[ews.eclipse.technology.desk] Re: Some ideas...

[Jed Anderson <jed.anderson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

+1

jkca

Ryan Lowe wrote:
> Hi Robert,
>
> I'm curious:  when you delete a file in your file manager does it go to 
> the Windows Recycle Bin?  The behaviour for Java is just to delete the 
> file.  Recycle Bin support is a feature I've requested from this 
> project, and would probably be useful for your file manager.
>
> Ryan Lowe
>
>
>
> Robert Enyedi wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> >
> > Just like the founders of this project, I know that Java is lacking a 
> > lot of desktop integration features. For a while I've been developing 
> > an open-source file manager in Java and these are the main areas where 
> > I have to use native bindings:
> >
> > - partition information - there's no way of obtaining basic partition 
> > information in Java: type, size, free space. The Eclipse Update 
> > Manager codebase contains such code 
> > (http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/org.eclipse.update.core.win32/src/) 
> > and I use something similar to it. It's not that hard, but it's still 
> > native code and should be available as an API. For example, any 
> > container/application server needs such an API for doing a safe deploy.
> >
> > - file permissions/attributes - all you can do in Java is set a file's 
> > read-only attribute. There's no way of resetting it. And you can check 
> > if it's hidden, but no API for changes is provided. There should be a 
> > specialized API for dealing with a unified file permission model that 
> > covers mainly the permission models of win32 and Unix.
> >
> > - shell context menu - while the first two areas are of general 
> > interest, the handling of the system shell's context menu is somewhat 
> > of limited use. I need it in my file manager 
> > (http://sourceforge.net/project/screenshots.php?group_id=35271&ssid=8601) 
> > and I also have some code already implemented (only for win32 and it 
> > works just partially): 
> > http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/jcommander/plugins/org.jcommander.systemshell.win32/src/. 
> > However, an API for the system shell and the contextual menu in 
> > particular might be useful also for other kind of applications that 
> > require tight desktop integration.
> >
> > While trying to address these needs for my application, I directly 
> > experienced the two obvious difficulties in developing native bindings:
> > - design of a unified and platform independent API - requires 
> > knowledge of all the major platforms
> > - implementation of the APIs for each target platform - thorough 
> > knowledge of the specific APIs is needed and this is the hardest part
> >
> > What I've found out as missing in Java for desktop integration is just 
> > a  small part of what other requirements might be.
> >
> > Do you have a plan about the areas of desktop integration that the 
> > Eclipse Desktop project intends to address?
> >
> > Regards,
> > Robert