Development/Tutorials/Plasma4
< Development | Tutorials
QML 1.0
Plasmoids that use the QML (aka QtQuick) declarative language to describe their user interface while having the logic of the applet, in JavaScript (QML is essentially a forge between CSS and JavaScript).
This is now the recommended method of creating plasmoids, where possible. The plasmoid, or applet serves as the visualization for the data which a Plasma::DataEngine contains.
It allows easily the declaring of an interface and to easily create things like ListViews with native Plasma theming. It is what Plasma is leaning the most towards, especially in the Mobile, MediaCenter shells.
- Getting Started
- Creating and running your first plasmoid in QML
- Basic List Plasmoid
- Make a QML ListView which displays basic text objects as items. Utilizes native Plasma theming and animations.
- API Reference
- The QML Plasmoid API. Useful for referencing what is available in the runtime, what are the differences with the pure JavaScript ScriptEngine, the differences between pure Qt QML and Plasma, and as a study aid for the tutorials above.
C++
Plasmoids
- Getting Started With Plasmoids
- Creating your first plasmoid in C++ with SVG background, icon and text
- Getting Started With Plasmoids..Some more
- A few more starter's tips.
- How to use extenders in your Plasmoid
- A simple example that shows how to use extenders in a Plasmoid.
- Creating Plasmoids
- May 2010 article from Linux Magazine
- Create Plasmoids using KDevelop
- Article explaining the structure of Plasma and how to create a Plasmoid
- Adding configuration to your plasmoid
- Article explaining how to add a configuration dialog to your plasmoid.
DataEngines
- Writing a DataEngine
- DataEngines provide a standardized interface to various (read only) data sources for visualizations to use. Learn what a DataEngine is and how to write one of your own.
- Writing a Service
- Services provide a standardized interface for visualizations to perform "write operations". This can be for example, uploading pasted test to a pastebin service..
PackageStructures
- Writing a PackageStructure Plugin
- PackageStructure plugins allow custom Packages to be defined, installed, removed and listed as well as provide access their contents at runtime. Packages may contain any kind of data addons, including scripts.
Runners
- Creating Runners
- Runners are plugins that provide action-based search functionality in the Plasma workspace "run command" dialog. These plugins can be used by any application that links again libplasma.
Wallpapers
- Wallpaper Tutorial 1
- This tutorial shows you how to make a simple Hello World plasma wallpaper plugin.
- Wallpaper Tutorial 2
- This tutorial covers how to add configuration options to the wallpaper.
- Wallpaper Tutorial 3
- This tutorial improves the wallpaper by using the so-called 'double buffer' technique.
Plasma Shells
- Creating a Plasma Shell
- This tutorial covers the essentials of writing a new Plasma shell from scratch. A must-read for anyone creating a new or modifying an existing Plasma Shell. Existing Plasma shells include Plasma Desktop, Plasma Netbook, Plasma Mobile, Plasma Media Center, Plasma Screensaver, Plasma KPart and Plasma KDM, and all follow the patterns documented here.
Containment actions
- Creating a Plasma ContainmentAction
- "This tutorial covers the essentials of writing a new Plasma ContainmentAction. You can use a ContainmentAction e.g. for desktop context menus."
JavaScript
Plasma has built-in JavaScript (also known as ECMAScript, and often referred to as QtScript in the context of Qt) scripting support without requiring any external dependencies.
Plasmoids
- Getting Started
- Creating and running your first plasmoid in JavaScript
- Getting Data
- How to retrieve data from a data engine
- Now Playing
- Slightly more advanced data engine usage: displaying what's currently playing
- System Monitor
- How to access systemmonitor data engine
- Cheat Sheet
- A cheat sheet, rather than a tutorial, of things to remember and watch out for when developing JavaScript plasmoids
- Adding a Config Dialog
- An explanation and examples about how to add a Config Dialog to your recently created plasmoid.
- API Reference
- The Simplified JavaScript Plasmoid API. Useful for referencing what is available in the runtime and as a study aid for the tutorials above.
Other Applications Of Javascript
- Scripting Plasma Shells
- The KDE Plasma Desktop and Netbook provide means to manage the desktop shell (desktop, panels, widget) via scripts written in JavaScript. This article describes how to take advantage of this feature set as well as documents the full API. This is primarily a system administration tool, but may also be of interest to power users.
- Javascript Animations
- How to write Animations using Javascript for use in Plasma applications
- Creating Comic Plugins
- This guide shows you how to create a comic plugin for the comic plasmoid.
Python
There are some sample plasmoids written in python https://projects.kde.org/projects/kde/kdeexamples/repository/revisions/master/show/plasma/python
Plasmoids
- Getting Started
- Creating and running your first plasmoid in Python
- Using widgets
- Introduction to using Plasma widgets
- Using DataEngines
- How to use DataEngines from a plasmoid
DataEngines
- Writing DataEngines
- How to write your own Plasma DataEngine
- Writing a Plasmoid in Python
- Writing a simple battery graph in python
Runners
- Writing a KRunner plugin in Python
- Writing a simple krunner plugin in python
Ruby
Plasmoids
- Getting Started
- Creating and running your first plasmoid in Ruby
- Using widgets
- Introduction to using Plasma widgets
- Writing a simple paste applet
- A tutorial explaining how to set up a plasmoid, create a simple paste applet using widgets and add Plasma features seen elsewhere. Complete with tips for those who have never programmed before.
- Use SVG artwork in the simplest way possible
- Follow a fellow student as he asks around about SVG usage and explains why the code examples work. This is a wiki so feel free to add your own insights until this tutorial can be considered complete.
DataEngines
- Writing DataEngines
- How to write your own Plasma DataEngine using Ruby
Web Technologies (HTML/JS/CSS)
- Getting Started
- Creating and running your first plasmoid in HTML
Plasma integration for applications
- Creating a Device Notifier action
- When your application is interested in removable hardware
- Integrate Plasma in Applications
- This tutorial shows you how to make an application dashboard based on Plasma technologies.
Packages
- Plasma Packages
- An overview of what makes up a Plasma Package and what they are and can be used for.
- Writing a PackageStructure Plugin in C++
- PackageStructure plugins allow custom Packages to be defined, installed, removed and listed as well as provide access their contents at runtime. Packages may contain any kind of data addons, including scripts.
Themes
- Creating a Plasma Theme Quickstart
- A quick guide to creating your first Plasma theme
- The Plasma Theme Structure In Detail
- A comprehensive guide to the contents of a Plasma SVG theme, including configuration options, wallpapers, on-disk layout, names of all standard SVG files and every element in them.
Activity Templates
- Creating a Plasma Activity Template Quickstart
- A quick guide to creating your first Plasma Activity Template
Resources
- Projects: Plasma
- Plasma api documentation
- Plasma Eclipse Integration
- The plasma-devel mailing list and #plasma on IRC (irc.freenode.org).