[Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

bavardage · 2008-03-25 21:43:09

After being frustrated with the lack of non-gnome-dependant system tray 'widgets' for things like email and battery monitoring, I decided to have a bash at creating my own, initially only to notify me of system updates, but I realised that I could use the same place to display other things.

Main changes: plugins can now be installed system wide as well as locally, meaning modules can be packaged in the AUR.
Configuration files are now in ~/.config/noteo/ which is much tidier.

Coming soon:
Module which replaces notification daemon - I just need to tidy up the code and package it.

Update: 0.0.2 now available
Version 0.0.2 is in the AUR: http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=15952
some plugins are also in the AUR:
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=16032
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=16033
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=16034
or can be downloaded from sourceforge

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfile … _id=268802

As you can see in the status bar, when a 'module' want to tell you something, it flashes an icon in the system tray. If there is only one module wanting your attention, it flashes for about 10 seconds, then just displays that icon.
When there is more than one module wanting your attention, it switches to a generic icon. Hovering over the icon will describe which modules are attempting to notify you

If there is only one module active, clicking on the icon will bring up that module's dialog, if there is more than one module active, you will be shown which modules are wanting your attention.
You can also usually bring up the module's dialog by right clicking on the icon and choosing the appropriate menu option:

New feature: module authors can add icons to the right click menu

Noteo by itself has almost no functionality - it acts as a framework into which modules can 'plug-in'. 'Modules' are simple to make, and I hope that some of you will write some/improve mine.

To configure the modules, edit the module configuration files which will be generated on first run and placed in ~/.config/noteo/

Hope this is of some use to someone.

For those wanting to make new 'modules', maybe take a look at the source to the GmailCheck module, which is hopefully quite self-explanatory.

Last edited by bavardage (2008-03-30 09:14:15)

thayer · 2008-03-25 22:11:48

Wow, this looks great... and the dependencies look even better! I'm at school, but I'll have a look at these tonight.

iphitus · 2008-03-25 23:44:23

Looks really cool. Does it work with libnotify?

Last edited by iphitus (2008-03-25 23:46:33)

dyscoria · 2008-03-26 00:20:09

Very nice work!!

Constructive criticism: one thing that would be cleaner is for ~/.noteo.conf to be put inside the ~/.noteo folder (so make this folder as part of installation), and for the files of each of the modules to be placed in their own folder (e.g. ~/.noteo/pacstatus).

Apart from that, it's a shame I haven't learnt python yet as i'd be interested in writing modules. Currently just learning how to bash script (small steps, small steps ).

rson451 · 2008-03-26 01:54:07

dyscoria wrote:

Very nice work!! :cool:Constructive criticism: one thing that would be cleaner is for ~/.noteo.conf to be put inside the ~/.noteo folder

even better imo would be to put the noteo folder in ~/.config if possible. nice work.

bavardage · 2008-03-26 08:51:17

Am at school atm, but will hopefully have a look at improving the folder locations tonight.
@iphitus: no it currently doesn't work with libnotify - I will look into it.

serrghi · 2008-03-26 10:02:17

Looks very nice! Gonna test it out after work

bavardage · 2008-03-26 17:56:06

Right. About using libnotify - yes it will be possible, though will allow people the option of not installing it - it will only be used if present. New version coming in the next few days.

Oh and people get working on new modules :Þ ^^

bavardage · 2008-03-27 22:08:19

Update:
Have tidied up directory locations, which will also mean individual modules will be able to be packaged also. Any other suggestions that people would like to see added before the next release?

Reasons · 2008-03-29 03:45:33

I'm trying it out right now. Very nice work.

bavardage · 2008-03-30 09:16:14

Version 0.0.2 is available now!
Main changes: plugins can now be installed system wide as well as locally, meaning modules can be packaged in the AUR.
Configuration files are now in ~/.config/noteo/ which is much tidier.
Icons can now be added to the right click menu.

Before upgrading to version 0.0.2, you may want to uninstall any modules that you already have and reinstall them using the AUR. That way you can be sure that they don't break in future releases (and some things have changed between version 0.0.1 and 0.0.2 which may break the old modules)

Coming soon:
Module which replaces notification daemon - I just need to tidy up the code and package it.

wyvern · 2008-03-30 23:02:41

Thank you for this, I was just using laptop-mode to configure my battery, but I always like a gui notification if my battery gets low, so this is perfect. I love lightweight vs dependancy-heavy apps. It will probably also replace ALUNN for the pacman updates too <3

And I'm excited about the notification daemon addition - would be interested in seeing any modules using that.

I know very little python or I'd love to help with this. (Yes, slightly off-topic, but I couldn't even multiplex my dzen2 into a single pipe - I had to resort to three seperate instances!)

zenix · 2008-03-31 01:39:32

I haven't downloaded this myself, so please excuse me if I misunderstand.

Could you please change where new alerts are placed? From your screen shots, it shows a separate window for each alert. Instead, could you make it more like Growl/Notification Daemon where new notifications are 'stacked'?

bavardage · 2008-03-31 15:52:24

New alerts do not appear on the screen. The 'windows' in the screenshot are what appears when you click on the icon and a module wants your attention. New alerts cause the icon in the tray to change to whatever that module specifies e.g. on low battery, the 'BatteryStatus' module shows your icon theme's battery-critical icon (flashing initially and then becoming static - if there is more that one module wanting your attention, a generic icon is then shown)

Edit: actually the battery module does display a dialog box when the battery is critical, asking the user whether they want to hibernate or not, however this can be turned off. Noteo itself does not display dialogs, the modules can if they so desire. In future releases I do plan to implement something like libnotify notifications which the user can choose to activate. Also I am coding a module for noteo which can replace notification daemon.

Last edited by bavardage (2008-03-31 16:52:54)

axion419 · 2008-04-12 02:06:59

hey, how do i load the modules? i downloaded them all with yaourt , and my config looks like this.

popup-height = 40
module-names = notify, pacmanstatus, gmailcheck
popup-width = 100
popup-opacity = 0.6
popup-offset-from-bottom = 32
tray-icon-is-visible = True

but when i run noteo, it tells me you do not have *plugin skipping

I also dont see any config files for the plugins, are they stuck in a certain place?

bavardage · 2008-04-12 09:46:47

I'm afraid it's case dependent, and you need to put the module name which you are told upon install:
notify = Notify
pacmanstatus = PacmanStatus
gmailcheck = GmailCheck

the config files are created on the module's first run, and are found in ~/.config/noteo/ and are named <modulename>.conf

samhain · 2008-04-13 19:53:44

Hello.

I just installed noteo and the battery module. Everything works fine, I reach 10% battery level and the warning appears correctly.
But when I connect the AC power, the module keeps telling me that the battery is at 10%, even if it is charging and I know the percentage is higher.
Do I need to change something in the config files?

I using Openbox with pypanel. The laptop is new, so there is no possibility of a faulty acpi implementation. (acpi command gives correct information, but noteo does not.)

Cheers.

bavardage · 2008-04-13 20:34:12

Right, that would appear to be a bug - will investigate.

damjan · 2008-04-13 22:46:24

How does it compare to http://www.mumbles-project.org/ ?

bavardage · 2008-04-14 17:59:28

Damjan - I don't know enough about mumbles to answer that properly. If the appropriate 'modules' were written (hint hint), noteo could, in theory, do what mumbles does. Mumbles proclaims to be 'for Gnome' and noteo is not gnome dependent (only gtk). Mumbles appears to only do the passing on of application's notifications - noteo's modules can be stand alone (e.g. the BatteryStatus module).

I have fixed the bug in the BatteryModule and once sourceforge has updated, will update the AUR.

Last edited by bavardage (2008-04-14 18:01:18)

bavardage · 2008-04-14 20:01:43

BatteryStatus 0.0.2-2 now available in AUR - http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=16032
Get it while it's hot

samhain · 2008-04-14 20:32:24

bavardage wrote:

BatteryStatus 0.0.2-2 now available in AUR - http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=16032
Get it while it's hot

Excellent! I'll test it and tell you if I find more bugs.

samhain · 2008-04-15 20:45:18

Possible future feature request:

IMHO I think it will be nice to have the possibility of choosing one module as the main one, and have it displayed permanently in the tray icon for quick check and access.

bavardage · 2008-04-16 10:20:15

Samhain: I'll think about including that in next release.

Update News:
Version 0.0.5 is now in the AUR - I suggest you get this soon as does fix some bugs, although make sure you update all of your modules also, some of the older modules may not get on so well with the newer version.

bslagowski · 2008-04-20 18:39:34

Very cool! Everything seems to be working rather nicely here. Good work bavardage.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-03-25 21:43:09

[Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#2 2008-03-25 22:11:48

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#3 2008-03-25 23:44:23

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#4 2008-03-26 00:20:09

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#5 2008-03-26 01:54:07

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#6 2008-03-26 08:51:17

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#7 2008-03-26 10:02:17

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#8 2008-03-26 17:56:06

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#9 2008-03-27 22:08:19

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#10 2008-03-29 03:45:33

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#11 2008-03-30 09:16:14

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#12 2008-03-30 23:02:41

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#13 2008-03-31 01:39:32

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#14 2008-03-31 15:52:24

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#15 2008-04-12 02:06:59

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#16 2008-04-12 09:46:47

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#17 2008-04-13 19:53:44

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#18 2008-04-13 20:34:12

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#19 2008-04-13 22:46:24

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#20 2008-04-14 17:59:28

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#21 2008-04-14 20:01:43

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#22 2008-04-14 20:32:24

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#23 2008-04-15 20:45:18

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#24 2008-04-16 10:20:15

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

#25 2008-04-20 18:39:34

Re: [Update: Version 0.0.2 now available]Noteo - system tray notifications

Board footer