Today, we bring you a new report on the Maui Project’s progress.
The stable release scheduled just a few weeks away will be the last progress report listing essential changes. The following blog post will announce the stable release, including only necessary bug fixes to issues and regressions found in this short Beta stage. This cycle introduces new components to the frameworks and paper-cut fixes to the group of applications, shaping a better convergent experience.
What’s new?
Beta APK packages are available for comprehensive testing with this post, so if you feel adventurous, you can install them on your Android device. If you find issues, bugs, or have feature requests, you can open and fill a ticket to the corresponding Invent repository. 
MauiKit 2
MauiKit is a group of frameworks that help to build convergent applications quickly. It has a Core component with a set of convergent-ready UI controls that expand on QQC2 and Kirigami; a group of more feature-rich controls like ‘FileBrowser,’ an I’mageViewer,’ and a ‘TextEditor.’ And back-end tools to help you develop and integrate the application in different platforms and form factors. All of these components are actively in use by the group of default Maui Apps.
Once again, the framework has been clean up, and many bugs have were solved, resulting in better performance and optimizations.
Core
- New Notify component to send native system notifications; with it, you can also set a list of actions right from QML by using NotifyAction. Now it makes use of the KNotification library.
- Flatter and lighter-styled controls with Maui-Style (being used in AppImages and other platforms than Linux)
- CSD (Client-Side Decorations) no longer depends on libappletdeco. Instead, the CSD Window control buttons are MauiKit assets; we will improve this in later iterations at least it won’t break with every new KWindowDeco2 release.
- KConfig is now a private dependency, and other apps linking to MauiKit::Core no longer need to ‘link’ to it.
Controls
- We refactored the Holder control. The Holder control is a message placeholder image or text.
- The convergent ContextualMenu now can also list QQC2 Actions correctly.
- We refactored the SelectionBar control. The container listing the selected files is now a proper Popup.
- New ComboBox control that makes use of the ContextualMenu Popup UI.
- The Dialog control default buttons are more cohesive with the lighter and border-less styles in other UI elements.
- The ToolActions control, which groups together Actions into joined buttons, now has sharped rounded corners.
FileBrowsing
- Now has its image assets for use as a placeholder, for example, in the TagsDialog.
- Fixed Downloader arithmetic expression causing segfaults.
- The PlacesList model was cleanup, removing unneeded methods.
- The FileBrowser control grid view now maps the icon sizes to static and optimized dimensions: 22, 32, 48, 64, or 128.
- The KIO dependency is private, and other apps linking to MauiKit:FileBrowsing no longer need to ‘link’ to it.
- We cleaned up the FileDialog control.
- New keyboard-based shortcut: Now, you can select all files between two items by clicking Shift+Left Click.
TextEditor
- Added a new function to the TextEditor control goToLine(int line)
- Private dependencies cleanup.
- We continue to work on fixing the line numbers.
ImageTools
- Private dependencies cleanup, Qt5::Sql is now a private dependency.
- Fixed the installation of the cities database in Android for GPS location tagging.
Maui Apps
For the upcoming 2.0 stable release, most of the apps are now much faster and stable. Sol, Booth, and Strike are still in the Alpha stage and will not have public releases until 2.1 or 2.2.
Index
https://download.kde.org/unstable/maui/index/2.0.0-beta/index-2.0.0-signed-beta.apk.mirrorlist The file manager has a lighter interface, but it is still as feature-rich as before, with support for previewing files like fonts, compressed archives, PDFs, videos, and music. Also, it supports compression and extraction of file archives, a recent files overview, and powerful selection tools. Oh, and tabs, split views, and embedded terminal. 🙂 This upcoming release has also gained more keyboard shortcuts, making it a viable option for computers.
- We fixed issues with the extraction of compressed archives.
- We moved the View options to the view tool-button menu.
- We fixed some File previewers issues; for example, the Audio Previewer is now more straightforward, and the Fonts previewer showcases the font file weights much more clearly.
- The places sidebar now has a placeholder when there are no bookmark locations.
- The View options groups for sort order now work correctly. Having different auto exclusive groups into a single menu is not well supported by QML yet.
- We have updated the Android Manifest file.
- Cleanup dependencies.
- We use notifications when a file archive extraction is successful; this uses the new MauiKit::Core Notify controls!.
- PathList model refactored.
Index – Places sidebar
Pix
https://download.kde.org/unstable/maui/pix/2.0.0-beta/pix-2.0.0-signed-beta.apk.mirrorlist The image viewer and gallery manager gained some minor UI tweaks, mostly coming all from MauiKit::Core controls.
- Fixed grammar typos in the placeholders.
- Fixed issues when opening external images, not getting focused and visible.
- Fewer clutter actions in the selection bar.
- Cleanup dependencies.
- Updated Android Manifest.
- More uniform label sizes for the Folders view delegates.
Vvave
https://download.kde.org/unstable/maui/vvave/2.0.0-beta/vvave-2.0.0-signed-beta.apk.mirrorlist The music player and collection manager also follow Index changes with a cleaner interface, putting the music playing experience first.
- Slimmer playback bar, for more options, you can enter the focus mode by clicking the spinning disk.
- Add a mini-mode WIP.
- Less clutter in the selection bar.
- Cleanup dependencies.
- Updated Android Manifest.
- The Tags/Playlists view is now the second view.
Nota
https://download.kde.org/unstable/maui/nota/2.0.0-beta/nota-2.0.0-signed-beta.apk.mirrorlist A simple text editor.
- Less clutter in the selection bar actions.
- Cleanup dependencies.
- Updated Android Manifest.
- Add goToLine functionality.
- Use MauiKit new ComboBox controls.
- Gained fixes from MauiKit::TextEditor.
Buho
https://download.kde.org/unstable/maui/buho/2.0.0-beta/buho-2.0.0-signed-beta.apk.mirrorlist Notes taking app.
- Less clutter in the selection bar.
- Cleanup dependencies.
- Updated Android Manifest.
Station
Convergent terminal emulator.
- Cleanup dependencies.
- More optimized space in the shortcuts bar.
- The improved placing of tool buttons.
Shelf
https://download.kde.org/unstable/maui/shelf/2.0.0-beta/shelf-2.0.0-signed-beta.apk.mirrorlist
- Cleanup dependencies
- Updated Android Manifest.
- Bumped version to 2.0.
- Working again on Android!
- Fixed Android status bar coloring.
- Fixed grammar typos in the placeholders.
Communicator
https://download.kde.org/unstable/maui/communicator/2.0.0-beta/communicator-2.0.0-signed-beta.apk.mirrorlist Contacts manager
- Cleanup dependencies
- Updated Android Manifest.
- Bumped version to 2.0.
- Fixed grammar typos in the placeholders.
Clip
Video player
- Cleanup dependencies.
- Bumped version to 2.0.
NX Software Center
AppImage store
- Cleanup dependencies
- One single main page, with a stacks UX
- Uses MauiKit::Core control templates for delegates
Strike
CMake projects IDE
- Cleanup dependencies.
- Initial support for Git version control management.
- Processes manager for configuring, build and deploy.
- CMake server API.
- Slimmer toolbars and cleaner interface.
To follow the Maui Project’s development or say hi, you can join us on Telegram: https://t.me/mauiproject. We are present on Twitter and Mastodon:
Release cycle
| Release date | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | 1.2.1 | 2.1.1 | 2.2.2 |
| May | 1.2.2 | 2.1.2 | 3.0.0 |
| August | 2.0.0 | 2.2.0 | 3.1.0 |
| November | 2.1.0 | 2.2.1 | 3.1.1 |
A quick reminder of the project near future goals:
- Fully utilize CMake. [Done]
- Developers can build apps and the framework with CMake for all targeted platforms.
- More feature-rich applications. [In Progress]
- Pix image editor and GPS location browsing.
- Vvave metadata editor and cloud streaming.
- Index – feature-rich file management.
- Improve data synchronization using NextCloud. [Pending]
- Only Buho and Vvave have initial support.
- For 2.1, We will add support for Pix as well.
- Improve performance. [In progress]
- We have split the MauiKit framework into different components.
- MauiKit::Core controls are faster and more coherent.
- Improve the UI cohesion on all supported platforms. [In Progress]
- Move beta apps to stable. [In Progress]
- Shelf and Clip have been moved to stable, missing the Sol, NX SC, Booth, Strike.