I wrote an applet that makes an API call every 10 minutes, but I want it to show a message if the computer is offline. This means I need to get the network status within QML. I thought a DataEngine might be available, but there isn't.

I read the code for plasma-nm and found this solution hack:

import org.kde.plasma.networkmanagement 0.2 as PlasmaNM
PlasmaNM.NetworkStatus {
    id: networkStatus
}
PlasmaComponents3.Label {
    visible: networkStatus.networkStatus != "Connected"
    text: i18n("Network disconnected")
}

But I think comparing strings is a terrible way because I don't know what will happen in other locales.

Is there a better way?

Link to my code

I started this project a few weeks ago for my transition from Firefox to Falkon, and I've been using it ever since. It's a daemon running on a local port for all web browsers to access. It now provides two features: Top Sites, inspired by Firefox's new tab, and a search bar with customizable engines, inspired by DDG's bangs (but it's a slash instead of a bang, to save you a shift press).

Check out the source code (0BSD): utab

utab is almost definitely not what you exactly wanted, given its intentionally limited config options and features, but given the power of free software anyone can build upon it themselves.

Also, it is 100% JavaScript-free.