Download Troubleshooting

Modifying the Launch menu
© 2008, QNX Software Systems GmbH & Co. KG.
Troubleshooting
How can I bind an icon to a submenu? How can I supply alternate text for a submenu
item (say, to translate it into a different language)?
The launchmenu.so plugin ignores files whose names begin with a period (.),
so the first step is to hide the directory by adding a period to the beginning of its
name. Next, create a file with an extension of .tgt (the name doesn’t matter, as
long as it doesn’t begin with a period). In the target field, specify the full path
to your new, hidden directory. You can then specify any additional information,
such as icons and translations.
Can I use files from elsewhere in the filesystem to build a menu?
Yes, you can. For example, you can put a symbolic link into
$HOME/.ph/launchmenu that points elsewhere in the filesystem. Note that
because the plugin has to scan the files and build a hierarchy based on the
contents, this can take a while to complete, depending on the number of files and
subdirectories that the plugin encounters.
I’ve edited a target file. How do I get the Launch menu to reflect the change?
The launchmenu.so plugin watches only directories for changes, because
watching all of the files could take too time. In addition, directories are typically
updated as items are installed and uninstalled, so if an entry is added or removed
from a directory, the plugin picks it up on-the-fly. If you’ve changed a file, and
you want the change to take effect immediately, you can:
• restart the shelf (type shelf & on the command line)
Or:
• touch the directory containing the item. The launchmenu.so plugin
refreshes the corresponding submenu.
What about packages installed with the old installer? Will they show up?
The launchmenu_notify utility creates a .tgt file that represents legacy and
third-party packages.
I’ve installed a package with the old installer, but I’m not getting a launchmenu item.
What should I do?
Try the following:
1
2
Run launchmenu_notify -vvv from the command line. This tells you
which third-party or legacy items exist, need to be added, and can be
removed.
Examine the list of existing items to see if one matches the missing item. If
an item doesn’t appear in the Launch menu, the target likely doesn’t
specify a valid file (e.g. the file doesn’t exist).
If this doesn’t help you solve the problem, please let us know.
I’ve created my own item, but it doesn’t appear in the Launch menu.
The target might not specify a valid, existing file. The launchmenu.so plugin
doesn’t display items that don’t have a target, or that have a target that can’t be
64
Chapter 5 • Using the Photon microGUI
September 30, 2008