GSoC/2016/StatusReports/AdityaDevSharma

KDE Now

Name: Aditya Dev Sharma (g33kyaditya)

KDE Now is an alternative in some sense, of Google Now on Android. After an email confirming Event, Flight, Hotel or Restaurant Reservation, a user will be shown a card with the related information on a desktop plasmoid (they are like widgets for the KDE desktop).

Proposed Work

Earlier I had mentioned using Akonadi Storage for getting emails but along the project selection stage, plans changed and I chose to develop my own IMAP client for getting emails. Hence, the proposed deliverables were:

• An IMAP client for fetching emails given some user account credentials
• A daemon for the above client
• A plasmoid for viewing cards
• Cards for Event, Flight, Hotel and Restaurant each
• Backend plugin support for each of the above mentioned cards

Work report

In the past few months, I managed to develop a working model of KDE Now. To summarize:

• We have an IMAP based client (henceforth called as KDE Now daemon) that runs like a daemon fetches all emails until the last one month.
• The KDE Now daemon supports new emails/updates on the fly.
• Support for SQLITE database, in which we add records from once fetched emails, given the emails are of interest.
• Plugin architecture for the KDE Now daemon which would make adding other schemas/support for other things very easy in the future
• Each of the four plugins for Event, Flight, Hotel and Restaurant reservations.
• Cards for each type of plugins.
• Plasmoid for viewing said cards.
• Dynamic generation of content on the plasmoid
• Back end support for multiple user accounts

Github repository: KDE Now

Blog posts: Blog

Working Demo: Demo

What I learnt

• C++
• Qt
• QML
• CMake
• KIMAP's API
• KWallet's API
• SQLITE
• D-Bus concepts and working
• Plugin Architecture of applications
• Plasmoid's working
• Classes' design
• Incremental Development
• Project management

Plans for future

Although we have a working, model but I still believe that KDE Now is far from release. I plan to continue working on the project after GSoC finishes. Below are some of the things I plan to do in no particular order before a possible release:

• Providing a front end for getting user details of multiple accounts. Currently we have front end support for entering just one email account and backend support for multiple user accounts.
• Writing Documentation
• Writing Unit Tests for everything
• Testing
• Changing the cards' background from current images to SVG's
• Getting a graphics designer to design said svg's

Apart from these, there are some other long term plans for the project:

• Integration with current KDE software. For eg. integration of Events with Calendar
• Integration with Sink (akonadi-next) when it is released.