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<article id="index">
<articleinfo>
<title>Desktop Notifications Specification</title>
<releaseinfo>Version 0.5</releaseinfo>
<date>2 October 2004</date>
<authorgroup>
<author>
<firstname>Mike</firstname>
<surname>Hearn</surname>
<affiliation>
<address>
<email>mike@navi.cx</email>
</address>
</affiliation>
</author>
<author>
<firstname>Christian</firstname>
<surname>Hammond</surname>
<affiliation>
<address>
<email>chipx86@chipx86.com</email>
</address>
</affiliation>
</author>
</authorgroup>
<revhistory>
<revision>
<revnumber>0.6</revnumber>
<date>1 April 2005</date>
<authorinitials>cdh</authorinitials>
<revremark>
Updated to work with D-BUS 0.31+.
</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>0.5</revnumber>
<date>2 October 2004</date>
<authorinitials>cdh</authorinitials>
<revremark>
Added a "suppress-sound" hint. Added a "sound" capability. Renamed the
"soundfile" hint to sound-file".
</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>0.4</revnumber>
<date>29 September 2004</date>
<authorinitials>cdh</authorinitials>
<revremark>
Added image support in markup, and made the restrictions on markup more
clear. Removed the High urgency. Added new notification types. Fixed
notification expiration.
</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>0.3</revnumber>
<date>15 September 2004</date>
<authorinitials>cdh</authorinitials>
<revremark>Added hint and notification type sections</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>0.2</revnumber>
<date>foo</date>
<authorinitials>mh</authorinitials>
<revremark>Added replaces field to protocol</revremark>
</revision>
<revision>
<revnumber>0.1</revnumber>
<date>foo</date>
<authorinitials>mh</authorinitials>
<revremark>Initial version</revremark>
</revision>
</revhistory>
</articleinfo>
<sect1 id="introduction">
<title>Introduction</title>
<para>
This is a draft standard for a desktop notifications service, through
which applications can generate passive popups (sometimes known as
"poptarts") to notify the user in an asynchronous manner of events.
</para>
<para>
This specification explicitly does not include other types of
notification presentation such as modal message boxes, window manager
decorations or window list annotations.
</para>
<para>
Example use cases include:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
Presence changes in IM programs: for instance, MSN Messenger on
Windows pioneered the use of passive popups to indicate presence
changes.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem><para>Scheduled alarm</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Completed file transfer</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>New mail notification</para></listitem>
<listitem><para>Low disk space/battery warnings</para></listitem>
</itemizedlist>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="basic-design">
<title>Basic Design</title>
<para>
In order to ensure that multiple notifications can easily be
displayed at once, and to provide a convenient implementation, all
notifications are controlled by a single session-scoped service which
exposes a D-BUS interface.
</para>
<para>
On startup, a conforming implementation should take the
<literal>org.freedesktop.Notifications</literal> service on
the session bus. This service will be referred to as the "notification
server" or just "the server" in this document. It can optionally be
activated automatically by the bus process, however this is not required
and notification server clients must not assume that it is available.
</para>
<para>
The server should implement the
<literal>org.freedesktop.Notifications</literal> interface on
an object with the path <literal>"/org/freedesktop/Notifications"</literal>.
This is the only interface required by this version of the specification.
</para>
<para>
A notification has the following components:
</para>
<table>
<title>Notification Components</title>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Component</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<row>
<entry>Application Name</entry>
<entry>
This is the optional name of the application sending the notification.
This should be the application's formal name, rather than some sort
of ID. An example would be "FredApp E-Mail Client," rather than
"fredapp-email-client."
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Application Icon</entry>
<entry>
The application icon. This is represented either as a path or a name
in an icon theme.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Replaces ID</entry>
<entry>
An optional ID of an existing notification that this
notification is intended to replace.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Notification Type ID</entry>
<entry>
An optional ID representing the notification type. See
<xref linkend="notification-types"/>.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Urgency Level</entry>
<entry>
The urgency of the notification. See <xref linkend="urgency-levels"/>.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Summary</entry>
<entry>
This is a single line overview of the notification. For instance,
"You have mail" or "A friend has come online". It should generally
not be longer than 40 characters, though this is not a requirement,
and server implementations should word wrap if necessary. The summary
must be encoded using UTF-8.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Body</entry>
<entry>
<para>
This is a multi-line body of text. Each line is a paragraph, server
implementations are free to word wrap them as they see fit.
</para>
<para>
The body may contain simple markup as specified in
<xref linkend="markup"/>. It must be encoded using UTF-8.
</para>
<para>
If the body is omitted, just the summary is displayed.
</para>
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Images</entry>
<entry>See <xref linkend="icons"/>.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Actions</entry>
<entry>
The actions send a request message back to the notification client
when invoked. This functionality may not be implemented by the
notification server, conforming clients should check if it is available
before using it (see the GetCapabilities message in
<xref linkend="protocol"/>. An implementation is free to ignore any
requested by the client. As an example one possible rendering of
actions would be as buttons in the notification popup.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Hints</entry>
<entry>See <xref linkend="hints"/>.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Expires</entry>
<entry>
<para>
A boolean flag indicating whether or not this notification should
automatically expire.
</para>
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Expiration Timeout</entry>
<entry>
<para>
The timeout time in seconds since the display of the notification at
which the notification should automatically close. This is ignored
if the expires flag is set to false.
</para>
<para>
If zero, the notification's expiration time is dependent on the
notification server's settings, and may vary for the type of
notification.
</para>
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
Each notification displayed is allocated a unique ID by the server.
This is unique within the session. While the notification server is
running, the ID will not be recycled unless the capacity of a uint32 is
exceeded.
</para>
<para>
This can be used to hide the notification before the expiration timeout
is reached. It can also be used to atomically replace the notification
with another. This allows you to (for instance) modify the contents of
a notification while it's on-screen.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="backwards-compat" xreflabel="Backwards Compatibility">
<title>Backwards Compatibility</title>
<para>
Clients should try and avoid making assumptions about the presentation and
abilities of the notification server. The message content is the most
important thing.
</para>
<para>
Clients can check with the server what capabilities are supported
using the <literal>GetCapabilities</literal> message. See
<xref linkend="protocol"/>.
</para>
<para>
If a client requires a response from a passive popup, it should be
coded such that a non-focus-stealing message box can be used in the
case that the notification server does not support this feature.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="markup" xreflabel="Markup">
<title>Markup</title>
<para>
Body text may contain markup. The markup is XML-based, and consists
of a small subset of HTML along with a few additional tags.
</para>
<para>
The following tags should be supported by the notification server.
Though it is optional, it is recommended. Notification servers that do
not support these tags should filter them out.
</para>
<informaltable>
<tgroup cols="2">
<tbody valign="top">
<row>
<entry>
<sgmltag class="starttag">b</sgmltag> ...
<sgmltag class="endtag">b</sgmltag>
</entry>
<entry>Bold</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<sgmltag class="starttag">i</sgmltag> ...
<sgmltag class="endtag">i</sgmltag>
</entry>
<entry>Italic</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<sgmltag class="starttag">u</sgmltag> ...
<sgmltag class="endtag">u</sgmltag>
</entry>
<entry>Underline</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<sgmltag class="starttag">a href="..."</sgmltag> ...
<sgmltag class="endtag">a</sgmltag>
</entry>
<entry>Hyperlink</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>
<sgmltag class="emptytag">img src="..." alt="..."</sgmltag>
</entry>
<entry>Image</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
<para>
A full-blown HTML implementation is not required of this spec, and
notifications should never take advantage of tags that are not listed
above. As notifications are not a substitute for web browsers or complex
dialogs, advanced layout is not necessary, and may in fact limit the
number of systems that notification services can run on, due to memory
usage and screen space. Such examples are PDAs, certain cell phones, and
slow PCs or laptops with little memory.
</para>
<para>
For the same reason, a full XML or XHTML implementation using XSLT or
CSS stylesheets is not part of this specification. Information that
must be presented in a more complex form should use an application-specific
dialog, a web browser, or some other display mechanism.
</para>
<para>
The tags specified above mark up the content in a way that allows them
to be stripped out on some implementations without impacting the actual
content.
</para>
<sect2 id="hyperlinks" xreflabel="Hyperlinks">
<title>Hyperlinks</title>
<para>
Hyperlinks allow for linking one or more words to a URI. There is no
requirement to allow for images to be linked, and it is highly suggested
that implementations do not allow this, as there is no clean-looking,
standard visual indicator for a hyperlinked image.
</para>
<para>
Hyperlinked text should appear in the standard blue underline format.
</para>
<para>
Hyperlinks cannot function as a replacement for actions. They are
used to link to local directories or remote sites using standard URI
schemes.
</para>
<para>
Implementations are not required to support hyperlinks.
</para>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="images" xreflabel="Images">
<title>Images</title>
<para>
Images may be placed in the notification, but this should be done with
caution. The image should never exceed 200x100, but this should be thought
of as a maximum size. Images should always have alternative text
provided through the <literal>alt="..."</literal> attribute.
</para>
<para>
Image data cannot be embedded in the message itself. Images referenced
must always be local files.
</para>
<para>
Implementations are not required to support images.
</para>
</sect2>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="icons" xreflabel="Icons">
<title>Icons</title>
<para>
A notification can optionally include an array of images for use as an
icon representing the notification. The array of images specifies frames
in an animation, which always loop. Implementations are free to ignore the
images data, and implementations that support images need not support
animation.
</para>
<para>
If the image array has more than one element, a "primary frame" can
be specified. If not specified, it defaults to the first frame. For
implementations that support images but not animation, only the primary
frame will be used.
</para>
<para>
Each element of the array must have the same type as the first
element. Mixtures of strings and blobs are not allowed. The element
types can be one of the following:
</para>
<informaltable>
<tgroup cols="3">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Element</entry>
<entry>Type</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<row>
<entry>Icon Theme Name</entry>
<entry>String</entry>
<entry>
Any string that does not begin with the <literal>/</literal>
character is assumed to be an icon theme name and is looked up
according to the spec. The best size to fit the servers chosen
presentation will be used. This is the recommended way of specifying
images.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Absolute Path</entry>
<entry>String</entry>
<entry>
Any string that begins with a <literal>/</literal> will be used as
an absolute file path. Implementations should support at minimum
files of type image/png and image/svg.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>Image Data</entry>
<entry>Binary Data</entry>
<entry>
A data stream may be embedded in the message. This is assumed to be
of type image/png.
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</informaltable>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="notification-types" xreflabel="Notification Types">
<title>Notification Types</title>
<para>
Notifications can optionally have a type indicator. Although neither
client or nor server must support this, some may choose to. Those servers
implementing notification types may use them to intelligently display
the notification in a certain way, or group notifications of similar
types.
</para>
<para>
Notification types are in
<literal><replaceable>class.specific</replaceable></literal> form.
<literal>class</literal> specifies the generic type of notification, and
<literal>specific</literal> specifies the more specific type of
notification.
</para>
<para>
If a specific type of notification does not exist for your notification,
but the generic kind does, a notification of type
<literal><replaceable>class</replaceable></literal> is acceptable.
</para>
<para>
Third parties, when defining their own notification types, should discuss
the possibility of standardizing on the hint with other parties, preferably
in a place such as the
<ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xdg">xdg</ulink>
mailing list at
<ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/">freedesktop.org</ulink>. If it
warrants a standard, it will be added to the table above. If no
consensus is reached, the notification type should be in the form of
"<literal>x-<replaceable>vendor</replaceable>.<replaceable>class</replaceable>.<replaceable>name</replaceable></literal>."
</para>
<para>
The following table lists standard notifications as defined by this spec.
More will be added in time.
</para>
<table>
<title>Notification Types</title>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Type</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<row>
<entry><literal>"device"</literal></entry>
<entry>
A generic device-related notification that doesn't fit into
any other category.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"device.added"</literal></entry>
<entry>A device, such as a USB device, was added to the system.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"device.error"</literal></entry>
<entry>A device had some kind of error.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"device.removed"</literal></entry>
<entry>
A device, such as a USB device, was removed from the system.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"email"</literal></entry>
<entry>
A generic e-mail-related notification that doesn't fit into any
other category.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"email.arrived"</literal></entry>
<entry>A new e-mail notification.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"email.bounced"</literal></entry>
<entry>A notification stating that an e-mail has bounced.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"im"</literal></entry>
<entry>
A generic instant message-related notification that doesn't fit
into any other category.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"im.error"</literal></entry>
<entry>An instant message error notification.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"im.received"</literal></entry>
<entry>A received instant message notification.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"network"</literal></entry>
<entry>
A generic network notification that doesn't fit into any other
category.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"network.connected"</literal></entry>
<entry>
A network connection notification, such as successful sign-on to a
network service. This should not be confused with
<literal>device.added</literal> for new network devices.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"network.disconnected"</literal></entry>
<entry>
A network disconnected notification. This should not be confused with
<literal>device.removed</literal> for disconnected network devices.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"network.error"</literal></entry>
<entry>
A network-related or connection-related error.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"presence"</literal></entry>
<entry>
A generic presence change notification that doesn't fit into
any other category, such as going away or idle.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"presence.offline"</literal></entry>
<entry>An offline presence change notification.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"presence.online"</literal></entry>
<entry>An online presence change notification.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"transfer"</literal></entry>
<entry>
A generic file transfer or download notification that doesn't fit
into any other category.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"transfer.complete"</literal></entry>
<entry>A file transfer or download complete notification.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"transfer.error"</literal></entry>
<entry>A file transfer or download error.</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="urgency-levels" xreflabel="Urgency Levels">
<title>Urgency Levels</title>
<para>
Notifications have an urgency level associated with them. This defines
the importance of the notification. For example, "Joe Bob signed on"
would be a low urgency. "You have new mail" or "A USB device was unplugged"
would be a normal urgency. "Your computer is on fire" would be a critical
urgency.
</para>
<para>Urgency levels are defined as follows:</para>
<table>
<title>Urgency Levels</title>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Type</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<row>
<entry>0</entry>
<entry>Low</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>1</entry>
<entry>Normal</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry>2</entry>
<entry>Critical</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
Developers must use their own judgement when deciding the urgency of a
notification. Typically, if the majority of programs are using the same
level for a specific type of urgency, other applications should follow
them.
</para>
<para>
For low and normal urgencies, server implementations may display the
notifications how they choose. They should, however, have a sane
expiration timeout dependent on the urgency level.
</para>
<para>
Critical notifications should not automatically expire, as they are
things that the user will most likely want to know about. They should
only be closed when the user dismisses them, for example, by clicking on
the notification.
</para>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="hints" xreflabel="Hints">
<title>Hints</title>
<para>
Hints are a way to provide extra data to a notification server that
the server may be able to make use of.
</para>
<para>
Neither clients nor notification servers are required to support any
hints. Both sides should assume that hints are not passed, and should
ignore any hints they do not understand.
</para>
<para>
Third parties, when defining their own hints, should discuss the
possibility of standardizing on the hint with other parties, preferably
in a place such as the
<ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/mailman/listinfo/xdg">xdg</ulink>
mailing list at
<ulink url="http://freedesktop.org/">freedesktop.org</ulink>. If it
warrants a standard, it will be added to the table above. If no
consensus is reached, the hint name should be in the form of
<literal>"x-<replaceable>vendor</replaceable>-<replaceable>name</replaceable>."</literal>
</para>
<para>
The following table lists the standard hints as defined by this
specification. Future hints may be proposed and added to this list
over time. Once again, implementations are not required to support these.
</para>
<table>
<title>Standard Hints</title>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Name</entry>
<entry>Value Type</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<row>
<entry><literal>"sound-file"</literal></entry>
<entry>string</entry>
<entry>
The path to a sound file to play when the notification pops up.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"suppress-sound"</literal></entry>
<entry>boolean</entry>
<entry>
Causes the server to suppress playing any sounds, if it has that
ability. This is usually set when the client itself is going to
play its own sound.
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
</sect1>
<sect1 id="protocol" xreflabel="Protocol">
<title>D-BUS Protocol</title>
<para>
The following messages <emphasis>must</emphasis> be supported by all
implementations.
</para>
<sect2 id="commands">
<title>Message commands</title>
<sect3 id="command-get-capabilities">
<title><literal>org.freedesktop.Notifications.GetCapabilities</literal></title>
<funcsynopsis>
<funcprototype>
<funcdef>STRING_ARRAY
<function>org.freedesktop.Notifications.GetCapabilities</function>
</funcdef>
<void/>
</funcprototype>
</funcsynopsis>
<para>
This message takes no parameters.
</para>
<para>
It returns an array of strings. Each string describes an optional
capability implemented by the server. The following values are
defined by this spec:
</para>
<table>
<title>Server Capabilities</title>
<tgroup cols="2">
<tbody valign="top">
<row>
<entry><literal>"actions"</literal></entry>
<entry>
The server will provide the specified actions to the user. Even if
this cap is missing, actions may still be specified by the client,
however the server is free to ignore them.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"body"</literal></entry>
<entry>
Supports body text. Some implementations may only show the
summary (for instance, onscreen displays, marquee/scrollers)
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"body-hyperlinks"</literal></entry>
<entry>
The server supports hyperlinks in the notifications.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"body-images"</literal></entry>
<entry>
The server supports images in the notifications.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"body-markup"</literal></entry>
<entry>
Supports markup in the body text. If marked up text is sent
to a server that does not give this cap, the markup will show
through as regular text so must be stripped clientside.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"icon-multi"</literal></entry>
<entry>
The server will render an animation of all the frames in a given
image array. The client may still specify multiple frames even if
this cap and/or <literal>"icon-static"</literal> is missing, however
the server is free to ignore them and use only the primary frame.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"icon-static"</literal></entry>
<entry>
Supports display of exactly 1 frame of any given image array.
This value is mutually exclusive with
<literal>"icon-multi"</literal>, it is a protocol error for the
server to specify both.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><literal>"sound"</literal></entry>
<entry>
The server supports sounds on notifications. If returned, the
server must support the <literal>"sound-file"</literal> and
<literal>"suppress-sound"</literal> hints.
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
New vendor-specific caps may be specified as long as they start with
<literal>"x-<replaceable>vendor</replaceable>"</literal>. For instance,
<literal>"x-gnome-foo-cap"</literal>. Capability names must not
contain spaces. They are limited to alpha-numeric characters and dashes
(<literal>"-"</literal>).
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="command-notify">
<title><literal>org.freedesktop.Notifications.Notify</literal></title>
<funcsynopsis>
<funcprototype>
<funcdef>UINT32
<function>org.freedesktop.Notifications.Notify</function>
</funcdef>
<paramdef>STRING <parameter>app_name</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>BYTE_ARRAY_OR_STRING <parameter>app_icon</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>UINT32 <parameter>replaces_id</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>STRING <parameter>notification_type</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>BYTE <parameter>urgency_level</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>STRING <parameter>summary</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>STRING <parameter>body</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>ARRAY <parameter>images</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>DICT <parameter>actions</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>DICT <parameter>hints</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>BOOL <parameter>expires</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>UINT32 <parameter>expire_timeout</parameter></paramdef>
</funcprototype>
</funcsynopsis>
<para>
Sends a notification to the notification server.
</para>
<table>
<title>Notify Parameters</title>
<tgroup cols="3">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Name</entry>
<entry>Type</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<row>
<entry><parameter>app_name</parameter></entry>
<entry>STRING</entry>
<entry>
The optional name of the application sending the notification.
Can be blank.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>app_icon</parameter></entry>
<entry>BYTE_ARRAY or STRING</entry>
<entry>
The optional program icon of the calling application. This is in
the same format as an image frame. See <xref linkend="icons"/>.
Can be an empty string, indicating no icon.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>replaces_id</parameter></entry>
<entry>UINT32</entry>
<entry>
The optional notification ID that this notification replaces. The
server must atomically (ie with no flicker or other visual cues)
replace the given notification with this one. This allows clients to
effectively modify the notification while it's active. A value of
value of 0 means that this notification won't replace any
existing notifications.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>notification_type</parameter></entry>
<entry>STRING</entry>
<entry>
The optional notification type ID, for potential server
categorization and logging purposes. See
<xref linkend="notification-types"/>. Can be empty.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>urgency_level</parameter></entry>
<entry>BYTE</entry>
<entry>The urgency level. See <xref linkend="urgency-levels"/>.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>summary</parameter></entry>
<entry>STRING</entry>
<entry>The summary text briefly describing the notification.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>body</parameter></entry>
<entry>STRING</entry>
<entry>The optional detailed body text. Can be empty.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>images</parameter></entry>
<entry>ARRAY</entry>
<entry>
The optional array of images. See <xref linkend="icons"/>. Can
be empty.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>actions</parameter></entry>
<entry>DICT</entry>
<entry>
A dictionary key of actions. Each key is the localized name of the
action, as it should appear to the user, and maps to a UINT32 value
containing a program-specific action code. This code will be reported
back to the program if the action is invoked by the user. Can be
empty.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>hints</parameter></entry>
<entry>DICT</entry>
<entry>
Optional hints that can be passed to the server from the client
program. Although clients and servers should never assume each other
supports any specific hints, they can be used to pass along
information, such as the process PID or window ID, that the server
may be able to make use of. See <xref linkend="hints"/>. Can be
empty.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>expires</parameter></entry>
<entry>BOOL</entry>
<entry>
A boolean flag indicating whether or not this notification should
automatically expire.
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>expire_timeout</parameter></entry>
<entry>UINT32</entry>
<entry>
<para>
The timeout time in seconds since the display of the notification at
which the notification should automatically close. This is ignored
if the expires flag is set to false.
</para>
<para>
If zero, the notification's expiration time is dependent on the
notification server's settings, and may vary for the type of
notification.
</para>
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
If <parameter>replaces_id</parameter> is 0, the return value is a
UINT32 that represent the notification. It is unique, and will not be
reused unless a <constant>MAXINT</constant> number of notifications
have been generated. An acceptable implementation may just use an
incrementing counter for the ID. The returned ID is always greater than
zero. Servers must make sure not to return zero as an ID.
</para>
<para>
If <parameter>replaces_id</parameter> is not 0, the returned value
is the same value as <parameter>replaces_id</parameter>.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="command-close-notification">
<title><literal>org.freedesktop.Notifications.CloseNotification</literal></title>
<funcsynopsis>
<funcprototype>
<funcdef>void
<function>org.freedesktop.Notifications.CloseNotification</function>
</funcdef>
<paramdef>UINT32 id</paramdef>
</funcprototype>
</funcsynopsis>
<para>
Causes a notification to be forcefully closed and removed from the user's
view. It can be used, for example, in the event that what the
notification pertains to is no longer relevant, or to cancel a
notification with no expiration time.
</para>
<para>
The <literal>NotificationClosed</literal> signal is emitted by this
method.
</para>
<para>
If the notification no longer exists, an empty D-BUS Error message is
sent back.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="command-get-server-information">
<title><literal>org.freedesktop.Notifications.GetServerInformation</literal></title>
<funcsynopsis>
<funcprototype>
<funcdef>
void
<function>org.freedesktop.Notifications.GetServerInformation</function>
</funcdef>
<paramdef>out STRING <parameter>name</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>out STRING <parameter>vendor</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>out STRING <parameter>version</parameter></paramdef>
</funcprototype>
</funcsynopsis>
<para>
This message returns the information on the server. Specifically,
the server name, vendor, and version number.
</para>
<table>
<title>GetServerInformation Return Values</title>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Name</entry>
<entry>Type</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<row>
<entry><parameter>name</parameter></entry>
<entry>STRING</entry>
<entry>The product name of the server.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>vendor</parameter></entry>
<entry>STRING</entry>
<entry>
The vendor name. For example, "KDE," "GNOME,"
"freedesktop.org," or "Microsoft."
</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>version</parameter></entry>
<entry>STRING</entry>
<entry>The server's version number.</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
</sect3>
</sect2>
<sect2 id="signals">
<title>Signals</title>
<sect3 id="signal-notification-closed">
<title><literal>org.freedesktop.Notifications.NotificationClosed</literal></title>
<funcsynopsis>
<funcprototype>
<funcdef>
<function>org.freedesktop.Notifications.NotificationClosed</function>
</funcdef>
<paramdef>UINT32 <parameter>id</parameter></paramdef>
<paramdef>UINT32 <parameter>reason</parameter></paramdef>
</funcprototype>
</funcsynopsis>
<para>
A completed notification is one that has timed out, or has been
dismissed by the user.
</para>
<table>
<title>NotificationClosed Parameters</title>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Name</entry>
<entry>Type</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<row>
<entry><parameter>id</parameter></entry>
<entry>UINT32</entry>
<entry>The ID of the notification that was closed.</entry>
</row>
<row>
<entry><parameter>reason</parameter></entry>
<entry>UINT32</entry>
<entry>
<para>The reason the notification was closed.</para>
<para>1 - The notification expired.</para>
<para>2 - The notification was dismissed by the user.</para>
<para>3 - The notification was closed by a call to
<literal>CloseNotification</literal>.</para>
<para>4 - Undefined/reserved reasons.</para>
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<para>
The ID specified in the signal is invalidated
<emphasis>before</emphasis> the signal is sent and may not be used
in any further communications with the server.
</para>
</sect3>
<sect3 id="signal-action-invoked">
<title><literal>org.freedesktop.Notifications.ActionInvoked</literal></title>
<funcsynopsis>
<funcprototype>
<funcdef>
<function>org.freedesktop.Notifications.ActionInvoked</function>
</funcdef>
<paramdef>UINT32 <parameter>id</parameter></paramdef>
<!-- <paramdef>BOOL <parameter>default_action</parameter></paramdef> -->
<paramdef>UINT32 <parameter>action_id</parameter></paramdef>
</funcprototype>
</funcsynopsis>
<para>
This signal is emitted when one of the following occurs:
</para>
<itemizedlist>
<listitem>
<para>
The user performs some global "invoking" action upon a notification.
For instance, clicking somewhere on the notification itself.
</para>
</listitem>
<listitem>
<para>
The user invokes a specific action as specified in the original
Notify request. For example, clicking on an action button.
</para>
</listitem>
</itemizedlist>
<table>
<title>ActionInvoked Parameters</title>
<tgroup cols="2">
<thead>
<row>
<entry>Name</entry>
<entry>Type</entry>
<entry>Description</entry>
</row>
</thead>
<tbody valign="top">
<row>
<entry><parameter>id</parameter></entry>
<entry>UINT32</entry>
<entry>
The ID of the notification emitting the ActionInvoked signal.
</entry>
</row>
<!--
<row>
<entry><parameter>default_action</parameter></entry>
<entry>BOOL</entry>
<entry>
<constant>TRUE</constant> if the default action was invoked.
The default action is often a click on the notification. If this
is <constant>TRUE</constant>, the <parameter>action_id</parameter>
parameter is ignored.
</entry>
</row>
-->
<row>
<entry><parameter>action_id</parameter></entry>
<entry>UINT32</entry>
<entry>
The ID of the action invoked. A value of 0 means that the default
action was invoked, i.e., clicking the notification itself.
IDs greater than zero are the action IDs as defined by the
calling application.
<!--
This is ignored if
<parameter>default_action</parameter> is <constant>TRUE</constant>.
-->
</entry>
</row>
</tbody>
</tgroup>
</table>
<note>
<para>
Clients should not assume the server will generate this signal. Some
servers may not support user interaction at all, or may not support
the concept of being able to "invoke" a notification.
</para>
</note>
</sect3>
</sect2>
</sect1>
</article>