Subclassed: Things I learnt last week on Python, PyKDE and KDE

17 December 2007

Things I learnt last week on Python, PyKDE and KDE

if PyKDE segfaults on you, don't despair: you are probably just using the wrong arguments for a method call. Get the right invocation and you'll be fine, no need for recompilation or other drastic measures.
KCmdLineArgs is cool!
how to use KConfig from python (saves so much time):
conf = KConfig("your_rc_file") # ends up in $KDEHOME/share/config/
conf.setGroup("yourgroup")
conf.writeEntry("your_option","your_string")
# non-string values DON'T work
conf.sync() # this will actually write out the stuff
KIO.NetAccess can save a lot of trouble storing passwords etc., seamlessly integrating with konqueror and kwallet
distutils is cool, in its own way. PyPi integration looks terrific, can't wait to upload my stuff there...
dependency checking in distutils still sucks. Either you go with setuptools, or you have to litter your setup.py with ugly import tests.
kdedistutils (from pykdeextensions) looks useful enough
the KDE TechBase is very good for KDE4. For KDE3, better to get the kdelibs-apidoc packages in your distro. Don't understand why (on Debian Etch) it doesn't register with QtAssistant.
Google Translations can be weird.

I'm very close to releasing "KDelicious 3.0", which is a big improvement on pykeylicious. While adding a few "simple" options to manage how del.icio.us bookmarks are imported into Konqueror, I tried to refactor out nontrivial code from the main script into modules, and added a GUI to manage these options. I also pushed the integration with KDE in order to do things like transparent proxy support and kwallet integration, which spared me from maintain connection code, passwords, etc... I ended up with several files to distribute, which required a "proper" installer.

This release will still use the kdialog hacks. I'll get rid of them in 3.1, because I really want to put this out before the end of the week and get some feedback.

On bookmark synchronization: in an ideal world, synchronization would be done in the background, if we are online, every couple of hours, and by just pulling the more recent posts. But this is a bad world, and I'm a bad coder... KDelicious will only synchronize manually, will download all your bookmarks each time it runs, and will just try to stop you from getting banned by del.icio.us if you launch it too often. The only way around this would be to write a KService or a systray applet (which would also allow me to support other "minor" browsers like Opera), but this stuff is changing in KDE4 so I don't want to spend time on it before march.

After Christmas I'll think about putting the code on sourceforge (or savannah, or something) and have a proper homepage for it. But first, let's release ;)

Labels: Debian, delicious, GeekDiary, kde, kdelicious, konqueror, pykde, pykeylicious, PyQt, python