Provide an option to list the "tool tip" string in the panel

Submitted by Matt Zagrabelny

Assigned to Landry Breuil @landry

Link to original bug (#12074)

Description

Greetings,

Thanks for your contribution to XFCE. It is appreciated!

I use window manager keybindings for controlling MPD, but would love to have current song info listed in the panel.

Would you please provide an option to not display the controls and instead list the tool tip string in the panel?

Thanks for your consideration!

Cheers,

-m

Landry Breuil @landry said:

Hm, i dont really like this, for several reasons:

• it adds one more knob to the config, the plugin wasnt meant to be more than just a simple control client
• it would mean polling every X seconds the server to know the currently playing track, which would be resource-consuming and require some architecture changes. Right now, the plugin connects to the server only if the mouse is over it for the tooltip or to get the status/outputs.
• how would it fit graphically in a panel ? The tooltip string length can change a lot, so should the space vary according to this ? A fixed maximum width ? Text scrolling ? All that would be ugly.

To be honest, you can also use conky to do this and display mpd status on your root desktop window..;

Matt Zagrabelny said:

Hi Landry,

Thanks for the comments.

(In reply to Landry Breuil from comment 1)

Hm, i dont really like this, for several reasons:

• it adds one more knob to the config, the plugin wasnt meant to be more than just a simple control client

So then new features shouldn't be added? I'd rather "improve" on one common software than fork or start a new project.

• it would mean polling every X seconds the server to know the currently playing track, which would be resource-consuming and require some architecture changes. Right now, the plugin connects to the server only if the mouse is over it for the tooltip or to get the status/outputs.

It wouldn't be any more expensive than any of the dozens of other MPD clients out there - they all show the current song (amongst other data). I'd imagine there is some mechanism to receive updates that isn't terribly resource intensive.

• how would it fit graphically in a panel ? The tooltip string length can change a lot, so should the space vary according to this ? A fixed maximum width ? Text scrolling ? All that would be ugly.

Ugly is in the eye of the beholder.

To be honest, you can also use conky to do this and display mpd status on your root desktop window..;

Yep. I know about conky, but I'd like something in the panel.

It doesn't sound like you are champing at the bit to work on this. Would you consider a patch?

Thanks!

-m

Landry Breuil @landry said:

(In reply to Matt Zagrabelny from comment 2)

Hi Landry,

Thanks for the comments.

(In reply to Landry Breuil from comment 1)

Hm, i dont really like this, for several reasons:

• it adds one more knob to the config, the plugin wasnt meant to be more than just a simple control client

So then new features shouldn't be added? I'd rather "improve" on one common software than fork or start a new project.

• it would mean polling every X seconds the server to know the currently playing track, which would be resource-consuming and require some architecture changes. Right now, the plugin connects to the server only if the mouse is over it for the tooltip or to get the status/outputs.

It wouldn't be any more expensive than any of the dozens of other MPD clients out there - they all show the current song (amongst other data). I'd imagine there is some mechanism to receive updates that isn't terribly resource intensive.

Yes, maybe, but that means architecture changes. Which adds complexity. Have you looked at the alternative provided by simple-libmpd.c ? There's no way i'll add a callback-mechanism to it mimicking what the one from libmpd does...

• how would it fit graphically in a panel ? The tooltip string length can change a lot, so should the space vary according to this ? A fixed maximum width ? Text scrolling ? All that would be ugly.

Ugly is in the eye of the beholder.

Your sentence doesnt really help the discussion here. I raised some valid UI concerns, to which you absolutely didnt reply..

To be honest, you can also use conky to do this and display mpd status on your root desktop window..;

Yep. I know about conky, but I'd like something in the panel.

Then you can try the genmon plugin. And then you'll realize it's not so easy to fit variable-width text on the panel....

Matt Zagrabelny said:

(In reply to Landry Breuil from comment 3)

(In reply to Matt Zagrabelny from comment 2)

Hi Landry,

Thanks for the comments.

(In reply to Landry Breuil from comment 1)

Hm, i dont really like this, for several reasons:

• it adds one more knob to the config, the plugin wasnt meant to be more than just a simple control client

So then new features shouldn't be added? I'd rather "improve" on one common software than fork or start a new project.

• it would mean polling every X seconds the server to know the currently playing track, which would be resource-consuming and require some architecture changes. Right now, the plugin connects to the server only if the mouse is over it for the tooltip or to get the status/outputs.

It wouldn't be any more expensive than any of the dozens of other MPD clients out there - they all show the current song (amongst other data). I'd imagine there is some mechanism to receive updates that isn't terribly resource intensive.

Yes, maybe, but that means architecture changes.

Alright.

Which adds complexity. Have

you looked at the alternative provided by simple-libmpd.c ?

Not yet.

There's no way

i'll add a callback-mechanism to it mimicking what the one from libmpd does...

That sounds definitive.

• how would it fit graphically in a panel ? The tooltip string length can change a lot, so should the space vary according to this ? A fixed maximum width ? Text scrolling ? All that would be ugly.

Ugly is in the eye of the beholder.

Your sentence doesnt really help the discussion here. I raised some valid UI concerns, to which you absolutely didnt reply..

I was just stating a difference of opinion. You think something is ugly - I don't.

Here is the solution:

Let the user decide:

[x] Fixed width (with potential scrolling) [enter pixel width here] [ ] Variable width

To be honest, you can also use conky to do this and display mpd status on your root desktop window..;

Yep. I know about conky, but I'd like something in the panel.

Then you can try the genmon plugin. And then you'll realize it's not so easy to fit variable-width text on the panel....

I'll look into genmon.

Thanks!

-m

added 2. Feature label

unassigned @landry