Create a simple launcher to initiate Gala workspaces overview

[Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff]

Compiz expo is one of those really fancy and really useful things that we have going on. But at the moment, its impossible to discover. I think having a regular launcher would make it really easy for people to stumble upon this functionality. Unity already has that.

[Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel)]

I'll probably use xdotool to make it work instead of D-bus; I still haven't figured out where's metacity's keybinding is stored. Is it hardcoded or what?

[Danielle Foré (danrabbit)]

No Compiz = no Compiz plugins.

[Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel)]

Since Gala revision 181, the command to be executed in the .desktop file would be:
  dbus-send --type=method_call --dest=org.pantheon.gala /org/pantheon/gala org.pantheon.gala.PerformAction int32:1

[Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel)]

Okay, here's a stub for .desktop file. We need to sort out three things:
1) It needs a dedicated icon. Assigning DanRabbit.
2) Name and comment should be checked for decency
3) We need to specify Gettext domain for l10n purposes; so we need to decide to which package/app it will belong and translate it from there. Gala is currently not translatable.

[Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel)]

Sample .dockitem for Plank
Place in ~/.config/plank/dock1/launchers/

[Keith Adair (kjzz12)]

So I'd like to push a little bit of discussion on the name of the dock item. Workspace Overview seems like the default name these days on Linux systems. But in Elementary, as we no longer use the dots on Plank to represent which apps are running, this indicator will be the only way a user knows which apps are running and where. It's ALMOST akin to this:
http://www.simplehelp.net/2010/11/29/how-to-close-open-apps-on-your-ipad-iphone-or-ipod-touch/
As such, I feel like the the name ought to reflect that. My current name for the dock item on MY plank is "Running Apps," but that does not reflect the workspaces aspect. "Apps and Workspaces," perhaps? But maybe that's too unwieldy.

Ideas?

[Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel)]

Minor updates to the .desktop file, didn't tackle anything from the list above

[Danielle Foré (danrabbit)]

1 & 2. I guess we need to decide a sane name for this functionality before we can come up with a good icon name. I think we plan to have a kind of expose mode like Mission Control right? So it wouldn't make 100% sense just to call it a Workspace Manager/Switcher. Maybe "Task Switcher"?

3. I guess since it's a Gala functionality and depends on Gala, it should probably be shipped as a part of Gala ;)

[Eduard Gotwig (gotwig)]

I don't want that this is part of plank. Plank should only contain applications.

[Cassidy James Blaede (cassidyjames)]

This would be called "Workspace Overview" or "Spaces Overview". I don't know that we want it by default though.

[Thomas Berends (thomasberends)]

Maybe the name "Observatory" ?
The 'overview' really is an observatory for your apps/workspaces. Workspaces are like different galaxies, with different starts (apps).

[Fabian Thoma (fabianthoma)]

This will not ship in beta 1 but maybe in beta two, so I retargeted this Bug ;)

[Cassidy James Blaede (cassidyjames)]

To reiterate for clarity, it's called "Workspace Overview".

[Tavecchio Luca (tavecchio-luca)]

a guy made this:

http://traumad91.deviantart.com/art/Workspace-Overview-365885261

i've made my personal variant:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rvrrqnqsffejr53/workspace-overview.svg

[Sergey "Shnatsel" Davidoff (shnatsel)]

The above dock items work, but they bounce, which is distracting and annoying.
We need to know if:
1) Is that acceptable? Can we include them?
2) If not, are hacks in Plank, e.g. no-bounce property or some simple docklet patches acceptable?

I'm trying to figure out if this work item really desired and a release blocker.

[Viktor Basso (viktor-basso)]

We can use "Keywords" from the Desktop Entry Specification.
http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/latest/ar01s05.html
"A list of strings which may be used in addition to other metadata to describe this entry. "

By adding keywords to the .desktop launcher like:
Keywords=NoBounce;

The plank developers can use that as a variable to not animate the bounch of a launcher. I think this solution would not "taint" the .desktop launcher files in any way if used on other desktop environments.

[Danielle Foré (danrabbit)]

Here's a temporary icon.

[Danielle Foré (danrabbit)]

Marking Gala as affected since it would probably make the most sense to ship the .desktops with gala

[Danielle Foré (danrabbit)]

Tom says the line should be:

dbus-send --session --dest=org.pantheon.gala --print-reply /org/pantheon/gala org.pantheon.gala.PerformAction int32:1