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List:       kde-pim
Subject:    Re: [Kde-pim]  [RFC] libkmobile - A Universal Mobile Devices
From:       Helge Deller <deller () gmx ! de>
Date:       2003-04-23 6:12:00
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On Monday 21 April 2003 09:46 pm, Cornelius Schumacher wrote:
> On Monday 21 April 2003 20:09, Helge Deller wrote:
> > I would like to start a universal "Mobile Devices Connection Kit",
> > which should make it easy for a lot of programs to access different
> > mobile devices through a universal and generic interface and enable
> > them to exchange any type of data through this interface.
>
> That's a good idea, but it sounds like a subset of what KitchenSync is
> meant to be. That doesn't mean that we don't need something like
> libkmobile, but I would see this as integrated part of KitchenSync.
> Access to mobile devices is important, but in addition to moving the
> data we also need a way to control how the data is handled when it is
> exchanged with KDE applications. Import/Export is only the most simple
> case. In general we need a syncing solution which allows to handle
> conflicts, convert data where necessary, select which data has to be
> synced, etc.

Yes. The libkmobile solution should take this into account.

> > The idea:
> > 	- write a universal/generic plugin system (e.g. "class
> > KMobileDeviceManager") - for every mobile device write a
> > access-driver based on a "KMobileDevice" class (sample code example
> > attached below),
>
> The attached interface seems to be a bit limited. It isn't very
> extensible in terms of data types. I think such a library should focus
> on abstracting the transport level and leave handling of data types to
> something independent of transport.

I disagree.
Applications need datatypes they can directly use and work on. 
And this is currently only the KDE object datatypes.
This is even more important, if you want to handle different devices
with one single interface.

> > 	- modify the applications to use this plugin system, so that all
> > types of mobile devices will be supported.
>
> I don't think it's a good idea to give applications direct access to
> this layer. Applications should use KitchenSync to talk to mobile
> devices. Otherwise we will run in a lot of syncing problems.

Yes.

> > Further ideas could be:
> > 	- a kicker module. It would search regulary at the
> > USB/IRDA/Bluetooth ports for new devices and allow the user to
> > configure the new device at once.
> > 	- a kioslave (e.g. "mobile://") , which shows all configured
> > devices. The root-directory would show an icon for each device (like
> > a sub-directory), then in each of those sub-directories you would see
> > directories for each capatibility (Addressbook, Calendar, Notes,
> > Storage). The Addressbook could show vCard files, the calendar
> > vCalendar files, and the storage subdirectory would show the files on
> > the device.
>
> In my opinion a kioslave would be of limited use, because mobile devices
> have a lot of restrictions and normally can't be accessed like a
> filesystem. I would much prefer to leave the access to mobile devices
> to specialized programs and provide good syncing mechanisms to give
> access to the data in the apps designedfor this kind of data instead of
> something general in Konqueror.

Please read my other mail to kde-pim, why I think specialized programs
are needed, but not the only solution.

> > 	- a new kcontrol module to globally configure the attached mobile
> > devices
>
> KitchenSync is meant to be the central place where access to mobile
> devices is controlled. This should also contain the configuration.
>
> > Since my time in general is very limited, I definitively would need
> > help from others on such a project.
> > Personally I would like to start with an implementation with gnokii
> > and gammu to make most mobile phones directly accessible.
> > If people don't complain, I would like to create the subdirectory
> > kdepim/libkmobile and put my initial work there.
>
> Why don't you add gnokii and gammu support to KitchenSync?

I started it.
But then I realized, that I would need to add gammu/gnokii support for every single
application (kitchensync and/or kandy for syncing; kaddressbook, kcalendar, ...
for import/export). And I would need a new driver for every of my other
organizers and other devices. 
libkmobile with a plugin for kitchensync would solve those doubled development 
and give you a lot more of other possibilities which kitchensync can't do right now. 
One simple thing would be to have a digi-cam or mp3-player driver for libkmobile, where
you can directly drag&drop your pictures around.

As I said in my other mail, if nobody complains I would like to start hacking on libkmobile (in 
kdepim/libkmobile) and make it excluded from compilation by default.
One goal is of course to write a plugin for kitchensync. This plugin would use libkmobile 
and should solve the possible syncronisation problems you mentioned above.

Helge


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