Advanced Calculator

The Advanced Calculator plugin extends Native Launcher with powerful natural language calculation capabilities beyond basic math expressions.

Overview

Command Prefixes: @calc, @convert, @time, @currency
Priority: 850 (high priority for calculation results)
Enabled: Automatically when calculator plugin is enabled

Features

🕐 Time Calculations

Calculate past and future dates with natural language queries.

Past Times

1 second ago
5 minutes ago
2 hours ago
3 days ago
350 days ago
2 years ago

Output Formats:

• Local time: 2024-10-21 14:30:00
• UTC time: 2024-10-21 18:30:00 UTC
• Unix timestamp: 1729527000

Future Times

in 30 seconds
in 10 minutes
in 2 hours
in 5 days
5 weeks from now
in 1 year

Example:

Query: "1 hour ago"
Results:
  → 2024-10-21 21:30:00 (Local time) • Press Enter to copy
  → 2024-10-21 01:30:00 UTC (UTC time) • Press Enter to copy
  → Unix timestamp: 1729557000 • Press Enter to copy

📏 Unit Conversions

Convert between different units with natural language.

Time Units

Syntax: [value] [from_unit] to [to_unit]

Examples:
  150 days to years       → 0.41 years
  500 minutes to hours    → 8.33 hours
  24 hours to days        → 1.00 day
  365 days to years       → 1.00 year

Supported Units:

• second(s), minute(s), hour(s), day(s), week(s), month(s), year(s)
• Aliases: s, sec, m, min, h, hr, d, w, y

Distance Units

Examples:
  5 km to miles           → 3.1069 miles
  100 feet to meters      → 30.48 meters
  10 miles to km          → 16.0934 km
  50 inches to cm         → 127.00 cm

Supported Units:

• Metric: mm, cm, m, km
• Imperial: inch(es), foot/feet, yard(s), mile(s)
• Aliases: in, ft, yd, mi

Weight Units

Examples:
  100 pounds to kg        → 45.36 kg
  500 grams to ounces     → 17.64 oz
  2 tons to kg            → 1814.37 kg
  5 kg to pounds          → 11.02 lb

Supported Units:

• Metric: mg, g, kg
• Imperial: oz, lb, ton(s)
• Full names: milligram, gram, kilogram, ounce, pound

Temperature

Examples:
  32 fahrenheit to celsius    → 0.00°C
  100 celsius to fahrenheit   → 212.00°F
  273 kelvin to celsius       → -0.15°C
  -40 fahrenheit to celsius   → -40.00°C

Supported Units: celsius, fahrenheit, kelvin (or c, f, k)

💱 Currency Conversions

Convert between major world currencies.

Syntax: [amount] [FROM] to [TO]

Examples:
  100 USD to EUR          → 92.00 EUR
  50 GBP to JPY           → 9,419 JPY
  1000 INR to USD         → 12.03 USD
  25 EUR to CAD           → 36.96 CAD

Supported Currencies:

• 🇺🇸 USD - US Dollar
• 🇪🇺 EUR - Euro
• 🇬🇧 GBP - British Pound
• 🇯🇵 JPY - Japanese Yen
• 🇨🇳 CNY - Chinese Yuan
• 🇮🇳 INR - Indian Rupee
• 🇨🇦 CAD - Canadian Dollar
• 🇦🇺 AUD - Australian Dollar
• 🇨🇭 CHF - Swiss Franc
• 🇰🇷 KRW - South Korean Won

Note: Currently uses static 2024 exchange rates. Live API integration planned for future releases.

🌍 Timezone Information

Get current time in different timezones.

Query: "now in UTC"
Results:
  → Local: 2024-10-21 22:30:00 BST • Press Enter to copy
  → UTC: 2024-10-22 01:30:00 UTC • Press Enter to copy

Future enhancements planned:

• Specific timezone conversions ("5pm EST to PST")
• Multiple timezone display
• DST-aware calculations

Clipboard Integration

One-Press Copy

All time calculation results can be copied to clipboard with a single keypress:

1. Type your query (e.g., "1 hour ago")
2. Navigate to desired result
3. Press Enter to copy
4. Desktop notification confirms copy
5. Paste anywhere with Ctrl+V

Desktop Notifications

When you copy a result, you'll see:

🔔 Copied to Clipboard
   2024-10-21 22:30:00

Requirements

Clipboard functionality requires wl-clipboard package:

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt install wl-clipboard

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S wl-clipboard

# Fedora
sudo dnf install wl-clipboard

Usage Tips

Natural Language

The plugin is forgiving with natural language:

• "5 km to miles" = "5 kilometers to mile" = "5km to mi"
• Plural/singular both work: "1 day" = "1 days"
• Case-insensitive (except currency codes)

Command Prefixes

You can explicitly trigger the plugin:

@calc 150 days to years
@convert 5 km to miles
@time 1 hour ago
@currency 100 USD to EUR

Instant Results

No need for prefixes - just start typing:

• Results appear inline with other search results
• Calculator results scored high for visibility
• Subtitle hints show "Press Enter to copy"

Decimal Values

All conversions support decimal values:

5.5 km to miles
100.50 USD to EUR
0.5 days to hours

Configuration

The advanced calculator is automatically enabled when the calculator plugin is enabled in config.toml:

[plugins]
calculator = true  # Enables both basic and advanced calculator

Common Use Cases

Travel Planning

5 hours from now          → Flight arrival time
10 miles to km            → Distance conversion
100 USD to EUR            → Currency exchange

Cooking & Recipes

350 fahrenheit to celsius → Oven temperature
500 grams to pounds       → Ingredient weight

Fitness Tracking

5 km to miles             → Running distance
150 pounds to kg          → Body weight
3 hours ago               → Workout start time

Project Planning

30 days to weeks          → Project duration
5 hours to minutes        → Time estimation
350 days ago              → Project start date

International Communication

now in UTC                → Current time for global team
100 EUR to USD            → Invoice conversion

Keyboard Shortcuts

Key	Action
Enter	Copy result to clipboard + show notification
Ctrl+C	Copy result to clipboard + show notification
↑ / ↓	Navigate between results
Esc	Close launcher

Troubleshooting

No Results Shown?

1. Check spelling of units
2. Ensure "to" is between units (not "-", ">", etc.)
3. For currency, use 3-letter codes (USD, not Dollar)
4. For time queries, include "ago" or "in"/"from now"

Wrong Results?

1. Currency rates are static (2024) - live rates coming soon
2. Month = 30 days, Year = 365 days (approximate)
3. Temperature conversions use standard formulas
4. Check decimal separator (use dot: 5.5, not comma: 5,5)

Plugin Not Working?

1. Ensure calculator plugin is enabled in config
2. Rebuild: cargo build --release
3. Check logs: RUST_LOG=debug ./native-launcher

Clipboard Not Working?

1. Install wl-clipboard: sudo apt install wl-clipboard
2. Check if wl-copy is in PATH: which wl-copy
3. Test manually: echo "test" | wl-copy && wl-paste

Technical Details

Performance

• Startup impact: <1ms (no initialization overhead)
• Query latency: <1ms for all calculation types
• Memory footprint: ~100KB (currency rates HashMap)
• Clipboard copy: One-shot command execution, no background processes

Implementation

• Time parsing: Regex patterns for natural language
• Unit conversion: Intermediate base unit (seconds, meters, grams)
• Currency: Direct rate multiplication with USD as base
• Scoring: 9500 (primary), 9400 (secondary), 9300 (tertiary)

File Structure

src/plugins/advanced_calc.rs          # Main plugin implementation
tests/advanced_calc_tests.rs          # Comprehensive test suite
docs/ADVANCED_CALCULATOR.md           # Complete documentation
docs/QUICK_REFERENCE_ADVANCED_CALC.md # Quick reference card
examples/clipboard_demo.sh            # Usage demonstration

Future Enhancements

Planned Features

1. Live Currency Rates

   • Integrate with exchangerate-api.com
   • Cache rates with refresh intervals
   • Show last update time

2. Extended Timezone Support

   • Named timezone conversions
   • "5pm EST to PST" queries
   • DST-aware calculations

3. More Unit Types

   • Volume (liters, gallons, cups)
   • Area (square meters, acres)
   • Speed (mph, km/h, knots)
   • Data (bytes, KB, MB, GB, TB)

4. Expression Evaluation

   • Combine with basic calculator
   • Chain conversions
   • Percentage calculations

5. Historical Calculations

   • Days between dates
   • Business days calculator
   • Age calculations

Examples Gallery

Time Calculations

Unit Conversions

Currency Exchange

See Also

• Plugin System - Overview of all plugins
• Keyboard Shortcuts - Complete keyboard reference
• Configuration - Customizing calculator behavior

Need Help?

• Documentation: See docs/ADVANCED_CALCULATOR.md
• Examples: Run examples/advanced_calculator_examples.sh
• Issues: Report on GitHub Issues
• Discussions: Ask on GitHub Discussions

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Last Updated: October 2025
Plugin Version: 0.1.0
Status: Stable