Article:		Build a Dashboard Widget
Subject:		It doesn't work
Date:		2005-05-07 05:18:46
From:		aaanderson
Response to: It doesn't work
Hi. What does not work for you ? When you load Dashboard does it load in the window ? or Does the functionality not work when you try to run it ? The first one is probably XML driven, the second HTML driven. One way to debug Widgets, is to actually use the "Console" application, in the Applicatiosn/Utilities folder. All Javascript errors/messages will go here. Load that up and it should give you a pointer to any problems.

Showing messages 1 through 5 of 5.

• It doesn't work
  2005-05-23 11:14:49  andyinindy [View]
  
  
  Here's one that works great; maybe we can figure out how he did it!
  
  http://www.interdimensionmedia.com/downloads/NIXmanual.zip
• re:It doesn't work
  2005-05-23 16:11:43  Andrew Anderson | [View]
  
  
  AndyInIndy,
  Thanks for the post. I looked at the widget briefly and it looks like they have some complex javascript doing the work. I will take a closer look and post something if I can get it together better.
  
  thanks again,
  Andrew

• ...doesn't work...
  2005-05-11 09:18:20  andyinindy [View]
  
  
  Same here; the widget freezes, no man page displayed, no helpful output in console.
  
  I am convinced that widget.system is hopelessly broken. Maybe 10.4.1 will fix it. Here's someone who also hates widget.system:
  
  http://www.mikeash.com/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=6
• ...doesn't work...
  2005-05-11 10:58:08  Andrew Anderson | [View]
  
  
  it definately behaves differently between the pre-release versions of Tiger and the final release build.
  
  what was most frustrating when I was debugging the problem in the release build is that Dashboard would crash, wouldn't pick up new versions of the Widget as they were created and just suffered from general weird behavoir.
  
  the only thing that even approximates a debug environment is the mix of the console and using javascript alert statements, which is not an easy way to debug anything.
  
  I confirmed that the latest version of the code, works in the release build of Tiger, but as you said widget.system seems to be hopeless broken.
  
  Thanks for the feedback though, I think part two of the article will focus more on how to setup some semblance of a development/debug environment and using the other features of Dashboard.

• It doesn't work
  2005-05-07 16:26:30  kevincranford [View]
  
  
  The Dashboard Widget loads but when I enter something to get the man page on (like ls) it just sits there and shows nothing. It also wouldn't let me enter anything else into the search field. I checked the console and there is nothing related to this logged there either.