10 rules for a plasma widgets developer

  1. Don’t call updateGeometry() during a size constraintsEvent and don’t call resize.
    If you want to keep the same aspect ratio you may be interested in Applet::setAspectRatioMode( ).
  2. If you want to write a new clock widget, you should inherit from libplasmaclock ClockApplet.
  3. Don’t do custom things: use default plasma methods and widgets when possible.
    Some useful methods are: Applet::setBusy( ) if your applet is busy, Applet::setConfigurationRequired( ) if user needs to configure the widget, etc…
    Some useful widgets are: Plasma::CheckBox, Plasma::ComboBox, Plasma::LineEdit, Plasma::PushButton, Plasma::RadioButton, etc…
  4. Don’t reimplement Applet::showConfigurationInterface, reimplement Applet::createConfigurationInterface instead.

    void MyApplet:createConfigurationInterface(KConfigDialog *parent)
    {
    QWidget *widget = new QWidget();
    ui.setupUi(widget); //ui is your configuration interface
    parent->addPage(widget, i18n("General"), icon());
    connect(parent, SIGNAL(applyClicked()), this, SLOT(configAccepted()));
    connect(parent, SIGNAL(okClicked()), this, SLOT(configAccepted()));
    }
  5. Use Plasma::Animator and fast animations (not slower than 150 milliseconds).
  6. Use a standard background when possible.
  7. Avoid installing custom svg graphics when possible.
  8. Load graphics using Plasma::Svg.
  9. Don’t forget that the theme may change while your widget is running.
  10. paintInterface() might be called before init().

Camp KDE (Day 6)

Camp KDE (Day 5)

Camp KDE (Day 4)

Camp KDE (Day 3)

Thanks to Adrian and to The French Guy for making cookies 😀

Camp KDE :D

Camp KDE is great! 😀