Xfce Forum

elothas

Member

Registered: 2017-04-30

Posts: 5

Switching categories in Whisker Menu by using keyboard tab key.

Greetings all.

I've been using Linux Mint for a few years. I recently installed version 18.3.

Problem is, tab doesn't work when I want to switch from one category to another in Whisker Menu. I looked in all settings and haven't found anything for this.My keyboard is fine.When I had version 17.3 installed in my laptop, I was able to tab from one category to another without any problems.I want to be clear about categories: Favorites, Recently Used, All,Accessories,Chromium Apps ,Games,Graphics,Internet,Multimedia............etc.

Nick E.H.

alcornoqui

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 832

Re: Switching categories in Whisker Menu by using keyboard tab key.

What version of Whisker Menu? Tab works for me with:

$ xfce4-popup-whiskermenu -V
xfce4-popup-whiskermenu 1.5.1
Copyright (C) 2013 Graeme Gott

Jerry3904

Member

Registered: 2013-11-09

Posts: 863

Re: Switching categories in Whisker Menu by using keyboard tab key.

And it sort of works here on the version after that (need Tab then Return)

$ apt policy xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin 
xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin:
  Installed: 1.7.5-0.1~mx17+1

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MountainDewManiac

Member

From: Where Mr. Bankruptcy is Prez

Registered: 2013-03-24

Posts: 1,115

Re: Switching categories in Whisker Menu by using keyboard tab key.

There was some talk in one of the reports filed at Bugzilla about someone wanting to be able to use the right- and left-arrow keys to move from one category to another, if I remember correctly. And - again, IIRC - there might have been a patch posted. It is probably unlikely even if I am remembering correctly, because it was an old post - but have you tried those two keys to see if the navigation has been changed to use them, possibly by one of the Mint developers?

I am only suggesting the possibility because it strikes me that this change would allow one to move completely around in the Whisper menu with only one hand.

I just found the report that I was thinking above. In it, the developer stated:

The tabbing between widgets is actually part of GTK, and a universal way of navigating between all toolkits. I will not add code to try and disable parts of it, sorry.

...which causes me to think that he is not responsible for any change that disabled your ability to use the Tab key for category navigation. But it does suggest that the issue might be in a change to GTK versions between Mint 17.3 and 18.3. However, I do not know if any such change occurred and, if so, if such a change actually IS responsible for your issue (but it might give you something to look at).

EDIT: Apologies, I forgot to include a link to the report I referenced. Here:
https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=11550

Regards,
MDM

Last edited by MountainDewManiac (2018-04-05 23:00:32)

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Laurentius

Member

Registered: 2016-09-04

Posts: 58

Re: Switching categories in Whisker Menu by using keyboard tab key.

Hello elothas.

Does the issue affect only Tab key or general keyboard (arrow) navigation on whisker menu?
What theme are you using?

I ask that because once, after the new keyboard navigation feature was announced in linuxmint, i found that i coudn't use it on my upgraded linuxmint-xfce system. But the problem was not whisker menu but the default Mint-x theme. It "looks" like  it does not work, but it works. (i checked again before posting and this remains true)

If you haven't yet, try a better theme (for the Xfce DE) like Clearlooks (this one, old styled but fully functional on xfce, is installed by default in linuxmint xfce), or Greybird and check.

Last edited by Laurentius (2018-04-07 06:10:42)

elothas

Member

Registered: 2017-04-30

Posts: 5

Re: Switching categories in Whisker Menu by using keyboard tab key.

alcornoqui.
I'm using this version:
$ xfce4-popup-whiskermenu -V
xfce4-popup-whiskermenu 1.7.3
Copyright (C) 2013 Graeme Gott .

Laurentius.
The issue affects only the TAB key. Up and down arrows work fine.I was using Mint-X theme.I did try different themes and the TAB key actually worked! It worked in clearlooks and other themes. I personally like the Mint-X theme.If I'm going to use the TAB key to switch from one category to another , will have to switch to another theme where the TAB key works.My choice for that is the Redmond theme.

Thank u everyone for your time.Be well.

Nick E.H.