Cannot Set Date and Time

[bert003]

This is my first time using helloSystem. Please bare with me. I found the following issues:

1. When trying to set the date, I get a message that Date and Time is not installed.

2. When I install Chrome, it says it is installed but does not appear in the menu. Also the disk named chrome remains mounted and I cannot eject it.

How do you install additional software please?

[probonopd]

Select "Chromium" from the System menu, it will ask you whether you want to download it.

[bert003]

Thanks.

And what about the "Date and Time not installed" message please? Is there something else which I need to install?

[probonopd]

Where do you see this message? Probably it is not implemented yet.

[bert003]

I click the time on the top right (ex: 10:05 AM). It then displays the whole date: ex: Saturday, April 15, 2023 10:05:20 AM UTC. Then I click the whole date and it gives me this message as a pop-up:

The application 'Date and Time' can't be launched because it can't be found.

[probonopd]

Yes, that application is not yet written.

[bert003]

Noted. Thanks

[probonopd]

Started making it:

Any volunteers want to work on it?
It's written in Python, so really simple to hack on.

https://github.com/helloSystem/Utilities/tree/master/Preferences/Date%20and%20Time.app

[bert003]

Wow! Looks really nice. Appreciate your prompt support on this.

I am interested in working on it but I would need to learn how to program in Qt using Python in order to be able to help. I know Python already. Any templates for the helloSystem as a starting point please?

[probonopd]

Check out https://hellosystem.github.io/docs/developer/applications.html
and the source code of the existing utilities at https://github.com/helloSystem/Utilities/

[bert003]

Noted and visited the links provided. Please let me know where I can start from to contribute as regards application development.

[probonopd]

Hi @bert003, I am not sure what exactly you are looking for, but I left some TODOs in the code:

Utilities/Preferences/Date and Time.app/Date and Time

Lines 3 to 5 in 94eebc9

	# FIXME: The spinner is not shown; we need to fix this by using threading? Is there a better way?
	# TODO: Implement manual time zone setting in the time zone tab
	# TODO: Implement manual date and time setting in the date and time tab

In general, when you search for "TODO" and "FIXME" you'll find areas that could benefit greatly from contributions.

[bert003]

Noted. Yes I just wanted to know in which applications is help needed. Ok let me have a look at the Date and Time Application.

Shall I create a personal fork of the project on my GitHub account? Or do you suggest another way? What about testing?

Sorry for asking a lot but would really like to contribute in the best possible way. Thanks for your time.

[probonopd]

Ok let me have a look at the Date and Time Application.

Great!

Shall I create a personal fork of the project on my GitHub account?

Yes. And once you are satisfied with your changes, ping me so that I can test it.

Thanks. 👍

[bert003]

Hi, excuse my late reply but had a tough week and could not work on this. I have forked the repository. When I do the changes, shall I commit directly to the master branch or create a new branch for the commit?

[probonopd]

Hi @bert003, best make a separate branch with your changes, then ping me once you are happy with them. Thanks!

[bert003]

Is there a way that I can test myself though before committing? Can I contact you separately in order not to spam this thread? Maybe I can get a sample template for the Date and Time app to test it Qt Design Studio?

[probonopd]

Just make your changes in the code, then run the app by double-clicking it as usual.

[bert003]

The spinner is appearing on the bottom left as shown below. Is that its intended position?

[probonopd]

Well... not really. I hadn't thought about finding a position because I couldn't get it to work properly anyway.
At least we should make room for it, and the spinner could be half as large.

[bert003]

I have created a pull request where I have implemented the spinner on both tabs. Have a look at it please and see if it is what you had in mind.

[probonopd]

Looks good, but we need to make room for the spinner.

[bert003]

What do you mean by "make room for the spinner" please?

Spinner should appear centered now (32px by 32px). At least it works on my environment (FreeBSD 13 + Python3.9), as shown below:

[probonopd]

Uh, that is strange. The spinner should not overlay existing controls.

We need to add some free space below the "Date and Time options" box, and have the spinner appear there.

[bert003]

Ok noted. Creating a space underneath the button as shown below:

[bert003]

Created a new pull request. I feel that the settings window should have a fixed size because when you resize, you end up with a lot of empty space. Feel free to amend as you wish.

[probonopd]

Thank you very much. By the way, you should really test your version on helloSystem, as this is where the utilities will run...

[bert003]

Welcome. Glad to be able to contribute. Did you have something in mind as regards the below?

TODO: Implement manual date and time setting in the date and time tab

[probonopd]

I think this is a leftover, since one can now set the date and time manually.

[bert003]

Ok noted.

I also found a bug in my code which I am going to correct soon and update the branch.

So what did you have in mind re: the below then please?

TODO: Implement manual time zone setting in the time zone tab

[probonopd]

A drop down where I can select "Europe/Berlin" etc.

[bert003]

Started implementing it. Requires pytz library.

[bert003]

Auto Time Zone fully implemented and pushed to branch. I had to use geocoder and TimezoneFinder libraries to detect the user's time zone based on geolocation. Kindly check and revert at your convenience @probonopd

[bert003]

Any feedback please? Should this be considered as implemented?

[probonopd]

Thanks @bert003, let's continue the discussion in the PR at #163.