Xfce Forum

M_Mynaardt

Member

From: Victoria, BC, Canada

Registered: 2010-12-12

Posts: 30

Panel Launcher Problem

Hi!

I just did an install of Linux Mint [Debian] Xfce.  And I panicked; I somehow thought that Xfce on this install was hooped.  After ONLY two installs did I realize that Xfce has changed; and more than a little.  So I'm a bit slow on the uptake at times.

But anyway...

What I like doing in Xfce is having groups of launchers in a panel.  What I had been doing was making one blank launcher that was just an icon and did nothing except have a category name (like "Internet") and an appropriate icon (like a globe for Internet apps).  And lined up below that would be the actually launchers that did STUFF.

With the changes to Xfce, I cannot seem to create a blank Icon that does nothing (except serve as a category marker for other launchers).  Is there some way to save an app launcher that just has an icon and doesn't actually DO anything?

Definitely, it's much easier to select icons and launcher commands that it was before when you had to select each command and icon separately.  That change I like.  But I would just like to also be able to create "heading" (dummy) launcher icons as a sort of drop down scheme for categories of apps.

Thanks for anything anyone can tell me!

---

~*~  M_Mynaardt  ~*~

Xfce is a computer's friend
Always trust an OS using Xfce

Ailurus

Member

Registered: 2011-05-19

Posts: 42

Re: Panel Launcher Problem

Hi,

Interesting question! My first thought was that there could exist a plugin for the xfce panel to accomplish this, but I couldn't find it. Second thought, creating an empty launcher. So just add a launcher, go to its properties and choose a random application, and choose your icon. In this GUI it is not possible to set the command to empty, however you can do this in another way.
After you've created your launcher (with the right icon, but still with a command), go to /home/your_user/.config/xfce4/panel/ and look for the directory launcher-x, where x is the highest numer there. Inside this directory is a .desktop file which you can edit with your favourite editor. It looks something like this (I chose "about XFCE" as application):

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Exec=
Icon=/home/pieter/Pictures/Icons/Something.png
StartupNotify=false
Terminal=false
Categories=Utility;X-XFCE;X-Xfce-Toplevel;
OnlyShowIn=XFCE;
Name=About Xfce
Comment=Information about the Xfce Desktop Environment
X-XFCE-Source=file:///usr/share/applications/xfce4-about.desktop
Path=

So leave the Exec part clear. You can change the Name and Comment part, unwanted lines can be deleted if they bug you. This should result in a clickable icon on your panel which doesn't do anything. Finally, I can imagine you don't want this icon to be clickable, unfortunately I've no clue how to fix that...

Last edited by Ailurus (2011-06-12 08:13:17)