New feature for rev5: h1settings

In this article I'm going to describe a new feature which will be available in rev5: h1settings.

h1settings is a library which handles the global settings of the phone. It is a basic wrapper upon some gconf keys and has functions to :

• read and update key values
  
• listen to gconf key changes
  

Currently, only a few keys are available :

Device states :

• gprs on/off : /desktop/h1/phone/enable_gprs
  
• gsm on/off : /desktop/h1/phone/enable_gsm
  
• gps on/off : /desktop/h1/gps/enable_gps
  
• wifi on/off : /desktop/h1/phone/enable_wifi
  
• bluetooth on/off : /desktop/h1/phone/enable_bluetooth
  

Power management :

• power management enabled / disabled

The idea behind this library is to add loose coupling between components. For example the power management key is used by the gsm applet when a call is in progress (to fix this silly bug: http://trac.hackable1.org/trac/ticket/42 ) in order to disable power management (i.e. suspend). The gsm applet does not know how to disable PM but neod knows.

Currently, all the actions related to key states except gsm are handled by neod, the central daemon. It registers itself for these keys changes and sets the state of the devices. For the gsm part, it is handled by the gsm applet because it has already everything needed to switch on/off the antenna.
 
Another advantage is that an independant settings app can be built very easily without any dependencies with the underlying system, and this app already exists : h1settings.
See some screenshots below :