Edubuntu-menueditor

Revision 13 as of 2010-09-15 15:18:20

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Menu Editor

What is Menueditor?

Menueditor is a tool that creates menus that can be applied to users and groups with its profile editor.

Where to find it?

  • The menueditor is part of the package edubuntu-menueditor and is found under Applications/Systems Tools/Edubuntu menu editor.

  • Interface presentation

    Menueditor-interface.png

  • The interface is very simple, it consist of a 2 column tree-view.
    • The left column Contain the icons and entry names,
    • The right one contain a check box to toggle between hide/show for the items.
    • Items in the tree-view have context menu available, depending of the items, and where it comes from you might have more option available in the context menu
    • A menu consist of 2 types of items:
      • Desktop entry, that usually launch application
      • Sub-menus, that can contain other sub-menu and desktop entry

Working with sub-menus

Adding a sub-menu to the menu

  • Sub-menus can be added anywhere in the menu tree, to create a new sub-menu, follow the following simple steps:
    1. decide where you want to create the sub-menu and right-click,
    2. A context menu appear, click on Add Sub-menu,

      Menueditor-add-submenu.png

    3. A dialog box will appear and ask you for the name and a comment for the menu,

      Menueditor-submenu-name-dialog.png

      • The name will be displayed as the submenu name,
      • The comment will appear when the mouse stays over the menu for a while.
    4. click on OK to create then menu entry.

      Resulting-submenu.png

Editing Menus

It's only possible to edit and delete sub-menus you have created, copied or moved. Context menu activate items only for action you can perform.

  • Editing a name or comment
    • Select the sub-menu you want to edit, do a right-click and select Edit Sub-menu.

    • A dialog box will appear containing the current menu name. Change the appropriate value and press OK

      Menueditor-rename-dialog.png

    • The interface now shows the new name for the menu.

      Resulting-rename.png

  • Deleting or Hiding items
    • Difference between deleting and hiding.
      • Deleting an item can only be done for created or copied item.
      • Hiding item can be done to any item.
    • Usualy you will want to delete items you have created or moved, and hide all other items.
    • To delete an item, simply right-click on the item you want to delete and select the Delete Item from the sub menu.

    • To hide an item, simply uncheck the checkbox on the right.
      • When hiding a sub-menu, all items in the sub-menu are hidden,

        Warning /!\ If an application that goes in this sub-menu is installed afterward the item will show up in the menu.

  • Copying/Moving an item
    • Items in menu can be copied to another place, to do so simply drag and drop the item in the menu.
    • Items in the tree cannot be moved, but can be copied and then hidden.
    • This is the way the menueditor is used to add applications in custom sub-menu, simply select the item you want in your menu, drag it over your sub-menu and release it. The item will appear into the sub-menu.
  • Saving your work
    • Select File/Save from the menu

    • Browse where you want to save your file and enter a name, you will need to add the .tar.gz extension as well.

Profilemanager

  • What is Profilemanager ?
    • Profilemanager is used to link profile made with Menueditor to group of users.
  • Where to find it ?
    • Profilemanager is part of the package edubuntu-menueditor and is found under System/Administration/Edubuntu menu editor - Profile Manager.

  • Interface presentation

    Profilemanager-interface.png

  • The interface is quite simple
    • It consist of 3 lists of element: Groups, Menus and Group and menu associations

Groups

  • Groups contain the list of groups present on the system.
  • You can show system group (group with a gid lower then 1000), by selecting View/Show system group from the menu.

  • Importing menus
    • To import a menu, simply do a right-click in the Menus area
    • Select Import new profile, navigate to your previously created menus.

    • Enter the name of the menu and press Ok, the menu appear in the list of menus and files are created in /etc/edubuntu-menueditor/.

      Warning /!\ Only alpha-numeric, dash (-), underscore (_) and dot (.) are allowed naming of menus, any other character will be replaced by an underscore.

  • Deleting menus from the system.
    • Right-click on a menus from the menu list.
    • Select Delete Item from the context menu.

      Warning /!\ Be careful not to delete used menus.

  • Adding associations
    • Associations mean to link a menu with a group.
    • Simply drag a group and drop it over a menu.
    • Dragging a menu over a group will work too.
    • You will need to save to activate it, select File/Save from the menu.

  • Removing association
    • Right-click on the association you want to delete and select Remove from the context menu, then confirm you want to delete the configuration file under /etc/deskop-profile/.

    • You don't need to save at this point. The file is deleted when you confirm.

After this, when a user that is part of the group logs in, the menu should be updated.