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97 lines
3.7 KiB
Text
97 lines
3.7 KiB
Text
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KNewStuff2 Feature Guide
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========================
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This document describes the options an application author
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gets when implementing support for KNewStuff under KDE 4,
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better known as KNewStuff2.
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The style of writing is however not very developer-centric
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at times, so anyone who wishes to find a feature reference
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can consult this guide.
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Key features
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------------
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* KNewStuff2 implements the GHNS specification!
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The standard is maintained at http://ghns.freedesktop.org/
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and ensures a consistent and well-defined behaviour.
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* KNewStuff2 supports the Desktop eXchange Service protocol!
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DXS is a web services based implementation of the GHNS protocol
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with some extensions, mostly resulting in more direct user
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interaction.
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* KNewStuff2 helps making KDE the Kollaborative Desktop Environment!
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Along with other internet-integrated aspects of the desktop,
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the library helps users working with each other from remote places.
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Complete feature list
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---------------------
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The features have been designed to blur the line between data producers
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(the creators) and data consumers (the users), to arrive at a more
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flexible notion of data contributors.
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Still security and privilege handling does play an important role.
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* Data creation
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An application which allows the creation of data files integrates
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the KNewStuff upload dialog. To upload a file, a preview image should
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be given (may be autogenerated if the KFile plugin exists),
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and the important descriptive fields such as name, author and
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licence must be filled in by the uploader. These can however be
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re-used from previous sessions, so that the process of uploading
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is as easy as possible.
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* Data improvement
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To update an existing piece of data, instead of filling out the
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descriptive fields again, a simple re-upload using an incremented
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version number can take place.
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For the users downloading the data, versioning control might then
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allow to retrieve the data from previous versions.
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* Browsing
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Each provider can offer different "views" or feeds based on
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criteria such as "latest items", "most popular items" or
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even custom ones such as "contest xyz winners".
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With DXS, support for find-as-you-type search and entry caching
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should be possible.
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* Installation
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The installation process can involve integrity checking of the
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downloaded data (using a hash sum), authenticity checking (using
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an OpenPGP signature), extraction of the data file to a set
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of files or a whole directory, and invoking a post-installation
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handler to notify the application or run an external script.
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* Uninstallation
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Installed items can be uninstalled at any time. For this reason,
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the metadata is kept for each installed entry in an entry registry.
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* Translation
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Each user can add summary and title translations at any time.
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However depending on the site policy, these might only take
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effect after an admin review phase.
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* Subscriptions
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A user can subscribe to an entry, and be informed when an
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update is available. With DXS, the list of subscriptions can
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be queried as a virtual feed.
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* Versioning
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Subscription and (un)installation automatically lead to a simple
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versioning schema. This option is not shown by default unless a
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particular application wants to make use of it.
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* Site maintenance
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Users can request removals of entries which are bogus or might
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require other administrator attention.
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* Provider support: Hotstuff
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The Hotstuff server-side GHNS framework is designed to be fully
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compatible with KNewStuff2. In particular, it supports authenticated
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user operations and old KNewStuff compatibility file formats.
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* Cached data
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Downloaded data can be kept in a cache to speed up looking for entries and
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for instantaneous display of the download dialog.
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