Integrate GTG to Gnome-Shell

My e-mail is baptiste.saleil@gmail.com (also for google+ or gtalk)

My nick on IRC is bsaleil.

 

Of course.

My webpage is here : http://bsaleil.org/

My blog : http://blog.bsaleil.org/

 

I'm actually in 4th year of University studies in computer science.

Also, I have 2 years technical degree in computer science, and the French high-school diploma in Engineering Science.

 

GTG is simply the better soft to manage personnal tasks with all features a user needs.

Also, I use the so friendly Gnome-Shell since the begining of his young age.

 

I think that the better way to do this is to use Dbus with a gnome-shell extension.

So, I'll maybe modify the Dbus functions of GTG (to add functions) and I'll create a new Gnome-Shell extension to make the link between GTG and user actions.

 

Technical part :

To work better, I decided to split this project in differents parts :

1 - Have the basics Dbus functions (Get tasks, Add task, Remove task, ...)

2 - Create the new extension (and the main menu) with basics features :

- List tasks with subtasks (With an order not defined yet, scrollbar, etc...)

- Possibility to search for a task

- A Button to open GTG

- Possibility to add a task

 

A picture is worth a thousand words, so i created a small sketch which shows what this menu could look like :

 

 

This menu could be add directly to the topbar, or maybe integrated in the calendar widget (like the actual GTG extension)

 

 

 

As I said before, my idea brings some benefits for GNOME and its community :

- We have a perfect integration of GTG into the new Gnome-Shell (with menu, notifications, etc...) So, the user will manage his tasks in a faster way.

- This idea brings also some new features to GTG (with the reminder system for example)

- All components of my project are intuitive. So, the user could use GTG faster and in a simple way.

- This idea will use the new extension preferences system of Gnome Shell, but also the notification system,... So, it brings a better integration of GTG in the  new Shell.

 

Just because I'm the best :)

Seriously, I have some experience on this field.

I authored two Gnome-Shell extensions, so I have some experience in Gnome-Shell extension programming.

Here you have my profile page in the extensions website :

As you can see, I authored a simple todo list extension. In fact, this extension give me the idea of this project. I like my own extension but I Love GTG and both are not synchronized. Also, others users of my extensions says that it could be a good thing to add synchronization with GTG or others tasks managers. So I decided to apply to GNOME to work on this project.

 

As I said to Luca Invernizzi (GTG mentor) by e-mail, I worked two years ago on a personnal project (for personnal needs), a task manager.

this project was fairly complete with some features :

- Calendar Widget to add some tasks for a particular day.

- Possibility to add, edit or remove a task.

- Simple todo list on the left side with possibility to add/remove todo.

- A phonebook tab to manage contacts informations.

- Reminder system using the GNOME2 OSD system (with preferences like "First remind 20min before" or "Remind me every 10min before" ...)

 

I'll use several elements to help me in this project :

- I think that the community is the better source of information so I'm sure that she'll help me if I have any problem.

- Wisdom of the mentor is also a good source of information :)

- As I done for my others extensions, I'll read some others source code to help me for this project.

- ...

 

It's difficult to plan how the work will be done.

I think that this program could serve as a basis :

 - April 23 : Begining of the program. I think that it's important to "get to know mentor, read documentation" (As it's write on the GSoC website).

 - April 23 to May 7 : In my opinion, two weeks without any line of code is a good thing. we MUST take the time to know what we want to do before doing it.

 - May 7 to May 21 : This is the time to begin to code a first concrete "prototype" of the idea.

 - May 21 to May 27 : Week of exams :(

 - May 28 to June 11 : Here the prototype could be finished. For example, the steps 1 and 2 of my previous organisation could be done.

 - June 11 to June 25 : Fixing bugs of steps 1 and 2 and begin to work on the next features

 - June 25 to July 13 : Working hard.

 - July 13 : mid-term : I must be able to show an almost final prototype for the steps 1,2,3 and 4.

 - July 16 to August 6 : Fixing bugs of steps 3 and 4, document the project for the others developers (important for me).

 - August 6 to August 20 : Fixing bugs if any. Else, I can begin to work in others idea for this project (which is listed in step 5). Also I must clean and test the code before.

 

What will showable at mid-term ?

The previous program says exactly what. :)

 

I'll begin with my user experience :

I'm 21 years old and I use a Linux System since around 8 years.

My first experience was with a Knoppix distribution. After few months of use, I used the both Fedora and Ubuntu. Today they are still my two favorite. Also, since my younger experience of Linux, I'm a fan of GNOME. Today, The both Linux/Gnome are the only I use.

 

 

There is no really "bug" to fix because it's a new project.

So, I have nothing else to show that my extension and my task manager soft.

 

The more important thing I retained from working on projects is the problem of synchronisation.

The synchornisation of contributors, and the synchronisation of work (code, etc...) that are very difficult things.

 

So,with all of my previous works, I gained some experience principally in collaborative work and communications skills.