Folders on the Desktop?

[Emnasut]

Ok I'm propably the only one with this problem but here goes:


Is there a way to create Folders on the desktop and have PNDs schow up in there? Or create a "favorites" menu entry / folder in which some PNDs could be put?


As the icons can't be arranged freely but only put in fixed spaces (6 horizontal, 3 vertical) it's difficult to have some favorites of mine on the sides of the desktop (leaving the center free for changing bakground pictures) as there's only enough space for 6 of them. Always clicking through the menu (especially with a lot of entries and the kinda sluggish menu since HF6) is also bothersome.


Or maybe something like a menu entry which shows the last 10 or something opened programs? Something like the "recent documents" in this XFCE-Plugin: http://goodies.xfce....4-places-plugin


(I tried to compile that but some libraries were missing back then).

 

[Mr Rob]

Ok I'm propably the only one with this problem but here goes:


Is there a way to create Folders on the desktop and have PNDs schow up in there? Or create a "favorites" menu entry / folder in which some PNDs could be put?

The current system may not allow this easily. As it is, after inserting a card, the system generates .desktop files for all of the PNDs (those are the launchers you see on the desktop and in the menu; actually a pretty good Free Desktop.org specification. Anyway). Any changes to dump things into sub-directories on the desktop would probably require changing the scripts that generate the .desktop files. So a good amount of hacking.


I generally just use the Minimenu, and it allows you to re-categorize items; I end up making a Favorites category, and that shows up in XFCE's menu as 'Other'. I'm also not a fan of icons on the desktop, anyway.


I do like the idea of a 'recently launched' menu, though. That may be a good feature to recommend in the next release....

 

[Caine]

This thread might give you some inspiration.

 

[Mr Rob]

This thread might give you some inspiration.

But, but, but, what if you change the label of your SD Card?!?! Dun dun duuun, not a perfect solution.


But could work well for Emnasut, as the scenario I envision rarely happens.

 

[Emnasut]

Well at least it seems to really be a bit difficult and not just me missing the obvious.


Also thanks for the link Caine, maybe I can get it to do what I want with that.

 

[milkshake]

is xfce not capable of having folders on the desktop or something?

 

[Caine]

But, but, but, what if you change the label of your SD Card?!?! Dun dun duuun, not a perfect solution.


But could work well for Emnasut, as the scenario I envision rarely happens.

Then you use something like the following to determine the mountpoint of your sd card:

mount | grep /dev/mmcblk0p1 | awk '{print $3}'

But indeed, it is a hack and certainly not a perfect solution. Still, it's better than nothing.

 

[Mr Rob]

is xfce not capable of having folders on the desktop or something?

No, it's not a 'folders' thing. The PND system generates the application launchers on the fly and puts them on the desktop. You can make a directory on the desktop, and move the launchers in there, but it wouldn't be persistent.

But, but, but, what if you change the label of your SD Card?!?! Dun dun duuun, not a perfect solution.


But could work well for Emnasut, as the scenario I envision rarely happens.

Then you use something like the following to determine the mountpoint of your sd card:

mount | grep /dev/mmcblk0p1 | awk '{print $3}'

But indeed, it is a hack and certainly not a perfect solution. Still, it's better than nothing.

Exactly. I do usually advocate hacks, actually, to make things work. Symlinks using the UUIDs might work 3% better, as those only change on a reformat, yes?

 

[DaMummy]

id say the best way to achieve this is to create another subcategory in pxml, named, i guess favorites, would would drop a favorites folder in desktop, and create a tab in menu

 

[frefol]

id say the best way to achieve this is to create another subcategory in pxml, named, i guess favorites, would would drop a favorites folder in desktop, and create a tab in menu

Or just make it so double clicking on a .pnd mounts and runs the pnd. That is if this isn't already included. I would like to just have a folder with the .pnd file on the desktop to click on.

 

[milkshake]

yeah that would be the best way I would say, make the file accociations for .pnd run the PND when you double click it (although this would be a bit arkward for those mutiple app pnds as which app would it run?)

 

[Caine]

yeah that would be the best way I would say, make the file accociations for .pnd run the PND when you double click it (although this would be a bit arkward for those mutiple app pnds as which app would it run?)

Popup a GUI dialog and prompt the user to select the application to boot.

 

[milkshake]

great ok now we just need someone to code this any volenteers?

 

[F_Slim]

erm ... wouldn't the most obvious and simple solution be to just allow subfolders in the /desktop/ path on the SD card and search them for .PNDs as well?

 

[Mr Rob]

erm ... wouldn't the most obvious and simple solution be to just allow subfolders in the /desktop/ path on the SD card and search them for .PNDs as well?

This is brilliant. Could we do this?

 

[milkshake]

you would need to visit IRC and ask one of the firmware devs or write a patch yourself and submit it for review on the devmail/maildev what ever its called again lol

 

[Caine]

great ok now we just need someone to code this any volenteers?

Should do the trick.

 

[WizardStan]

a) Doesn't PND Utils (available in the repository, I think) do exactly this PND association, and more?


B) Adding PNDs to a /desktop/ subdirectory currently adds those to the desktop directly as well. As I recall this became useful functionality for people that wanted to organize their PNDs but still have them appear on the desktop. Changing it now is probably possible but, like all changes, would need someone to do it, and ensure it doesn't break existing users functionality.


edit: Apparently pnd_utils does not seem to be working in HF6. I was trying to use it to setup associations for Java but the scripts aren't behaving as I thought they did. Missing functions it seems. Boo.