Development/Architecture/KDE4/Plasma: Difference between revisions

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Plasma is the name of the new desktop planned to replace KDesktop in KDE4. You may think that it is a union of [http://netdragon.sf.net SuperKaramba] and KDesktop, but it's more. It's a whole concept of functionality and beauty.</translate>
Plasma is the name of the new desktop which replaced KDesktop in KDE4. You may think that it is a union of [http://netdragon.sf.net SuperKaramba] and KDesktop, but it's more. It's a whole concept of functionality and beauty.</translate>


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Its implementation is based on the Qt [http://doc.trolltech.com/graphicsview.html Graphics View Framework] introduced in Qt 4.2.</translate>
Its implementation is based on the Qt [http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-4.8/qgraphicsview.html Graphics View Framework] introduced in Qt 4.2.</translate>


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Revision as of 13:22, 4 March 2013


Plasma is the name of the new desktop which replaced KDesktop in KDE4. You may think that it is a union of SuperKaramba and KDesktop, but it's more. It's a whole concept of functionality and beauty.

Its implementation is based on the Qt Graphics View Framework introduced in Qt 4.2.

From a developer point of view there are some classes in libplasma who play central roles.

  • Corona: extends QGraphicsScene and provides functionality for adding applets and karamba themes.
  • Widget: extends QGraphicsItem and works as simple elements in the desktop. There are some built-in in libplasma as icons or buttons.
  • Applet: extends Widget and implements sophisticated functionality as rss display, a clock or system monitoring.
  • DataEngine: The common use of a DataEngine is to provide data to an applet for display. This allows a user interface elements to show all sorts of data.

Further reading