Creating a pseudo desktop environment
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Hey there,
I just got this crazy idea in my head to build a 'pseudo desktop environment'. what I mean by pseudo is that it would 'sit' on top of any other DE (KDE, GNOME, etc). It would essentially be an application that is always full-screened and behaves similar to a traditional computer desktop. Similar to Chrome OS on Win8 if that makes any sense. Is there a widget or anything that I could use simulate the traditional desktop feeling (icon layout, wallpaper, app launcher, tool bar, status bar, drag & drop, etc)? Again it would not be a standalone DE and will be run on top of existing systems. Is this possible? what steps would I have to take?
The DE will also come with some apps built into it and that can be opened inside it. Is there a way to launch them but keep those windows within my DE and have custom made titlebars rather than the OS X/Ubuntu/Win titlebars?
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QMdiArea, for the windowing. Looks nice on Android.
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[quote author="nicky j" date="1392872151"]what exactly is an MDI window?[/quote]
Have a look at the "MDI Example" that comes with Qt.[quote author="nicky j" date="1392872374"]I already have a functioning web browser that I built, would it be difficult to place it in a QMdiSubWindow in the QMdiArea?[/quote]
Any widget can be added to the MDI area, including entire widget applications.[quote author="nicky j" date="1392872374"]Also, can the QMdiArea handle having an app dock like in OS X or Unity. Can it handle icons?[/quote]
You would need to use a separate widget for this, probably. The MDI area handles windows, including minimised windows.