jwmrc missing menu labels

Using applications, configuring, problems
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davids45
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jwmrc missing menu labels

#1 Post by davids45 »

G'day,

I'm setting up a few 64-bit Pups and am adding my applications as sfs files, being boot-mounted.

Many of these applications are missing their label entries in the right-click Menus. Icons are there mostly but no text (screenshot for 'Fun' menu has blanks for the ace-of-penguins games which also have a missing menu icon).
The games and other missing-label apps all run as normal if the blank line in the Menu is clicked.
The ace-of-penguins pinboard icons beside the Menu in the screenshot run the game if clicked.

I thought this missing text was due to a fault in /root/.jwmrc which shows no labels for these blank menu entries, just "" as the label text (screenshot).

I tried text-editing this file in /root to add the required text labels but could not get the edits to persist. The respective .desktop files are not affected.

All other applications for the 64-bit Pups seem OK, it's just for my added sfs files.
No 32-bit Pups have this problem for their sfs files of the same packages.

Can anyone advise on a fix or cause of this missing label for sfs application packages as sfs files in .jwmrc or right-click menus of 64-bit Pups?

64-bit is definitely twice as hard as 32-bit :roll: .

Thanks for any clues,

David S.
Attachments
64slacko-menu-blanks.jpg
right-click Menu in Slacko64-630 - missing text in Fun category; other apps in other categories also missing from sfs files
(95.06 KiB) Downloaded 163 times
jwmrc-blanklabels.jpg
note the "" for the ace-of-penguins games labels - otherwise the entries look fine
(210.56 KiB) Downloaded 157 times

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Mike Walsh
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Location: King's Lynn, UK.

#2 Post by Mike Walsh »

Hi, David.

If ya want those edited changes to persisit, you're editing the wrong file. You need to edit /etc/xdg/templates/_root_.jwmrc. This is where changes are written to, and it generates the /root/.jwmrc file every time you re-boot, or run 'fixmenus', etc.

If you're editing /root/.jwmrc directly, I rather think you'll see a warning at the very top of the script NOT to edit that particular file.....but instead to edit the script that generates it.

Give that a try, and see if it works. Oh, BTW; what do your .desktop entries for these look like in /usr/share/applications? What are your 'Categories' set to? I've had several cases in recent months of installing apps, where the app itself functions fine, but has probably been 'converted' from a more mainstream distro's package.....and the Menu system is using categories that are not recognised by JWM.

Hence, no Menu-entry. For example; when I was making up the Cinelerra 5.0 packages a while back, the 'Categories' was set to 'X-Multimedia-sub'. Now Pup doesn't recognise that last bit, '-sub', so it didn't show. So I changed it to 'AudioVideo'.....and everything behaved itself.

Little things like that!


Mike. :wink:

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bigpup
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#3 Post by bigpup »

Do the SFS's have a

Code: Select all

/usr/share/applications/
directory in them?
With a .desktop file for the program.
Does the .desktop file look something like this for data in it.

Example:
from Kodi.sfs
kodi.desktop

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Kodi
GenericName=Media Center
Comment=Manage and view your media
Exec=kodi
Icon=/usr/share/icons/hicolor/128x128/apps/kodi.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=AudioVideo;

Actions=Fullscreen;Standalone;

[Desktop Action Fullscreen]
Name=Open in fullscreen
Exec=kodi -fs

[Desktop Action Standalone]
Name=Open in standalone mode
Exec=kodi --standalone
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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Mike Walsh
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Location: King's Lynn, UK.

#4 Post by Mike Walsh »

That's not a terribly Puppy-specific example, actually, bigpup....

It contains a lot of Gnome- and Debian/Ubuntu-type extra 'stuff'. Entries which, in Puppy, don't mean anything.

I like to think of a more Puppy-specific .desktop file as being something like this:-

Code: Select all

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=FF-Quantum
Comment=Firefox Quantum browser
Exec=/root/my-applications/bin/FF-Quantum
Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/ff-quantum.png
Type=Application
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=true
Categories=X-Internet-browser
From my FF-Quantum MenuEntry .pet. It only has the basics necessary for the application to work....

Just an example, you understand.....though I do agree with the need for the .desktop entry to actually exist in /usr/share/applications in the first place.


Mike. :wink:

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bigpup
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Location: S.C. USA

#5 Post by bigpup »

I saw that as soon as I posted it.
It is a lot more than a basic Puppy .desktop file.
But nothing was stated about what were the SFS packages.

I did say something like this :roll: :lol: :lol: :lol:
The things they do not tell you, are usually the clue to solving the problem.
When I was a kid I wanted to be older.... This is not what I expected :shock:
YaPI(any iso installer)

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perdido
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#6 Post by perdido »

Nothing wrong with either desktop file offered as examples. They are both freedesktop.org compliant. As long as the desktop file is freedesktop.org compliant
jwm will be happy with it.Being compliant with freedesktop.org is what permits menu entries being added automatically when installing programs from the
main distro repositories to the puppy jwm menu.The freedesktop.org specification for desktop files is puppy specific, making both examples puppy specific.
Same specs apply to both. FWIW.

,

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davids45
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Joined: Sun 26 Nov 2006, 23:33
Location: Chatswood, NSW

Missing label source found (semi-SOLVED)

#7 Post by davids45 »

G'day,
Thanks for your posts and ideas.

I checked using Mike W's first reply and did not see anything that looked suspicious (nor that I understood what to do if I'm honest :? (also debatable :shock: )).

But in the light of a new day, I did explore a bit further and located the source of the failure to enter label details in the JWM menu.

The .desktop files for the affected packages in the sfs have several entries starting without any text after the "=" sign (screenshot).
The constancy of these odd entries (same text recurs before the '=') looks due to a software glitsch in a package being used to create or otherwise do things with these sfs. Deleting these lines and the Menu is OK.

I initially thought that, as usual, it was me :oops: , when I was editing out the many, many lines of other-language text in these files.
But the pattern of the same blank entries points to another cause, somewhere else in what I'm doing.

I'm still struggling with my 64-bit Pups and making their multi-application sfs so I'm fairly confident of picking up precisely where this is happening - only 64-bit sfs are affected.

Always the optimist,
David S.
Attachments
empty-name-desktop-file.jpg
desktop file has empty lines - cause not yet found
(59.2 KiB) Downloaded 89 times
empty-lines-deleted-now -OK.jpg
removing these empty lines and menu looks OK
(51.72 KiB) Downloaded 78 times

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Mike Walsh
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Location: King's Lynn, UK.

#8 Post by Mike Walsh »

perdido wrote:Nothing wrong with either desktop file offered as examples. They are both freedesktop.org compliant. As long as the desktop file is freedesktop.org compliant
jwm will be happy with it.Being compliant with freedesktop.org is what permits menu entries being added automatically when installing programs from the
main distro repositories to the puppy jwm menu.The freedesktop.org specification for desktop files is puppy specific, making both examples puppy specific.
Same specs apply to both. FWIW.

,
Thanks for the info, perdido. I wasn't aware there even was a 'standard' that open-source DEs had to comply with. Now I am!

I'll research that a wee bit further.....in my quest for knowledge.

Cheers.


Mike. :wink:

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