albert - an omnilauncher

manuelschneid3r · 2014-11-12 13:19:32

Hi folks,

I wrote an application launcher based on Qt5 written in C++, I did not yet put it into the AUR since it is still alpha. But you can get the PKGBUILD on github.

Have a look on what it does in a short illustration:

This app is most useful for KDE users with chromium. I really would appreciate if you test it and tell me what you like about it (and what not).

Gerneral features are:

Run applications
Open files
Open bookmarks in chromium
Calculate math expressions
Search web for things
Fuzzy search
Modify the actions taken by pressing the modifier keys
Customize look and feel with different styles (or by writing your own qstylesheets)
Things I dont remember atm

I hope you enjoy it! (At least I do )

EDIT:
To make your lives easier:

yaourt albert

Last edited by manuelschneid3r (2015-10-05 20:29:10)

chickenPie4tea · 2014-11-12 14:18:17

looks cool but I decided not to install it as the qt5 stuff would be 140mb to install

Last edited by chickenPie4tea (2014-11-12 14:22:46)

tzoi516 · 2014-11-12 15:44:45

Reminds me of Alfred on Mac OS X

Kolibry · 2014-11-12 17:27:55

Hey, it sounds really great

I'm giving it a try at the moment :

- Seems very responsive, good thing
- Don't like themes, but I guess it's themeable like you said in your presentation
- Be able to open bookmarks in Firefox instead of Chromium would be great, I didn't see if it's possible yet (Openbox here, no DE's)
- albert is a really ugly name aha !

How can I change the default application to open for example audio file, video file, etc ?
I tried to bind it to Menu key but didn't work

Last edited by Kolibry (2014-11-12 17:55:04)

manuelschneid3r · 2014-11-17 12:14:08

chickenPie4tea wrote:

looks cool but I decided not to install it as the qt5 stuff would be 140mb to install

Okay, somewhen in the future

tzoi516 wrote:

Reminds me of Alfred on Mac OS X

True, fallen in love with linux I decided to buy a Mac. Linux on notebooks is a pain, windoze no option. Well I got to know alfred. Fine. From then on whenever I sat in front of my PC, I felt retarded. Launchy and Synapse were no sophisticated alternatives. So you will recognize that this is like a mixture of alfred and launchy. Finally I can use my Linux with a ludicrous speed

Kolibry wrote:

Hey, it sounds really great
I'm giving it a try at the moment :
- Seems very responsive, good thing
- Don't like themes, but I guess it's themeable like you said in your presentation
- Be able to open bookmarks in Firefox instead of Chromium would be great, I didn't see if it's possible yet (Openbox here, no DE's)
- albert is a really ugly name aha !
How can I change the default application to open for example audio file, video file, etc ?
I tried to bind it to Menu key but didn't work

Yes I will make more standard themes in the future. Bookmarks for firefox are the next thing on my plan. See https://github.com/ManuelSchneid3r/albe … ed-roadmap . For now I try to make the indexing transparent to the user, watching the filesystem.
haha not the nicest name, but for me it is a hint for the origin and has familiar background.
The applications taken to open files are those which are set in your mime database. This mimedatabase contains your standard applications. Every blown DE offers you a way to change them. For OB I cant tell you. But they are stored plaintext, somewhere. Im not sure but in a quick search I found "/usr/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache". Have a look at it.
If you cant bind keys the most probable reason is that an other application grabbed that key already, but maybe I forgot to respect that key. Pushed in the TODO queue.

Thank you for feedback, regards

Manuel

Last edited by manuelschneid3r (2014-11-17 12:18:03)

Kolibry · 2015-01-18 10:12:58

Hey

This app is really blowing fast ! All others launchers I tried (Synapse, KRunner...) were "slowish" to find some files in my HDD, albert does find them instantly

Upgraded to 0.6 but still not able to bind Menu key to start it.

Do you plan to make it able to run commands ?

Thanks again,

manuelschneid3r · 2015-01-18 17:40:00

Hi,

thank you for the feedback. Sorry, but the development is stalled due to my exams . The menu key is fixed but currently in the testing branch. Yes running commands is planned. But Im not sure if the should always show up or queried with a control char, since the masses of binaries would pollute the output. Anyway, to keep up the performance I decided to change the concept of the backend. So it will take a while, even if I have time to code again.

Regards
Manuel

Alad · 2015-01-19 10:10:17

chickenPie4tea wrote:

looks cool but I decided not to install it as the qt5 stuff would be 140mb to install

Yes, because that's a huge deal on your 1TB drive.

@manuelschneid3r: you should add qt5-x11extras to the (make)depends array - it won't build otherwise. Nice project otherwise.

Last edited by Alad (2015-01-19 10:10:57)

manuelschneid3r · 2015-03-10 19:06:24

Kolibry wrote:

How can I change the default application to open for example audio file, video file, etc ?

Finally had the same problems. It is a bit more complex. Take a look at the minimal FAQ

PTBM133A4X · 2015-03-21 00:16:15

I have an issue where I have set Albert to index /home/john/Videos but when I launch it, it doesn't find files in that directory. Any suggestions?

Apart from that I find it extremely fast and easy to use. Thank you!

nullified · 2015-03-21 05:19:38

Just read about Albert in April's Linux Format. Nice!

troit · 2015-03-28 18:11:57

Kolibry wrote:

Hey, it sounds really great
I'm giving it a try at the moment :
- Seems very responsive, good thing
- Don't like themes, but I guess it's themeable like you said in your presentation
- Be able to open bookmarks in Firefox instead of Chromium would be great, I didn't see if it's possible yet (Openbox here, no DE's)
- albert is a really ugly name aha !
How can I change the default application to open for example audio file, video file, etc ?
I tried to bind it to Menu key but didn't work

check this out. created a quick theme. inspired by the osx yosemite searchlight skin. looks nice with Adwaita

you will need helvetica font; or try to replace the font name in the *.qss file.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/r6liym4l8203t … ar.gz?dl=0

place it in /usr/share/albert/themes/

have fun

Last edited by troit (2015-07-06 15:44:58)

amiara · 2015-04-18 17:35:55

Thanks... this looks very promising. Something like this is really needed. Please keep improving it!

I have tried it out, and here are a couple of comments:
- The application can't seem to store its setting. Every time I start it, I have to configure the HotKey and add the folders I want to be in the index. I get the error

 Could not open file "/home/xxxx/.local/share/albert/albert.db"

- It would also be helpful to allow for other file types to be indexed. It is not clear right now what is being indexed (PDFs for example are, but .tex files are not).
- Occasionally, when I type something, the box disappears mid-typing. I hope this get resolved. Stability is one of the key factors in adopting these types of launchers.

As I said, this has the potential to become a great launcher. Thanks again.

Last edited by amiara (2015-04-18 17:36:19)

manuelschneid3r · 2015-04-20 11:38:42

amiara wrote:

I have tried it out, and here are a couple of comments:
- The application can't seem to store its setting. Every time I start it, I have to configure the HotKey and add the folders I want to be in the index. I get the error
 Could not open file "/home/xxxx/.local/share/albert/albert.db"

This problem is fixed and will be released soon. Check https://github.com/ManuelSchneid3r/albert/issues/19 for a workaround.

amiara wrote:

- It would also be helpful to allow for other file types to be indexed. It is not clear right now what is being indexed (PDFs for example are, but .tex files are not).

Currently everything is indexed. This is not that intelligent and will change in some future releases.

amiara wrote:

- Occasionally, when I type something, the box disappears mid-typing. I hope this get resolved. Stability is one of the key factors in adopting these types of launchers.

The window is closed on focus out events. Is there something stealing the focus, even if just for nanoseconds?

amiara wrote:

As I said, this has the potential to become a great launcher. Thanks again.

Thank you for the feedback.

Regards

manuelschneid3r · 2015-04-20 11:40:31

@troit Thank you for your contribution. Could you please add a screenie to show the theme?

amiara · 2015-04-24 06:02:48

manuelschneid3r wrote:

amiara wrote:
I have tried it out, and here are a couple of comments:
- The application can't seem to store its setting. Every time I start it, I have to configure the HotKey and add the folders I want to be in the index. I get the error
 Could not open file "/home/xxxx/.local/share/albert/albert.db"
This problem is fixed and will be released soon. Check https://github.com/ManuelSchneid3r/albert/issues/19 for a workaround.

Thanks. I will be looking forward to it. The workaround doesn't seem to work. Creating

.local/share/albert

doesn't help. Also, XDG_DATA_HOME is not defined for me, maybe that is what causes the issue?

manuelschneid3r wrote:

amiara wrote:
- Occasionally, when I type something, the box disappears mid-typing. I hope this get resolved. Stability is one of the key factors in adopting these types of launchers.
The window is closed on focus out events. Is there something stealing the focus, even if just for nanoseconds?

It might be, but it would be nice to have the option to disable this, or give the user some time after loss of focus, before disappearing.

Regards

mzpsh · 2015-04-25 08:16:39

Tried this , Great. I love albert's good looking theme.

chickenPie4tea · 2015-04-30 12:10:30

finaly decided to install it, any option to have an icon show up in system tray to show it's running?

manuelschneid3r · 2015-05-07 12:00:38

Thank you even if you deleted your message I forgot to update the md5sum.

3xOSC · 2015-05-17 17:07:58

i'm using pantheon as a DE. i was just wondering how to make albert start everytime i log in.

i managed to find a way to launch programs, but everytime i start up albert, it asks me to set the hotkey. anyways around this? is there a line in the cmd i can pass in, say for example:

albert --bind alt+r

troit · 2015-07-06 15:45:21

preview added

see #12

liangxuliang · 2015-08-01 16:44:55

Anyone build success ?
There is not 0.6.2.tar.gz exist, I try to clone and build, but it's failed even if I remove the "-Werror" .

CMakeFiles/albert.dir/albert_automoc.cpp.o:(.data.rel.ro._ZTV5Query[_ZTV5Query]+0x70)：对‘Query::index(int, int, QModelIndex const&) const’未定义的引用
CMakeFiles/albert.dir/albert_automoc.cpp.o:(.data.rel.ro._ZTV5Query[_ZTV5Query]+0x78)：对‘Query::parent(QModelIndex const&) const’未定义的引用
CMakeFiles/albert.dir/albert_automoc.cpp.o:(.data.rel.ro._ZTV5Query[_ZTV5Query]+0x90)：对‘Query::columnCount(QModelIndex const&) const’未定义的引用
CMakeFiles/albert.dir/albert_automoc.cpp.o:(.data.rel.ro._ZTV5Query[_ZTV5Query]+0x98)：对‘Query::hasChildren(QModelIndex const&) const’未定义的引用

const’未定义的引用 == const' undefined reference

chickenPie4tea · 2015-09-27 10:54:31

amiara wrote:

Thanks... this looks very promising. Something like this is really needed. Please keep improving it!
I have tried it out, and here are a couple of comments:
- The application can't seem to store its setting. Every time I start it, I have to configure the HotKey and add the folders I want to be in the index. I get the error
 Could not open file "/home/xxxx/.local/share/albert/albert.db"
- It would also be helpful to allow for other file types to be indexed. It is not clear right now what is being indexed (PDFs for example are, but .tex files are not).
- Occasionally, when I type something, the box disappears mid-typing. I hope this get resolved. Stability is one of the key factors in adopting these types of launchers.
As I said, this has the potential to become a great launcher. Thanks again.

Just built latest ver. and get the same problem of no database although the empty dir is there, so every time it launches I have to set a launch key

manuelschneid3r · 2015-10-05 20:28:01

v0.7 is out. Finally made it to the AUR. Get it!

yaourt albert

ttnk · 2015-10-30 18:58:19

I installed Albert like 2 days ago, but i cant find how to avoid a folder from being indexed, i had a problem with an external USB drive and albert is indexing an enormous lost&found folder containing like 200G.
How can i configure it so it stop from indexing it?

Thanks In advance

Arch Linux

#1 2014-11-12 13:19:32

albert - an omnilauncher

#2 2014-11-12 14:18:17

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#3 2014-11-12 15:44:45

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#4 2014-11-12 17:27:55

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#5 2014-11-17 12:14:08

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#6 2015-01-18 10:12:58

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#7 2015-01-18 17:40:00

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#8 2015-01-19 10:10:17

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#9 2015-03-10 19:06:24

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#10 2015-03-21 00:16:15

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#11 2015-03-21 05:19:38

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#12 2015-03-28 18:11:57

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#13 2015-04-18 17:35:55

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#14 2015-04-20 11:38:42

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#15 2015-04-20 11:40:31

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#16 2015-04-24 06:02:48

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#17 2015-04-25 08:16:39

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#18 2015-04-30 12:10:30

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#19 2015-05-07 12:00:38

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#20 2015-05-17 17:07:58

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#21 2015-07-06 15:45:21

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#22 2015-08-01 16:44:55

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#23 2015-09-27 10:54:31

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#24 2015-10-05 20:28:01

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

#25 2015-10-30 18:58:19

Re: albert - an omnilauncher

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