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Clipboard Unity Scope with its full potential

Test version of Diodon with its new Zeitgeist integration has been out for a while. In the first test version there was only a limited version of Unity Diodon Scope available. We have been working on improving this integration to bring the Unity Scope to its full potential. In this post do I want to describe what new features have been integrated and how you can testrun those before we hopefully release them soon.

When the Unity Scope (resp. Lens back then) has been introduced in Diodon version 0.4.0 it was fairly limited and it was only possible to search in the recent clipboard history which had a limit of 100 items. With the recent change of Zeitgeist and infinitive clipboard history this limit has been removed and makes the Unity Scope more powerful itself.

But there is more like the new filters for category (Text, Files, Images) or time when a clipboard item has been copied.

Diodon Unity Scope Filter

With this filter and text search available you hopefully find any item you have copied before. There is also a preview available when you click on a clipboard item. The preview will show you the full content of the item (especially helpful when verifying a longer piece of text) with additional information what application the item has been copied from and the date copied.

Unity Diodon Scope Preview

You can open Unity Diodon Scope with the hotkey <Super>b or simply by pressing the clip icon on the right hand side on the dash and start search your clipboard history.

The Diodon Scope used to be an plugin which caused some issues as Smart Scopes service was not able to start and stop it itself. We therefore have now turned the scope into its own service as it should be which also gives the advantage that the scope can be closed when not needed to safe resources, but started as soon as requested.

This brought about some changes in the packages to install it – we have removed the package diodon-plugins (will be added again as soon as we have other plugins available again) and added a new package unity-scope-diodon. As soon as you have installed this package and logged in and out again the scope will be available. No need to activate it as before.

If you are interested and want to test it use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:diodon-team/daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install diodon unity-scope-diodon

Let us know what you think and report a bug if you find any glitches or have suggestion to improve it.

I herewith also want to thank all translators who took the time to update the Diodon translations. Great work. There are still some translations which are not quite up-to-date yet. Have a look whether you can help out.

Storing clipboard items infinitely – test version

After a long time of silence am I delighted to present you a new version of Diodon. We have been moving from a xml clipboard storage to directly implementing Zeitgeist. This, first of all, brings a lot of changes under the hood e.g. clipboard storage is not limited by a number of items anymore but clipboard content can be stored theoretically infinitely. This will help us implement new features in the future. However, there are also some direct advantages for users which I want to introduce here. Please remember though when reading this post that this is still a test version. Things might still change and there are still open issues which I will mentioned at the end of this post. Also due to higher requirements in different libraries such as a newest Zeitgeist library (>= 0.9.14), we can not provide this new features for Ubuntu older than 13.10.

This said, let’s dive into what’s new.

Diodon Unity Scope without limits

Diodon has been providing a Unity Lens/Scope integration for quite some time. However, it has been limited due to the fact that you could only search in a list of a maximum of 100 items. There is no such limit anymore which makes the Diodon Unity Scope much more powerful. Also it is now nicely integrated into the new Unity Smart Scopes with a preview and keyword search (e.g. start search with clipboard: or diodon: to search in clipboard history). For now you can find the clipboard history underneath the Info master scope. Unity Scope is still a Diodon plugin so package diodon-plugins needs to be installed and afterwards plugin Unity Scope activated in Diodon -> Preferences -> Plugins.

UnityLensClipboard

Clear clipboard history by time

There has always been the feature to Clear the whole clipboard history. But what if you only wanted to delete the items recorded in the last hour or last day? With this new release this is now fairly simple by using the “Security & Privacy” component in System settings (Update: For non Unity desktop environments you need to install the package activity-log-manager and start the application of the same name). There go to the Tab “Files & Applications” where you find a “Clear Usage Data…” button. In the new dialog simply choose the desired time frame you want to clear. And voila job done…

ClearUsageData

Exclude my Password Manager from adding items to clipboard history

Concerns have been raised that passwords copied by a password manager also get added to the clipboard history and remain there. If you have similar concerns then this new feature might be of interest to you. It is now possibly to exclude certain applications from adding items to the clipboard history. For this we also use the “Security & Privacy” component in System settings (Update: Or activity-log-manager for non Unity systems). There in tab “Files & Applications” simply add the application you wish to the Exclude list. Content of such application will still be copied into the clipboard but won’t remain in resp. added to the history.
Please note though that Diodon can only correctly identify native applications. This means that for example Java applications can not be excluded from adding to clipboard storage. We will see whether we can improve this in the future.

ExcludeApp

How can I install new test version?

As this is only a test version it is currently only available in the daily ppa.

Run the following commands to install it:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:diodon-team/daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install diodon diodon-plugins

If you want to use the Unity Scope, do not forget to activate it in Diodon -> Preferences -> Plugins.

Known issues – good to know before start testing

As said is this only a test version which has still issues. So if you find any bugs please report them.

Here is a list of known issues which should be fixed before the final release:

For developers and translators

There have been a few changes in different string used within Diodon. It would therefore be great if all translator out there could have a look and update their translation of expertise. Thanks in advance for your valuable work.

For developers of plugins please note that the API is not compatible anymore with older version however the changes are not major. Best have a look at the source code comments. If their are still questions as always can you contact us on IRC Freenode channel #diodon.

Diodon is getting official

I am glad to announce that with version 1.0.2 Diodon has made it into the official Ubuntu repository for Raring. This means that from Ubuntu 13.04 onwards no PPA will be needed to install Diodon. So simply install it with apt-get or use the Ubuntu Software Center.

Of course the Stable Diodon PPA will remain for other versions of Ubuntu and to release stable packages which have not made it into the official repository yet. And for all lovers of cutting edge software, there is still the Daily PPA for the daily snapshots of Diodon.

Additionally with version 1.0.2 comes there a Apport integration so you can simply report bugs. Just use the following command to do so:

ubuntu-bug diodon

Apport is collecting data like what version of Diodon is installed, what are the dependencies etc. and then also ask you whether you want to include your clipboard history. It then puts all this together and uploads it to Launchpad.net, where you can input a bug description. And then hopefully with all this information we will be able to find the cause of the issue quickly and provide a fix.

So therefore have fun using Diodon and do not hesitate to file any bug or annoyance you find.

Starting a new Diodon era with a new look and feel

It has been two years when the first version 0.1.0 of Diodon has been released. A lot of work has been done since when it comes to features but mainly to integration into the desktop. This new release is just one of those little steps to make Diodon better integrated and even more useful (see issues solved). And there are still many ideas to be implemented in the future.

Nevertheless is this new version of Diodon a special milestone and therefore I want to give it the version 1.0.0. This is mainly to its long overdue new icons set which gives it’s unique look and feel. razvi of iloveubuntu.net has summarized the significance of this change in this blog post which I want to quote here:

Usually, app icons play an important role on establishing the identity of applications, visual items that contain essential aspects of applications and/or shapes, colors, patterns, etc, designed with an easy-app-identification process in mind. […] Diodon has just been enriched with new icons, refreshing its identity and properly expressing itself via simplistic yet interesting monochrome icons, as well as adopting colored icons.

DiodonIndicator

As a celebration of this new milestone I think it is also time to start promoting Diodon even more. I therefore put a list together with possibilities for you to help out. And I am sure you will have plenty of more ideas.

  • Post about Diodon on your blog
  • You use another distribution then Ubuntu? Create packages for this distribution (I promise that I will soon look into making a package for the official Ubuntu repository).
  • Add Diodon to your software stack on Ohloh.net by using the I Use This! button.
  • Mark Diodon as “Like” on AlternativeTo and add alternatives
  • Now, there is also a Diodon user group on launchpad. Join in to show your appreciation to Diodon and also optionally take part in the mailing list conversations.
  • Or simply follow Diodon on Freecode

I am looking forward to see Diodon getting more adapted in 2013. I herewith also wanted to take the opportunity to thanks the Diodon user community for all the valuable feedback I have received and for you loyalty ;). Thanks… and have a happy new year 2013…