[Chandler-dev] Proposal/Call for volunteers/Brain dump: Showing reminders when Chandler isn't running

[Andi Vajda]

On Wed, 5 Jul 2006, Grant Baillie wrote:

> 1) Have two separate processes, the app and a background daemon/service, that 
> both access the user's repository. The way I understand things (Andi, correct 
> me if I'm wrong), both processes would need to poll (via the repository view 
> refresh() API) to detect when changes have occurred. It turns out Chandler 
> does this already (in a wx idle event callback), while the reminder process 
> could presumably just check every minute (if it's not displaying any UI).

Yes, that should work.

> 2) Have two processes, but have the background daemon not use the repository 
> at all. (Maybe we're worried that people will try to store their repositories 
> on volumes that don't support file locking, or something). Instead, the two 
> communicate via a config file and/or named pipes or something (insert sound 
> of two hands waving profusely here).

It is a requirement that the repository files be stored on a file system that 
supports proper locks. This is a Berkeley DB requirement. Berkeley DB supports 
multiple processes accessing the repository just as well as multiple threads.

> 4) Have just one process, today's Chandler, but add the ability for it to 
> switch between full UI & background (reminder-only) mode. So, if background 
> mode is in effect, and the user launches Chandler, a little plastic garden 
> gnome waves a sparkly wand and tells the background process to display the 
> full UI. Similarly, when you "quit" the full UI app, it goes back into 
> background (stealth) mode. (This is easier, so the gnome gets a break).

Somehow, having multiple processes, one for each task seems cleaner.

Andi..