Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

jack_the_pirate · 2019-08-31 22:08:08

Hi,

Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's other than XFCE?

kunzlata · 2019-08-31 23:18:32

Which one? Several have similar functionality.

But to use this particular plugin, if it's an xfce-panel plugin then you would have to use the panel.

jack_the_pirate · 2019-09-01 21:24:38

kunzlata wrote:

Which one? Several have similar functionality.
But to use this particular plugin, if it's an xfce-panel plugin then you would have to use the panel.

For example, Gnome or KDE or Mate.
Is it possible?

kunzlata · 2019-09-01 21:51:53

The xfce plugin I don't think so. But for GNOME there used to be a menu extension that showed 'places', same for MATE. KDE has been a while that I haven't used (since KDE 4), but it has so many accessories that one could possibly find something for its panel very similar. If you don't get an answer here, look for in your distro forum or directly in the KDE forum.

alcornoqui · 2019-09-01 22:03:47

kunzlata wrote:

Which one? Several have similar functionality.
But to use this particular plugin, if it's an xfce-panel plugin then you would have to use the panel.

I think jack_the_pirate means Places a.k.a. xfce4-places-plugin.

I don't think you can't run it (at least not easily) on top of Gnome or KDE. For MATE I found a project aptly and explicitly named mate-xfce4-panel-plugin-loader-applet, but it seems outdated and unmaintained (an issue suggest that it won't work on modern MATE).

jack_the_pirate · 2019-09-10 09:38:05

What I mean is the applet that in XFCE you can install in the panel by right clicking in a panel, and then choose:
- Panel, Add New Items, Directory Meny

I started using it a few years ago and now I can't live without it because it has boosted my folder browsing speed.
Now I can open any folder or file in my system only with 2 clicks.
I am sure that almost everybody uses this.

Examples:

I prefer XFCE, but I know some people who prefer other DE's and would benefit a lot from using Directory Menu.

So, what I would like to know is if this Directory Menu applet can also be installed in other Desktop Environments like Mate, Gnome, etc.

Is it possible?

Last edited by jack_the_pirate (2019-09-10 09:38:30)

alcornoqui · 2019-09-10 12:06:11

Ah, I see. I think my answer still applies. You could try with mate-xfce4-panel-plugin-loader-applet or something similar, but I'm inclined to think any DE with a panel will have similar functionality baked in.

jack_the_pirate · 2019-09-14 13:34:52

alcornoqui wrote:

Ah, I see. I think my answer still applies. You could try with mate-xfce4-panel-plugin-loader-applet or something similar, but I'm inclined to think any DE with a panel will have similar functionality baked in.

I haven't found any other DE with this plugin that permits to browse a filesystem tree like it shows in my images above.

I have found folder launchers, but sadly that's not the exactly same thing.

alcornoqui · 2019-09-14 19:07:11

I see. An interesting experiment then would be to try to run xfce4-panel standalone in other DE, then run the directory plugin on that panel... Have you tried that?

What's extra-interesting is that it seems like the directory plugin isn't its own package, as it comes into the xfce4-panel package, providing the command xfce4-popup-directorymenu command, which in my system is located at /usr/bin/xfce4-popup-directorymenu!

jack_the_pirate · 2019-09-21 07:50:09

alcornoqui wrote:

I see. An interesting experiment then would be to try to run xfce4-panel standalone in other DE, then run the directory plugin on that panel... Have you tried that?
What's extra-interesting is that it seems like the directory plugin isn't its own package, as it comes into the xfce4-panel package, providing the command xfce4-popup-directorymenu command, which in my system is located at /usr/bin/xfce4-popup-directorymenu!

Thank you for your excellent idea!

I tried that and I got xfce4-panel running in various other DE's!

I did that by instaling in a virtual machine Debian 9 XFCE with all the Desktop Environments (XFCE, Gnome, Mate, Plasma, LXDE, Openbox, Cinnamon) that are shipped with it by default.

Then I started a session in XFCE and configured two panels:
- one vertical
- one horizontal

I put them at the center of the Desktop so that they would outstand the other panels from the other DE's.

Then, I logged out and logged in with each one of the other Desktop Environments (Gnome, Mate, Plasma, etc).
And then I just opened a terminal and ran:
xfce4-panel &

And the xfce4-panel appeared in all of them.

But in some DE's, when you open the menu on the panel applet, the menu icons appeared:
- Plasma
- LXDE
- Openbox
- Mate
Note: in the Mate image, ignore the yellow panel because it's not the default Mate panel, but instead one I changed

In others, they didn't appear:
- Gnome
- Gnome Classic
- Gnome Wayland
- Cinnamon

Only in Gnome Wayland I got problems (X server crash after I logged out).

Afterwards I got curious if I could only install "xfce4-panel" alone, and I tried it on a Centos 7 with the default Gnome and Gnome Classic, and it also worked!
I just did this at root terminal:
yum update
yum install xfce4-panel
After, as a normal user, again at terminal:
xfce4-panel &

Nice experiment!

See for yourseld in these images:

alcornoqui · 2019-09-22 22:32:46

Fantastic, thank you very much!

Goes to show how modular and composable Xfce and GNU/Linux desktops are...

So, did the Directory Menu plugin work as well? Same icons trouble? Maybe someone here has a clue about that (I don't).

Pirates are cool.

jack_the_pirate · 2019-09-23 08:14:37

alcornoqui wrote:

So, did the Directory Menu plugin work as well?
Same icons trouble?

Yes, the Directory Menu works well.
The icons work well too, no problem at all.
And all the other panel applets work well also, being the major the "Applications" menu.

And even better: they both work even if you install only the package "xfce4-panel" alone.
No need to install all the XFCE Desktop packages.

Like I said above, in the Debian install I installed al the DE's.

But in Centos I installed only Gnome, nothing else.
And then only the package "xfce4-panel".
And it works the same (Directory Menu and it's acons).
The difference here is that in the XFCE "Applications" menu applet the icons don't appear.
I guess in this case the whole XFCE DE must be installed.
See the Centos 7 images here.

kunzlata · 2019-09-23 15:56:34

That's because it uses the menu settings of the DE loaded.
To have the Xfce menu you need the 'garcon' package. And maybe you need to set the environment for xfce4-panel to Xfce.
I don't know which environment it uses to choose the menu structure, but some candidates could be:

DESKTOP_SESSION=xfce
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=xfce
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=XFCE

Of course this is off-topic as the DE used already has a menu of it's own.

Regarding no icons in menu running under GNOME, you probably could set that with a dconf option.

jack_the_pirate · 2019-09-24 10:06:25

kunzlata wrote:

That's because it uses the menu settings of the DE loaded.
To have the Xfce menu you need the 'garcon' package. And maybe you need to set the environment for xfce4-panel to Xfce.
I don't know which environment it uses to choose the menu structure, but some candidates could be:
DESKTOP_SESSION=xfce
XDG_SESSION_DESKTOP=xfce
XDG_CURRENT_DESKTOP=XFCE
Of course this is off-topic as the DE used already has a menu of it's own.
Regarding no icons in menu running under GNOME, you probably could set that with a dconf option.

Nice tip!

Where should that code be inserted?

I've searched for the package "garcon", but only found "libgarcon" and "libgarcon-common" and also "dbg" and "dev".

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#1 2019-08-31 22:08:08

Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#2 2019-08-31 23:18:32

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#3 2019-09-01 21:24:38

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#4 2019-09-01 21:51:53

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#5 2019-09-01 22:03:47

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#6 2019-09-10 09:38:05

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#7 2019-09-10 12:06:11

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#8 2019-09-14 13:34:52

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#9 2019-09-14 19:07:11

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#10 2019-09-21 07:50:09

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#11 2019-09-22 22:32:46

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#12 2019-09-23 08:14:37

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#13 2019-09-23 15:56:34

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

#14 2019-09-24 10:06:25

Re: Is it possible to install "Directory Menu plugin" in other DE's?

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