This is a call for testing for a port of KControl to KDE 4, undertaken by msoeken and me. You can find the Source archive attached to this post, build instructions are available below. Please post all comments / problems / etc in this thread.

Once installed, you will be able to change to the traditional tree view through the configure option available on the toolbar
At this time, no menu entry is available, it can be launched ( once installed ) by executing "kcontrol4"
Thanks in advance for your testing!

==== Build Instructions ====

Notice: This needs to be installed in the directory provided by kde4-config --prefix, otherwise it will most probably not work

Minimum Requirements:
CMake 2.6-patch 2
KDE 4.2 Development packages ( kdelibs only )
Qt 4.4

Build instructions:
Download the attached file, with the same name as below to your Home folder, then open Konsole, and execute the following commands, to extract, configure, build and install KControl4.

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tar -xf kcontrol-0.1.tar.gz
cd kcontrol-0.1/
mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$(kde4-config --prefix)
make
sudo make install
kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental

Uninstall Instructions:

Open Konsole once more, and execute the following commands:

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cd kcontrol-0.1/build
sudo make uninstall
kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental

One problem with make (and yes, I have the required packages installed):

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/home/kryten/download/kcontrol-0.1/core/MenuItem.cpp: In member function ‘QList& MenuItem::grandChildren() const’:
/home/kryten/download/kcontrol-0.1/core/MenuItem.cpp:106: error: no matching function for call to ‘QList::append(QList&)’
/usr/include/QtCore/qlist.h:414: note: candidates are: void QList::append(const T&) [with T = MenuItem*]
make[2]: *** [core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/MenuItem.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2

Oops, QList::append(const QList&) was introduced in Qt 4.5. I fixed this in trunk. You can also try to compile the latest svn version:

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svn co svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/trunk/playground/base/kcontrol4/src kcontrol4
cd kcontrol4
mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$(kde4-config --prefix)
make
sudo make install
kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental


Cheers, m

First time I ran it without executing [font=Courier]kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental[/font] first. The result was that no modules were shown, as expected.

However, when I closed kcontrol4, the application crashed. The backtrace can be found here.

-

OK, some first impressions (I'll skip the positive stuff):

1. In my opinion, you shouldn't be able to hide the sidebar nor make it fill the whole width. I just found that you can do this in KDE 3.5.x as well, but I don't see the reason for this feature.
   (Actually I accidentally hid the sidebar and was confused a moment).
2. The 'About' icon looks strange, since you'll have two wrenches next to each other. My first thought was "what? two 'settings'?".
3. How about moving the toolbar buttons to the left? I'm used to have the search bar to the right.
4. Talking about the search bar, I don't like how it's stretched to fit the whole window.
5. I'm not sure what I think about the new tooltip. One thing is for certain though: I don't like that I have two tooltips at the moment.
6. Do we really need a "Configure" button just to change view style? I was thinking about toolbar icons like Dolphin for icon/tree view, but maybe that makes even less sense.
7. I highly dislike the "Alt+Left" text for the back button, but since it's in System Settings I guess it can't be helped.

Oh, and I think I run Qt 4.5, so that might explain some quirks.

Hans wrote:The 'About' icon looks strange, since you'll have two wrenches next to each other. My first thought was "what? two 'settings'?".

+1

Hans wrote:How about moving the toolbar buttons to the left? I'm used to have the search bar to the right.

I think, this is also a good point. But it is on the left in system settings

Hans wrote:I'm not sure what I think about the new tooltip. One thing is for certain though: I don't like that I have two tooltips at the moment.

We now that and this will get fixed. You also should be able to enable/disable the new tooltip like in dolphin

Hans wrote:Do we really need a "Configure" button just to change view style? I was thinking about toolbar icons like Dolphin for icon/tree view, but maybe that makes even less sense.

There could be more view. If there are two many views the toolbar would loke crowded.

Hans wrote:I highly dislike the "Alt+Left" text for the back button, but since it's in System Settings I guess it can't be helped.

Yeah, but this could possibly configurable in an advanced settings page?

Cheers, m

msoeken wrote:Oops, QList::append(const QList&) was introduced in Qt 4.5. I fixed this in trunk. You can also try to compile the latest svn version:

Tried that, but that only gives me another problem, also at the make stage (using 4.2.1. with Qt 4.4.3 btw so if the new error is also due to Qt 4.5, I for now will have to give this one a pass and hope others are more capable than me in giving constructive feedback):

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[  0%] Built target kcontrolview_automoc
Scanning dependencies of target kcontrolview
[  5%] Building CXX object core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/kcontrolview_automoc.o
[ 10%] Building CXX object core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/MenuItem.o
[ 15%] Building CXX object core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/MenuModel.o
[ 21%] Building CXX object core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/MenuProxyModel.o
[ 26%] Building CXX object core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/ModuleView.o
[ 31%] Building CXX object core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/BaseMode.o
[ 36%] Building CXX object core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/tooltips/kcontroltooltip.o
[ 42%] Building CXX object core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/tooltips/kformattedballoontipdelegate.o
[ 47%] Building CXX object core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/tooltips/ktooltip.o
/home/kryten/data/SVN/kcontrol4/core/tooltips/ktooltip.cpp: In constructor ‘QWidgetLabel::QWidgetLabel()’:
/home/kryten/data/SVN/kcontrol4/core/tooltips/ktooltip.cpp:261: error: ‘WA_TranslucentBackground’ is not a member of ‘Qt’
make[2]: *** [core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/tooltips/ktooltip.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [core/CMakeFiles/kcontrolview.dir/all] Error 2
make: *** [all] Error 2

Yeah, that's a Qt 4.5 feature too.

Thanks for the backtrace Hans, it has been some time since it was tested without any views available. It has been fixed with commit 941623. I will look into preventing the Module List from being shrunk until it no longer exists.

@Kryten2X4B: I fixed this with commit 941624, note that pre Qt 4.5 users will not have transparent / translucent tooltips.

bcooksley wrote:@Kryten2X4B: I fixed this with commit 941624, note that pre Qt 4.5 users will not have transparent / translucent tooltips.

Ah, now it works! Thanks! As far as the translucent tooltips go...strange that mine (both of them...) are translucent then.

Apart from what have already mentioned:

When using the tree-view, is it really necessary to add the "unfold" group functionality when a group only have one submodule? Wouldn't it be better to display the subgroup as the main group?

As an example, under "Computer Administration" there is a group for "Input Actions" and then finally the module "Input Actions" (the only module). Wouldn't it make more sense to have just "Computer Administration" and then straight to the module?

A more generic problem (which is a part of the standard system-settings as well) is that modules are sometimes in what I at least would consider strange places...

"Input actions" is a good example here too. It would make more sense to have it under "Keyboard and mouse" rather than under its own heading. Why is "Samba" under "System" rather than "Network and connectivity"? "Computer administration" and "System" could maybe even be merged into one category. Just as a few examples.

The problem where only one module exists under one category is a problem with the desktop files themselves unfortunately, and needs to be corrected there. The placement of items in categories also is handled by that as well unfortunately. Please file bugs aganist the appropriate modules regarding their unusual categorisation.

To all interested:
The more detailed tooltips can be disabled, in favour of normal tooltips. The default is for them to be disabled.
It is no longer possible to collapse away the List of modules, and a minimum size has been set on the module list as well.

A big thank you to the dev's working on this! :thumbs_up:

I've had no problems with the new control center (should that be centre?;-) )

but as a long time user of KDE it's good to see this layout as an option now.

I've just updated to the latest version and the absence of the tooltips stops
the weird panel redraw effects I saw with the earlier version too.

Top job guys! :shade:

Just a note to all those following KControl4, the Tooltips have been mostly cleaned up now, so please test it, feedback is needed.

bcooksley wrote:Just a note to all those following KControl4, the Tooltips have been mostly cleaned up now, so please test it, feedback is needed.

I must say I really like it (especially that it's only one tooltip now ). I thought at first that those extended tooltips would be annoying, but they really do help when your memory won't let you remember exactly where the module you require is located - and I suppose it is even more valuable to a KDE-newbie.

To be honest, I'm not sure if the tooltips will not turn out to be annoying in the long run. That remains to be seen, but my first impression of them deserves two thumbs up.

And now that I've used this replacement system-settings extensively for a while, I must say that the tree-view feels so much more natural than the systemsettings view that I hope KControl will be the default for 4.3 (with treeview as the default setting). Okay, I'm a bit biased since I've missed the treeview ever since I switched to KDE4 from 3.5...

Thanks a lot, bcooksley!


For any Gentoo users who want to try this out, I made an ebuild:

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# Call this:
#  kde-misc/kcontrol-0.1.ebuild

EAPI="2"

inherit kde4-base

DESCRIPTION="KControl for KDE 4"
HOMEPAGE="call-for-testing-kcontrol-for-kde-4-t-38819.html"
SRC_URI="http://forum.kde.org/attachment.php?aid=35 -> kcontrol${PV}.tar.gz"
LICENSE="GPL-2"

SLOT="4.2"
KEYWORDS="~x86"
RESTRICT="fetch"

S="${WORKDIR}/kcontrol-${PV}"

RDEPEND=">=x11-libs/qt-gui-4.5.0"

pkg_nofetch() {
        eerror "Please go to:"
        eerror "  ${HOMEPAGE}"
        eerror "login and download the package."
        eerror
        eerror "The package should be called:"
        eerror "  kcontrol${PV}.tar.gz"
}


Edit: I don't know how to make a live ebuild, so if you want to get the current snapshot, check out the source, pack it, and put it in your $DISTDIR