
Source (link to git-repo or to original if based on someone elses unmodified work): Add the source-code for this project on opencode.net
This is a plasmoid, which displays the current location of "Eis-Wagner" in Ilmenau, Germany. (Requires KDE 4.2+)
It's written in Python plus a tiny bit of JavaScript and uses OpenLayers with OpenStreetMap data to display the map.
Constructive critics are always welcome :-)
In case you still wonder how all this works (and that is likely ;-)), the following explanation is for you:
In the mobile ice-cream parlor "Eis-Wagner" is a GPS receiver, which uploads its current position to the Internet every 60 seconds. This data is used to display the current location of Eis-Wagner on http://www.wo-ist-der-eismann.de. Therefore this plasmoid won't be of much use for people living outside of the German town Ilmenau.
How to install:
plasmapkg -i wo-ist-der-eismann.plasmoid
or through the plasma applet browser.
(tested using KDE 4.4.4)
Thanks to:
OpenStreetMap.org for hosting high quality street maps
Falcom for providing the coordinates of the car on http://www.wo-ist-der-eismann.de
OpenLayers.org for the creation of a cool slippy map API
10 years ago
0.4.2 - 03 July 2010
Major cleanups and partial rewrite
Add comments to the source code
Work around a bug that caused the plasmoid to be empty after a restart of plasma
0.4.1 - 23 May 2010
Fix fetching of the coordinates (it was broken due to a rewrite of wo-ist-der-eismann.de)
Update to OpenLayers 2.9.1
Cosmetics
Fix crash with KDE 4.4
0.4 - 28 May 2009
Show default context menu, if the user right clicks on the plasmoid
Show a refresh button on hover
More minor stuff/polishing
0.3 - 25 May 2009
Warn about connection problems
Changed the unit of the update interval to minutes (warning! update your configuration)
The background is translucent now, looks better in my opinion
0.2 - 19 May 2009
Fixed a bug that caused the plasmoid to randomly stop updating the position
Convert some strings to german till I have finished proper i18n
Changed the unit of the update interval to seconds (warning! update your configuration)
0.1 - 18 May 2009
Initial Release
10 years ago
0.4.2 - 03 July 2010
Major cleanups and partial rewrite
Add comments to the source code
Work around a bug that caused the plasmoid to be empty after a restart of plasma
0.4.1 - 23 May 2010
Fix fetching of the coordinates (it was broken due to a rewrite of wo-ist-der-eismann.de)
Update to OpenLayers 2.9.1
Cosmetics
Fix crash with KDE 4.4
0.4 - 28 May 2009
Show default context menu, if the user right clicks on the plasmoid
Show a refresh button on hover
More minor stuff/polishing
0.3 - 25 May 2009
Warn about connection problems
Changed the unit of the update interval to minutes (warning! update your configuration)
The background is translucent now, looks better in my opinion
0.2 - 19 May 2009
Fixed a bug that caused the plasmoid to randomly stop updating the position
Convert some strings to german till I have finished proper i18n
Changed the unit of the update interval to seconds (warning! update your configuration)
0.1 - 18 May 2009
Initial Release
dtritscher
10 years ago
But there is some issue since the last update:
If the applet is already present on the desktop while you are loging in, no map and no map marker is rendered. Only the reload button is shown, button klicking it doesn't load the map.
Report
Flyser
10 years ago
In case anyone is interested what caused this bug see line 22 of "contents/html/main.html" in version 0.4.2 and change the value to 0px.
Thanks for reporting :-)
Report
Flyser
10 years ago
Report
Flyser
11 years ago
The new version contains a lot of minor changes like a fixed typo, better design of error messages and others.
As promised, I added a refresh button that appears on hover. However I am not much of an artist and the design is certainly not finalized. If you have some cool idea how to visually improve the plasmoid, please share it :-)
So what about the next version?
In case you provide some feedback and ideas regarding the design, I will try and implement them for 0.5.
Apart from that I plan to display the last refresh time (similar to wo-ist-der-eismann.de) on hover.
Report
dtritscher
11 years ago
And for other crazy ideas:
KDE 4.3 will come with a geolocation data engine. So an "Eismann approaching your position" should be possible with not to much effort.See this blog entry:
http://andrewcoles.blogspot.com/2009/05/where-am-i.html
Report
amoebios
11 years ago
Hmmm, maybe you could expand on the fuctionality. How about a plasmoid that tells you where you can get a pizza? ;)
Report
Flyser
11 years ago
Hehe, nice idea :-)
But I think this plasmoid is only useful, if you want to track the (changing) position of something ... If you find some other useful datasource (like other mobile ice-cream parlors or whatever), I will be happy to add support for them here :-)
Report
cesorensen
11 years ago
Report
Flyser
11 years ago
I just released a new version of the plasmoid, which will now displays error messages, if it is unable to download the position data (sadly www.wo-ist-der-eismann.de is down at the moment, which is why I thought some visible error message would be cool).
I also decided not to rewrite the complete configuration dialog just to remove a single button. The wasted space is tolerable.
As for i18n, I found out how to include translations in plasmoid packages, however this will require KDE 4.3. That's why I am going to include a german translation (as soon as I got PyKDE and kde trunk working together), so 4.3 users get the translation just by installing the plasmoid and 4.2 users will likely have to copy some files around.
The next version will likely contain a nice visible-on-hover button to refresh the position data.
Have fun,
Flyser :-)
Report
Flyser
11 years ago
Also don't forget to correct the update interval in your configuration, as 0.3 will treat the seconds you configured as minutes.
Report
dtritscher
11 years ago
just two minor issues:
- the config dialog has to much wasted space due to the apply button. note that plasmoid config dialogs usually don't have an apply button.
- i18n is incomplete,the config dialog shows german and english strings (my default language is german)
Report
dtritscher
11 years ago
the field for the update interval lacks a unit. also it may be a good idea to use something like minutes. i don't know what it's set to currently, but a value like 300000 is hopefully not minutes ;)
Report
Flyser
11 years ago
thanks for the feedback :-)
Version 0.2 should fix at least some of the issues you mentioned. To fix all of them I am going to write my own configuraiton dialog instead of using KConfig XTs. (Except if someone can tell me how to fix them with kconfig ...)
I am also looking for the right widget for the "Update Interval" setting, as I want to allow a interval ranging from hours to seconds ...
-- Flyser
Report
dtritscher
11 years ago
Of course this doesn't switch units between seconds and minutes. But is that really important? Just Minutes should be fine. All the examples from other KDE examples that come to my mind are using only a single unit.
Regarding the config dialog: You should have a look at some other python plasmoids, as all other plasmoids use the same config dialog, you must have done something differently ;)
Report
Flyser
11 years ago
> Regarding the config dialog: You should have a look at some other python plasmoids,
> as all other plasmoids use the same config dialog, you must have done something differently ;)
I noticed that, too^^
/me is investigating :D
Report
dtritscher
11 years ago
Maybe you can add a possibility to manually refresh, like in context menu or a button in the lower right corner that only appears when you hover over the plasmoid (the comic plasmoid is doing something like this).
Report
Flyser
11 years ago
Report