ADMINISTRATOR NOTE: This panel is no longer working due to changes in Gmail. There is another Gmail panel available here.

I created a panel that monitors your Gmail inbox. It only has a few features right now, but I keep adding to it.

For more info - check out my blog:

http://weblogs.threepines.net/mcplog/archi.../09/08/265.aspx

Enjoy,
McP

Now that's pretty nifty.
The only question I have is the skinning option. The pane that shows number of unread messages is black for me, and but the hover state correctly inherited from the panel.

Yes, I have some work to do there. Right now when you hover over an inbox item it will display the snippet of html. I'd like to enable a click on each item so that gmail opens up directly to that message in a browser. Also, when clicking on the message count I'd like to open to the inbox.

McP

Why don't you put the file in the file forum? I also suggest you to add a screenshot.

it doesnt work, for me atleast. i have firefox plugin that shows i have mail, waited for 40 minutes, no update. there is no options where to change refreshrate etc.

Doesn't work here too. I don't see anywhere to specify my account...?
And also when I open the properties dialog its title is "ERROR", is that normal?

yes, panel properties=error titled window with 1 option.

not don't have to... you CAN'T

Edit: found http://toolbar.google.com/gmail-helper/ and http://torrez.us/archives/2004/05/23/000272.html (also there is an plugin for firefox).

as much as i found out through my firewall, service or smth which checks gmail is through directory.google.com over https. is there some way to control firefox plugin, cuz most of us use (others at least have/should have) firefox and installing a tiny extension is so easy.

If you are already logged in to your Gmail account, it will show....or for me it does.

i'm supposed to like log in (and see i have mail) to see it in the panel?

First - let me say that I wasn't expecting so many people to start trying to use this...

Second - I was probably a bit lax in providing some of the details around its use and for that I apologize.

To that end - the panel runs on top of a modified (by me) version of the Johnvey.Gmail API. I have tried to get in contact with him to see if I can incorporate some of my code into his main build, but haven't heard back from him. Specifically, Gmail recently started requiring users to login, then type in the word represented in a picture as a second form of authentication. Obviously this is difficult to do behind the scenes, which is why they did it!. Instead, I rely upon the cookies that get set when you log in to gmail and select the "remember me for 2 weeks" option. That, or if you have your browser window opened to gmail it will work as well. Generally, I prefer to just set my "remember me" option and it works just fine as there is no need for the browser to be open.

As for seeing "error" - I thought I took that out. My bad.

As I said, in my first post - this is early in development. I had a choice - continue adding to it and hope that people would use it or let out into the wild now and get feedback early on. Hopefully you all agree with my decision. I think it will make it better in the end.

I am looking to add configuration for the refresh value which, right now, is set to 10 seconds.

Finally, I have gotten a few direct emails from people who have had trouble with the download. Seems that in some circumstances IE suggests naming the downloaded file with a .htm extension instead of .dspackage. When you download, just make sure that you save it with a .dspackage extension and you should be able to double-click install (assuming you have the sidebar running).

Keep the feedback coming.

Thanks and sorry for the rough start.

McP

I just want to make sure I understand how I get the panel to work properly. Please correct any mistakes here:

1) Go to the gmail login page (I am using Firefox in case this is a consideration)
2) Add the Gmail panel to DS
3) Login to Gmail, and make sure to click the "remember me fot 2 weeks" option.

From there, the panel should work.

Did I get that correctly?

Thanks for the work on this. You did a great job putting together something like this so quickly...

Coult69

It doesn't really matter when you add the panel - as long as you specify "remember me for 2 weeks" the panel should work for the next two weeks, also if you've added it after logging in or before.

Ok, if that is the case, then something is wrong that I can't figure out. I am logged into my gmail account and a new message is there that I haven't read, but the panel shows 'New Messages (0)'.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Coult69

yeah, this panel is in an early stage, so far you can use firefox's plugin: Mozilla Extensions

i have firefox open most of the time and if i haven't, it takes about 5secs to get response without having to log in or having to check any boxes. keep in mind to have checked automatically log in. also a good way is to set it to open on another tab.

have fun

Hi,
A very minor problem - when hovering the "No new messages" text, a details window shows up with my last message's text.
EDIT: I think it happens only when the panel previously displayed a message in this instance. If DS is closed and reopened, there's another bug : hovering "no new messages" brings up a flashing DW with Note as its title and an empty body. Hope you can repro this.
Now for a suggestion -
I have the GMail panel in a stack, usually collapsed. I would like the panel to display an alert window when new mail arrives, and possibly activate itself. Both are very easy to programmatically accomplish. I can post a sample if you want.

All,

Thanks for the feedback. I've made a few enhancements and improvements. I'm finishing up one bug and I will plan to release it.

GoMa - if you want to provide me the code you are thinking of I'd be happy to look at incorporating it.

Thanks,
McP

GoMa, for some reason, I don't think the code for ActivatePanel is working for me. I have my panel in a stack. Is it supposed to open to that panel if it is in the stack?

Version 1.0.0.1 has been uploaded to both my website as well as the file download forum.

New features include:
+ Allows setting of refresh interval
+ Clicking message count opens browser to Gmail(only works with IE at this point)
+ When new message arrives an alert is displayed
+ Some bugs were fixed so that message counts and such should be more accurate.

Please keep the feedback and suggestions coming.

McP

Having trouble with the new installation - downloaded the file from the Extenstion Exchange and opened it, DS asked me to disable the current panel and restart - Yes+restart DS. Opening the file again added the previous GMail panel (or else you didn't add an option for setting the refresh interval).

I don't think the updated version was uploaded. I just installed it and haven't seen any alert messages yet. McP can you make sure you changed the file to the current version?

~acommonjo

I think you're right.

The updated version is now available from the link in the first post, but it doesn't seem to work for me anymore.

~acommonjo

I can't even get it to check me email for me. The click through to open the GMail site in Internet Explorer works, but I can't see how many emails I have nor and alerts when I recieve any.

~acommonjo

Addition: Anybody else having these errors or is it just me?

Not working for me as well. Maybe Google did something to prevent us from accessing our mailbox?

Also, can the mailbox be opened in the default browser? In .NET it's as simple as System.Diagnostics.Process.Start("http://my.url.com");

Hmm.

I did have a small problem this morning whereas the dspackage didn't have the .install file in it. Not sure how that happened, but that would have caused some people some problems.

That has since been resolved as of around 11 EDT or so today. It is running just fine on my machine.

I believe I pointed out that IE is used when opening to a browser. I will try the trick GoMa suggested. Whereas I am passing iexplore and the url, perhaps just the url works - I'll give that a shot.

As for other issues - I will upload the file again just to make sure the right one is out there.

Sorry for any confusion - I thought it would have gone smoother.

McP

OK - reposted the latest version. Hopefully it will work ok for everyone.

McP

Downloads and Installs just fine, but it doesn't work for me. It doesn't seem to be able to find and/or check my email.

~acommonjo

Doesn't work for me either.

Yes.

~acommonjo

What specific type of error are you experiencing? Are you behind a proxy?

McP

The panel just sits there. It doesn't notice any recieved emails regardless of the refresh rate setting. Since it doesn't notice the emails I recieve no alerts.

No I am not behind a proxy.

Is anyone else experiencing trouble with the new version of this plugin or am I just the special one?

~acommonjo

I have exactly the same issue as acommonjo - no emails, cookie set correctly both in Firefox and in IE. Even the message count doesn't show up (if it's supposed to that is).

i don't think google has changed anything. firefox plug still works fine. maby we could ask some help from him, he isn't using cookies for log in, but autologin by remembering password (optional).

As far as I am concerned I didn't really change the underlying message retrieval code base. I added a skin file to support the alert panel GoMa suggested adding. Is it possible that the skin file is causing problems?

I'm really at a loss as to why it isn't working for you anymore.

McP

I had rebooted by computer this morning and don't have my sidebar set to start automatically.

I only turned my laptop on today so that I could monitor my work inbox - I'm at home sick with what I think is the flu. Anyway, I started up my sidebar and lo and behold, it sat there - didn't indicate there were any problems, showed a new message count of 0, but didn't tell me I had no new messages or that there was a login failure or anything.

So, I went go gmail.google.com - my two weeks had expired. I had to log in. As soon as I logged in, well about 10 seconds after because that is what my refresh is set to, I had my new message showing up in my gmail panel.

So, I'm not saying there isn't anything wrong with the panel, but double check that you still have your two week option set.

McP

I'm 200 percent sure that I do have the cookie. Does it matter if it's a Firefox or IE cookie? I have it in both.
EDIT: Tried removing the panel, removing the cookies, readding the panel, readding the cookies and various combinations of them but still not working.
EDIT2: Maybe it has something to do with me installing the .NET Framework SP1?

It shouldn't. I'm using a windows API call - InternetGetCookie. I don't think it is IE specific.

This is so frustrating - let me look into turning on some tracing or something. Perhaps that will shed some light onto this.

McP

Read my last message edit2?

Ah, interesting.

I have not yet installed SP1 of framework 1.1 because the project that I'm currently working on is nearly complete and there wasn't time to regression test the application against the service pack - so no one has installed it. We were going to evaluate it sometime in November.

I don't have an answer for you, but will look into it from that perspective.

McP

Well, I've not installed .NET Framework SP1, and it works properly.

Any reason why the Gmail panel opens IE, even if IE is not the default system browser?