Widgets engine 1.0 finale for Harmattan

Here it is ! The widgets engine, that consists of a library and a mobile app targetting Harmattan (Nokia N9 and N950) is available in version 1.0. Version 1.0 is another iteration of bugfixes and documentation enhancement from the previous release candidate No major bugs were fixed in this release, since there were no major bugs discovered by users and reported.

Sorry for Maemo lovers, the Maemo dock is still not usable. It will be usable with 1.0.1 patch release. Be patient. 1.0.X patch releases will also bring more widgets, and if you want widgets, don’t hesitate to ask, and post in the bug tracker.

As usual, read the FAQ before doing anything. Here are useful links as well

• Public bugtracker
• Open tickets for 1.0.X and 1.1
• Download page

Call to developers

libwidgets has been a long project for me, but now, everybody can be involved to make it better. First, it is an opensource project, published under GPLv3 license. If you want to have a powerful Qt/QML library for widgets, this is the library for you. libwidgets is very easy to use and produces good results with limited amount of code. libwidgets is also extensible and have many features.

If you want to make your widgets better on the N9 lockscreen, you can participate too ! Coding a widget is really really easy, and I accept all contributions. You can even package your own widgets and deploy them !

Documentation can be generated from the src/ folder using doxygen. And if you have questions on how to use libwidgets, you can find me on Twitter, and on TMO, as well as on IRC@freenode (channels Harmattan, Qt).

For proprietary applications wanting to use libwidgets, I’m thinking of providing it as LGPLv2.1 or even BSD license. I have not made my mind yet.

FAQ

Q: Is this release stable ? I’m afraid of briking my phone

A: This release is stable. But it is a hack on the lockscreen, so there might be some instabilities sometimes. I have tested it over one month, using it daily, without any bug, so you shouldn’t be afraid.

Q: I’m not using / inception / open mode / unrestricted sysui, do I need them ?

A: nothing is needed, it should work for both stock and unrestricted system ui. With unrestricted sysuid, the safe mode may be triggered, but it is normal, because of the reboot that is triggered when installing widgets.

Q: I have bugs when using landscape lockscreen, or unrestricted sysui. What should I do ?

A: I’m testing on a device running unrestricted system ui, but not the landscape lockscreen. Landscape lockscreen is currently unsupported, but might come in a future release. Please do not mix too much tweaks as the combinaison might create some bugs or do not work at all. You might want to disable landscape lockscreen before installing lock screen widgets.

Q: I installed it and the status bar restarts ! Is that normal ?

A: Yes, it is. The engine that is responsible of the status bar is also the one that is responsible of the lock screen. Don’t panic. You might panic if the phone became unresponsible and start to reboot in loops. If this happen, and this shouldn’t, you are done for a reflash.

Q: I installed it. Now, how can I unlock my phone ?

A: You should either use a dock that provides unlocking, such as the slide to unlock widget. You can also launch an app, that will automatically unlock the view. Finally, you can type on the grey bar at the bottom. Note that normal swipe is tricky to trigger since my lockscreen do not perfectly integrate in Nokia swipe UI. I have to figure this out.

Q: Widgets / docks are not saved !

A: You should go back in the menu to save widgets or docks. It is for performances and powersaving reasons. Just press the back button and the widgets will be saved and pushed to the homescreen.

Q: What is this grey bar at the bottom ?

A: Currently, only a debug way of unlocking. Soon, it will become an official unlocker, with a drag up gesture.

Q: I have problems with low power mode !

A: Low power mode is not supported, and I don’t really know how to support it from now, since I don’t have an N9. However, I plan to support it in a near future. Currently, you should disable LPM in Settings > Device > Screen.

Q: It is slow ! Performances are horrible !

A: Well, I don’t know why and I even think that it is normal. I tried to use both QML using a bridge and plain graphics view (meego-touch) to code stuff on the lock screen, and it was slow all the time. I don’t know if it is because of the system-ui that is not hardware accelerated, or other things.