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Dieter@be

Forum Fellow

From: Belgium

Registered: 2006-11-05

Posts: 2,001

Website

extendable/customizable applications

This idea is about a specific type of feature:

Namely,
the ability to define actions on objects (mail in a mail client, file in a file manager, etc).  Such an action would usually be an invocation of an external program or script, passing along some context-dependent variables which the "main program" provides you  (eg in a mail program: the sender address, subject, contents, etc.  in a filemanager: the filename, location,last change date etc),
Such scripts ("actions") would be triggered by opening a menu on the item (eg right click a mail in mail program or file in file manager) or a user-defined keyboard shortcut.

Such a feature is actually very common in file managers, and in a slightly less degree in window managers.

But here is the thing: what is holding back developers of web browsers, email clients, music programs, todo managers, calendars, ... of also implementing some like this?
I haven't seen such a feature (yet) in programs such as mail clients or web browsers, even though I think it's fairly easy to implement.
Actually I'm looking for a new (gui) mail client and web browser and I was thinking I could really use something like that. (eg I could write scripts to convert emails into calendar items, todo's etc.)
But, imho such a feature is beneficial for any kind of application, whether it be a cli-based todo program or a GUI email client.  Especially for people who really like to customize and fine-tune their workflow.

Or, to make this discussion a bit less theoretical: who has good practical examples of software implementing such features? (other then file managers).

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< Daenyth> and he works prolifically
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Dusty

Schwag Merchant

From: Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada

Registered: 2004-01-18

Posts: 5,986

Website

Re: extendable/customizable applications

But here is the thing: what is holding back developers of web browsers, email clients, music programs, todo managers, calendars, ... of also implementing some like this?
I haven't seen such a feature (yet) in programs such as mail clients or web browsers, even though I think it's fairly easy to implement.

Firefox and thunderbird extensions both offer the ability to do things like this. It would probably take a matter of minutes to write an extension that does some of the things you've suggested.

Or, to make this discussion a bit less theoretical: who has good practical examples of software implementing such features? (other then file managers).

JEdit has a superb event-oriented plugin architecture that seems similar to what you describe. Any decent text editor has a plugin/scripting feature that can be customized to do it.

While the specific feature you ask for may not be that common, the general plugin/hooks/extension architecture is certainly very common. It may be more complex than what you ask, but its also more powerful, and certainly encompasses the use cases you provided.

Dusty

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Dieter@be

Forum Fellow

From: Belgium

Registered: 2006-11-05

Posts: 2,001

Website

Re: extendable/customizable applications

The problem with extensions/plugins is you need to learn how to build them.  You're often limited in choice of programming language, and you need to make sure the code is compatible with the plugin API of the "mother program".  These are boundaries I would rather avoid.

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< Daenyth> and he works prolifically
4 8 15 16 23 42