Xfce Forum

g1ul10

Member

Registered: 2009-06-13

Posts: 3

xfdesktop --menu [again]

With xfce 4.4 I was binding 'xfdesktop -menu' to a key sequence. When those keys were pressed, I had a handy list of applications I can select from, using arrow keys. In version 4.6,  'xfdesktop -menu' pop up a menu which contains a list of commands related to file management (create new folder, create links, etc.) which are of course pretty useless as applications. The list of my preferred application is hidden inside a sub-menu.

Let me ask two questions:

1 - any hope to have soon a solution to this issue, maybe in the form of a new command option like
`xfdesktop -appmenu' which pop-up just the applications menu (which BTW is MUCH more complicated to manage that in version 4.4, but still  usable)

2 - if not, any suggestion of an alternative program , external to xfce but possibly nicely integrated with it, I can use to manage menus instead of xfdektop?

WARNING: the rest of the message express personal opinions about XFCE development decisions. It's not constructive in any way, but I think it's not offensive either. Just express my personal recent frustration with was should have been an upgrade of an excellent desktop system and turn out to be an headache that already made me waste hours in from of my computers. This part of the message does not require any answer.

I would like to express my disappointment for the way in which XFCE developers managed the menu issue: in the past years I spent several hours of my time designing an efficient collection of scripts to start my preferred applications with the right options and settings... this is not rocket science, but I liked the possibility to start a remote ssh session with screen inside an rxvt terminal using only arrow keys... just to see these scripts hidden behind an entry to create a new folder... as if I had the necessity to create folders any second minute... without the possibility of having my scripts FIRST and the silly file and directory operations (that BTW I would NEVER perform from a menu) AFTER.. and don't tell me that I have to renounce to icons in the desktop to recover past behaviour, because if this is the solution, then I would say the new implementation of the menu in xfce is not a feature, it's a bug.

s0ulslack

Member

From: Idaho

Registered: 2005-12-25

Posts: 291

Re: xfdesktop --menu [again]

mmkay, you obviously did a lil searching and didn't like what you found.  you already have the answer, disable desktop icons (surely a leet cat like yerself that doesn't need a context menu doesn't need desktop icons either, right?!) if your unhappy, provide patch(s) with the squabble

g1ul10

Member

Registered: 2009-06-13

Posts: 3

Re: xfdesktop --menu [again]

thanks for the feedback! I would not label my issue as irrelevant. The ability to access DIRECTLY the application menu was important for me, and I think not only for me. I discovered that it exists a way to access it directly using 'xfce4-popup-menu'.. the annoying thing is that this command popup the menu where the [XFCE menu] button is, in the task bar or in the panel. In any case, I think I'll go for this solution... looking forward to see the '-appmenu' option implemented in xfdesktop.

g1ul10

Member

Registered: 2009-06-13

Posts: 3

Re: xfdesktop --menu [again]

This is just to share the solution I've found. As I mentioned, I used the menu displayed by the xfce button in the panel. This can be configured to use any menu (right click on it and select 'Property'). I simply created a new menu starting from the system application menu in /etc/xdg/menus. In this menu I removed all the unnecessary things and I inserted a list of my preferred applications. Then it simply a matter of bind' xfce4-popup-menu' to a key sequence.