not getting notifications, until I manually open the Specto UI
alegro
lower panel (Ubuntu 9.04), and used the PPA to upgrade to Specto
0.3.1
For a short time (possibly just that first day) I was getting
notifciations. Then I stopped getting notifications. I have a single
watch. Its for a craigslist.org webpage which has no advertising and
is mostly text on white background. I determined that the minimum
change when someone makes a new listing is 0.5 % so I set the error
margin to 0.4 %. The refresh interval is set to 1 hour.
The watched page changes multiple times each day. (people post new
ads.) For some reason I am no longer seeing notifications. When I open
the Specto UI by clicking Menu > Acessories > Specto, the UI opens and
then I get a notifcation that the page has changed. This notification
is the usual black notification window in upper right corner, but the
only time I see it is if I open the Specto UI (and the watched webpage
has changed since I last opened the UI).
I'm going to post the log below. March 3rd, 2010 was the day I
upgraded to 0.3.1 and was receiving notifications. I think I was still
getting notifications on the 4th. But the entries for March 10 and 14
were from me opening the UI as described above.
2010-03-02 19:33:18 - CRITICAL - specto - There was an error
opening the file watch_vc_bazaar
2010-03-02 20:18:45 - CRITICAL - specto - There was an error
opening the file watch_vc_bazaar
2010-03-04 11:55:39 - CRITICAL - specto - There was an error
opening the file watch_vc_bazaar
2010-03-04 11:55:41 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 2.58
2010-03-04 11:55:41 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Watch
has changed.
2010-03-04 12:05:54 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 0.54
2010-03-04 12:05:54 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Watch
has changed.
2010-03-04 12:07:16 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 0.00
2010-03-04 12:13:38 - CRITICAL - specto - There was an error
opening the file watch_vc_bazaar
2010-03-04 12:13:39 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 0.00
2010-03-04 13:13:39 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 1.60
2010-03-04 13:13:39 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Watch
has changed.
2010-03-10 13:47:21 - CRITICAL - specto - There was an error
opening the file watch_vc_bazaar
2010-03-10 13:47:23 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 1.12
2010-03-10 13:47:23 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Watch
has changed.
2010-03-10 13:47:29 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 0.00
2010-03-10 13:48:26 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 0.00
2010-03-14 10:05:10 - CRITICAL - specto - There was an error
opening the file watch_vc_bazaar
2010-03-14 10:05:14 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 2.01
2010-03-14 10:05:14 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Watch
has changed.
2010-03-14 10:05:35 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 0.00
2010-03-14 11:05:35 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 1.52
2010-03-14 11:05:35 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Watch
has changed.
2010-03-14 12:04:06 - CRITICAL - specto - There was an error
opening the file watch_vc_bazaar
2010-03-14 12:04:07 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 0.45
2010-03-14 12:04:07 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Watch
has changed.
2010-03-14 12:04:18 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 0.00
2010-03-14 12:09:22 - CRITICAL - specto - There was an error
opening the file watch_vc_bazaar
2010-03-14 12:09:23 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 0.02
2010-03-14 12:14:09 - CRITICAL - specto - There was an error
opening the file watch_vc_bazaar
2010-03-14 12:14:11 - INFO - fxburg craigslist - free - Filesize
difference: 0.02
Jeff Fortin
Wout Clymans
It is possible to hide the UI in the notification area ("always show notification icon" in the preferences window)
Your log file seems ok, but we will get more information if you also post the error.log file (it is located in ~/.config/specto/)
Wout
Jeff Fortin
alegro
with Specto so far. I can't help with the programming, but maybe this
will provide some insight to what people are experiencing and
expecting.
The average computer user doesn't understand all this daemon/module/UI
type stuff. Me included. I realize Specto is still in 0.x
development. I'm not complaining here. I just want to tell you what I
would expect this program to do:
1. I turn on my computer
2. The Specto program/utility/process/deamon or whatever it is, -is
running without me doing anything.
3. There is no icon in the notifications area or anywhere else.
[except in Ubuntu's Menu > Accessories]
4. The watched page changes and a notification box pops up notifying
me.
Now, as to what the actual sequence of events currently is supposed to
be -I'm not sure. There is no simple, clear explanation on the Specto
website of specifically what is supposed to happen. Not that the
average user wants to have to think about this much. But during this
stage of development I think its crucial to clearly lay out what is
supposed to happen, so that people who are testing the program can
notice what is differing from this.
When I go to this webpage:
http://specto.sourceforge.net/?go=features
I read the following:
-quote-
Designed with elegance in mind, Specto can be left running on your
desktop, on a separate virtual workspace, or hidden into a
notification area icon*, without looking like a baboon's ass among the
rest of your applications.
*: This is not the default behavior, however.
-end quote-
I'm with you on the first part about elegance, and the last part about
not looking like a baboon's enflamed asscheeks. But let me break down
the middle 3 statements as far as my understanding of them:
"left running on your desktop" means the GUI is open in a Window on
the desktop and there's a tab in the (windows list) panel along with
the tabs of the other open applications. correct?
I don't know what "on a separate virtual workspace" means, but I guess
that doesn't apply to me since I don't use virtual workspaces. -
knowingly anyway : )
The third part is where I get confused: "hidden into a notification
area icon". My Specto watch and my ethernet connection are the only 2
event-notifications I ever see from my Ubuntu notifications area. So I
don't have much knowledge and experience of how the notifications
icons/area function.
But after clicking on the link embedded in " *: This is not the
default behavior, however." - I read the following page:
http://code.google.com/p/specto/issues/detail?id=46
Issue 46: trayicon is not activated by default
I see what the origin poster is saying, (although I prefer the
opposite.) And I understand and completely agree with everything
nekohayo wrote in response. In that response I learned that the
general idea of a notification icon is that it appears during the
notification and then disappears. So I agree with this being the
default behaviour in Specto.
The confusion is in the text on the Specto webpage that explains this.
It says "hidden into a notification area icon" -presumably meaning
that the icon is hidden, and by nature only appears when it is active
(i.e. during a notification). But the note following that says "This
is not the default behavior, however".
This is either a left-over note from before the change was made? or is
it simply incorrect? Or am I missing something?
As I understand it, this IS the default behavior (since 0.2). As
stated by nekohayo:
-quote-
I actually changed this behavior between specto 0.1 and 0.2 so that
the tray icon
(actually, a "status" icon) was not there at all times, but only to
notify the user.
-end quote-
Now back to my personal problem with Specto not notifying, I don't
know if this has anything to do with my problem but I do not have the
"Always show the icon in the notifications area" box checked.
~
I like the MO listed on the Specto website:
1. Add a watch
2. Forget it
3. Be notified
In my experience so far, only #1 is happening. This isn't meant to be
sarcastic. I'm just expressing my fundamental point of view since I
don't have the programming or technical knowledge to help the project
in that way.
"CRITICAL - specto - There was an error opening the file
watch_vc_bazaar" appears several times in my log. You say the log
"seems ok". When I see the word 'critical' in capital letters and the
word 'error', -this indicates to me that there is a crucial error. Is
this not the case?
Here is the error.log :
--------
Error on: Tuesday 02 Mar 2010 19:33
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/watch.py
Error Line # : 274
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/plugins/
watch_vc_bazaar.py
Error Line # : 30
Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error: No module named bzrlib.missing
Error on: Tuesday 02 Mar 2010 20:18
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/watch.py
Error Line # : 274
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/plugins/
watch_vc_bazaar.py
Error Line # : 30
Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error: No module named bzrlib.missing
Error on: Thursday 04 Mar 2010 11:55
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/watch.py
Error Line # : 274
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/plugins/
watch_vc_bazaar.py
Error Line # : 30
Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error: No module named bzrlib.missing
Error on: Thursday 04 Mar 2010 12:13
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/watch.py
Error Line # : 274
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/plugins/
watch_vc_bazaar.py
Error Line # : 30
Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error: No module named bzrlib.missing
Error on: Wednesday 10 Mar 2010 13:47
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/watch.py
Error Line # : 274
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/plugins/
watch_vc_bazaar.py
Error Line # : 30
Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error: No module named bzrlib.missing
Error on: Sunday 14 Mar 2010 10:05
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/watch.py
Error Line # : 274
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/plugins/
watch_vc_bazaar.py
Error Line # : 30
Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error: No module named bzrlib.missing
Error on: Sunday 14 Mar 2010 12:04
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/watch.py
Error Line # : 274
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/plugins/
watch_vc_bazaar.py
Error Line # : 30
Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error: No module named bzrlib.missing
Error on: Sunday 14 Mar 2010 12:09
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/watch.py
Error Line # : 274
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/plugins/
watch_vc_bazaar.py
Error Line # : 30
Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error: No module named bzrlib.missing
Error on: Sunday 14 Mar 2010 12:14
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/watch.py
Error Line # : 274
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/plugins/
watch_vc_bazaar.py
Error Line # : 30
Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error: No module named bzrlib.missing
Error on: Sunday 14 Mar 2010 16:20
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/watch.py
Error Line # : 274
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/plugins/
watch_vc_bazaar.py
Error Line # : 30
Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error: No module named bzrlib.missing
Error on: Monday 15 Mar 2010 11:23
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/watch.py
Error Line # : 274
Filename: /usr/lib/python2.6/dist-packages/spectlib/plugins/
watch_vc_bazaar.py
Error Line # : 30
Type: <type 'exceptions.ImportError'>
Error: No module named bzrlib.missing
On Mar 15, 2:18 am, Wout Clymans <woutclym...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Specto does not have a daemon that runs in the background so it is normal
> that the UI has to be running before you get notifications.
> It is possible to hide the UI in the notification area ("always show
> notification icon" in the preferences window)
>
> Your log file seems ok, but we will get more information if you also post
> the error.log file (it is located in ~/.config/specto/)
>
> Wout
>
Jeff Fortin
"left running on your desktop" means the GUI is open in a Window on
the desktop and there's a tab in the (windows list) panel along with
the tabs of the other open applications. correct?
I don't know what "on a separate virtual workspace" means
1. Add a watch
2. Forget it
3. Be notified
In my experience so far, only #1 is happening. This isn't meant to be
sarcastic. I'm just expressing my fundamental point of view since I
don't have the programming or technical knowledge to help the project
in that way.
"CRITICAL - specto - There was an error opening the file
watch_vc_bazaar" appears several times in my log. You say the log
"seems ok". When I see the word 'critical' in capital letters and the
word 'error', -this indicates to me that there is a crucial error. Is
this not the case?
Anyway, for your problems of not seeing notifications, do you "never" see them? Did you check Specto's "Preferences" dialog?
Wout Clymans
If he opens specto he will get the notifications and that is the normal behaviour.
You can add specto to your startup programs so you don't have to manually start it anymore but like i said before..specto is not a process that runs in the background, it has to be opened before it will check for updates and give you notifications.
Wout
alegro
since the motto of the program is: 1. Add a watch 2. Forget it 3. Be
notified. I now sort of but not really understand that in order to
truly forget it, I have to 'add Specto to my startup programs'. I'm
trying to convey that someone who has never used Specto will not
magically know that they have to do this. Nor will they know how to
do this. And just to be clear: I don't know how to do this.
The adding of the program to the startup programs is not done
automatically during the installlation of Specto (not that is should
be), and the info is not prominently displayed or presented to the
person installing Specto on their computer, so how are people to know
that they must add Specto to the start up programs? Also a tutorial on
how to do this would be useful (or a link to such a tutorial.)
I read over most of the Specto website and the pages it links to, and
I didn't see this information. Maybe I missed it. I didn't understand
a lot of it, so I skimmed some. But even if it is on there, its not as
prominent as it should be or I would have seen it. Maybe upon
installing Specto there should be a text box that pops up with this
info. It could be titled "2 ways to start Specto. NOTE: you must
start Specto manually or add it to the startup programs...."
I'm assuming the collective developers of Specto are trying to make it
a mainstream application, to be used by average linux users such as
myself. If this is the case, the necessary information needs to be
laid out clearly for such users. The average non-power-user doesn't
want to have to read an entire website and then post questions on a
google group to be able to use an application.
~
I do understand that some people would want to start Specto manually
only on the days that they want to receive notifications. I also
understand that some people would want Specto to automatically start
when they turn on their computer. So its good that both these options
are available. What I still have no idea about, is if you choose not
to add Specto to the startup programs, how do you get it running but
'hidden' as a 'present-only-when-active' notifications icon.
The other thing I'm wondering about is if you do add Specto to the
startup programs, how do you turn Specto off when you don't want to
see the notifications?
I realize that the Specto project is a work in progress and that this
includes the websites/documentation. Part of my difficulty is the
missing information. Confounding this is the 7-word, three step motto
which is portraying an image of how utterly Specto is to setup, when
in fact there are some steps and considerations one has to learn about
and implement. I realize its only a motto, but it is prominently
displayed on the home page of the Specto website in large font.
The reality is something like this:
1. Add a watch
2. Start Specto (in one of several ways), only on days that you want
to see notifcations
3. Forget it -forget the watch, but DON'T forget to start Specto or
there is no #4.
4. Be notified (on days when you want to be notified, and assuming you
started the application.)
On the Specto website home page it also says "Specto is still in
development, and any help is much welcome." This thread is my attempt
to help the project become a beginner-friendly, beloved Linux
application. I like the program. I like the GUI. I like the motto and
the theory. I even like the icon and the website template (the
observatory theme). But the pertinent information for getting started
with Specto could be presented in a much more clear and complete
way. And yes I know: its an open source volunteer project. I just
wish people involved with open source volunteer projects would find
someone to do the documentation and also think about how a beginner
will (or won't) be able to approach their software for the first time.
Thank you.