Overview I am really frustrated by the lacking quality of the calculator, that by default comes pre-installed with Plasma via Plasma-Addons. I know there are two more different Calculator Apps in the KDE Sweet. However they are mostly in separate packages on most Linux Distros so I am assuming this is the default. So in this bug report, I am treating it as the default calculator utility of a modern desktop environment. I am suspecting many of the issues I am raising are expected behavior, as most of it I could reproduce on a 20 odd year old calculator I had laying around. And while I applaud the developers that perfectly captured the quirky hardware limitations of these devices, that basically needed to run on coin cell batteries forever, I am going to use modern operating system standards as a reference for "expected behavior". ISSUE 1: Zeroes don't get displayed after a floating point 1. Open the Calculator 2. Type "0.000..." OBSERVED RESULT Calculator displays 0 EXPECTED RESULT Calculator displays as many zeroes as I've typed. ISSUE 2: Factors disappear when you type a formula. 1. open Calculator 2. type 1 + 2 OBSERVED BEHAVIOR: The Calculator displays "2". EXPECTED BEHAVIOR: The Calculator displays "1+2" ISSUE 3: Information about previous calculations are not being displayed 1. open Calculator 2. Type 1+2 3. Press = 4. Type + 3 OBSERVED BEHAVIOR: The calculator displays a 3 EXPECTED BEHAVIOR: The calculator still shows the result of the previous calculation or - even better - a history of previous calculations and their results. ISSUE 4: the input field has highly unexpected behavior in the context of a modern operating system: - there is no Cursor - you can't select text - pressing backspace does not delete the last digit you typed - there is no history, you cannot fix a typo by pressing Ctr+Z - pressing "Delete" deletes the entire formula ISSUE 5: You can't copy a result. Issue 6: There are no Brackets -> I don't think I would expect a scientific mode, but I will say I'd be pleased to have one. More miscellaneous visual things that bother me: - there is no visual difference between a result and a factor - Some Keys have underlines that serve no purpose I can think of SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS Linux-Kernel: 5.15.84 KDE Plasma Version: 5.26.4 KDE Frameworks Version: 5.101.0 Qt Version: 5.15.7 ADDITIONAL INFO: I know these are all separate issues, but I thought it would be nicer to collect them in one place, as they basically all resolve around the question if this is meant to be a utility of a novelty. I think as a utility, it is in an unacceptable state and as a novelty it has no business shipping with KDE Plasma.
This calculator is a very simple widget intended for very simple calculations, like the one on your phone. If you want a more precise scientific style calculator, you're looking for KCalc, which is a standalone app. It has the features you're looking for.
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #1) > like the one on your phone. I've tried to replicate all my above mentioned issues on the current iOS and Android default Calculator Apps. I was not able to. > If you want a more precise scientific style calculator, you're looking for > KCalc, which is a standalone app. It has the features you're looking for. There is a better App you can probably find somewhere is IMO not a valid reason for providing a bad default, especially when that default is the only app that is being compiled into KDE plasma.
The Plasma Calculator widget isn't an app, it's a widget. And it's not "the default calculator"; there is no "default calculator". There is however a calculator that's shipped by default in your distro, and usually that's KCalc, which is an app. This calculator widget is not "compiled into Plasma" either; it's a widget that's included in the kdeplasma-addons repo, which is an optional thing, not a core component. If you don't like it, you don't have to use it. :) That said, I admit I never use this widget due to its limited nature, and upon actually trying it out again, your issues seem valid and its behaviors are a bit odd. However this bug reports multiple distinct issues, which will make it not actionable. See https://community.kde.org/Get_Involved/Issue_Reporting#Multiple_issues_in_a_single_Bugzilla_ticket for more explanation. Can you ask you to open a new bug report for each specific issue? Thanks!
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #3) > This calculator widget is not "compiled into Plasma" Okay, It seems to me like you would have to modify the cmake to exclude all or specific widgets. Also: if your distro does not include an additional calculator, this widget is pretty much presented to the user as the "plasma default". At least this is my train of thought regarding this. > Can you ask you to open a new bug report for each specific issue? Thanks! Will do, I was just expecting this meta discussion about what we consider "expected behavior" so I thought it would be less disruptive to first have it in one place. https://develop.kde.org/docs/extend/plasma/widget/ I might even try to use this resource to fix some of it myself.
> Okay, It seems to me like you would have to modify the cmake to exclude all > or specific widgets. the Calculator widget lives in the kdeplasma-addons repo, which you can not install. But yeah, if you do so, you'll be missing other things too. So there's no way to just omit the Calculator widget. > Also: if your distro does not include an additional calculator, this widget > is pretty much presented to the user as the "plasma default". At least this > is my train of thought regarding this. IMO that's a distro bug; they should always pre-install a real calculator app. But, I think I'm beginning to see the issue. If you search for "Calculator", you'll get a result for: Calculator Calculate simple sums Which is actually going to open the Calculator widget in a window, rather than as a widget. So from the user's perspective, this is a calculator app. This search result is provided by the "Windowed Widgets" KRunner runner. Perhaps the problem here is that the calculator is permitted to appear as a windowed widget in the first place. Because this can indeed trick the user into thinking it's their calculator app. And when there is a real calculator app installed, the user will get two calculator search results. That's kinda weird. Removing `"X-Plasma-StandAloneApp": true` from its JSON file would fix this, and then if you search for "Calculator" when you don't have a calculator app installed, the more prominent search results you see will include entries prompting you to install one. > https://develop.kde.org/docs/extend/plasma/widget/ > I might even try to use this resource to fix some of it myself. Sounds great!
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #5) > Perhaps the problem here is that the calculator is permitted to appear as a > windowed widget in the first place. No, I think this is great. A calculator should just like a file explorer or a screen configuration tool be considered to be part of a desktop. > And when there is a real calculator > app installed, the user will get two calculator search results. That's kinda > weird. ... but I also see this point
Created Tickets #464151 #464152 #464153 #464154 #464155 #464156
Dear Bug Submitter, This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least 15 days. Please provide the requested information as soon as possible and set the bug status as REPORTED. Due to regular bug tracker maintenance, if the bug is still in NEEDSINFO status with no change in 30 days the bug will be closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME due to lack of needed information. For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the wiki located here: https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging If you have already provided the requested information, please mark the bug as REPORTED so that the KDE team knows that the bug is ready to be confirmed. Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!
This bug has been in NEEDSINFO status with no change for at least 30 days. The bug is now closed as RESOLVED > WORKSFORME due to lack of needed information. For more information about our bug triaging procedures please read the wiki located here: https://community.kde.org/Guidelines_and_HOWTOs/Bug_triaging Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!