to make it useable to end users).

[*]API for plugins - works, but needs improvement
More like stabilization to be interesting to 3rd party developers (not much fun in developing for a moving API).

[*]Plugins (both conditions and actions) - several basic ones are ready, creating more plugins is necessary[*]Scheduling functionality - completed and very powerful[*]Integration with the OS (in plugins) - needs improvement, so that user just clicks buttons and doesn't input scary numbers :-)[*]integration with a mapping application for location-based conditions - not done
Correct (except for the buttons, we don't have those yet , and the mapping application - location stuff is supported by system libs).

So, as said, the thinnest segment is the GUI, but based on the feedback from this thread there is no such thing as too many possible triggers or actions

I will try to make some introductory docs (Shepherd from 10.000 ft) and a code drop. I'm sorry that I did not think about it earlier myself. Until I got the GSoC request just a couple of days ago, I just waited for the PR1.2 mess to resolve and to have some safeguards in place, but now I realize I should have had at least something at the ready (yes, release early, release often, duh ).
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Last edited by attila77; 2010-04-09 at 10:58.
 

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#95
Originally Posted by attila77 View Post
Well, likely I'd be that mentor (already talked about it with vdvsx, our GSoC coordinator).
That's good news! But as far as I'm aware of the proposal selection process, the more mentors consider the application cool, the more chances to be accepted it has.

More like stabilization to be interesting to 3rd party developers (not much fun in developing for a moving API).
Yes, that's what I meant.


Correct (except for the buttons, we don't have those yet , and the mapping application - location stuff is supported by system libs).
Cool, it seems I'm good in [s]guessing[/s] analyzing.

About location: locations can be processed without mapping application, that's true. But it would be very cool for user to actually see on the map the locations of interest, set them manually, adjust radius, etc. Check the Android Locale screenshots.

It will increase the user base of Shepherd dramatically: people love bells and whistles. And it will increase the user base of the application Shepherd would be integrated with, so I don't think its maintainers would be unfriendly.

So, as said, the thinnest segment is the GUI, but based on the feedback from this thread there is no such thing as too many possible triggers or actions
I think one proposal can incorporate both.
 
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#96
Ok, so I'm going crazy waiting for PR1.2's release mostly so I can play with this app and start going script crazy.

In the meantime I'll ask some questions about the app's current and planned capabilities.

Predicates that I'd like to see:
* location (position, allowed radius, accurazy, speed)
* time of day / day of week (cron style or whatever)
* time interval
* internet connection (cell connection vs wifi--including ESSID)

Actions that I'd like to see:
* run an app (determine if it's running--if not, start it up)
* close an app
* set profile (ringer, volume, etc)
* toggle FM transmitter
* run general script, which can totally open up opportunities

Addition desired features
* Easy way to share new predicates and actions (single, self-contained file or folder for each one? Maybe some sort of hosted repository of them?)


How else are people hoping to leverage this app? Kill time with me.
 

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#97
Originally Posted by twoboxen View Post
Predicates that I'd like to see:
* location (position, allowed radius, accurazy, speed)
* time of day / day of week (cron style or whatever)
* time interval
* internet connection (cell connection vs wifi--including ESSID)
I would add:
* Connected Bluetooth devices
* battery level
And of course a mix out of more than one predicate.

Actions that I'd like to see:
* run an app (determine if it's running--if not, start it up)
* close an app
* set profile (ringer, volume, etc)
* toggle FM transmitter
* run general script, which can totally open up opportunities
* Start or Stop Instant Messaging services, Skype or VoIP-Services
* Switch status of IM Accounts
* Get emails for specific accounts
* Trigger sharing services (e.g. Upload new photos to flickr)
* Do software upgrades in background
* Syncronize (e.g. Syncevolution)

Are there already any mock-ups or thoughts about a user interface?

Ciao jukey
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#98
Originally Posted by jukey View Post
And of course a mix out of more than one predicate.
I would assume this would be built into some sort of grammar ... where and/or/not can be combined with predicates to create complex rules.

Also, the rules should be able to be prioritized, I think.

Good additions, though.
 
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#99
I made a little wiki page to collect the most relevant informations from this thread: http://wiki.maemo.org/Shepherd
At the moment there are included not the most relevant stuff but the latest stuff from this thread.
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#100
As for grammar, there is a very crude and/or/() mechanism, but the idea is to borrow a parser from Qt (XML or QtScript, haven't decided yet) so we can make more complex expressions without investing too much in writing our own parser.
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