[ubuntu-studio-devel] A new utility

[Len Ovens]

Some of you may have had "fun" with libremenu or alacart in the past. Both 
of them are not really usable. Perhaps they try to do too much... But we 
have spent much time helping people fix what they have done with either of 
these two utilities.

Enter ubuntustudio-menu-add. ( available from 
https://launchpad.net/~ubuntustudio-dev/+archive/ubuntu/autobuild ) This 
can be used to add a missing menu item, change a menu item including its 
possition in the menu, or even hide it so it doesn't show on the menu. 
This does not make system wide changes, but only for the user running the 
utility.

>From the top:
There are two drop downs that allow starting from either a system item or 
an item you have allready created. Below that is a tex box where the user 
can type in the name they wish to use for the file. this should be unique. 
If after typing in  the filename and going to the edit screen shows an 
already filled out screen, that file name is already in use. The name of 
the file does not have to be the same as the name of the manu item, but 
likely should be close enough to make sense. There is no need to include 
the extension of the file (*.desktop).

Depending on what state the file named is in, various options will become 
sensitive (available). If the file is a new one, the only option available 
will be edit. Pressing edit will open another dialog whitch will ask what 
name you wish the item to have in the menu, a comment that will show up as 
a tool tip, the command line to execute, an icon chooser, and other ods 
and ends. there are only two values that are required: Name and command, 
but it is nice to fill out the rest as well. If the program is a command 
line program like top or nano, then check the run in terminal box. When 
you have filled in enough, the save button will become sensitive.

By default, the resulting item will be inactive, normally not what is 
desired, check the active checkbox to change that, if this is a system 
item you don't want to appear on the menu (like the gnome software 
application), uncheck the visible box.

By default, a new item will have no categories and may end up in the 
"Other" folder. However, if you have started with a system file, it should 
remain where it is unless you change it. The are two dropdowns where you 
can choose the menu folder and sub menu if that folder has any. It is not 
possible to add new folders or subfolders and the folders shown are 
specific to the ubuntustudio menu configuration though they may still work 
reasonablly well in other situations as well.

in the xfce DE as found in ubuntustudio's ISO, using the "settings" folder 
will make the item appear in the settings applet at the bottom in the 
other section... perhaps that should be the first bug :)

ubuntustudio-menu should probably be upgraded to the new from the PPA as 
there are changes in there that make folders work a bit better, for 
example the audio subfolder "Effects" will not work without it.

Please file bug reports for anything that does not work or anything that 
seems missing or anything that works in an unexpected way. Please let me 
know if you wish to be added to the contributers list if you find bugs 
etc. so I don't leave anyone out. Let me know how you wish to be reconized 
as well (name, or nick or whatever). Feature requests are added with a bug 
report as well.

This is very much a work in progress and should be considered Alpha. All 
file writes are to ~/.config/ (temp file) and ~/.local/share/applications/
   where the desktop files are kept... they are renamed *.inactive until 
they are activated. Removing desktop and inactive files from this 
directory will return a system item to the way it was before this applet 
was run. In fact, loading one of these new items and unchecking active 
will return that item to stock as well.

While I am at it, ubuntustudio-controls has changed a lot since 19.04 was 
released as well, to try out the version that should be coming with 19.10, 
use the PPA above. all of the same things apply... bug reports please.

--
Len Ovens
www.ovenwerks.net