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Support for direct-save protocol (XDS) as specified by freedesktop.org (http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifi ... irect-save).

Summary: Adds ability to drag and drop one single open document FROM a KDE application TO a file manager (dolphin/konqueror). The application then saves the file in the very directory that is open in the file manager. If the application has more than one open document (think of Kate), the one that has the focus is saved. Think of it as a workflow-optimized way to "Save" one (or even several) documents.

Advantages: If one happens to already access the directory in which he or she wishes to save an already open document, using the file manager, one is not forced to navigate to that directory again (and again and again).

Suggestion for user interface: The window's left top corner already displays the application icon. If the application supports direct-save, kwin would add some emblem (e.g. a Disk icon as traditionally used for "Save" toolbar buttons) and the user would be able to drag that icon to a file manager window.

Can you elaborate a bit what do you drag from the application?

Parts of the document, the whole document, images from a document...?

ivan wrote:Can you elaborate a bit what do you drag from the application?

Parts of the document, the whole document, images from a document...?

The whole document / file. Changed initial entry accordingly.

How about this:
- There is a "file slot" widget that any KDE application can use.
- Files can be dropped from a file manager into a "file slot", and the surrounding application will go ahead and open the file when this happens.
- Files can be dragged out of a file slot, and if they are "copied" out of the slot (aka: if the user holds the Ctrl key while dragging out the file), the file will be saved to the location to which it is copied.
- If the file is "moved" (by holding Shift, or just drag-dropping without modifiers), it'll be saved and closed.
- If the file is "deleted" (by pressing the Del key etc.), it'll be closed without saving it first.


You could think of a "file slot" as being a virtual directory of all the open files in an application.

Please tell me whether this belongs in a separate idea post.

dflemstr wrote:...

Hi dflemstr,

I'm not competent for judging if this belongs in a separate post. However, I've thought about something similar before and decided against it, for the sake of screen space and other concerns:

* Most applications already support opening a file that is dragged from a file manager into their app window (if one doesn't do, I'll consider it a bug).

* I am not sure whether the XDS protocol would need an update for supporting both, copy and move. Anyways, I think it would be confusing for most users, if the app closes the document after saving it. But it may be useful to add some functionality so the app asks whether to copy or move from the current path (if any, think of new documents!) to the new path (unless of course, the user accidentally saved the document to the same folder again), effectively replacing the dolphin/konqueror menu that lets one choose to copy, move or create a shortcut during DnD.

* Usually there are at least 3 options for closing a file (File | Close menu option, toolbar button and the Ctrl+W keyboard shortcut) and I don't see much use in adding yet another one.