Hello Greg,
I have tested your browser outside of inkscape.
1.) The first time the app loads, there should be all image loaded, or some kind of random image, or some kind of text that says search for what you need...basically, users need help.
2.) When dragging in clip art, could it land in Inkscape where it is dropped? Is this an Inkscape or a Clip Art Browser issue?
3.) Where are the titles for all the clip art?
4.) Could the right pane collapse, or be collapsed at the beginning?
5.) Is there a way to add a light preferences menu, or a button to this. I wonder if it is wise to put a menu or some kind of icon bar in this app. I'm leaning towards icon menu rather than a menu because it will be used inside apps for the most part.
6.) When doing a search, the app goes non-responsive for long periods of time which is bad IMO.
7.) Could you add some kind of link to the image or to the open clip art library that says "get more clip art"
8.) When running the Clip Art Browser, Inkscape is blocked and appears frozen so then it is not possible to do drag and drop...not good! This should be fixed. The Clip Art Browser should be spawned, the pid recorded, etc, so that Inkscape controls that process, but so that Inkscape can continue...
9.) The name of the program, Clip Art Browser needs to be made consistent throughout the code
10.) You need to make the clip art indexer take an argument as to where the clipart folder is, and then it needs to also take an argument for where to install the index.dat it generates...if this arg. is not passed in, then generate that file in the same dir. as where the script is run.
11.) There should be some kind of information in the GUI as to how many images are at the apps disposal.
12.) Some kind of browse by category would be nice.
13.) Some kind of browse alphabetically would be nice too... :)
I've attached a Makefile which should go into the main directory for your app. Now ppl. can do make install and uninstall.
Also, now it will be quite easy to do more testing, as users have a way to get this in and out of their extensions dir easily.
Should Greg's program be a new project on the main Inkscape page, or should it be moved into the extensions directory?
Now that I have made a makefile I'm in favor of making it its own project. Also, it is usable by other apps, so it can be standalone.
Jon
PS: Ted, it would be great to allow for folders inside the extensions dir to help organize new messes created by extensions with lots of folders. :)