(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

I'm running Precise Puppy 5.4.3 with Openbox. I would like to be able to modify the menu in the lower left hand corner of the panel as well as the menu that appears when I right mouse click. I opened the menu.xml and it looks pretty straight forward when it comes to adding items. but when I save and close the file nothing happens. The menus are not updated. I even tried selecting reconfigure from the Openbox menu.

I understand that there is a GUI way of modifying menus using obmenu. According to Puppy Package Manager, I have obmenu 1.0.2 installed. How do I launch it? I can't see it in any of the menu items. I'd like to try it out although I would much prefer mastering the menu.xml way of modifying the menu.

Start with these Randy.. They should getcha goin..

"How to edit Openbox window manager menus" and "How to change Openbox static menu to dynamic pipe menu"

Thanks so much Semme!! I have to say this again that coming from the Mac world and growing up with the GUI, this new way (for me), is compelling so much so that for the most part, the GUI way of doing things feels cumbersome and slow and dare I say it, inflexible.

I think I know why this is happening. Am I right or wrong? I think that you can't modify the menu.xml file and that you must work on a renamed copy of the file instead. Make sense? Just thinking out loud.


Something strange is happening when I modify the menu.xml file and I have verified this in both Puppy 5.2.8 and Precise Puppy 5.4.3. Here is what happens:

I oppen the menu.xml file in Geany. I add a new menu entry, save it, and then Refresh Menu from the Openbox menu. When I right mouse click on the menu, I see the change and then it disappears. When I reopened the menu.xml file, the change I made wasn't in the file. I am really confused as to why this would happen.

Any ideas?

That's cause there's more to it than the files inside users $HOME.

Why don't you boot a live session and give Stu90's routine a go.

I'd have done it but haven't gotten there yet..

When I created menu2.xml, everything worked fine. Stu90's stuff is on my list of to do's as well. The big problem with all of this is that it is so much fun!!

.

Thanks I will do that and see what happens.

Didn't work. How do I copy/paste from the terminal into this thread so that I can post the result. Middle clicking doesn't seem to do it.

I'm using urxvt.

I thought you opted for a new terminal? Is Python installed? Yeah? It lies. You need the devx loaded.

For c/p in urxvt >> text *must remain highlighted* while both buttons are simultaneously pressed.

I did opt got a new terminal but I still want to learn how to do things with the existing terminal.

Regarding Python, when I went to install it I see a list of Puthon related items. Which one to install?

Existing terminal? Forget that! Here's another way c/p can happen.

For Python- go with the 135mb devx download in my previous post.

rmcellig wrote

I oppen the menu.xml file in Geany. I add a new menu entry, save it, and then Refresh Menu from the Openbox menu. When I right mouse click on the menu, I see the change and then it disappears. When I reopened the menu.xml file, the change I made wasn't in the file. I am really confused as to why this would happen.

(old-school xdg nattering)
No mystery there, obmenu-refresh is using what's in /etc/xdg/* (similar to how fixmenus uses the templates for jwm and icewm) to do the main part of the menu, if I recall correctly - whatever direct edit you did in /root/.config/openbox/menu.xml is overwritten. By the way, you can directly edit the top and bottom .xml files for the openbox menu and those changes will stick .. obmenu-refresh will even throw a message up if your syntax/xml-editing is a bit 'off' I use the top part to do my own custom section of the menu for openbox.

Dunno much about pipe/dynamic menus (nifty concept, anyway) nor python (yah, for some stuff it's a requisite). Definitely true the devx may come in handy for lots of stuff.

Have Fun & good luck

ps - regarding your term, by any chance did you try the urxvt-set gui? mileage may vary with that one (personally I tried it once and not my cup of tea).

Thanks for the obmenu tips! I will also take a look at the terminal GUI you mention.