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Rewrite In Progress

I am currently in the process of completely rewriting this application from scratch. The code for the old version was an absolute disaster, written nearly four years ago when I first started learning Python. The new version will be written in Python 3 and use PyQt5.

Unfortunately I don't have a timeline on this new version but a rough guess for an early release would be early July 2014. Eventually I hope to get an actual stable release ready for Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic) in October. Windows builds will be released when time permits.

(I will also add a link to the project page on GitHub once I am a little bit further into this.)

Screenshot

About

StackApplet is a small status icon that sits in your desktop's notification area and alerts you to events that happen to your accounts. You will receive notifications about new answers, comments and reputation changes. All Stack Exchange sites are supported. The application is written in Python and the preferences page uses JavaScript.

License

MIT License

Download

Packages are available for the latest stable release (1.5.2):

Platform

Windows XP/Vista/7/8 or a Linux distribution with PyGTK installed.

Contact

I can be reached at [email protected].

Source

Available on Launchpad: http://launchpad.net/stackapplet

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87
  • 39
    The ultimate StackOverflow addict luxury. To see your reputation at all times. Commented May 20, 2010 at 23:31
  • 2
    Yup. It really helps me stay on top of my rep. Are you going to try it? I am eager to hear how it works. Commented May 20, 2010 at 23:41
  • You might want to use f = open(os.path.join(os.getenv("HOME"),"/.stackoverflow"),'r') to open your settings. Commented May 21, 2010 at 0:37
  • 1
    @Flame: Thanks, man. I am completely new to Gnome desktop programming :) I'm assuming it worked alright, though? Commented May 21, 2010 at 0:57
  • George, would you mind if I 'borrowed' your stackoverflow icon? At least until there are "official" releases of icons/images? Commented May 21, 2010 at 4:19
  • @Nick: Sure. Help yourself. Commented May 21, 2010 at 5:09
  • 5
    works for me. pretty cool. I've gotta say though, its a little weird when it loads Jeff Atwood's stats on the first run. Commented May 27, 2010 at 0:47
  • @Chris: Well... it kind of has to display something when it first starts. Do you have any ideas of what would you like to see it display? Commented May 27, 2010 at 0:52
  • @George something simple like 'Configure User'. Should be easy to default to userid = 0 or -1 or null, and check for that at startup. Commented May 28, 2010 at 13:44
  • Too bad it doesn't support multiple instances (so I can track my rep on more than one site), otherwise great! :) Commented Jun 9, 2010 at 19:33
  • @Felix: Don't worry - I am planning to fix that :) Commented Jun 10, 2010 at 0:24
  • You now get notifications when comments are posted to you. Commented Jun 23, 2010 at 6:48
  • 1
    @George and @Chris I managed to install the sources in my home directory and set the bonobo path right. Working now! Commented Aug 27, 2010 at 18:40
  • 1
    both links throw 404s. perhaps they can be indexed via wayback machine if you have copies laying around? Commented Apr 3, 2014 at 14:16
  • 2
    Does this still work ? Is it still being worked on ? Commented Jun 21, 2016 at 15:05

39 Answers 39

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18

Nice one! But…

Warning:

This notifier may be dangerous to epileptic users having rep like Jon Skeet

;)

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Comments

13

As told in the related Ubuntu Stack Exchange site question, it would be great to port it to use app indicators.

Great app :)

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5 Comments

I'll look into it and see what I can do.
This is scheduled for StackApplet 1.4 now.
This has now been completed.
This has now been released in StackApplet 1.4.
I think that it should go under messaging menu instead of having it's own icon.
8

Not working for Windows (8x64)

Firstly, download links for latest 1.6 are dead

I've installed 1.5 and it doesn't show the list of sites

Find User even doesn't work.

And without the site list, even if I enter my userID it doesn't "Add Account"

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5 Comments

Having the same issue, except on Ubuntu. Maybe it's something to do with the new API? I was having issues with the new API previously, but those were fixed...
Try installing 1.5.2. That fixed it for me on Ubuntu.
Same here on Ubuntu 14.04.
Same here on Ubuntu 14.04.1 - is this an API change again?
Same problem, version 1.5.2, Ubuntu version 15.10. I really want to use it, but can not.
6

Not working for Ubuntu 14.04 32bit

I've installed 1.5.2 and it doesn't show the list of sites

Find User even doesn't work.

And without the site list, even if I enter my userID it doesn't "Add Account"

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1 Comment

Same problem, version 1.5.2, Ubuntu version 15.10. I really want to use it, but can not.
4

I have StackApplet installed on my Ubuntu system (using the deb package linked above). The About box says it is version 1.1 although the deb file name and package details both say it is version 1.2.

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2 Comments

My bad. I forgot to update the numbers in the About box.
This appears to be fixed as of 1.3rc2.
4

Is there any change to make this also work in Xfce (for use in Xubuntu)? I must admit that I have absolutely no idea about the technical differences of both desktops.

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2 Comments

Well, this is the first Gnome applet I've written so I'm kinda new to applet development. Work will begin soon to port this to AppIndicators - that might work on Xubuntu. I don't know.
Please download the 1.4 beta mentioned above and see if it works.
4

Is there a PPA available for StackApplet?

And a feature request:

Ability to track "tagged questions" => "my filters". It’s cumbersome to refresh it all the time.

I haven't found an app which can do that.

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7 Comments

There certainly is! You can find it here: launchpad.net/~stackapplet-dev/+archive/stackapplet That PPA is kept up to date with all of the latest changes to StackApplet.
updated my question with a feature request!
@freethinker: So what you're saying is that you want the application to notify you when a question with a given tag is asked?
Rather I want the applicaiton to notify when a question belonging to a filter is asked. I have created a few filters to track questions I'm interested in.
@freethinker: I see. Adding that feature is a possibility but it would be limited to the sites you already have added to StackApplet.
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3

FYI I have fully finished the Launchpad translation into Russian. Could somebody review?

(I haven't lived in Russia for 8 years and I am losing the language)

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Comments

3

The 64 bit version tries to install itself in the Program Files (x86) folder. I am on win 7 64 bit on an Intel i5 processor. Since the filename reads amd64 I am assuming that I might as well install the 32 bit version, is this correct?

Thanks!

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2 Comments

That sounds like a bug with the installer. I'll take a look into that when I get a chance - the 64-bit installer does install 64-bit executables though, regardless of where the files are installed.
@GeorgeEdison, thanks, if you want, let me know and I will help you test it.
3

At the moment a click on the widgets in the panel doesn't have a defined action. It might be handy to have a left click on a site widget open that site in the default browser.

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4 Comments

Good idea. I'll try to do that soon.
I added that feature... you can try it out in the 1.3rc1 download listed above.
This has now been disabled in the 1.4 beta while some issues are worked out.
This is fixed now.
3

I have recently become active on Arduino Beta SE and I wanted to have notifs for that on my desktop. However, StackApplet doesn't have that site in the addable (???) sites.

Is this a bug, as I know Beta sites can be added, I have Raspberry Pi working just fine; or is it just because Arduino hasn't been added to the list of sites somewhere?

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Comments

2

I can't seem to get this to work... I entered ubuntu.stackexchange and my username (russjr08) in the appropriate boxes, but it stays stuck on "Please Wait..." I even restarted Gnome-Panel

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1 Comment

Sorry, there are two problems with what you are doing: first, you need to enter askubuntu in the site box instead of ubuntu.stackexchange. Also, you need to enter your user ID instead of your username. If you don't know your username, click the find button beside the user ID box.
2

When I try to start it, I get an error message titled -

stackapplet.exe - Entry Point Not Found

saying -

The procedure entry point _except_handler4_common could not be located in the dynamic link library msvcrt.dll

What could be the reason behind this?

My platform is Windows XP Service Pack 2.

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6 Comments

Unfortunately this is a bug that occurs when StackApplet is run on 64-bit versions of Windows. Rather than fixing this bug (which would have been a lot of work), StackApplet was recently rewritten from scratch to provide native support for 64-bit versions of Windows (among other things). You can find a native 64-bit installer for StackApplet 1.6 at the top of the question above. Please try that instead.
@GeorgeEdison: I am running 32-bit OS, not 64-bit....
Oh, sorry about that then. There is also a 32-bit installer for StackApplet 1.6. Does that work?
Hi @GeorgeEdison, I too am looking for the XP version. 1.5 didn't work for me. The link to the 1.6 32 bit version appears to be broken. It's reporting a "Forbidden You don't have permission to access /stackapplet/stackapplet_1.6_i686_setup.exe on this server." Do you have another link?
@BrianFenton: Sorry about that - for some unknown reason, the permissions on that file were set to 600 instead of 644. I have fixed the permissions now, so you should be able to download the installer.
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2

In version 1.6 alpha on Windows, the notification will often show

30 New Item(s)
There are 30 new item(s) in your inbox.

when there are only a few items in my inbox.

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Comments

2

Is it possible to configure the app to ignore some events (specifically reputation changes in my case, not really interested in them as much as the other ones)?

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3 Comments

As of version 1.6 (currently in Alpha), only inbox items are included in notifications (so that would include answers to your questions, comments directed to you, and anything else you would see in your global inbox).
That was quick :). Thanks for the info, and for the great app (I especially like how it integrates with KDE's notification system) !
Excellent - glad to hear it's working for you.
1

Is there anything similar for KDE?

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3 Comments

This application should run under KDE. That being said, I am considering rewriting this application in Qt - in which case the answer would be a definite "yes".
@GeorgeEdison Great. Hope to see an alpha from you soon.
There is now an alpha version available.
1

The new 1.6 (32-bit) version won't allow me to "authorize" the app?!

I'm using Windows Vista. I've looked, but I haven't found any help elsewhere? Any ideas?

PS: StackApplet is a great tool, so I’m keen to have it fixed. The 1.5 version works, but the 1.6 doesn't. Thanks again.

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2 Comments

Could you please describe what happens when you try to authorize the application?
I start the app. It loads. I right-click the icon. Move through the menus and click authorize. The authorize window pops ups. I click on authorize with google. It hangs indefinitely. Also, I tried other login methods and they all hang indefinitely too. It's the same whether or not I "use as admin".
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I installed it on Windows 7. On authorization, it threw up a bunch of dialogs about certificates missing, etc.

Once running, the only thing I could do was to look at my Inbox - there wasn't any list of sites or reputation.

I removed it for now, until more functionality is available.

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Comments

0

Can this applet show when there is new activity since the last visit like the envelope next to my username? In other words, if I don't see the notifications does it change colour or something to tell me I should visit the site?

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11 Comments

That's a great idea... but how would it know you visited the site?
I don't know much about the API, so maybe it isn't supported. StackExchange has some way of determining when to change the envelope icon when there are new replies so I thought maybe that was available to applications using the API.
@moberly: No, I mean how would the app know that you had visited the page with your web browser? Suppose you get a message. The app turns green. You go to the site to see what the comment is... how does the app know that you did that?
I don't know how you would do that. That is, I'm not sure a new replies notification would work without cooperation from the StackExchange feature that provides that information. Presumably that would be via the API, but as I said I don't know much about the API. All I know is that when I visit a StackExchange site there is a small icon next to my username that tells me if I have new replies (and how many). The thing is I have to individually visit each StackExchange site that I've joined to see it. I saw your app, and was hopeful it could also appear in my Gnome panel.
Of course, if there's no way for your app to determine if there are new replies, then maybe you could just show changes for the last 24 hours?
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0

If you're going to Appindicators I'd like to see this condensed to one icon which populates a dropdown list on click (but the libNotify messages are fine the way they are) Maybe something similar to the current messaging indicator?

Great app btw! It helps feed my addiction :)

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4 Comments

Ya, I really haven't got around to experimenting with AppIndicators yet... but I'll try to make it as concise as possible. Also, I need to work a bit on getting my app to comply with the API throttle guidelines, otherwise you might see errors if you have a lot of sites going.
Also, are you using the latest version? (1.3rc1 at the moment)
@GeorgeEdison: I believe so - though the About still says 1.1
Oh. Well that was fixed a few hours ago :) 1.3rc2 is out now :)
0

Feature Request:

Would it be possible to add a preference where I can point the app to an accounts page (like this one) and it automatically picks up all accounts from there? Possibly even monitor that page for new appearing accounts?

Because it is rather tedious to enter all those accounts individually and it should be very easy to retrieve the data for the app.

BTW: thanks for writing the app!!

Update

Wait, I just noticed the "Check for associated accounts" preference in the current version, I guess that cancels out my request. Still:

  1. Unfortunately the app does not check for duplicates (a duplicate being a two entries with equal site and user id)
  2. it would be even nicer if the app could continually monitor the accounts and add new accounts automatically once they appear.
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2 Comments

Hmmm... I like your idea. I'll see what I can do to implement it.
I'd have done it myself, but Python is so not my language.
0

I'm installing Ubuntu 11.04; I saw StackApplet in the Accessories menu. It claims that as of the newly installed version 1.4, StackApplet is no longer a Gnome 2 applet, but instead it'll live in the tray area... except I'm not even sure Ubuntu 11.04's Unity will have a tray area to begin with. Kinda baffled by the coincidence.

At any rate, can you please consider improving the way the tray icon behaves? Currently it does nothing on right click and opens a menu in place on left click; if the tray bar is placed at the bottom of the screen, this puts the 'Quit' menu item squarely below where I clicked. Basically, clicking on the StackApplet icons closes it; I'd have to drag up to use the program itself.

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1 Comment

Well, actually - StackApplet uses the AppIndicator framework, so it'll work fine with future Ubuntu releases. As for the way the tray icon behaves, that too is unfortunately beyond my control since the menu is created and managed by the AppIndicator framework.
0

I get the following warnings while installing your package in Ubuntu 11.04:

Lintian check results for /home/badp/Downloads/stackapplet_1.4.0_all.deb:
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/applications/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/applications/stackapplet.desktop 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/en_CA/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/en_CA/LC_MESSAGES/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/en_CA/LC_MESSAGES/stackapplet.mo 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/en_GB/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/en_GB/LC_MESSAGES/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/en_GB/LC_MESSAGES/stackapplet.mo 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/es/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/es/LC_MESSAGES/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/es/LC_MESSAGES/stackapplet.mo 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/fr/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/fr/LC_MESSAGES/stackapplet.mo 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/tr/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/tr/LC_MESSAGES/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/locale/tr/LC_MESSAGES/stackapplet.mo 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/pixmaps/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/pixmaps/meta.stackoverflow.png 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/pixmaps/serverfault.png 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/pixmaps/stackapplet.png 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/pixmaps/stackapplet_grey.png 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/pixmaps/stackapplet_light.png 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/pixmaps/stackapps.png 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/pixmaps/stackoverflow.png 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/pixmaps/superuser.png 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/stackapplet/ 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/stackapplet/appindicator_replacement.py 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/stackapplet/config_store.py 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/stackapplet/import_13.py 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/stackapplet/prefs_dialog.py 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/stackapplet/select_user.py 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/stackapplet/stack_api.py 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/stackapplet/stackapplet.glade 1000/1000
E: StackApplet: wrong-file-owner-uid-or-gid usr/share/stackapplet/stackapplet.py 1000/1000
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2 Comments

That's due to Natty's new 'bad quality package' warnings. If you want to install the package anyway, rest assured that installing StackApplet is completely safe. If not, StackApplet 1.5 will have these warnings fixed.
@George I installed it anyway; just letting you know :)
0

Thought I'd mention. I tried setting up StackApps in Windows 7, but at the preference screen for accounts associated with StackApps, it stalls on "loading..." and I'm not able to set up my accounts. Any ideas?

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15 Comments

Are you using Google Chrome? If so, you can right-click on the page and click "Inspect Element". There will be a console tab somewhere that may contain error information.
@ptr: Well (and this is my fault) I actually didn't change the filenames for the different beta releases, so it's hard to tell which one you have by the filename. However, if you visit this page, you can make sure you have beta2. (Oh, and the version in the PPA now uses port 8150).
@ptr: Good point. I'll make sure that gets fixed. Thanks for letting me know that it works!
@ptr: Great! Actually, I develop the application in Ubuntu, so it is extremely well supported there and has some extra features.
@ptr: Well, the only thing missing from Debian / Windows is integration with the Ubuntu Messaging Menu. All of the other features are present in other operating systems.
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0

This is what I get with the debug version under Windows XP SP3:

C:\Program Files\StackApplet>stackapplet.exe
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 88, in <module>
  File "C:\PyInstaller\iu.py", line 436, in importHook
  File "C:\PyInstaller\iu.py", line 521, in doimport
  File "Z:\tmp\a\other\windows\build\pyi.win32\stackapplet\outPYZ1.pyz/gtk", line 40, in <module>
  File "C:\PyInstaller\iu.py", line 477, in importHook
  File "C:\PyInstaller\iu.py", line 495, in doimport
  File "C:\PyInstaller\iu.py", line 297, in getmod
  File "C:\PyInstaller\archive.py", line 468, in getmod
  File "C:\PyInstaller\iu.py", line 109, in getmod
ImportError: DLL load failed: Invalid access to memory location.
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6 Comments

@GeorgeEdison ...pssst, over here!
As mentioned above, please try this file and see if it fixes the problem.
Hi @george, I tried 1.5beta2 today and still no go. I'm trying your fix now.
Installed the fix, and nothing. I'm having the same problem as ptrcao below, @george
I just made another build. Does this file work?
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0

So I used apt-get install stackapplet, and it installed something. (Version 1.4.0-1, from the apt-cache show output.)

Then nothing happens. Should the applet automatically appear somewhere, or do I have to start it manually? If so, how?

(I have Ubuntu 11.04, with an old GNOME desktop, as my computer is too old to support Unity.)

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1 Comment

You can start it manually by going to Applications->Accessories->StackApplet. After that, you can go to preferences and set it to start every time you log in.
0

Thank you George. It works for me (ubuntu 11) after installing via command prompt. Maybe it could be made also to start from the command prompt with the command stackapplet?

$ sudo apt-get install stackapplet Läser paketlistor... Färdig Bygger beroendeträd
Läser tillståndsinformation... Färdig Följande ytterligare paket kommer att installeras: python-gnomeapplet Följande NYA paket kommer att installeras: python-gnomeapplet Följande paket kommer att uppgraderas: stackapplet 1 att uppgradera, 1 att nyinstallera, 0 att ta bort och 224 att inte uppgradera. Behöver hämta 52,6 kB arkiv. Efter denna åtgärd kommer 79,0 MB att frigöras på disken. Vill du fortsätta [J/n]? J Läs:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/main python-gnomeapplet amd64 2.32.0-0ubuntu2 [19,8 kB] Läs:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ natty/universe stackapplet all 1.4.0-1 [32,9 kB] Hämtade 52,6 kB på 0s (107 kB/s)
Väljer tidigare ej valt paket python-gnomeapplet. (Läser databasen ... 147381 filer och kataloger installerade.) Packar upp python-gnomeapplet (från .../python-gnomeapplet_2.32.0-0ubuntu2_amd64.deb) ... Förbereder att ersätta stackapplet 1.4.0 (med .../stackapplet_1.4.0-1_all.deb) ... Packar upp ersättande stackapplet ... Hanterar utlösare för bamfdaemon ... Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/bamf.index... Hanterar utlösare för desktop-file-utils ... Hanterar utlösare för python-gmenu ... Rebuilding /usr/share/applications/desktop.sv_SE.utf8.cache... Hanterar utlösare för python-support ... Ställer in python-gnomeapplet (2.32.0-0ubuntu2) ... Ställer in stackapplet (1.4.0-1) ... Hanterar utlösare för python-support ... ubuntu@ubuntu:/media/Lexar/$ stackapplet stackapplet: command not found

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1 Comment

It's not working for me. When I try and connect to http://localhost:8150/ the drop down menu for the site is empty and so is the search for user section. When starting the applet from the command line it says: dbind-WARNING **: 08:33:42.461: Couldn't register with accessibility bus: Did not receive a reply. and it also says that when I launch preferences.
0

Is it possible to get notifications about badges too?

Thank you for a great app!

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3 Comments

You're welcome! Badge notification is planned for a future release.
@NathanOsman did I miss it or is there still no os x version :(
There's no OS X release but if you have Python and PyGTK installed, there's no reason you couldn't just run it directly from the source code.
0

Since you are already using a GUI toolkit (pygtk? haven't looked at the source), it doesn't make much sense to have your preferences as local website; if anything, it's a security risk.

Any chance that the Preferences feature will be rewritten with a proper GUI?

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1 Comment

The small HTTP server that manages the preferences is quite secure - it uses a cryptographic nonce to ensure that only the current user can make changes to it. But yes, I am planning to rewrite the application in Qt and this will include a brand new dialog box for preferences.
0

Does this work behind a proxy server?

I am trying to add my AskUbuntu Account, but the Preferences dialog just freezes after some time.

StackApplet Version is 1.4.0-2

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1 Comment

I would strongly suggest upgrading to 1.5.1 which is the latest stable release. A lot of bugs were fixed in that release.
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