MenuDrake: Customizing Your Menus

Abstract

In order to help you manage the main menu of your preferred window manager, Mandrake Linux provides you with a menu editor that ensures menus from all desktop environments (like KDE or GNOME) are coherent.

This tool allows system administrators to control the menus for all users (the system menu) but can be used also by users to personalize their own menus. You can launch menudrake from the Mandrake Control Center or from the Configuration+Other->Menudrake menu entry.

Figure 17.1. Launching menudrake in System or User Mode

Launching menudrake in System or User Mode

If started by root, menudrake can be used in two different modes: either changing menus for all users, or customizing the menus for user root. Click on:

When you launch menudrake, it first scans your current menu structure and displays it. The main window (Figure 17.2) is divided in two parts: the menu itself on the left, and on the right a form about the highlighted menu item.

Figure 17.2. Menudrake's Main Window

Menudrake's Main Window

You can click on the [+] signs of the tree to view the content of the related sub-menu, [-] to hide it.

Note

You may see in your tree, entries that do not appear in your actual menu. These are empty directories which are not displayed but can be used for future installed applications.

Add a New Menu Entry

This should seldom happen as all Mandrake Linux graphical applications should provide a menu entry. However, if you want to add a menu entry for a package you have compiled, or for a console mode program, you may use this function. Let us imagine you want to directly open a new message window from Mozilla through a menu entry in the Networking menu.

Select the Networking directory, and click on the Add entry on the toolbar. A dialog will appear asking you for the title of the menu entry and the command associated with it.

Figure 17.3. Adding a New Menu Entry

Adding a New Menu Entry

Edit the title to say “Write a new message”, this is the name that will appear in the menu. Then you need to provide the action to be executed by the system (Command:): /usr/bin/mozilla -compose. Then click the OK, the entry will be added on the menu tree.

If you wish, you can also choose an icon for your entry from the list you get by clicking on the icon button itself. Figure 17.4 reflects the above modifications.

Figure 17.4. A New Menu Entry With menudrake

A New Menu Entry With menudrake

Tip

If you think you have made a big mess of your menus and wish to come back to the previous state, you can go to File->Reload user config (Ctrl+R)(this reloads the menus as they were when last saved) or File->Reload system menuto load the virgin menus as they were at system installation time.

Finally, to activate your changes, click on the Save button, and voilà. Congratulations! You can now test your work by going to the real menu and launching your new creation.

Note

Depending on the window manager you currently use, the changes on your menu may not be shown immediately. In some cases, you may need to log out and log in again for the changes to take effect.

Advanced Features

Different Menu Styles

Depending on the experience of the people working on your machine, you may want to provide them with different menu styles. Mandrake Linux provides three template menus that you can eventually customize. Those templates are available through the Menu Style button in the main window.

Figure 17.5. Choosing a Menu Style

Choosing a Menu Style

Choose one of the four options available:

  • Use system administrator settingsIf you started menudrake as a simple user, you can choose to set your personal menu to the system menu prepared by the system administrator.

  • All applicationsThis is the traditional menu shipped with Mandrake Linux contain nearly all the available applications sorted into functional categories.

  • What to doThis is a menu specifically designed by our ergonomics team to provide a fast access to most common applications sorted by usage like Play a game, Use the Internet, etc.

  • Original menuThese are the plain menus as provided by the KDE or GNOME desktops. This menu probably lacks some applications.

For the second and third styles, note that you can activate a sub-menu to the other one by checking the Add link to box. That will allow to access the other menu from the main one, thus ensuring all applications remain available.

When you have chosen a menu style and possibly an option, click the OK. You will then be able to see the corresponding menu structure in the main window, and you can now customize it.

About the Environment Menu

The entry we just added to the menu is now available in all graphical manager menus. It is also possible to make modifications to a specific menu by switching the Environment you are working with. For example, if you wish to add an application that should be available only in the KDE menu, simply switch from environment all to kde.

All entries that apply only to the selected context appear in blue in the tree structure on the left.

Moving and Removing Entries

menudrake entries support the drag-and-drop feature. This means you can take an entry from a directory and move it to another simply by clicking on the entry and dragging it to the new directory without releasing the mouse button.

Similarly, you may have noticed that whenever you remove an application from the menu, it appears in the “attic”, that is the Available applications list on the bottom right corner. If you ever wish to add them again, you simply have to drag them again to the desired directory.