which language/framework for a GUI using only the notification area

amy

Hello,

I'd like to build a GUI using only the notification area.
An icon will be constantly in the notification area with 2 possible states.
When the user clicks the icon, a list of clickable choices should appear.
A click on a choice launches a gksudo box which launches a script.
That's all.

Which language and framework should I use in order to minimize the developpment ? I think I have to choose the GUI toolkit / framework at first. Which is the best for notification area use ? Is Glade OK ? Then, the language, I'd like to use Python. What do you think about it ?

By the way it will be a tool to change the network settings, but very light. The only thing it will do is stop the network, symboly link a custom /etc/network/interfaces-custom to /etc/interfaces/interfaces, then start the network again.

I'm planning this tool because all the others I see also make the configuration side and are therefore limited. It's a tool for advanced users, they still would have to write and test their /etc/network/interfaces at hand. The only GUI with this orientation I know is IFswitch which is old.

You could try with Python and PyGTK

Thanks !
I've looked at it quickly, but the area notification support is quite weak...

maybe  from : localhost/pypanel.sourceforge.net/ ?

Take a look at GNOME Network Manager.  This looks like it runs only in the notification area, and it's installed by default in ubuntu.

C++ and gtkmm are an alternative too. You could even make a Python module in C/C++ and use it in Python =)

I'm looking at the source of Networkmanager and I don't understand something, I read it is an applet however it lives in the notification area... I'm confused.

Otherwise I don't want to use old libs like those that were advised to me. I want to use the most recommanded libs to build a GTK app living in notification area. Is that Glade ? It doesn't really matter if I can't use Python, it's only that I thought Python would make sense for such a project but I want, at the same time, to learn to use the libs of nowadays

I'll have a deeper look at Glade : By using libglade, Glade XML files can be used in numerous programming languages including C, C++, Java, Perl, Python, C#, Pike, Ruby, Haskell, Objective Caml and Schem

Glade is a GTK+ UI builder for languages that have libglade binginds.

To use Glade, you will need to use Haskell + gtk2hs, Python + PyGTK, Java + Java-gnome, C++ + gtkmm, C with pure GTK+, you can choose.

Thanks, I understand now.
I can build my GUI layout with Glade and use it with PyGTK.
However I'm not sure how to build the pop-up list I want to appear after a click on the icon in the notification area. I'll start with a simple window and in a second stage will try to intergrate it into the notification area.
I'm totally noob you know !

I did it and immediatly after realized I don't need Glade for this, gtk.StatusIcon is my friend.
So here's my version working in the system tray.
Backup your /etc/network/interfaces first !
Man it works but the code is so awfull, this is my second Python script so a little help to write it well would be cool.
Also, I can't get it to work with the left click, only the right click works...