Tracker > Applications ... any customization possible?

Hi,

I’m using Haiku more often now and one thing that bothers me is that the Applicaition Menu in the Tracker is getting longer and longer when you install more software.
I’ve seen that this is a virtual directory. Not all apps are shown in here. And there aren’t any subfolders. As far as I understand this, it is read only and thus one cannot simply put a subfolder in here.

Is it possible to configure it anywhere?

I was thinking about something like in the Haiku Depot - where the apps are grouped in Cathegories. Is that possible? Or planned?

1 Like

Don’t you mean the Deskbar?

I think the main problem is that developers can name their categories them self when they upload apps to HaikuDepot. They are not predefined, so in worst case you got as many folders as apps.

Maybe if someone wants a project they can work on a Deskbar Editor that would allow easy creation/removal of folders or categories and allow moving program names into them?

Read the guide: https://www.haiku-os.org/docs/userguide/en/deskbar.html

So, I’ve read the guide and decided I want to create a folder called “Web Browsers” and move Otter Browser and QupZilla into it.

I click on Edit in Tracker and get a window titled ‘menu’ and it lists Applications, Demos, Desktop applets, and Preferences.

I double click on Applications and a new window opens title ‘Applications’ and there’s nothing in it. I can create my folder, and see it appear in the Deskbar. But, since it’s not showing any applications, I can’t move any of the web browsers into my Web Browsers folder.

I don’t see anything in the guide that mentions how to do that.

Did you try what’s described in the info box at the end of the “Menu” subtopic on that user guide page?

Note, that this currently switches the Deskbar apps menu to total “manual control”. You’ll have to populate the folder with links to apps yourself.

Yes, we know, not ideal… :slight_smile:

Nope, I didn’t. Partly because I don’t want total control but mostly because I’m playing the part of “new user” or “someone that doesn’t want to mess with the command line.”

I’m just giving reason for someone who wants to do something to write a Deskbar Editor where you could do such things. I’m assuming it’s possible. I’d look into it, but my time is scarce these days.

Oh, sorry, I mistook it as a genuine question and that you did read the user guide page…

I did read it :slight_smile:. Then i stepped through the process to make sure it worked. I only stopped at the command line part because I didn’t want to change anything.

I do QA for a living so I try and look for things that might make people a bit happier.

Oh. Forgot the important bit: If someone didn’t read the guide and was going through the settings and pressed on the Edit in Tracker button, it would look like it would be as easy as just making a new folder and dragging apps into it, but they would find out that’s not the case because there are no apps listed. That’s kind of disappointing.

2 Likes

Not sure if I understand correctly, but maybe this is what you are looking:

Programs installed from a package automatically put an entry into the Deskbar. Depending on the number of packages you have installed, this can become a bit crowded. If you prefer to have total control, and only want to see applications you link there yourself (possibly in categorizing sub-folders), here’s how to do it:
You create a link of the menu folder in ~/config/settings/deskbar/ and rename to menu_entries.

That is exactly what I wanted to know. And yes, of course, now even I found it in the manual …

Thank you very much!

That’s exactly what Humdinger was referring to…

Anyway, the document is confusing to me. I read it as saying that the home copy of the menu folder is populated, like the system copy of it is, but actually it is empty.

One could symlink all the system menu_entries into the newly-created home menu_entries. That would give one a starting point. Or, does one have to create symlinks to the individual applications where they are installed in the system?

Yes, it would be very nice to have an application-driven way of managing this.

http://old.besly.de/menu/search/archiv/pref/sort_menu_haiku_nightly_eng.html

I also create menu sorter app with yab on: http://software.besly.de

http://old.besly.de/menu/search/archiv/sys/menusorter_eng.html

But the problem is you need to add every new installed application into the menu by hand

2 Likes

Does your app allow to create new entries, but leaving the current menu structure intact? I mean, letting the current “Applications” and “Preferences” folders and just add my own, more specific, side by side with them, like “Image”, “Games”…

This is not possible, because the main haiku menu is ony virtual and not into a writeable Part of the system. Booth does not can be at same time.

You can do that by simply creating folders or adding links/files/querys to /boot/home/config/settings/deskbar/menu. Also inside the existing “Applications” “Demos” “Desktop applets” “Preferences” folders there.

3 Likes