recent documents with different document Viewer

[monkeybrain20122]

Hi,

I have switched to qpdfview as my default document viewer on Ubuntu 14.04 but recent documents no longer getting updated on the Unity dash. How to fix this? Thanks.

I think I have to somehow register qpdfview with zeitgeist.

[mc4man]

Works ok here, seen both in nautilus > recent & Dash > Files and Folders > recent
Have you done anything in the Privacy panel? (haven't here
.local/share/recently-used.xbel should get an entry when you use qpdfview to open a pdf, maybe delete or rename it, open a pdf, then check for an entry.
scr. - top entry opening thru nautilus, bottom entry opening thru qpdfview

[monkeybrain20122]

Hi,

If I open a document in Nautilis then the recent document list in dash and Nautilis both get updated. But if I search for the same document in the dash and click it to open it doesn't get updated (not in the dash, not in Natilus and not in recently-used-xbel) with evince the list get updated in the second scenario as well.

[monkeybrain20122]

Looking at recently-used-xbel, the difference is using evince there are entries like

<bookmark:application name="Document Viewer" exec="&apos;evince %u&apos;" modified="2015-01-14T03:41:57Z" count="7"/>

But qpdfview only get recorded through nautilus
<bookmark:application name="nautilus" exec="&apos;qpdfview --unique %F&apos;" modified="2015-02-08T02:57:08Z" count="2"/>

[mc4man]

I see, so 3 ways with qpdfview set as default -
open pdf thru nautilus - writes to recently-used.xbel
open pdf thru qpdfview itself - writes to recently-used.xbel
open pdf from Dash - does not write to recently-used.xbel

So the question is why does a pdf opened via Dash not write to recently-used-xbel with qpdfview but does so with evince?

I wonder if the Dash uses the .desktop or the binary when opening a file? (not that hard to ck., will fool around a bit ..

[monkeybrain20122]

Yes. If open through qpdfview itself the entry in recently-used-xbel is something like

<bookmark:application name="qpdfview" exec="&apos;qpdfview %u&apos;" modified="2015-02-08T03:51:16Z" count="1"/>

[mc4man]

Ok - so the Dash uses an app's .desktop to open on a file
It could be worth seeing if a modified or custom .desktop would allow writing to the xbel when using the Dash, But -

Maybe it's because it's a qt4 app??

Test -
Set some vid type to default open with vlc, open that vid so it will be shown in Dash
Delete recently-used.xbel, leave nautilus open on .local/share
Open Dash > d. click on the vid so it opens in vlc.
Check & see if recently-used.xbel is re-created.

Result here is it isn't, so it appears that qt4 apps via the Dash don't write to recently-used.xbel

[monkeybrain20122]

Did the experiment with mpv and it didn't register either. Not sure if mpv is qt.

[mc4man]

Ok, so not qt4. Tested some other apps, ect., many don't write when opened thru Dash
(to d. ck. on mimetype I set evince as default for flac, an attempt to open a flac in Dash resulted in xbel write & recent entry.

So what sets some apps or app's .desktop apart when open thru Dash ?
(most curious, will try to dig a bit..

[mc4man]

Another ex. set -
totem does, rhythmbox doesn't..
Maybe the best first look is to see which apps do, it maybe a shorter list that those that don't (by far

[monkeybrain20122]

I have asked the developer on qpdfview's launchpad page
https://answers.launchpad.net/qpdfview/+question/261820

[mc4man]

Haven't tracked down the actual reason yet -
Have found that most apps don't write when opened on a file via Dash.

1 clue (maybe) & slight workaround
Copy qpdfview.desktop to ~/.local/share/applications/ (or any other non writing app's .desktop

Then it should write to the xbel file via Dash

[monkeybrain20122]

Hi,

Copied .desktop file to ~/.local/share/applications. Chowned to me and made executable. Logged out and logged back in. Still the same behaviour, open via dash doesn't write to xbel

[mc4man]

Hi,

Copied .desktop file to ~/.local/share/applications. Chowned to me and made executable. Logged out and logged back in. Still the same behaviour, open via dash doesn't write to xbel

oops - you're right
(was doing multiple times of various, forgot in the last to open the pdf from Dash, was using nautilus, oh well..

If you ever have future occasion to cp a .desktop to your local applications folder no need to chown or make executable for standard use as a .desktop

[mc4man]

I am fairly pretty sure it's not the .desktop's even though the Dash uses the .desktop or it's Exec= line
(swapped the Exec= in both evince & qpdfview .desktop's to the other app, the xbel only gets a write from evince even when it's run from qpdfview's .desktop & no xbel when qpdfview is opened from evince's .desktop via the Dash

[monkeybrain20122]

Seems to be fixed in 15.04.

[monkeybrain20122]

Opps.Made a mistake, problem still not fixed. I must have done something dumb in the test like opening documents from qdfview instead of dash.

[monkeybrain20122]

I created a bug report here against unity https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+bug/1453356