Xfce Forum

Skaperen

Member

From: right by Jesus, our Saviour

Registered: 2013-06-15

Posts: 862

Creating a whole new panel

i am thinking about creating a whole new panel that would be present in addition to the Xfce panel and not overlap.  this would normally just be done as an app of my own that i would arrange to be automatically started, right?  would i need to set anything in Xfce, for it?

what i am thinking of is my own permanent menu on the right side, wide enough to tell things apart, and having a button for each currently logged in user and maybe also hosts i can log in to with ssh.

Jerry3904

Member

Registered: 2013-11-09

Posts: 863

Re: Creating a whole new panel

Do you mean this: right-click existing panel > Panel > Panel preferences. At the top, click the "+" sign to add a new panel, then move the new panel that shows and change its properties as you wish. That would start automatically.

I keep a main panel always visible, and a short "intelligently hidden" second panel with items I use frequently. Some of our users add a dock (plank, docky, etc.) instead.

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MX-23 (based on Debian Stable) with our flagship Xfce 4.18.

Skaperen

Member

From: right by Jesus, our Saviour

Registered: 2013-06-15

Posts: 862

Re: Creating a whole new panel

i don't mean that.  it will be a panel that my code dynamically changes as certain conditions change, such as showing which users are logged in at that moment.  think of it more as an app that mimics a panel. adding to this panel would be adding to the code.

Last edited by Skaperen (2019-02-08 09:36:50)

MountainDewManiac

Member

From: Where Mr. Bankruptcy is Prez

Registered: 2013-03-24

Posts: 1,115

Re: Creating a whole new panel

So it will be something more along the lines of what some of those Conky scripts do than an actual desktop environment (window manager?) panel?

Regards,
MDM

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Mountain Dew Maniac

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Skaperen

Member

From: right by Jesus, our Saviour

Registered: 2013-06-15

Posts: 862

Re: Creating a whole new panel

it's something specific that i need, not a general purpose thing.  the first feature it will have is a list of users that are currently logged in, in sorted order with users in a specific config file sorted in the way specified.  if the user is logged in, then their name will appear.  if they are not logged in, their name will not appear.  the user being displayed will be highlighted in the list in some way.  clicking on any other user switches to that user directly.  this and other features i add to this panel will all be in one code base, hopefully written in Python.  so it will all run in just one process unlike how plugins work in the Xfce panel.  but if i learn the plugin interface, and if the interface can be done in Python, i may add that to my panel, allowing any plugin to be placed on it ... just for my own learning experience (i have no specific need to have plugins on a 2nd panel).  and i will also try to write a plugin in Python (for more learning and as an example for others).