1217 lines
40 KiB
XML
1217 lines
40 KiB
XML
<?xml version="1.0"?>
|
|
<!DOCTYPE article PUBLIC "-//OASIS/DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN" "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.1.2/docbookx.dtd">
|
|
<article id="index">
|
|
<articleinfo>
|
|
<title>Desktop Notifications Specification</title>
|
|
<releaseinfo>Version 0.9</releaseinfo>
|
|
<date>15 January 2006</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>0.9</revnumber>
|
|
<date>15 January 2006</date>
|
|
<authorinitials>cdh</authorinitials>
|
|
<revremark>
|
|
Clarify the naming for the application IDs.
|
|
Put back a number of things that probably shouldn't have been removed
|
|
from the spec.
|
|
</revremark>
|
|
</revision>
|
|
<revision>
|
|
<revnumber>0.8</revnumber>
|
|
<date>23 September 2005</date>
|
|
<authorinitials>J5</authorinitials>
|
|
<revremark>
|
|
Major overhaul of spec to work with the newer D-Bus recursive type system.
|
|
Simplify protocol.
|
|
Changed the verbage notification type to category
|
|
</revremark>
|
|
</revision>
|
|
<revision>
|
|
<revnumber>0.7</revnumber>
|
|
<date>28 July 2005</date>
|
|
<authorinitials>cdh</authorinitials>
|
|
<revremark>
|
|
Added "x" and "y" hints. Talk about the variant type for hint values.
|
|
</revremark>
|
|
</revision>
|
|
<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>Replaces ID</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
An optional ID of an existing notification that this
|
|
notification is intended to replace.
|
|
</entry>
|
|
</row>
|
|
<row>
|
|
<entry>Notification Icon</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
The notification icon. This is represented either as a URI
|
|
(file:// is the only URI schema supported right now) or a name in
|
|
a freedesktop.org-compliant icon theme (not a GTK+ stock ID).
|
|
</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>Actions</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
<para>
|
|
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.
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Actions are sent over as a list of pairs. Each even element in the
|
|
list (starting at index 0) represents the identifier for the action.
|
|
Each odd element in the list is the localized string that will be
|
|
displayed to the user.
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
The default action (usually invoked my clicking the notification)
|
|
should have a key named <literal>"default"</literal>. The name can
|
|
be anything, though implementations are free not to display it.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</entry>
|
|
</row>
|
|
<row>
|
|
<entry>Hints</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
<para>See <xref linkend="hints"/>.</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Beyond the core protocol is the hints table. A couple of core
|
|
elements have been moved to hints mostly because in a huge number
|
|
of cases their default values would be sufficent. The elements moved
|
|
to hints are:
|
|
</para>
|
|
<segmentedlist>
|
|
<title>Elements Moved to Hints</title>
|
|
<segtitle>Element</segtitle>
|
|
<segtitle>Description</segtitle>
|
|
<seglistitem>
|
|
<seg>Category ID</seg>
|
|
<seg>An optional ID representing the type of notification (the name
|
|
has been changed from Notification Type ID in pervious versions).
|
|
See <xref linkend="categories"/>.</seg>
|
|
</seglistitem>
|
|
<seglistitem>
|
|
<seg>Urgency Level</seg>
|
|
<seg>The urgency of the notification. See
|
|
<xref linkend="urgency-levels"/>. (Defaults to 1 - Normal)</seg>
|
|
</seglistitem>
|
|
<seglistitem>
|
|
<seg>Icon Data</seg>
|
|
<seg>Instead of overloading the icon field we now have an icon_data
|
|
field that is used when icon is blank.</seg>
|
|
</seglistitem>
|
|
</segmentedlist>
|
|
</entry>
|
|
</row>
|
|
<row>
|
|
<entry>Expiration Timeout</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
<para>
|
|
The timeout time in milliseconds since the display of the notification
|
|
at which the notification should automatically close.
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
If -1, the notification's expiration time is dependent on the
|
|
notification server's settings, and may vary for the type of
|
|
notification.
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
If 0, the notification never expires.
|
|
</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 have an icon specified by the Notification
|
|
Icon field or by the icon_data hint.
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
The icon_data field should be a raw image data structure of signature
|
|
(iiibiiay) which describes the width, height, rowstride, has alpha, bits
|
|
per sample, channels and image data respectively.
|
|
</para>
|
|
</sect1>
|
|
|
|
<sect1 id="categories" xreflabel="Categories">
|
|
<title>Categories</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 categories may use them to intelligently display
|
|
the notification in a certain way, or group notifications of similar
|
|
types.
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
Categories 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 categories, 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 category 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>Categories</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 value type for the hint dictionary in D-BUS is of the
|
|
<literal>DBUS_TYPE_VARIANT</literal> container type. This allows different
|
|
data types (string, integer, boolean, etc.) to be used for hints. When
|
|
adding a dictionary of hints, this type must be used, rather than putting
|
|
the actual hint value in as the dictionary value.
|
|
</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>"urgency"</literal></entry>
|
|
<entry>byte</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
The urgency level.
|
|
</entry>
|
|
</row>
|
|
<row>
|
|
<entry><literal>"category"</literal></entry>
|
|
<entry>string</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
The type of notification this is.
|
|
</entry>
|
|
</row>
|
|
<row>
|
|
<entry><literal>"desktop-entry"></literal></entry>
|
|
<entry>string</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
This specifies the name of the desktop filename representing the
|
|
calling program. This should be the same as the prefix used for the
|
|
application's .desktop file. An example would be "rhythmbox" from
|
|
"rhythmbox.desktop". This can be used by the daemon to retrieve the
|
|
correct icon for the application, for logging purposes, etc.
|
|
</entry>
|
|
</row>
|
|
<row>
|
|
<entry><literal>"image_data"</literal></entry>
|
|
<entry>(iiibiiay)</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
This is a raw data image format which describes the width, height,
|
|
rowstride, has alpha, bits per sample, channels and image data
|
|
respectively. We use this value if the icon field is left blank.
|
|
</entry>
|
|
</row>
|
|
<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>
|
|
<row>
|
|
<entry><literal>"x"</literal></entry>
|
|
<entry>int</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
Specifies the X location on the screen that the notification should
|
|
point to. The <literal>"y"</literal> hint must also be specified.
|
|
</entry>
|
|
</row>
|
|
<row>
|
|
<entry><literal>"y"</literal></entry>
|
|
<entry>int</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
Specifies the Y location on the screen that the notification should
|
|
point to. The <literal>"x"</literal> hint must also be specified.
|
|
</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>UINT32 <parameter>replaces_id</parameter></paramdef>
|
|
<paramdef>STRING <parameter>app_icon</parameter></paramdef>
|
|
<paramdef>STRING <parameter>summary</parameter></paramdef>
|
|
<paramdef>STRING <parameter>body</parameter></paramdef>
|
|
<paramdef>ARRAY <parameter>actions</parameter></paramdef>
|
|
<paramdef>DICT <parameter>hints</parameter></paramdef>
|
|
<paramdef>INT32 <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>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>app_icon</parameter></entry>
|
|
<entry>STRING</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
The optional program icon of the calling application. See <xref linkend="icons"/>.
|
|
Can be an empty string, indicating no icon.
|
|
</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>actions</parameter></entry>
|
|
<entry>ARRAY</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
Actions are sent over as a list of pairs. Each even element in
|
|
the list (starting at index 0) represents the identifier for the
|
|
action. Each odd element in the list is the localized string
|
|
that will be displayed to the user.
|
|
</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>expire_timeout</parameter></entry>
|
|
<entry>INT32</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
<para>
|
|
The timeout time in milliseconds since the display of the notification at
|
|
which the notification should automatically close.
|
|
</para>
|
|
<para>
|
|
If -1, the notification's expiration time is dependent on the
|
|
notification server's settings, and may vary for the type of
|
|
notification.
|
|
|
|
If 0, never expire.
|
|
</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>STRING <parameter>action_key</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>action_key</parameter></entry>
|
|
<entry>STRING</entry>
|
|
<entry>
|
|
The key of the action invoked. These match the keys sent over
|
|
in the list of actions.
|
|
</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>
|