Need help on creating custom mouse menus in KDE 3.x

nikwasi · 12-23-2009, 12:32 AM

Running KDE 3.x on RHEL 4

I would like to create a custom mouse menu that can incorporate existing items that are in the desktop menu. I would like the menu to have submenus and dividers as well.

One can select custom menus for mouse buttons by right clicking on desktop->Configure Desktop->Behavior-->Mouse Button Actions. A few things that are frustrating me are:

1)You can only edit the custom menus. Where are the Desktop Menu files located? Can they be edited to users specifications?

2)You can not edit an item in the menu after it is created? The only option I have found is to remove the item and create a new one?

3)I found the location for kdesktop_custom_menu1 in:~/.kde/share/config/
Example contents of the file are:

Item1=/someplace/run_app.sh
Item2=AnotherApp
NrOfItems=2

How do I add a submenu or a divider to the menu?

Any help with this would be appreciated.

- nikwasi

tredegar · 12-23-2009, 04:20 AM

Have you seen this link: http://developer.kde.org/documentati...vicemenus.html ?

nikwasi · 12-24-2009, 05:07 AM

Thanks tradegar, I have seen this documentation before. Do these service menus effect desktop menus or just the konqueror application? I am trying to locate the menu config files for creating the default desktop menus in KDE?

nikwasi · 12-29-2009, 11:46 AM

I found this thread that describes similar issue as I am having. Unfortunately there appears to be no resolution to the issue.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...p-menu-220792/

tredegar · 12-29-2009, 12:00 PM

I don't know where the desktop R-click menu configuration file is kept (KDE3)

I did do a

Code:

grep  -r  "Configure Desktop"  /home/tredegar/  2>/dev/null

and it returned nothing useful (after a long time). So the file is not under my home directory.

If you have the patience, you could perhaps try

Code:

grep -r "Configure Desktop" / > logfile

I chose "Configure Desktop" as that is possibly unique to that menu, but maybe "Refresh Desktop" would be a better term.

nikwasi · 12-29-2009, 12:05 PM

I am looking for KDE menu configuration files that look similar to code displayed below. This code comes from a .pmwmrc file. Is this possible with KDE?

Code:

 Menu ClientMenu
   {
       "Client Menu"   f.title
       "xclock"        f.exec "xclock"
       "xload"         f.exec "xload"
       "xcalc"         f.exec "xcalc"
       "xbiff"         f.exec "xbiff"
       "xmag"          f.exec "xmag"
       "xeyes"         f.exec "xeyes"
       no-label        f.separator
       "scoterm"       f.exec "scoterm"
       "xterm"         f.exec "xterm"
   }

tredegar · 12-29-2009, 12:11 PM

Quote:

I am looking for KDE menu configuration files that look similar to code displayed below. This code comes from a .pmwmrc file. Is this possible with KDE?

The menu you get with a R-click on the KDE3 desktop has nothing to do with the menu you get from L-clicking on the "K" on your Panel.

Please re-read my post at #5.

If this is a different question, please start a new thread for it.

nikwasi · 12-29-2009, 01:30 PM

Most definitely concerned about mouse buttons not the K menu button. I had a middle menu button configured using .dt/ profile in the past. The system I was working from had a mix of unix and linix setup in the profile. One was able to configure the CDE enviroment to provide such enhancements.

Here is an example of the middle mouse button I had in the .dt/ directory:

Code:

Menu dtMiddleMenu
{
    "EDM"		f.exec "/usr/bin/X11/xterm -bg  Burlywood -fg black -cr Grey98 -bd black -title EDM -e /a/opsuser/southern/SETEDM"

#    "xterm(blue)"	f.exec "/usr/bin/X11/xterm -bg midnightblue -fg white -cr Aliceblue -ms deeppink -bd black  -bw 10"
#    "xterm(pink)"	f.exec "/usr/bin/X11/xterm -bg  Mediumvioletred -fg white -cr SlateBlue2 -ms Gray94 -bd Grey94 -fs small"

no-label                    f.separator

    "dtterm"		f.exec "/usr/dt/bin/dtterm -bg '#A52A2A' -fg white -cr Gray66 -ms DarkSlateGray4 -bd Gray37 -geometry 110x50+0+0"
    "xterm"	     	f.exec "/usr/bin/X11/xterm -bg black -fg white -cr Gray66 -ms DarkSlateGray4 -bd Gray37 -geometry 110x50+0+0"
    
#    "Staff"		f.exec "/usr/bin/X11/xterm -bg MediumSlateBlue -fg LightSteelBlue2 -cr GhostWhite  -sb -sl 1000 -title staff -e /usr/opsuser/southern/scripts/staff.sh&"
#    "Pager"		f.exec "/usr/bin/X11/xterm -bg MediumSlateBlue -fg LightSteelBlue2 -cr GhostWhite  -sb -sl 1000 -title Page Me -e /usr/opsuser/southern/scripts/qpage.sh&"

     "Guard"		f.exec "/a/opsuser/southern/TCL/GUARD.tcl elog \"test\""

no-label                    f.separator

    "Striptool"		f.exec "/cs/op/bin/StripTool_CA.script"
    "Archiver"		f.exec "/cs/op/bin/XArr_czar"

no-label                    f.separator

    "Metaframe"         f.exec "metaframe"
    "Ops_Southern"	f.exec "rdesktop -g 1152x864 -a 16  opssouthern"

no-label                    f.separator

#    "sound"		f.exec "/opt/audio/bin/send_sound /a/opsuser/southern/Stuff/sw-intro.wav" 

"Restart Workspace" 	f.restart

}

There is no unix environment CDE in the RHEL I am currently using so I was looking for a way to build a custom menu like the one above for KDE.

tredegar · 12-29-2009, 02:43 PM

Quote:

I had a middle menu button configured using .dt/ profile in the past. The system I was working from had a mix of unix and linix setup in the profile.... One was able to configure the CDE enviroment to provide such enhancements.

This thread has lost its focus.

From your first post I thought you were referring to RHEL Linux and KDE3. Now you are referring to "a mix of unix and linix" and CDE.

You have completely lost me.

Perhaps it is time to start a new thread, with an appropriate title, the complete details of your exact OS ("unix" - which "unix"? "linix" - which "linux" [and I suppose you mean "linux", not "linix"]) and your desktop (KDE, CDE, whatever, but please say), and the question(s) you wish to be answered.

Good luck.

nikwasi · 12-30-2009, 02:38 PM

Sorry, if I have caused confusion on this subject.

I am looking for documentation on how to edit the Right Mouse Button (RMB) menu in the KDE 3.x environment. The only tools I have been able to find are the option provided on the "kcontrol" gui->Desktop->Behavior tab. This can also be accessed by right clicking on background->Configure Desktop->Behavior. At the bottom of the gui are options for setting mouse button actions. The pull down menus here have options for several built in menus and two custom menus.
1) Where are these built in menus defined? Can they be edited to users specifications?
2) The custom menus create files located in

Code:

~/.kde/share/config/kdesktop_custom_menu1

The contents of this file can be:

Code:

Item2=mozilla-firefox
Item3=dosomething.pl
NrOfItems=3

How do you edit this to have icon you want, be able to place sub-menus, add horizontal separators?

I was hoping there was a way to create menus similar to what is in post #8. This file is used to create a custom menu in the HP-UX, Solaris CDE environment.

There is some documentation for Kmenu editing. I believe this is the "start menu" located at bottom left of a standard desktop. Konqueror service menus, these are application specific? I simply want info for making custom mouse button menus in KDE.

tredegar · 12-31-2009, 10:41 AM

I've read a bit (a lot) more.

The menu you get from R-clicking the KDE 3 Desktop (The "Desktop Menu" [ Create New... Run Command... Etc]) is not configurable, and the menu structure and entries are not stored in a handy file. The KDE documentation says that this menu is not editable and "The exact content of the menu varies depending on the current status of KDE."

So, basically, this menu is built-in to KDE, and you cannot change it without altering the KDE source code and recompiling KDE.

I have no idea why the KDE3 developers decided this should be the way to do it, but they did.

nikwasi · 01-13-2010, 08:41 AM

Thanks for you help. It disappoints me that this cannot be easily done. I have posted a similar question in the KDE community forum. Unfortunately, it appears to have fallen on deaf ears. I have not tried using KDE4. Does it provide options for doing this? Or Gnome?