ABOUT

xdgmenumaker is a command line tool, written in python, that generates application menus using xdg information, by scanning *.desktop files in all $XDG_DATA_DIRS/applications directories. All applications are sorted according to the main categories as specified by freedesktop.org.

The menu entries that are generated by xdgmenumaker are localised according to the running user locale settings.

xdgmenumaker currently supports generating menus for blackbox, fluxbox, icewm, jwm, pekwm and windowmaker.

pyxdg and pygtk are required by xdgmenumaker, in addition to python 2.

Blackbox

To generate an application menu for blackbox, run xdgmenumaker like this:

$ xdgmenumaker -f blackbox > ~/.blackbox/xdg_menu

and then change your main blackbox menu to include this file as a submenu. For example, add this somewhere in your ~/.blackbox/menu file:

[include] (~/.blackbox/xdg_menu)

You can add the xdgmenumaker command as another item in your menu, if you want to update it, without having to run the command manually again:

[exec] (Update Blackbox Menu) {xdgmenumaker -f blackbox > ~/.blackbox/xdg_menu}

Fluxbox

To generate an application menu for fluxbox, run xdgmenumaker like this:

$ xdgmenumaker -f fluxbox > ~/.fluxbox/xdg_menu

and then change your main fluxbox menu to include this file as a submenu. For example, add this somewhere in your ~/.fluxbox/menu file:

[include] (~/.fluxbox/xdg_menu)

You can add the xdgmenumaker command as another item in your menu, if you want to update it, without having to run the command manually again:

[exec] (Update Fluxbox Menu) {xdgmenumaker -f fluxbox > ~/.fluxbox/xdg_menu}

IceWM

To generate an application menu for icewm, run xdgmenumaker like this:

$ xdgmenumaker -f icewm > ~/.icewm/appmenu

or if you want icons in your menu:

$ xdgmenumaker -i -f icewm > ~/.icewm/appmenu

and you can then edit your ~/.icewm/menu file and add this line somewhere:

include appmenu

You can add the xdgmenumaker command as another item in your menu, if you want to update it, without having to run the command manually again:

prog "Update Menu" _none_ xdgmenumaker -i -f icewm > ~/.icewm/appmenu

NOTE: If you don't request icons in the menu, or if an icon is not found for a certain app, the icon name in the menu for that app is set to "_none_". This doesn't actually set the icon for that app to none. Icewm menu entries should always include an icon. So, by pointing it to a non existing icon, you essentially set it to use no icon. If you actually have an icewm icon named "_none_", that one will be used instead.

JWM

You can edit your ~/.jwmrc file and add a line that generates the applications menu, like this:

<Include>exec: xdgmenumaker -n -i -f jwm</Include>

You need to put that line somewhere in the RootMenu section of the ~/.jwmrc file.

You can update the menu with:

$ jwm -reload

Or you can restart JWM and the updated menu should appear. The menu will be recreated every time JWM is started, restarted, or when the menu is reloaded with the above command. You can even add a menu item that will refresh the menu, like this:

<Program label="Refresh Menu">jwm -reload</Program>

pekwm

There are two ways to have an XDG menu in pekwm. The first one, auto-updates the menu, every time the menu is called. The second one, updates the menu only when the user wants to.

Dynamic Menus

Edit your ~/.pekwm/menu file with your favourite text editor and add a like like the following one in the location that you want the dynamically generated menu to appear:

Entry = "" { Actions = "Dynamic /usr/bin/xdgmenumaker -n -i -f pekwm --pekwm-dynamic" }

Restart pekwm and the generated menu should appear. The menu will be automatically generated every time you access it, so it will always be up to date. But since xdgmenumaker will run every time you access the menu, the menu might not appear instantly, especially if you are using an older PC.

Static Menus

Run:

$ xdgmenumaker -n -i -f pekwm > ~/.pekwm/appsmenu

to create a file with the menu contents. Then edit your ~/.pekwm/menu file to include that menu, by adding a line like the following, in the location that you want the menu to appear:

INCLUDE = "/home/your_user_name/.pekwm/appsmenu"

Restart pekwm and the generated menu should appear. The menu is static and if you add/remove any applications, you will have to run the xdgmenumaker command and restart pekwm all over again to update it. The advantage is that there will be no delay in displaying the menu.

Window Maker

There are two ways to have an xdg menu in windowmaker. The first one, auto-updates the menu, every time the menu is called. The second one, updates the menu only when the user wants to.

xdgmenumaker uses utf8 encoding and localised strings by default and has been tested only with wmaker-crm>=0.95.1. No idea if utf8 works properly with older Window Maker versions.

Dynamic Menus

Open the WindowMaker preferences tool. In the Application Menu Definition section, add a Generated Submenu in your menu, by dragging it in. Click on the menu item you just dragged in and in the preferences window, in Command, add:

xdgmenumaker -f windowmaker

Save and close the preferences window.

That command will be run every time you access that submenu, so the application list in there will be always up to date. The downside is that it will be run every time you access that submenu, so especially if you are on a very old PC, it might slow things down a bit, although probably not anything considerable.

Static Menus

Run:

$ xdgmenumaker -f windowmaker > ~/GNUstep/Defaults/xdg_menu

Then open the WindowMaker preferences tool and in the Application Menu Definition section, add an External Submenu by dragging it in your menu. Click on the menu item you just dragged in and in the preferences window, in Path for Menu, add the location of the menu file you just created:

~/GNUstep/Defaults/xdg_menu

You can add the xdgmenumaker command as another item in your menu, if you want to update it, without having to run the command manually again. In the Application Menu Definition section in the WindowMaker preferences window, add a Run Program item in your menu by dragging it your menu. Click on the menu item you just dragged in and in the preferences window, in Program to Run, add the xdgmenumaker command as mentioned above.

The downside of this method, is that the menu contents will not be updated when you install a new application or remove one. You will need to run the xfgmenumaker command every time you want the menu to be updated. The upside is that the menu will not be generated every time you access the menu. This might be a better choice for (really) older hardware.