Description: This plasmoid shows a menu of the installed applications, similar to Lancelot but much simpler. The purpose of the simpleness is to have a faster plasmoid which also loads faster. The plasmoid also has a list of favorites and you can search applications by application name. There are "Lock Session", "Leave" and "Switch User" and other similar buttons. Other features: - the number of visible columns can be changed (between 1 and 4); - the favorites section can be hidden; - the favorites list can be locked; - the size of all visible icons can be changed; - closing and opening the menu remembers its state (configurable); - change launcher icon; - configure which "leave" buttons are shown (or show none at all); - the favorites list can be reordered using drag-and-drop; - the menu items can be dragged and dropping them on a panel or on the desktop creates a shortcut there.
The plasmoid can be completely manipulated with the keyboard only except for the buttons at the bottom wich must be clicked with the mouse. The menu can be browsed with the arrow keys and PageUp and PageDown, a favorite can be added with the + or = key and removed with the - key, to search an application by its name, just start typing the name.
This plasmoid is entirely written in QML + JavaScript.
Note: this plasmoid requires KDE 4.8.0 or higher. For correct resizing of the "Leave" buttons, KDE 4.9.0 is required.
Bugs I don't have control over (because of limitations in Qt or Plasma): - make configuring the plasmoid's icon more elegant by showing the current icon on the button that launches the "Change icon" dialog and by removing the text field holding the icon's name (only possible when KConfigXT finally supports Icon) - provide a command line to open/close the menu - maybe add "Recent Documents" section (below Favorites?); there is no Plasma DataEngine for this, so I cannot do it - allow to modify the ordering of the "leave" buttons (must find a way in KConfig XT to do this)Last changelog:
version 1.6 (2013-07-31): - do not show the "Add favorite" and "Remove favorite" buttons in the search menu when the favorites are locked - the "Add Favorite" and "Remove Favorite" buttons are not visible anymore if the favorites section is hidden - dragging an application from the menu to the panel or the desktop creates a shortcut there - the favorites can be reordered using drag-and-drop
I'm using KDE 4.14.3 (Debian Sid) an suddenly the menu doesn't work anymore, there are no entries at all, every content is gone. I tried removing and readding it but that didn't help.
First off, thanks for your hard work! Second thing is that I noticed that the launcher seems quite small. Also my #1 feature is a button which allows me to list ALL installed programs without checking the category.
You can drag the launcher to any size you want... Just grab the upper right corner and drag.
If you want a menu which shows all applications without category you might want to try the fullscreen menu homerun...
Proposal - if feasible:
1. Offer to show text alongside panel icon
2. By now the menu always displays name and description of an application entry. I'd love to have the option to also see the comment stored in the menu editor, either as a third row or optinally as replacement for the description. I'd love to store information in there where I can find the entry in the menu editor (it has no search!) but it would be useful for other information/hints and some applications only use the comment field but not the description.
BTW: Do you know a solution for the self-resizing menu? I don't know if it is a plasma/QML problem in general or if it is controllable by the widgets themselves. Popups like your menu and e.g. the device manager autoresize, they become a little smaller with every login, so that I have to re-drag them to proper size about every 5 Logins...
Obviously 1.6 is the current one. But when I look into the widget manager the popup shows me version 1.5 is installed. When I use the get new widget manager AppMenu QML is shown as current, no update available. At first I thought it is current but just shows the wrong version in the information popup - but I cannot sort the favorites by dragging and cannot drag entries to the desktop so it really must be 1.5? Or do I need to press a key to use the drag functionality as using the mouse the menu content moves (which is the desired behaviour). Confused...
I get simple plasma window with text errors only:
"This object couldn't be created. Cause:
file:///homekrzysztof/.kde/share/apps/plasma/plasmoids/appmenu-qml/contents/ui/main.qml:405:3: Type Menu is unavailable file:///homekrzysztof/.kde/share/apps/plasma/plasmoids/appmenu-qml/contents/ui/Menu.qml:125:13: Type Menu is unavailable file:///homekrzysztof/.kde/share/apps/plasma/plasmoids/appmenu-qml/contents/ui/MenuItem.qml:110:3: Type Menu is unavailable: Can't assign to unexisted property "delegateImage""
I translated from Polish so I'm not sure exact meaning.
kde 4.8.5, kubuntu 12.04.1 LTS
I had the same problem.
Solution:
1. Download .plasmoid file, extract it to folder.
2. Open file /contents/ui/LeaveToolBar.qml in text editor.
3. See the comment on line 79: Comment out function doAction (first one, with lots of if sentences).
4. Uncomment the new function doAction (which is right below).
5. Save file and recreate .plasmoid archive (zip it, then rename to .plasmoid)
6. Install the plasmoid again localy.
If you have any problems with installation, remove the old files located in ~.kde/share/apps/plasma/plasmoids/appmenu-qml
... and reinstall.
It works now! I can have the panel thicker (up to a point) now and retain the icon. Thankyou, glad, for your 1.6 version. I am going to start using it.
Hi, and thank you for writing this wonderful launcher. I tried it for the first time today (ver 1.5). I do not know how many people have the same problem I have, but I will tell you and perhaps you can help me find a work-around or maybe add another configuable parameter. My problem is that when I make the panel thick, (increased height for a horizontal panel, as is my case) the icon disappears and in its place there is a tiny and not very navigable version of the application itself. This tiny version is only good for logging out. The log out, restart ... etc buttons are clickable, but nothing else is. This means I cannot open the launcher menu after the K icon has disappeared. I am accustomed to using Network Monitor on the panel as well. When I make the panel tall enough to see measurement lines on that app, the K icon on your launcher has disappeared. So I cannot use both, and I would have to change some of the layout of what I am accustomed to using on my panel. Of course I hide such a thick panel automatically.
Can you suggest a solution? If this is a feature, maybe you could add a configuration option to turn it off, or set the size at which it pops. Thanks again for writing a launcher that works well once I get it launched.
Hi, I'm trying to make any applet that will list aplications from category. Sort of like old shelf plamoid. I have absolutly no expirence in programming at all and I'm looking for article that will explian basics. Can you propose something?
I resize the menu like a window but doesn't keep the size after close my session or shutdown my PC, it returns to its default dimensions. how can I fix this?
Excuse for my english isnt my main language
I've packaged this widget for Kubuntu in my PPA: https://launchpad.net/~mikevaughn/+archive/omnilinux.
Also, I'm still experiencing the bug that another user reported some time back: This widget is showing empty application categories in the menu. I've opened kmenuedit to confirm that the categories are in fact empty; they actually do contain some sub-categories (which are also empty), but no actual applications. I guess I could just delete those categories in kmenuedit, but this means that if I were to install an application in the future that belongs to one of these categories, it would end up in the "Lost & Found" category instead of where it's supposed to go. I took a screenshot to show that this only occurs with AppMenu-QML: http://i.imgur.com/8Bml6A7.png.
This is a known bug. Unfortunately, what is not known is a clean and fast solution for this bug. The only solution I can think of is to load all submenus (recursively in the case that the submenu contains no application entries, this would require to test for all entries whether they are a submenu or an application entry) and test whether the submenu is empty. This would also load the non-empty submenus which is a slow operation. I will see what I can do for the next version, but I expect that solving this bug will lead to a much slower startup of the plasmoid.
Ratings & Comments
166 Comments
Can you please port this to Plasam/KF 5? It is such a great menu and I really miss it...
I'm using KDE 4.14.3 (Debian Sid) an suddenly the menu doesn't work anymore, there are no entries at all, every content is gone. I tried removing and readding it but that didn't help.
First off, thanks for your hard work! Second thing is that I noticed that the launcher seems quite small. Also my #1 feature is a button which allows me to list ALL installed programs without checking the category.
You can drag the launcher to any size you want... Just grab the upper right corner and drag. If you want a menu which shows all applications without category you might want to try the fullscreen menu homerun...
Is it possible to add configuration option to use separate favourite list on each activity ?
+1 for this feature. It would be great if you can find workaround for this :) Thank you for the great app :)
Proposal - if feasible: 1. Offer to show text alongside panel icon 2. By now the menu always displays name and description of an application entry. I'd love to have the option to also see the comment stored in the menu editor, either as a third row or optinally as replacement for the description. I'd love to store information in there where I can find the entry in the menu editor (it has no search!) but it would be useful for other information/hints and some applications only use the comment field but not the description. BTW: Do you know a solution for the self-resizing menu? I don't know if it is a plasma/QML problem in general or if it is controllable by the widgets themselves. Popups like your menu and e.g. the device manager autoresize, they become a little smaller with every login, so that I have to re-drag them to proper size about every 5 Logins...
Obviously 1.6 is the current one. But when I look into the widget manager the popup shows me version 1.5 is installed. When I use the get new widget manager AppMenu QML is shown as current, no update available. At first I thought it is current but just shows the wrong version in the information popup - but I cannot sort the favorites by dragging and cannot drag entries to the desktop so it really must be 1.5? Or do I need to press a key to use the drag functionality as using the mouse the menu content moves (which is the desired behaviour). Confused...
I get simple plasma window with text errors only: "This object couldn't be created. Cause: file:///homekrzysztof/.kde/share/apps/plasma/plasmoids/appmenu-qml/contents/ui/main.qml:405:3: Type Menu is unavailable file:///homekrzysztof/.kde/share/apps/plasma/plasmoids/appmenu-qml/contents/ui/Menu.qml:125:13: Type Menu is unavailable file:///homekrzysztof/.kde/share/apps/plasma/plasmoids/appmenu-qml/contents/ui/MenuItem.qml:110:3: Type Menu is unavailable: Can't assign to unexisted property "delegateImage"" I translated from Polish so I'm not sure exact meaning. kde 4.8.5, kubuntu 12.04.1 LTS
On kde 4.11.1, the Leave, Lock button don't do anything. Bug? or my problem? I'm using arch
Yup. Same for me on Arch Linux.
I had the same problem. Solution: 1. Download .plasmoid file, extract it to folder. 2. Open file /contents/ui/LeaveToolBar.qml in text editor. 3. See the comment on line 79: Comment out function doAction (first one, with lots of if sentences). 4. Uncomment the new function doAction (which is right below). 5. Save file and recreate .plasmoid archive (zip it, then rename to .plasmoid) 6. Install the plasmoid again localy. If you have any problems with installation, remove the old files located in ~.kde/share/apps/plasma/plasmoids/appmenu-qml ... and reinstall.
It works now! I can have the panel thicker (up to a point) now and retain the icon. Thankyou, glad, for your 1.6 version. I am going to start using it.
Hi, and thank you for writing this wonderful launcher. I tried it for the first time today (ver 1.5). I do not know how many people have the same problem I have, but I will tell you and perhaps you can help me find a work-around or maybe add another configuable parameter. My problem is that when I make the panel thick, (increased height for a horizontal panel, as is my case) the icon disappears and in its place there is a tiny and not very navigable version of the application itself. This tiny version is only good for logging out. The log out, restart ... etc buttons are clickable, but nothing else is. This means I cannot open the launcher menu after the K icon has disappeared. I am accustomed to using Network Monitor on the panel as well. When I make the panel tall enough to see measurement lines on that app, the K icon on your launcher has disappeared. So I cannot use both, and I would have to change some of the layout of what I am accustomed to using on my panel. Of course I hide such a thick panel automatically. Can you suggest a solution? If this is a feature, maybe you could add a configuration option to turn it off, or set the size at which it pops. Thanks again for writing a launcher that works well once I get it launched.
I made the minimum size of the plasmoid larger in version 1.6. If Plasma works as I expect, then this problem should now be solved.
Hi, I'm trying to make any applet that will list aplications from category. Sort of like old shelf plamoid. I have absolutly no expirence in programming at all and I'm looking for article that will explian basics. Can you propose something?
I recommend to first learn plain Qt Quick at http://qt-project.org/doc/qt-4.8/qtquick.html. Then you can learn Plasma QML at http://techbase.kde.org/Development/Tutorials/Plasma/QML/GettingStarted and http://techbase.kde.org/Development/Tutorials/Plasma/QML/API. It is also recommended to read other people's code. You can find QML plasmoids at https://projects.kde.org/projects/kde/kde-workspace/repository/revisions/master/show/plasma, https://projects.kde.org/projects/kde/kdeplasma-addons/repository, https://projects.kde.org/projects/kde/kdeexamples/repository/revisions/master/show/plasma/declarative. You can also read the code of all my other plasmoids (available under "Other contents"); each .plasmoid file is a zip-file containing the plasmoid's code.
I resize the menu like a window but doesn't keep the size after close my session or shutdown my PC, it returns to its default dimensions. how can I fix this? Excuse for my english isnt my main language
This is a consequence of the following bug: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=298186.
so, I cant solve it :( or is there a patch?
so, I cant solve it :( or is there a patch?. I am asking because the server is unavailable in this momment
Indeed, currently there is no solution for this problem. There is also no patch yet at bugs.kde.org. Maybe you can submit a patch there ;-)
apparently solved in KDE 4.10
I've packaged this widget for Kubuntu in my PPA: https://launchpad.net/~mikevaughn/+archive/omnilinux. Also, I'm still experiencing the bug that another user reported some time back: This widget is showing empty application categories in the menu. I've opened kmenuedit to confirm that the categories are in fact empty; they actually do contain some sub-categories (which are also empty), but no actual applications. I guess I could just delete those categories in kmenuedit, but this means that if I were to install an application in the future that belongs to one of these categories, it would end up in the "Lost & Found" category instead of where it's supposed to go. I took a screenshot to show that this only occurs with AppMenu-QML: http://i.imgur.com/8Bml6A7.png.
This is a known bug. Unfortunately, what is not known is a clean and fast solution for this bug. The only solution I can think of is to load all submenus (recursively in the case that the submenu contains no application entries, this would require to test for all entries whether they are a submenu or an application entry) and test whether the submenu is empty. This would also load the non-empty submenus which is a slow operation. I will see what I can do for the next version, but I expect that solving this bug will lead to a much slower startup of the plasmoid.