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Konfabulator - A tool that can do nearly anything... Pick of the Week
KonfabulatorThe macosxhints Rating:
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Konfabulator is hard to explain, but basically, it's a JavaScript engine that lets you run a number of small programs called widgets. A widget can be thought of as a single-purposed utility, designed to provide you with some interesting piece of information. Such widgets could provide information on battery strength, AirPort signal strength, time, weather, headline news, etc. Yes, you can find such programs on your own, and some are included with the OS. But what sets Konfabulator apart from these is the integration (all running widgets are available from a menubar icon), the appearance of the widgets themselves (they support transparency and shadows and unique window shapes), and the extensible nature of Konfabulator (it's relatively easy to write new widgets).

Konfabulator ships with a small assortment of widgets (AirPort signal, analog clock, battery, calendar, digital clock, iTunes remote, a small floating slideshow window, stock ticker, weather, and a basic "to do" list manager). In addition, there are over 260 more widgets available in the Konfabulator section of deskmod.com. The widgets run the gamut from the very very specific (a widget displaying bus arrival times for certain routes in Stockholm, Sweden) to games (Go, Dice, Solitaire) to internet search tools (Google, Amazon, eBay) to headline news grabbers (SlashDot, etc.) to the whimsical (a cow simulator?!). One of the available widgets is XHints, a hint headline grabber for macosxhints.com (I was not directly involved in this widget, other than providing the site logo).

Konfabulator is one of those truly unique pieces of programming that seem to come along every once in a great while. Although released for only a very short time, the presence of hundreds of widgets speaks highly of how easily new widgets can be written. I've been hearing about Konfabulator for a while, but it wasn't until the XHints widget process started that I actually downloaded it and tried it out ... I think I'm hooked and my $25 will be headed their direction very shortly -- if I can stop experimenting with widgets long enough to register!
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Konfabulator - A tool that can do nearly anything... | 10 comments | Create New Account
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Konfabulator - A tool that can do nearly anything...
Authored by: bluehz on Mar 10, '03 12:02:15PM
Konfabulator is a fantastic technology with lots of potential. Right now the landscape is blotted with fairly useless eyecandy type Widgets, or simply reproductions of other applications. I suspect this will change soon and we will really start to see some very useful and unique Widgets showing up soon.

Konfabulator v.1.0 had a horrible memory leak to it, but it has since been fixed in v1.0.2 as far as I can tell in my testing.

Here's a tip I picked up that I use when I run Konfabulator. The menubar menu is not required to run Konfabulator and for me its just another item in my crowded menubar. I have lots if menuabr items that are essential and I prefer to limit these items to only the essentials so I like to get rid of the Konfabulator menubar item. You can still launch any Widget by simply double-clicking the Widget itself - assuming you have previously started Konfabulator. Here's a short shell script I picked up that will launch Konfabulator and then remove the menubar item, leaving Konfabulator running and available for Widgets.

#!/bin/sh

# launch Konfabulator
# replace /path/to with the correct path for your setup
open -a /path/to/Konfabulator.app

# wait for Konfabulator to fully launch and show the
# menubar item
sleep 5

# remove the menubar item, leaving Konfabulator
# engine running - should be all on one line
kill `ps -wwwxo stime,pid,command | grep onfa | grep ps | grep -v grep | grep -v -- '--child' | sort -r | awk '{print $2}' | head -1`
there is also an Applescript version I found but have not tried it myself.
tell application "Finder" 
   open item "Konfabulator" of folder "Applications" 
   delay 5 -- or whatever you want 
end tell 
try 
   do shell script "ps -wwwxo stime,pid,command | grep onfa | grep ps | grep -v grep | grep -v -- '--child' | sort -r | awk '{print $2}' | head -1" 
   set kill_me to result as text 
   do shell script "kill " & kill_me 
end try


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Konfabulator - A tool that can do nearly anything...
Authored by: bluehz on Mar 10, '03 01:07:02PM

Apparently the above technique no longer works in Konfabulator 1.0.2. If you quit the menu you are unable to launch any widgets. Anyone have a workaround?



[ Reply to This | # ]
The reason this doesn't work...
Authored by: daveschroeder on Mar 10, '03 02:21:10PM

The reason this doesn't work anymore, as I'm sure you're aware, was that the nag window that comes up with an unregistered version of Konfabulator was a child of the menu extra process. If you kill the menubar item, the nag window is also killed. This script was originally callled "Konfabulator Killer" and was specifically designed for those who wanted to pirate Konfabulator without paying for it.

I won't pass judgment on the above poster personally, but that's probably why it no longer works...



[ Reply to This | # ]
Konfabulator - A tool that can do nearly anything...
Authored by: scc on Mar 10, '03 01:24:30PM
I've been writing a tutorial for creating Konfabulator Widgets.

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wait! before u spend $25
Authored by: ravedog on Mar 10, '03 03:37:37PM

before u run out and spend 25 for something, think of this:

1) should u pay for a runtime engine - or should the people who write widgets get paid for their work... we don't pay apple for applescript - we MAY pay people who write a killer script. not saying they shouldnt get paid for their hard work - but there should be a 2 tiered system - a run only verson and a dev version - THAT they should charge for.

2) run the thing for a week or 2 with any of the widgets available. see if they have lasting value. granted if u are gonna program yourself then maybe u don't care. but i havent found one widget that is worth all the realestate it takes up and the info it provides. is this widget creator's fault or the devs of konfab fault? its the widget creators fault but that being said - id want to put out their some real efective, pleasing widgets as the showcase to show both useability AND cool. instead its a freak show of widget creation. again... wait n see.

3) until they get a better more universal grip on the UI - making it more aquaish - as in being able to minimize or at provide developers the resources to make minimized versions... its destined to be a real estate hog.

time will tell how this plays out. I too see lots of potential. but what i see now is lots of Aqua on Crack and a lot of ooooh ahhhhh.... but nothing worth the trade off. Maybe im speaking from user perspective and not a programmers.

their moto is "whatever u want it to be" - their is something to be said for HIG!

i'll keep wacthing



[ Reply to This | # ]
one last note
Authored by: ravedog on Mar 10, '03 03:39:48PM

its ironic that the widgets apear on DeskMod - a "skin" everything site - which explains why this leans more towards iKandy than tool.



[ Reply to This | # ]
wait! before u spend $25
Authored by: aranor on Mar 10, '03 04:16:42PM

And how, exactly, would you have a dev version? All the dev is done via a text editor and graphics programs!



[ Reply to This | # ]
Whatr about the RAM leaks?
Authored by: dashard on Mar 10, '03 05:18:02PM

My main problem with Konfabulator is that there seems to be a general
sort of memory leakishness. Can't quite pick out which Widgets are to
blame, but we trek into the "anyone can code" territory that this app
inspires (and I think it's a good thing for an app to inspire, by the way)
and wind up with the harsh reality that, no, NOT anyone can code.

While I disagree with the notion that the Widgets to date are purely
iCandy, I have a problem with my available RAM disappearing unless I
periodically quit and restart Konfablulator. Food for thought.



[ Reply to This | # ]
Whatr about the RAM leaks?
Authored by: scc on Mar 10, '03 08:44:15PM
The latest version is 1.0.2. According to the version history, '# Fixed several issues revolving around memory leaks.' in 1.0.1. Are you still using 1.0?

[ Reply to This | # ]
Konfabulator - A tool that can do nearly anything...
Authored by: Accura on Mar 12, '03 11:23:32PM

Best program, easy to write stuff, u can use CLI command ans apple script, what more do you need, also the gui is easy as.

Pay for it, its one of those things that ANY ONE can learn to edit or code

---
"The time has come," the walrus said. "To talk of many things..."



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