dennogumi.org-archive/_posts/2014-01-04-an-expedition-in-the-qml-realm.markdown

author	comments	date	layout	slug	title	wordpress_id	categories	tags
einar	true	2014-01-04 08:03:18+00:00	page	an-expedition-in-the-qml-realm	An expedition in the QML realm	1270	KDE Linux	KDE Linux plasma QML

Among the different widgets I use on my desktop, there is a small one which tells me my current public IP address. The reason I'm having it is due to the fact that my own ISP uses a NAT for almost all its customers (don't ask - long story) and so I need to keep tabs on my current IP, because it may have been blacklisted, and so on.

Up to now I was using this plasmoid written in Python, but the code had several issues and used its own way of getting the public IP. However, I knew Plasma has already a way to give you your IP, that is the _geolocation _DataEngine. I thought of adjusting the current widget to use this engine, but then I thought "What if I make one in QML?".

It turned out to be a rather easy task, which I accomplished in less than one hour, by reading up some documentation, examples and of course pestering people on IRC. ;)

All I needed to have the IP ready was

{% highlight javascript %}

PlasmaCore.DataSource { id: dataSource dataEngine: "geolocation" connectedSources: ['location'] interval: 500

    onNewData: {
        if (sourceName == 'location') {
            ipAddr.text = data.ip
        }
    }

{% endhighlight %}

where ipAddr was a Text element.

And that's how is the final result (mimicking the other widget I took it from):


There are still a number of issues, for example getting the right size when started, and ensuring it's not resized to a too little size. But I was surprised that it was so easy.

Interested parties can grab it by cloning and installing:

{% highlight bash %} git clone https://git.dennogumi.org/kde/ip-address-viewer plasmapkg -i ip-address-viewer/ {% endhighlight %}

Suggestions on code quality are welcome.