Why doesn't my Gnome applet appear in the list? - applet

Question

I'm trying to develop a Gnome applet. I use CentOS 6.5 (Gnome panel 2.30.2).
I've attempted to build a basic applet, copying from:
https://github.com/benpicco/gnome-panel-python-applet-example
https://github.com/nickcharlton/gnome-search-applet
I've done the following:
Create a server file
-rw-r--r--. 1 myself mygroup ... /usr/lib/bonobo/servers/psleApplet.server
Code:
<oaf_info>
<oaf_server iid="OAFIID:PsleApplet_Factory" type="exe" location="/usr/local/bin/psleApplet.py">
<oaf_attribute name="repo_ids" type="stringv">
<item value="IDL:Bonobo/GenericFactory:1.0"/>
<item value="IDL:Bonobo/Unknown:1.0"/>
</oaf_attribute>
<oaf_attribute name="name" type="string" value="foo Factory"/>
<oaf_attribute name="description" type="string" value="bar (factory)"/>
</oaf_server>
<oaf_server iid="OAFIID:PsleApplet" type="factory" location="OAFIID:PsleApplet_Factory">
<oaf_attribute name="repo_ids" type="stringv">
<item value="IDL:GNOME/Vertigo/PanelAppletShell:1.0"/>
<item value="IDL:Bonobo/Controle:1.0"/>
<item value="IDL:Bonobo/Unknown:1.0"/>
</oaf_attribute>
<oaf_attribute name="name" type="string" value="foo"/>
<oaf_attribute name="description" type="string" value="bar"/>
<oaf_attribute name="panel:category" type="string" value="Utility"/>
<oaf_attribute name="panel:icon" type="string" value="gnome-applets.png"/>
</oaf_server>
</oaf_info>
Create a basic Python file
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 myself mygroup ... /usr/local/bin/psleApplet.py
Code:
#!/usr/bin/env python
import sys
import gtk
import pygtk
import gnomeapplet
pygtk.require('2.0')
def applet_factory(applet, iid):
label = gtk.Label('It works!')
applet.add(label)
applet.show_all()
print 'Factory started.'
return True
if _name__ == '__main__':
print "Sarting factory."
gnomeapplet.bonnobo_factory('OAFIID:PsleApplet_Factory', gnomeapplet.Applet.__gtype__,'Sample Applet', '0.1', applet_factory)
Additional information
Here is my output when I run the Python file from the console:
>/usr/local/bin/psleApplet.py
Starting factory.
Note that the 'Factory started' message does not appear.
The referenced icon does exist:
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root ... /usr/share/pixmaps/gnome-applets.png
So everything seems to be fine, but I can't find my applet in the list after a right click on a panel > Add to panel
What did I do wrong?

Answer 1

The issue here is likely the package - it isn't on pypy anymore, and support appears to have been dropped. It's likely much of the the package is littered with broken, legacy code.
Python support for Gnome applets has always been limited - you aren't going to find many posts regarding Python + gnome past 2011. Perhaps a better idea would be to create bindings via ctypes to the panel applet header (panel-applet.h). This would ensure you're getting working bindings (at least for Gnome 2.30.2) and would also give you a better understanding of gnome applets themselves.
EDIT: Bindings do already exist. Take a look at PyGObject.