Manual: fvwm-menu-desktop

fvwm2-menu-desktop(1)					Fvwm Modules				       fvwm2-menu-desktop(1)

NAME
       fvwm2-menu-desktop - Reads XDG menu files and creates Fvwm menus

SYNOPSIS
       fvwm2-menu-desktop  [  --help|-h	 ]  [ --version ] [ --install-prefix DIR ] [ --desktop NAME ] [ --menu-type NAME ] [
       --theme NAME ] [ --with-titles|-w ] [ --without-titles ] [ --enable-mini-icons ] [ --size|-s NUM ] [  --mini-icon-dir
       DIR ] [ --app-icon NAME ] [ --dir-icon NAME ] [ --title|-t NAME ] [ --insert-in-menu NAME ] [ --get-menus all|desktop
       ]  [ --set-menus menu_paths ] [ --all-menus ] [ --include-items NAME ] [ --regen-cmd CMD ] [ --term-cmd CMD ] [ --dy‐
       namic ] [ --menu-error|-e ] [ --verbose|-v ]

DESCRIPTION
       This is a python script which parses XDG menus definitions to build corresponding fvwm menus. This script depends  on
       python-xdg to run.

OPTIONS
       Main Options

       --help Show the help and exit.

       --version
	      Show the version and exit.

       --get-menus all|desktop
	      Prints  a	 space separated list of full menu paths found on the system.  all will print all menus found on the
	      system except empty ones.	 desktop will print the menu(s) that would be generated by the script.

	      No menu generation is done.

       --desktop NAME
	      Optional parameter to set the NAME of the desktop XDG .menu file(s) to use. This option will override any	 de‐
	      fault  menus set via FvwmForm-XDGMenu-Config and cause the script to find menus in which NAME is a part of the
	      file name.  Possible names are: gnome, kde, xfce, lxde, debian, etc.

	      This option can be used in conjunction with --menu-type to control which .menu file(s) are used.

       --menu-type NAME
	      Optional parameter to set the NAME of the XDG menu type to use. This option will override	 any  default  menus
	      set  via	FvwmForm-XDGMenu-Config and cause the script to find menus in which NAME is a part of the file name.
	      Possible NAME types could be: applications, settings, preferences, etc.

	      When used in conjunction with --desktop, only menus whose file name matches '*destkop*menutype*' are found. If
	      no menus are found, the script exits with an error.

       --all-menus
	      This option will build all menus found on the system. If used in conjunction  with  --desktop  or	 --menu-type
	      this will build all menus matching those settings.

       --install-prefix DIR
	      Optional	parameter  to  override the standard locations for XDG menu definitions. Tells fvwm2-menu-desktop to
	      look in DIR for .menu files instead of the standard locations /etc/xdg/menus (and	 $HOME/.config/menus  if  it
	      exists).

       --with-titles|-w
	      If  this option is set menus are generated with titles. This is the default.  This option can be used to over‐
	      ride the FvwmForm-XDGMenu-Config default setting.

       --without-titles
	      If this option is set menus are generated without titles. The default is to generate with titles.

       --title|-t NAME
	      Option to define the menu title NAME of the top menu used by Fvwm's Menu or Popup commands. Default  is  "XDG‐
	      Menu".

       --include-items NAME
	      This  option  controls if the additional menu items 'Regenerate' and 'Configure' are included in the top level
	      menu. NAME can be one of regenerate, config, both, or none. The default is both.

       --regen-cmd CMD
	      This option sets the fvwm command CMD that is run when the menu item 'Regenerate' is selected. The default  is
	      "PipeRead `fvwm2-menu-desktop`".

       --term-cmd CMD
	      This  option sets the terminal emulator command CMD that is used to to run terminal applications in. CMD needs
	      to end with an execute option, such as xterm's -e option, which will run the command that is appended to	CMD.
	      The default is "xterm -e".

	      Debian specific: Per Debian policy, default changed to "x-terminal-emulator -e"

       --dynamic
	      This  option is to be used with creating dynamic menus using DynamicPopUpAction and DynamicPopDownAction. This
	      adds a 'recreate' to the DestroyMenu command on the top level menu so those actions are not Destroyed when the
	      menu is regenerated.

       --insert-in-menu NAME
	      Option to insert generated menu(s) IN a menu NAME (its top title). This option makes it so the top level	menu
	      is not Destroyed and the items are added to the end.

	      Note  menus regenerated with this option will append the menu items at the end of the existing menu. Each time
	      the menu is regenerated new menu items appear giving a growing menu of duplicate items.  You have to  regener‐
	      ate the whole menu via a function or restart fvwm. See EXAMPLES below for some solutions.

       --set-menus menu_paths
	      Generates	 all  menus listed in a space separated list of full menu paths.  This option overrides any defaults
	      and --desktop|--menu-type settings.

       --menu-error |-t
	      If this option is present and python-xdg is not found, the script will print the error in the generated  menu.
	      Used in the default-config.

       --verbose
	      Enables additional information printouts on STDERR.

       Icons Options

	      By  default,  fvwm2-menu-desktop	builds	menus without mini-icons. To enable mini-icons use the following op‐
	      tions.

	      If ImageMagick is installed on the system, the script will resize and copy the icons to  $FVWM_USERDIR/.icons.
	      This  can	 take  awhile.	You should be prepared to wait the first time you generate the icons. Once the icons
	      have been generated the script should run faster. If it is still to slow using icons, see EXAMPLES for ways to
	      limit how often the menu is generated to speed things up.

       --enable-mini-icons
	      This option enables mini-icons in the menus. If set, 24x24 mini-icons are used. If the  specified	 icon  isn't
	      that  size it will be converted if ImageMagick is installed and saved in $HOME/.fvwm/icons or to the directory
	      specified with --mini-icon-dir option. Otherwise no icon appears in the menu for that entry.  With  most	dis‐
	      tributions, all the menu entries will have mini-icons appropriate to the application.

       --theme NAME
	      Defines  the  used  icon theme. Default is gnome but all others found in /usr/share/icons could be used except
	      the hicolor theme because it's the default fallback theme if no icon is found.

       --size|-s NUM
	      If --enable-mini-icons is used the size of the icons can changed with this parameter. Default is 24.

       --mini-icon-dir DIR
	      When the right size mini-icon isn't available,  fvwm2-menu-desktop  creates  icons  with	the  right  size  in
	      $HOME/.fvwm/icons.   If  you  don't  want	 to use the default directory, $HOME/.fvwm/icons, use this option to
	      specify a different folder.

       --app-icon NAME
	      Sets the default application icon if no others are found. Default is 'gnome-applications'.

       --dir-icon NAME
	      Sets the default directory icon if no others are found. Default is 'gnome-fs-directory'.

USAGE
       fvwm2-menu-desktop outputs XDG .menu files in the syntax of fvwm menus. When fvwm2-menu-desktop is run  with  no	 op‐
       tions,  it  will load defaults from the FvwmForm-XDGMenu-Config file (see below) then search your system for suitable
       menu file(s). To see which menus are available on your system run:

	      fvwm2-menu-desktop --get-menus all

       If no menus are found you may not have any installed on your system. By default menus are stored as *.menu  files  in
       /etc/xdg/menus,	$HOME/.config/menus or the location set in $XDG_MENU_PREFIX. You can use --install-prefix to specify
       another location search for menus.

       Though a combination of command line options and the FvwmForm-XDGMenu-Config settings, fvwm2-menu-desktop can  gener‐
       ate  any combination of the menus found. To get a list of what menu(s) would be generated use the --get-menus desktop
       option. The following will list all menus generated if fvwm2-menu-desktop was run with no options.

	      fvwm2-menu-desktop --get-menus desktop

       fvwm2-menu-desktop determines which menu(s) to generate as follows

	      If no config file is found, all menus will be weighted and the script will generate the best (highest  weight)
	      menu found.

	      If  a  config file is found (and override options are not used) the script will generate all menus selected in
	      FvwmForm-XDGMenu-Config.

	      --desktop, --menu-type, --set-menus and --all-menus will override any menus selected in  FvwmForm-XDGMenu-Con‐
	      fig.

	      --desktop and --menu-type will only include menus whose name matches '*desktop*menutype*'. If used with --all-
	      menus, all matching menus are generated. If used without --all-menus, only the highest weighted menu is gener‐
	      ated.

	      --set-menus generates menus from the list of full path menu file names.

	      --all-menus by itself will generate all menus found.

       By default fvwm2-menu-desktop will generate a menu whose top level name is "XDGMenu". To tell fvwm to read the output
       of fvwm2-menu-desktop to create the menu XDGMenu add the following to your fvwm config file:

	      PipeRead 'fvwm2-menu-desktop'

       Warning:	 Depending  on the options used this command may be slow and fvwm will pause until this command is complete.
       See EXAMPLES below for more details and possible workarounds.

       Once the menu is generated you can open the menu by using the command "Menu XDGMenu". You can also  include  this  in
       the MenuFvwmRoot menu by:

	      AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "XDG Menu" Popup XDGMenu

       fvwm2-menu-desktop  can	be  configured	though both command line options and a FvwmForm GUI to customize the menu(s)
       that get generated.

GUI
       FvwmForm-XDGMenu-Config is a FvwmForm interface that can be used to configure the  defaults  for	 fvwm2-menu-desktop.
       You  can	 access	 this  from  the  "Configure" item in the top level menu that is generated or run the following from
       within FvwmConsole

	      Module FvwmPerl -l fvwm-menu-desktop-config.fpl

       This form can be used to select which menu(s) get generated by default along with setting many (but not all)  of	 the
       available  options.  When you click "Save Settings" the form will write a config file located at $FVWM_USERDIR/.Fvwm‐
       Form-XDGMenu-Config that fvwm2-menu-desktop will parse for defaults when run.

       See the help inside of FvwmForm-XDGMenu-Config for more information.

EXAMPLES
       There are many ways to setup when fvwm runs fvwm2-menu-desktop to generate the menu. One method is to  just  generate
       the menu when fvwm loads and then use the GUI config tool to change any options.	 To do this you only need to add the
       following to the fvwm config file:

	      AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "XDG Menu" Popup XDGMenu
	      PipeRead 'fvwm2-menu-desktop'

       The  menu  is  created once when fvwm loads. Since menu creation can sometimes be slow, this could cause fvwm to take
       longer to load than one wants.

       The menu is only generated when fvwm starts. If software is installed or removed you will have to select the  'Regen‐
       erate' option to rebuild the menu.

       One way to speed things up is to save the menu in a file and only generate the menu when 'Regenerate' is selected. To
       do this use --regen-cmd to call a custom function and write the menu to a file using a command like

	      fvwm2-menu-desktop --regen-cmd XDGRegen > $FVWM_USERDIR/.XDGMenu

       Then add the following to the fvwm config file to define the function XDGRegen. The second to last line will generate
       the menu if the menu file doesn't exist when fvwm starts.

	      DestroyFunc XDGRegen
	      AddToFunc XDGRegen
	      + I PipeRead 'fvwm2-menu-desktop --regen-cmd XDGRegen > \
		  $[FVWM_USERDIR]/.XDGMenu; echo "Nop"'
	      + I Read $[FVWM_USERDIR]/.XDGMenu

	      Test (!f $[FVWM_USERDIR]/.XDGMenu) XDGRegen
	      Read $[FVWM_USERDIR]/.XDGMenu

       Besides	creating  a top level menu, fvwm2-menu-desktop can insert the menu into an existing menu using the --insert-
       in-menu option. For example one could create the menu MenuFvwmRoot and include the XDG items at the end.

	      DestroyMenu MenuFvwmRoot
	      AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "Fvwm" Title
	      + "Item1" Action1
		...
	      + "ItemN" ActionN
	      + "" Nop
	      PipeRead 'fvwm2-menu-desktop --insert-in-menu MenuFvwmRoot'

       In this case the menu items are inserted at the end of the MenuFvwmRoot menu.  If no items are in the menu, this menu
       becomes MenuFvwmRoot. The problem here is, that you have to restart fvwm or rebuild the whole menu to  Regenerate  it
       because menu items cannot be removed.  To do this you could use a function like

	      DestroyFunc XDGRegen
	      AddToFunc XDGRegen
	      + I DestroyMenu MenuFvwmRoot
	      + I AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "Fvwm" Title
	      + I AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "Item1" Action1
		...
	      + I AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "ItemN" ActionN
	      + I AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "" Nop
	      + I PipeRead 'fvwm2-menu-desktop --insert-in-menu MenuFvwmRoot \
			    --regen-cmd XDGRegen'

       Fvwm  can  also create menus dynamically by using DynamicPopUpAction and/or DynamicPopDownAction. These commands when
       used with a Menu will run a Function when the menu is opened. For example one could create the menu XDGMenu  when  it
       is opened using

	      AddToMenu XDGMenu "XDGMenu" Title
	      + DynamicPopUpAction PipeRead 'fvwm2-menu-desktop'

       This  will  create  the	menu  when it is opened. One issue here is it will only create the menu the first time it is
       opened, and you still have to Regenerate the menu to see any changes. To create the menu each time it  is  open	used
       the --dynamic option

	      AddToMenu XDGMenu "XDGMenu" Title
	      + DynamicPopUpAction PipeRead 'fvwm2-menu-desktop \
				   --dynamic --include-items config'
	      + DynamicPopDownAction DestroyMenu recreate XDGMenu

       This  will  now	Destroy	 the  menu when it closed so it can be rebuilt the next time it is opened. The recreate flag
       doesn't completely destroy the menu keeping the DynamicPopUpAction and DynamicPopDownAction actions.   The  --dynamic
       flag includes the recreate option in the generated menus.

       To insert a menu into MenuFvwmRoot and still be dynamic you need to use a function that generates the whole menu. For
       example

	      DestroyFunc GenRootMenu
	      AddToFunc GenRootMenu
	      + I DestroyMenu recreate MenuFvwmRoot
	      + I AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "Fvwm" Title
	      + I AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "Item1" Action1
		...
	      + I AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "ItemN" ActionN
	      + I AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "" Nop
	      + PipeRead `fvwm2-menu-desktop --insert-in-menu MenuFvwmRoot \
			 --include-items config`

	      AddToMenu MenuFvwmRoot "Fvwm" Title
	      + DynamicPopUpAction GenRootMenu
	      + DynamicPopDownAction DestroyMenu recreate MenuFvwmRoot

BUGS
       The  whole  process  of	creating  menus	 from files is slow.  Otherwise report bugs to the fvwm-workers mailing list
       .

AUTHORS
       This script is based on fvwm-xdg-menu.py written by Piotr Zielinski  (http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~pz215/)  who  assigned
       Licence: GPL 2 Date: 03.12.2005.

       The script was reworked to replace the existing fvwm-menu-desktop perl script by the fvwm-workers.

COPYING
       The script is distributed by the same terms as fvwm itself. See GNU General Public License for details.

3rd Berkeley Distribution			   19 October 2022 (2.7.0)			       fvwm2-menu-desktop(1)