fluxbox: generating menu?

Brunellus · 03-20-2005, 09:12 AM

I'm running ubuntu warty, and have just successfully apt-getted fluxbox. It appears very nicely in my session-type menu in GDM, and it runs very very fast indeed...

The trouble is that, in order to run any programs, I'm having to run them from terminal windows. My initial experience with fluxbox was from using Damnsmall Linux, where a right-click had brought up a fairly comprehensive menu of the various applications..

After googling, I found that

Code:

fluxbox-generate_menu

was the command to use; but when I type this into the terminal, all I get is an error:

Code:

bash: fluxbox-generate_menu: command not found

. I don't know what to do from here.

Any fluxbox gurus want to help me out here?

iZvi · 03-20-2005, 09:32 AM

You can manually add any programs you want to the ~/.fluxbox/menu file . The syntax isn't really difficult. I'm not sure there is automated tool for every distribution.

Brunellus · 03-20-2005, 09:40 AM

~/.fluxbox/menu is totally empty.

I don't know what's going on.

Artanicus · 03-20-2005, 10:23 AM

Heres an example to get you started:

Quote:

[begin] (Indigo Fluxbox)
[exec] (aterm) {aterm}
[exec] (mrxvt) {mrxvt}
[exec] (G Terminal) {gnome-terminal}
[exec] (Run) {fbrun}
[separator]
[exec] (Firefox) {firefox}
[exec] (Thunderbird) {thunderbird}
[exec] (Abiword) {abiword}
[exec] (Rox) {rox}
[separator]
[submenu] (IRC)
[exec] (xchat) {xchat}
[exec] (irssi) {irssiscreen}
[exec] (BitchX) {aterm --geometry 100x50 -e BitchX -N}
[end]
[submenu] (ftp)
[exec] (gftp) {gftp}
[exec] (ncftp) {aterm -e ncftp}
[exec] (ftp) {aterm -e ftp}
[exec] (lftp) {aterm -e lftp}
[end]
[submenu] (Multimedia)
[submenu] (Graphics)
[exec] (gimp) {gimp}
[exec] (xv) {xv}
[exec] (xpaint) {xpaint}
[exec] (xscreensaver-demo) {xscreensaver-demo}
[exec] (xlock) {xlock}
[end]
[submenu] (Audio)
[exec] (xmms) {xmms}
[exec] (aumix) {aumix}
[exec] (AlsaMixer) {aterm -e alsamixer}
[end]
[submenu] (Video)
[exec] (xine) {xine}
[exec] (gmplayer) {gmplayer}
[exec] (RealPlayer) {realplay}

[end]
[end]

[submenu] (Office Utils)
[exec] (xcalc) {xcalc}
[exec] (kcalc) {kcalc}
[exec] (gcalc) {gnome-calculator}
[exec] (abiword) {abiword}
[exec] (xpdf) {xpdf}
[exec] (OpenOffice.org) {soffice}

[end]
[submenu] (Games)
[exec] (Quake) {stop && quake3}
[exec] (Wesnoth) {wesnoth}
[exec] (Freeciv) {freeciv}
[exec] (ET) {stop && et}
[end]
[separator]

[submenu] (fluxbox menu)
[config] (Configure)
[submenu] (System Styles) {Choose a style...}
[stylesdir] (/usr/X11R6/share/fluxbox/styles)
[stylesdir] (/usr/share/commonbox/styles/)
[end]
[submenu] (User Styles) {Choose a style...}
[stylesdir] (~/.fluxbox/styles)
[end]
[workspaces] (Workspace List)
[submenu] (Tools)
[exec] (Window name) {xprop WM_CLASS|cut -d \" -f 2|xmessage -file - -center}
[exec] (Screenshot) {import screenshot.png && qiv -W 50 screenshot.png}
[exec] (Run) {fbrun }
[end]
[submenu] (Other WMs)
[restart] (fvwm) {fvwm}
[restart] (openbox) {openbox}
[restart] (gnome) {gnome-session}
[restart] (windowmaker) {wmaker}
[end]
[exec] (Lock screen) {xlock}
[commanddialog] (Fluxbox Command)
[reconfig] (Reload config)
[restart] (Reload fluxbox)
[separator]
[exit] (Exit)

[end]
[end]

Its heavily modified from the default, but should give you an idea..

Brunellus · 03-20-2005, 09:55 PM

bump/update:

thanks to thoreauputic on #ubuntu, I was able to get things running nicely. The fluxbox package in the warty repositories is *ancient* and did not include the fluxbox-generate_menu script. A more recent .deb ( v. 0.9.12) runs fine.

Now I'm tweaking. I'd like to run some dockapps in the fluxbox slit at startup. I understand that I'd have to edit .xinitrc as shown here to make this happen. Question: will this affect the behaviour of any other desktop environments/window managers I decide to run on this system? That is, will this break GNOME 2.8?

second question: from fluxbox, how does one take a screenshot?

Artanicus · 03-20-2005, 11:06 PM

if you edit .xinitrc, yes. If you edit ~/.fluxbox/startup then no.. (:

Just add your own lines just before exec fluxbox..
Once again, heres an example youre goinf to ignore..

Code:

# own additions
fbsetbg -f /share/images/wallpapers/fluxbox.img
~/fix-mouse
xbindkeys
wmclockmon &
gkrellm -w &
wmxmms -t &
fbpager -w &
wmblob &
wmWeather -s EFJY -metric -W &
wmpiki &
kcheckgmail &
gdeskcal &

# no blank screen
xset s off

One tip for you for the menu.. If you make a menu entry like this:
[exec] (Firefox) {firefox} <~/.fluxbox/icons/ff.xpm>
The last set will determine you an icon for it on the menu.. Only xpm:s tho if you didnt compile imlib2 support in..

Artanicus · 03-20-2005, 11:08 PM

and answer to the second: I had a tool ready at hand in fluxbox menu -> tools -> screencap.. Buts its basicly just the command:
import screenshot.png

amam · 03-26-2005, 03:11 AM

In Synaptic install the package "menus" and then run

Code:

update-menus

and it will automatically add your menu entries. Oh, and don't forget to hit reconfigure or reset after you run update-menus.