Notices

Well this should be possible with tracker without much difficulty. Does anyone know how to use its query API? A quick search on the internet only reveals sparql which I don't know the syntax.
I don't think that it indexes contacts but for that there is the osso api...

I had this idea already in February - see this thread for a 'concept':
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=43362

Back then there didn't seem to be too much interest

EDIT: Pasted the idea from my older post below:
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Is it possible to capture the pressing of the 'space' key while on the desktop view? Currently when you start typing the phone starts searching through the contacts but hitting 'space' does nothing.

This could be used to launch an application. A dream app would be a kind of quick search / applauncher.

Use cases as follows:

* while on desktop - hit space
* text box opens to the bottom of the screen
* start typing and the app starts filtering your installed applications whose name matches the string you are typing

* launch an app from the list
OR
* hit 'search' (button somewhere - local search or launch Google etc.)
OR
* execute a script / command

User definable keywords would be nice for the searches and triggered functions. The TouchSearch widget has a nice UI - almost perfect for this case.
****


-markus

I had this too:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=42811

How about if we had an app, like touch search, but only difference is, it searches for installed apps.

I was just thinking about how awesome Launchy for the n900 seems. It is open source and uses Qt, so it shouldn't be all too hard to port for the device.

I could also index contacts, events and all kinds of other things. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just check launchy out!

I think what you are looking for may already exist.

Look in extras for a Widget called "App Search" http://maemo.org/packages/view/app-search-widget/

It works exactly as you describe, it is a small homescreen widget that when you click on it, it gives you a list of all installed applications. You can then search the list just by typing in the application name. It is an invaluable tool as I can never find apps in my menu!

Hope this helps.

Now if we only could launch that program via keyboard-shortcut (like shift + space) it would be perfect!

If I have some app open and want to quickly open another one, then I think it's stupid to return to desktop just to hit the widget's schortcut... too many taps there.

No need for 'shift' as pressing 'space' right now does nothing. So all that is needed is to capture the event of pressing 'space' on the homescreen.

What if I'm in text editor program and want to quickly launch some other app? That's why there has to be some other key-combo involved aswell.

When I'm already at the homescreen, then tapping the shortcut for appsearcher is not a problem. It's just completely useless if you want to launch some other app when you have something else open already.

There is a package keyboard-shortcuts for that (in my repository). It mostly uses 3-key shortcuts, as two keys (such as shift+space) are reserved to applications. Usable 2-keys shortcuts are ctrl+space, ctrl+comma, ctrl+period, ctrl+F7/8 (volume keys).