Can I send a BMessage to a Deskbar replicant?

Development
1

Is there an easy way to get a BMessage to a replicant in the Deskbar tray?

I’d have hoped that after checking with Deskbar’s HasItem() there’d be a way to send a BMessage to the Deskbar and have it pass it on to the named BView (or using the item’s ID). No such luck, though…

2

It’s not the most straightforward, but it can be done with the scripting API. I don’t have any C++ code showing it but I can give some examples using hey to target a replicant in the Deskbar. For example, to send a refresh message to my DeskbarWeather replicant:

hey Deskbar let View of Replicant "DeskbarWeatherView" of Shelf of View Status of Window Deskbar do 'FrGw'

My replicant view is named “DeskbarWeatherView” and ‘FrGw’ is the refresh message.

3

Thanks for that hint!

I’ve found code in the repo that does something in that direction with the ShelfInspector.
I hope someone comes up with an easier way, otherwise I’ll have to try wrapping my tiny brain around what’s described there… :slight_smile:

4

I don’t think there is another way currently without writing code to use some other method to send data, like a shared clipboard or a message port. There’s an open ticket about locating views in the Deskbar.

I have an app similar to ShelfInspector hiding in my projects folder that I haven’t pushed to github if you need more examples.

Semi-related …some other miscellaneous hey commands for inspecting the shelf and replicants if anyone is curious:

# getsuites command to show what info is available to query/command
hey Deskbar getsuites of Replicant 0 of Shelf of View Status of Window Deskbar
hey Deskbar getsuites of Shelf of View Status of Window Deskbar

# get replicant count
hey Deskbar count Replicant of Shelf of View Status of Window Deskbar

# get archive of replicant by index
hey Deskbar get Replicant 0 of Shelf of View Status of Window Deskbar

# get archive of replicant by name
hey Deskbar get Replicant "ProcessController" of Shelf of View Status of Window Deskbar
5

Thanks. I don’t know yet when I’ll find the time to dig into it. I may come back to your offer some day…

6

Look at how the Deskbar replicant communicates with the plug-in for Claws that I’ve created.
It’s done via StartWatching/StopWatching and SendNotices. In this particular use case I send a message to the application and the replicant receives a notice of that specific message.

7

Thanks, I’ll look into that, too. If nobody quickly implements BMessage forwarding to Deskbar in the next days… :slight_smile:

8

Sending a message to the Deskbar is not a problem, you can do it. You want to send a message to the replicant’s view that it’s not straightforward.
We probably need an API to easily iterate over the available replicants and get the one we need by name.

9

Here is how it’s done in the input _server:
https://cgit.haiku-os.org/haiku/tree/src/servers/input/AddOnManager.cpp#n585

10

I am painfully aware. :slight_smile:
[EDIT: rereading the post you answered, I meant that we’d need to have Deskbar forward the BMessage we send to it to the replicant with a certain ID or name. But just getting the BMessenger of the replicant may be even more straigt forward.]

We already have that API with Deskbar’s HasItem(). Only that returns just the ID (corresponds to the position of the replicant in the tray, I think). We’d need the addition to ask for the BMessenger of the view of that ID (or name, works too).

@korli , yeah that’s similar ‘scripting’ approach as seen in the ShelfInspector.
I’d wish for a fewer-hoops solution, but may have to go that way or the listener way and Start/StopWatching for those notices…