howto modify xfce start/menu program list

[Samlion]

Hello,

I had installed Mint Nadia XFCE on my Dell Inspiron Mini 10 and at this time, all seems to work well.

I want to add new programs to the menu list that opens when we use the start button. I don't find what program and how to do the job (where I can find the program) ?

Thanks in advance

R.G. (Samlion)

[nomko]

Yes, there's a program called Alacarte in which you can modify your Xfce menu.

[aac74]

install alacarte (aka 'main menu') from software manager.

Then right click the xfce menu > properties
under 'menu file' click: 'use default menu' then click the 'edit menu' button to open alacarte
can create new menus and launcher items, drag and drop menus and launchers around (including creating menu hierarchies) and turn menus and launchers on and off or delete them.

[Samlion]

Thanks for your answer but "alacarte" doesn't seem to be the solution. After I have installed it, I tried the program and the buttons to the right of the screen despite the fact that they react when I use them, they had no effect. If I try to add an element, the button change to green and nothing else appear.

I'm on Mint Nadia XFCE and I had applied all updates for the system. If you have an another solution, I will be happy to read your post !

R.G. (Samlion)

[aac74]

are you sure you have selected the 'default menu' in the xfce menu properties ?

And restarted the system before editing with alacarte ?

[Samlion]

Hi aac74,

yes, as you see on the screen images that follow, I have selected the default menu and in the second screen nothing happenned when we select the add element button.

In this screen, the default menu is selected and the edit menu button is available.

screen1.png (43.29 KiB) Viewed 2270 times

In this screen the add element is selected and stay selected but nothing else append ! It's the same situation with the add menu button and the property button !

Screen2.png (106.38 KiB) Viewed 2270 times

If you have an idea of what I could do, I'll appreciate.

(excuse me for the french aspect of the images but my system is configured in french)

R.G. (samlion)

[Samlion]

adding infos !

I have tried to execute "alacarte" in a terminal screen; the first screen of the program appears and when selected the add element button, it's the same problem but an error message appear in the terminal window. Here is an image of the terminal screen:

the error message indicates that there is no file or the directory as requested in line 1259 of the subprocess.py file.

Screen3.png (62.75 KiB) Viewed 2268 times

r.g. (samlion)

[aac74]

Looks like you need to add the gnome-panel package
http://askubuntu.com/questions/160462/w ... o-the-menu

however I think this bug has been fixed in the latest version of alacarte ?
make sure you have the recommended updates repo turned on in software sources and run update manager to get the latest version 3.5.5-0ubuntu1.1 of alacarte that doesn't have the above dependency.

[lkraemer]

Christopher has written Menu Props and it seems to work well. I've used it on Slackware 14 - XFCE

I've also tried Alacarte on LMDE 201204 but that didn't seem to work too well.

Check out his XFCE Menu Editor at:
http://welbornproductions.net/projects/menuprops

NOTE: Christopher is quick to support his Software, in case you have suggestions or modification requests.

Thanks.

Larry

[ukbrian]

Thanks for the link and I'd love to try this out but I get this error using Debian stable and Xfce

Code: Select all

user@salineos:~/menuprops3.0.1$ ./menuprops
(Menu Props): Loading main script locally...
RuntimeError: Bad magic number in .pyc file
user@salineos:~/menuprops3.0.1$

Is email the only way to communicate with the dev?

[lkraemer]

ukbrian,
That is the way I communicated with Christopher. He was quick to respond.

Here is the Install Info from his document:

To run Menu Props without installing (run in current directory):
In a terminal, run the python script by itself by typing:
python menuprops.pyc

To install Menu Props (including application-menu item):
In a terminal, type:
sudo ./install

... this will copy Menu Prop's program files to the proper directories,
and install a shortcut in the applications menu.

To uninstall Menu Props (removes everything that 'install' created):
In a terminal, type:
sudo ./uninstall


Warning: 'install' and 'uninstall' must be ran with root privileges, or the installation
or uninstallation will not work.
If you do not wish to install Menu Props, you can always run it from the current
directory using 'python menuprops.pyc'. Menu Props also requires root privileges,
because it needs to access /usr/share/applications/ and other application-menu
related directories, that are often protected by default.


If install/uninstall doesn't run, it may be because they need to be made 'executable'.
To fix this in a terminal, type:
sudo chmod a+x install
sudo chmod a+x uninstall

If /usr/share/menuprops/menuprops does not run, it may be because it needs to be made 'executable'.
To fix this in a terminal, type:
sudo chmod a+x /usr/share/menuprops/menuprops

I tested Version 2.5.3 and I've now got Version 3.0 installed on Slackware 14. I know Christopher is running Debian 6.x "Squeeze".

Thanks.
Larry

[ukbrian]

@lkraemer
Thank you for you're response
I'll have to email him but I'm a bit busy at the moment

I use custom menus in Xfce that are stored on a data partition and wondered if menu-props allowed you to point at the menu you wanted to edit.

[ander111]

Guys, alacarte isn't compatible with XFCE's menu.

The good news is, I've found an app that is compatible, and it works great—see my post about it here.