indicator interview questions
Top indicator frequently asked interview questions
This is not a duplicate of How to create Unity indicators?. I'm looking for system indicator not application indicator.
Backgound:
From these two questions:
I learned that there are two types of indicators:
All application indicators are handled/showed by indicator-application (a system one). System indicators are showed directly by Unity panel.
Both questions are about adding/removing indicators from login & lock screen. The first was a straight forward setup (when dealing with system indicators). The second was a tough setup (when dealing with app indicators), which needs modifying the source of panel service (unity package) for lock screen and the source of unity-greeter for login screen.
As the case of sysmonitor, to me that was workaround. The best solution is to implement a system indicator instead of an application one.
Topic:
Is there a unified API for system indicators (Preferably: Python then C/C++)? Please, reference to the official documentations.
Most system indicators are written using Vala programming language. Could any one write small demo for a system indicator using Python or C?
Update:
I found few links that may give a push:
In Application Indicators project page, They listed links to AppIndicator-0.3 API (C & Python) used for application indicators.
They listed also Indicate-0.7 API (C & Python). What is this? Well, it is a DBus messaging channel between Desktop Applications.
On other hand, in System Indicators project page, they mentioned:
System Indicator APIs
Messaging Menu using libindicate.- Sound Menu using libunity.
Date/Time Indicator using Evolution-Data-Server
They seem listing Data API not Indicator Development API like for Evolution-Data-Server. But not sure about libindicate & libunity. Did any one work with these two libraries?
Try apt-cache rdepends libunity9 libindicator7 libindicator3-7 to see which indicator is relaying these libraries.
Update2: This to keep interested users updated.
From what I have collected till now, here is the order of possible solutions:
libindicator3-7 (high, Many indicators depend on it)
I found some test examples in the source, some dummy indicators that I have tried, could be installed in /usr/lib/indicators3/7/, they are shared lib .so. I could get them displayed in Login & Regular Session but Not in Lock Screen.
However there are some test indicator services, which seems like Unity system ones. I haven't tried them yet.
libindicator7
From same source as libindicator3-7, from rdepends:
mate-indicator-applet
lxpanel-indicator-applet-plugin
It seems to be used to make container for indicators in panels.
libunity9 (low)
No research yet
Source: (StackOverflow)
As I use the Docky Skype indicator, and the green Skype icon doesn't look good next to all the grey ones -- it would be nice to remove the icon from the system tray.
Is this possible? How can I do it in Ubuntu 12.04 -- or other earlier versions?
Source: (StackOverflow)
This question already has an answer here:
I've installed Skype, but the icon is not shown at the top panel (tray). As "tray-whitelist" was removed from dconf, I can't add icon by myself.
Source: (StackOverflow)
The new indicator-appmenu in Maverick breaks the LyX menu: the application menu is not shown either in the application window nor in the applet. (See Bug report.)
As a workaround while the bug is fixed, is there a way to make an exception for the applet, so that LyX would be ignored and the applet could still be used for everything else? Something akin to Maximus exceptions.
Source: (StackOverflow)
Is there any other way of removing the "Set Up Mail" and other entries from the message indicator short of uninstalling Evolution? I prefer to use GMail directly through the browser. It's beginning to annoy me since I keep on clicking it by accident then that window pops out.
Source: (StackOverflow)
I want to enable the System tray icon for Pidgin in Ubuntu 11.10 (with Unity), but I don't see it.
I have to start it again and again from the launcher panel or from the dash.
Is there a workaround to show the system tray icon in Unity? I think it's the same behavior for Skype and some other applications also.
Source: (StackOverflow)
So I have looked online (believe it or not) and I can't seem to find anything to help me with my issue. My clock just disappeared. Here's a screenshot!
Source: (StackOverflow)
I like Unity very much. Recently, I installed Compiz manager and Nautilus Elementary also then tried to Play. During some of my playing around, Unity's clock applet has vanished.
I want to make it show the time again. How can I do this?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I'm used to have System monitoring in the top Gnome Panel: CPU, Temperature, Net, Fan-Speed. (see screenshot below)
In Unity, the Top Panel is locked for window name and global menu, so I can't add panel applets.
So my question is:
Is there a way to replace this kind of system monitoring (always visible, taking not much space) in Unity?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I installed Ubuntu 11.04 on one of my systems and I am using the Unity interface. Unity is working quite well so far but I really miss panel applets for net speed, cpu temp, and system monitor.
These applets are useful for viewing quick info. Unlike 10.10, there is no other way to get this info onto the panel or unity launcher. There are solutions like screenlets and conky but they don't feel appropriate for a clean desktop look.
If you know one then please list out any third party indicators with links so that they can be found.
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Source: (StackOverflow)
I have recently installed Ubuntu on my machine and everything has been working fine, except I don't see the Dropbox indicator. I have installed and re-installed Dropbox multiple times and can confirm that it's running in the background (with ps -e | grep dropbox).
Does anyone know how to get it back?
Source: (StackOverflow)
I'm using Gnome classic in Ubuntu 12.04 and I'm not able to find the settings that would allow me to display the date and day along with time in the clock of my indicator applet. Any idea how I can make the date and day appear along with the time?
When I click on the clock and then click on "Time and Date settings", I get the "System settings". From there when I click on "Date and time", I get a setting where I can just edit the date and time. I'm using 12.04 with Gnome classic. I removed unity.
Source: (StackOverflow)
This question already has an answer here:
I installed Skype 4.0 following this guide. However my little Skype icon in the unity status bar (in the top right corner with clock, volume, etc.) is gone. How do I get it back?
Source: (StackOverflow)
This question already has an answer here:
Just upgraded from 13.04 to 13.10.
Everything went fine but I don't see the time in the top right corner of the 'top bar' anymore. I tried to right click on it so I could get some options but nothings shows.
I'm sure it's obvious but I don't see it.
Source: (StackOverflow)
I'm wondering how it's possible to remove the little mail indicator applet in the global menu. I've uninstalled all the programs that use it, like Thunderbird, Empathy, and Gwibber, since I don't use any of them, but the icon is still there.
Any ideas?
Source: (StackOverflow)