Using gconftool to append applet_id_list!cant find schema

hi,
We are making an panel applet..
Now it should launch itself on the panel at startup

We read
http://www.gnome.org/learn/admin-guide/2.0/ch01s06.html#gconf-14

however as suggested here and on
http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gconf-list/2004-July/msg00032.html

we tried using the gconftool

Now first we use it with -get to get the existing applet_id_list
This gives me 6-7 attributes including [Default value] that has the
list.Then we append the list to add our applet id to the list using

gconftool-2 --direct --config-source
xml:readwrite:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults
--owner=panel --type list --list-type string --set
"/apps/panel/default_profiles/medium/general
/applet_id_list [the appended list here]

the problem is that the original xml file that has the applet id list
first mentions type=schema ,then ltype=list and stype=string.
i.e

- <entry name="applet_id_list" mtime="1108490293" muser="root"
type="schema" list_type="string" stype="list" owner="panel">
- <local_schema locale="C">
- <default type="list" ltype="string">
- <li type="string">
  <stringvalue>tasklist_applet</stringvalue> 
  </li>
- <li type="string">
  <stringvalue>pager_applet</stringvalue> 
  </li>

etc......

But when i used the gconftool to append to the list i get a file like:-

- <entry name="applet_id_list" mtime="1112226175" muser="root"
type="list" ltype="string">
- <li type="string">
  <stringvalue>xxx_applet</stringvalue> 
  </li>
- <li type="string">
  <stringvalue>tasklist_applet</stringvalue> 
  </li>
- <li type="string">
  <stringvalue>pager_applet</stringvalue> 
  </li>
etc...

As u can see the modified file does NOT have type==schema but list etc.
I dunno how to get this.
i should probably give a schema 
so i Tried using --apply-schema with a .schema file that has the
modified complete applet_is_list.
but nothing happened.no change to the file

Even tried to -get-schema-name i.e the schema thats being applied to
the key but it says,there's no schema applied to the file!!
Probably i dunno how to use it properly.
Could someone help me........

Also when i manually modified all the required files.........the
applet runs when i shutdown and restart but NOT when i log out and
re-login.
do i need to handle some signal or what?

sorry for the long mail but i thought maybe it'll make things clearer
for others to answer.
Thanx