| -rw-r--r-- | development/pim/pim_howto/pim_howto.lyx | 112 |
1 files changed, 60 insertions, 52 deletions
diff --git a/development/pim/pim_howto/pim_howto.lyx b/development/pim/pim_howto/pim_howto.lyx index 4571996..1e43d63 100644 --- a/development/pim/pim_howto/pim_howto.lyx +++ b/development/pim/pim_howto/pim_howto.lyx @@ -23,290 +23,290 @@ \usepackage{multicol} \newcommand\NrCol{3} \renewenvironment{theindex} {\columnseprule \z@ \columnsep 35\p@ \section*{\indexname}% \@mkboth{\MakeUppercase\indexname}% {\MakeUppercase\indexname}% \begin{multicols}{\NrCol}\thispagestyle{plain}\parindent\z@ \parskip\z@ \@plus .3\p@\relax \let\item\@idxitem} {\clearpage % \end{multicols}} \renewenvironment{theindex} {\if@twocolumn \@restonecolfalse \else \@restonecoltrue \fi \columnseprule \z@ \columnsep 35\p@ \twocolumn[\refstepcounter{section}% \section{\indexname}]% \@mkboth{\MakeUppercase\indexname}% {\MakeUppercase\indexname}% \thispagestyle{plain}\parindent\z@ \parskip\z@ \@plus .3\p@\relax \let\item\@idxitem} {\if@restonecol\onecolumn\else\clearpage\fi} \end_preamble -\language german -\inputencoding auto +\language american +\inputencoding default \fontscheme ae \graphics default \float_placement htbp \paperfontsize default \spacing single \papersize a4paper \paperpackage widemarginsa4 \use_geometry 0 \use_amsmath 0 \use_natbib 0 \use_numerical_citations 0 \paperorientation portrait \secnumdepth 3 \tocdepth 3 \paragraph_separation skip \defskip medskip -\quotes_language german +\quotes_language english \quotes_times 2 \papercolumns 1 \papersides 2 \paperpagestyle fancy \layout Title How to use the Opie-Pim API without getting tired! \newline (Aka: Hitchhikers Guide Through the Opie-Pim API) \newline (Pre V 0.1) \layout Author \family sans Stefan Eilers \layout Section* \family sans Abstract \layout Standard The Opie-Pim API provides a powerfull access interface to the PIM (Personal Information Management) data which contains your contact information, the - dates in your calender tool (in this paper called datebook events) and + dates in your calendar tool (in this paper called datebook events) and your todo events. Beside providing full featured access to this information, it covers the real management of this informantion - the access of the databases - from the user. \layout Standard While starting to read the automatically generated API-documentation, the - user may be confused by a lot of unneccessary classes and details which + user may be confused by a lot of unnecessary classes and details which makes the quick start not as easy as possible. Due to the fact that a user will not need most of the details, this paper should help to start to become confortable with those details he need to solve his problems. \layout Standard \begin_inset LatexCommand \tableofcontents{} \end_inset \layout Chapter Introduction \layout Standard -Before starting to jump into the work, we should introduce some specialities +Before starting to jump into the work, we should introduce some specialties of the PIM API, first. To know these facts should help to avoid possible irritations and misunderstand ings: \layout Enumerate The PIM-API heavily uses C++ templates (as known as generic classes), but you don't have to understand very deeple what templates are doing and how they work! Most of the API works without even seeing the templates. - In some cases whe have to use them (for instance to use the factory classes), + In some cases we have to use them (for instance to use the factory classes), but this guide will provide examples which should help to find the path through. But it is a good idea to read some short introduction of templates to avoid - unneccessary mistakes. + unnecessary mistakes. \layout Enumerate The PIM-API is split into two parts: The \emph on frontend \emph default and the \emph on backend. \emph default While the frontend provides the API for the user, the backend implements how to access the databases and what to do with the data. - As we just want to access data, this paper just focusses the frontend. + As we just want to access data, this paper just focuses the frontend. Thus, you should ignore all classes which contains something like \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset backend \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset - in its name! Backends are just interessting for people who want to extend - or implement new possiblities about how to access databases, which will + in its name! Backends are just interesting for people who want to extend + or implement new possibilities about how to access databases, which will be discussed at the end of this paper. Currently, you just have to understand that there do exist several backends for every type of PIM data (Contact, Todo, Datebook) which controls whether you want to access an XML, SQL (SQLite) or VCard style database. If you just want to use the default database, you even don't have to think about this! \layout Standard In the next chapter, we will show how to access the default database as easy as possible. This will be the solution for most of the problems you may face while accessing the PIM data. \layout Chapter Quick Guide to access the Database \layout Standard In this chapter we will introduce very quickly how to get access to the database and how to access data. It should help to find the right directions. If it is too short for you, you should read the next chapter afterwards to find a more complete and detailed view into the system. \layout Section Instantiate the access-object \begin_inset LatexCommand \label{sec:Instantiate-the-Access} \end_inset \layout Standard To gain access to the database you need something we will call \emph on access-object \emph default (an instance of the access-class for the database) which handles the database access. Requesting such an object is very easy by using the operation \emph on defaultAccess() \emph default of the factory class \series bold OPimAccessFactory \series default (see \begin_inset LatexCommand \url{http://www.sra.uni-hannover.de/~eilers/apidocs/pim2/html/classOpie_1_1OPimAccessFactory.html} \end_inset ). This operation is defined like this: \layout LyX-Code -T* defaultAccess (typename OPimGlobal::PimType type, const QString &appName) +T* defaultAccess (typename OPimGlobal::PimType type, const QString &appName) \layout Standard You just have to add the following lines to your source code to use it (this example is for accessing the contact database): \layout LyX-Code #include <opie2/opimaccessfactory.h> \layout LyX-Code use namespace Opie; \layout Standard [...] \layout LyX-Code OPimContactAccess* sourceDB = OPimAccessFactory<OPimContactAccess>::defaultAcces s( OPimGlobal::CONTACTLIST, "my-app" ); \layout Standard If everything works as expected, you will receive a pointer to the contact access-class which has to be used for accessing the database. Accessing the datebook database works equally \begin_inset Foot -collapsed true +collapsed false \layout Standard The API will be changed in the future: ODateBookAccess will be renamed to OPimEventAccess. \end_inset : \layout LyX-Code ODateBookAccess* sourceDB = OPimAccessFactory<ODatebookAccess>::defaultAccess( OPimGlobal::DATEBOOK, "my-app" ); \layout Standard And the same for todo: \layout LyX-Code OPimTodoAccess* sourceDB = OPimAccessFactory<OPimTodoAccess>::defaultAccess( OPimGlobal::TODOLIST, "my-app" ); \layout Standard Using \emph on \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset defaultAccess() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset \emph default -, the default dabase is accessed automatically +, the default database is accessed automatically \begin_inset Foot -collapsed true +collapsed false \layout Standard The configuration file \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset pimaccess.conf \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset defines which backend is selected as default! \end_inset . If you want to use anything else, you have to read the next chapter to get the information how to do this. \layout Standard The last parameter \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset my-app \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset is very importand and should be equal for every instance of an application. Some database backends (like the XML backend) uses this string as an unique filename to create a journal file. If your application should run in several instances independently you will @@ -331,332 +331,332 @@ Accessing the Access-Object \layout Standard After receiving the access-object, we just have to use its API which is mainly defined by the common base class \series bold OPimAccessTemplate \series default (see \begin_inset LatexCommand \url{http://www.sra.uni-hannover.de/~eilers/apidocs/pim2/html/classOpie_1_1OPimAccessTemplate.html} \end_inset ). This API is inherited by all access-classes and therefore common to all access-objects. We will show the most important operations of it first (please replace \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset T \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset below with the corresponding \emph on data-class \emph default for the selected access-class: OPimContact \begin_inset Foot -collapsed true +collapsed false \layout Standard see \begin_inset LatexCommand \url{http://www.sra.uni-hannover.de/~eilers/apidocs/pim2/html/classOpie_1_1OPimContact.html} \end_inset \end_inset for OPimContactAccess, OPimEvent \begin_inset Foot -collapsed true +collapsed false \layout Standard see \begin_inset LatexCommand \url{http://www.sra.uni-hannover.de/~eilers/apidocs/pim2/html/classOpie_1_1OPimEvent.html} \end_inset \end_inset for ODateBookAccess and OPimTodo \begin_inset Foot -collapsed true +collapsed false \layout Standard see \begin_inset LatexCommand \url{http://www.sra.uni-hannover.de/~eilers/apidocs/pim2/html/classOpie_1_1OPimTodo.html} \end_inset \end_inset for OPimTodoAccess): \layout LyX-Code bool load (); \layout LyX-Code -bool reload (); +bool reload (); \layout LyX-Code bool save (); \layout LyX-Code \layout LyX-Code -bool add (const T& t); +bool add (const T& t); \layout LyX-Code -bool remove (const T& t); +bool remove (const T& t); \layout LyX-Code -bool replace (const T& t); +bool replace (const T& t); \layout Standard After receiving an access-object, we have to load the existing dataset into the backend, which is done by the \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset load() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset operation. The \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset save() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset operation is important to write back (or \emph on commit \emph default ) local changes into the global database. After doing this, the changes are globally accessable! The \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset reload() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset operation loads changes of the global database into the local set \series bold without \series default removing any local changes \begin_inset Foot -collapsed true +collapsed false \layout Standard -We should check whether all dabases behave like this! (se) +We should check whether all databases behave like this! (se) \end_inset . This may be done after receiving information about any change by an other application which is not in scope of this chapter. The other operations are self explaining and should work as expected. \layout Standard If you want to work with the existing dataset, you need to get a list of all available information. This list is returned by the call \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset allRecords() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset which returns a list of all available records as an \series bold OPimRecordList \series default (see \begin_inset LatexCommand \url{http://www.sra.uni-hannover.de/~eilers/apidocs/pim2/html/classOpie_1_1OPimRecordList.html} \end_inset ). \layout LyX-Code -List allRecords (); +List allRecords(); \layout Standard In fact, this \emph on List \emph default just contains a list of uid's to take care of memory space. - As every record is identified by an unique identifaction number which is - called UID (Unique IDentification), these numbers just exists once in the - database which is currently on access! To receive the real record, you - have to use the operation + As every record is identified by an unique identification number which + is called UID (Unique Identification), these numbers just exists once in + the database which is currently on access! To receive the real record, + you have to use the operation \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset find() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset - with a valid UID as paramter: + with a valid UID as parameter: \layout LyX-Code -T find (UID uid); +T find (UID uid); \layout Standard This is all you need to realize a basic access to the PIM-Databases! The next chapter will guide you into more details of the PIM-API. \layout Chapter How to Access PIM-Data: Detailed View \layout Standard As shown in the previous chapter, all we need to access the PIM-Database is to request an access-object from the OPimAccessFactory and to use it. We will now introduce some special features of this factory (see section \begin_inset LatexCommand \ref{sec:Advanced-Factory-Features} \end_inset ), followed by some very important features like searching and sorting in section \begin_inset LatexCommand \ref{sec:Special-Features:-Searching} \end_inset . If you are interested in accessing data without take care about their types, section \begin_inset LatexCommand \ref{sec:Generic-Access:-OPimBase} \end_inset will show how to do this, followed by a short introduction about delayed loading in section \begin_inset LatexCommand \ref{sec:Internal-Signal-Handling:} \end_inset . \layout Standard -But first we will start with intoducing some features of the +But first we will start with introducing some features of the \series bold OPimAccessFactory \series default . \layout Section Advanced Factory Features \begin_inset LatexCommand \label{sec:Advanced-Factory-Features} \end_inset \layout Standard In the previous chapter we used the operation \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset defaultAccess() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset - to request an access-object to the dafault backend. + to request an access-object to the default backend. Whether this default backend will access the XML, VCard or SQLite database type, is defined by the configuration file \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset pimaccess.conf \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset which is stored in the directory \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset Settings \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset , stored in the user home directory. Changing this setting will take effect to all applications using \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset defaultAccess() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset . Therefore it is not a good idea to modify a global setting, if an application should access a special database type, for instance to move data from one database to an other. \layout Standard If the developer wants to select a special database type for sure without - unnecessary side effects, he has to use the oparation + unnecessary side effects, he has to use the operation \emph on create() \emph default which has the following parameters: \layout LyX-Code -T * create (OPimGlobal::PimType type, OPimGlobal::DatabaseStyle dbStyle, +T* create (OPimGlobal::PimType type, OPimGlobal::DatabaseStyle dbStyle, const QString &appName, const QString &fileName=QString::null) \layout Standard -Some paramters are already known, like type and appName (see section +Some parameters are already known, like type and appName (see section \begin_inset LatexCommand \ref{sec:Instantiate-the-Access} \end_inset ). The new parameter \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset dbStyle \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset defines which database type should be selected. Possible values could be found in the enumeration \emph on DataBaseStyle \emph default in the class \series bold OPimGlobal \series default (see \begin_inset LatexCommand \url{http://www.sra.uni-hannover.de/~eilers/apidocs/pim2/html/classOpie_1_1Pim_1_1OPimGlobal.html} \end_inset ). \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset @@ -717,68 +717,68 @@ fileName \end_inset is used to select a special file name and path to the database file. Thus, you can use it to access database files which don't reside on the default path or have other filenames as it is defined by the platform as default (in normal cases \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset ~/Applications/<name of application>/ \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset ). \layout Standard In the next section we will discuss how searching and sorting take place with this API. \layout Section Special Features: Searching and Sorting \begin_inset LatexCommand \label{sec:Special-Features:-Searching} \end_inset \layout Standard In most cases it is not sufficient to receive just a list of all information in a database. It is essential to get a subset of the information available and to be able to sort it. - For this kind of excercise we provide some special operations which provide + For this kind of exercise we provide some special operations which provide searching and sorting in an incremental manner \begin_inset Foot -collapsed true +collapsed false \layout Standard FIXME: matchRegexp() does take a list of uid's. Therefore it is currently not possible to use it in an incremental manner! (se) \end_inset . Therefore it is possible to research a \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset List \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset which was returned by a previous search query and to sort it afterwards. Before we will take a close look into sorting, we will start with searching. There exist two different ways of searching: \layout Enumerate Search a complete database for a special regular expression, using \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset matchRegexp () \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset . This search type returns all records which contains the given regular expressio @@ -811,205 +811,213 @@ Query By Example search query which allows to define what should be searched and which internal data fields should be taken into account. This is a very advanced search function which allows to search in a very fine granular manner. \layout Standard We will start with the first and very simple \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset matchRegexp() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset , followed by the query by example search query. \layout Subsection Searching with \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset matchRegexp() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset \layout Standard The function is defined like this: \layout LyX-Code -List matchRegexp (const QRegExp &r); +List matchRegexp (const QRegExp& r); \layout Standard The \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset List \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset is still a OPimRecordList which contains 0 or more uid's of matching records. As already discussed in section \begin_inset LatexCommand \ref{sec:Accessing-the-access-object} \end_inset you have to use the \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset find() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset operation to request the real records. \layout Subsection Searching with Query By Example \layout Standard The query by example search style is working is using a data object (for instance an OPimContact) to store the search query. For instance, if you want to request all entries which contains the last name \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset Eilers \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset and the home zip number should start with \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset 3 \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset you have to do the following: \layout LyX-Code OPimContact searchQuery; \layout LyX-Code searchQuery.setLastName( -\begin_inset Quotes gld +\begin_inset Quotes eld \end_inset Eilers -\begin_inset Quotes grd +\begin_inset Quotes erd \end_inset ); \layout LyX-Code searchQuery.setHomeZip( -\begin_inset Quotes gld +\begin_inset Quotes eld \end_inset 3* -\begin_inset Quotes grd +\begin_inset Quotes srd \end_inset ); \layout Standard We use an usual \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset OPimContact \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset and fill into two fields the query information. All filled fields are taken for the search operation (using an \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset AND \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset operation), the unused ones are simply ignored. As we just want to search for entries which zip number starts with a \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset 3 \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset we use the Wildcard \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset * \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset as we would do to find files in a filesystem. \layout Standard The next step is to put this query into the operation which is defined like this: \layout LyX-Code -List queryByExample (const T& query, int querySettings, const QDateTime - &startperiod=QDateTime()) +List queryByExample (const T& query, int querySettings, const QDateTime& + startperiod=QDateTime()) \layout Standard The first parameter \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset query \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset should used to set our query, but we have to set the parameter \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset querySettings \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset to configure the search properly. - This settings are defined by the enum QuerySettings in the class + This settings are defined by the enumeration +\begin_inset Quotes gld +\end_inset + +QuerySettings +\begin_inset Quotes grd +\end_inset + + in the class \series bold OPimBase \series default (see \begin_inset LatexCommand \url{http://www.sra.uni-hannover.de/~eilers/apidocs/pim2/html/structOpie_1_1OPimBase.html#w19} \end_inset ). The meaning of all settings will be discussed later. For the first turn we will just concentrate on the things we need in this case. As we use Wildcards in \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset setHomeZip \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset we have to use \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset WildCards \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset . And we want to be sure to find lower case names, too, which may be mistyped (like \begin_inset Quotes gld @@ -1053,83 +1061,83 @@ endperiod \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset will be ignored for this case which will look like this: \layout LyX-Code use namespace Opie; \layout LyX-Code [...] \layout LyX-Code List found_items = queryByExample( searchQuery, OPimBase::WildCards | OpimBase:: IgnoreCase ); \layout Standard This operation may return a list of entries which can be accessed as above, using the \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset find() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset operation. \layout Standard It should be clear at this stage, that this query is very powerful and - depending to the querySettings - could be very complicated to implement. Thus, not all backends do support all features defined by querySettings \begin_inset Foot -collapsed true +collapsed false \layout Standard At this time, just the contact database for XML and VCard is supporting all queries and combination of them. All others just support subsets. \end_inset . To check which settings are supported and to be able to react dynamically on missing features (for instance to disable some search features in the application) we provide the following operations: \layout LyX-Code -bool hasQuerySettings( uint querySettings ); +bool hasQuerySettings( uint querySettings ); \layout LyX-Code -uint querySettings(); +uint querySettings(); \layout Standard The first operation \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset hasQuerySettings() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset may be used to ask whether the database can handle the given query settings. In this example a call to \layout LyX-Code hasQuerySettings( OPimBase::WildCards | OpimBase::IgnoreCase ); \layout Standard should be answered with \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset true \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset . If you need to ask which kind of queries are supported, the operation \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset querySettings() \begin_inset Quotes grd @@ -1173,75 +1181,75 @@ OPimBase::DateDiff \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset . The date and time in the query object is used as the \series bold end \series default of the interval. The start will be defined by the last parameter (if nothing is set, the current date will be taken!). Therefore, it is possible to set a time frame for all searched entries. \layout Standard If you want to do incremental search operations, you may use the special \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset queryByExample() \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset which takes a \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset List \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset as the first parameter. - The search operation will just occure on this set of uid's! + The search operation will just occur on this set of uid's! \layout Subsection Sorting \layout Standard To sort a given dataset, you should use the following operation (or one of the others which behave slightly differently): \layout LyX-Code -List sorted (const List& list, bool ascending, int sortOrder, int sortFilter, +List sorted (const List& list, bool ascending, int sortOrder, int sortFilter, const QArray< UID >& cats); \layout Standard This sort operation takes a list of uid's as returned for instance from a search query. The parameter \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset ascending \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset defines whether the sort should be in an ascending order or not. \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset sortOrder \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset is defined by the enumerations \begin_inset Quotes gld \end_inset SortOrder \begin_inset Quotes grd \end_inset and \begin_inset Quotes gld @@ -1372,40 +1380,40 @@ sorted() But this combination is exactly what the developer needs in most situations. \layout Section Generic Access: OPimBase and OPimRecord \begin_inset LatexCommand \label{sec:Generic-Access:-OPimBase} \end_inset \layout Section Caching \layout Standard Need to be written. Implementation is found at: \begin_inset LatexCommand \url{http://handhelds.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/opie/noncore/tools/pimconverter/converter.cpp?rev=1.9&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup} \end_inset \layout Section Internal Signal Handling: Automatic Propagation of Changes \begin_inset LatexCommand \label{sec:Internal-Signal-Handling:} \end_inset \layout Standard -Need to be written and is not implemented completly! +Need to be written and is not implemented completely! \layout Chapter Howto Extend and Write New Backends \layout Standard Need to be written. \the_end |