2004.09_Context Menus-Using the Right Mouse Button to Greater Effect.pdf

LINUX USER

KTools

Service, please!

A handful of service menus prove just how valuable the right mouse button

can be. We look at ways of making life with the KDE file manager easier.

BY STEFANIE TEUFEL

by adding the ability to delete any tem-

porary backup files, which many text

editors and other programs create while

working on a file, by simply clicking

with the mouse.

You may already

appreciate how impor-

tant backup files that

end with a tilde charac-

ter ( ~ ) can be, for

example, when you lose

your latest modifications

to a file for lack of a

backup. Although they

can prevent sleepless

nights, backup files have

one drawback: they can take up a lot of

your precious hard disk space.

To facilitate the simple cleanup task,

unpack the 13685-cleanbak-1.0.2.tar.bz2

package. This can be done, for example,

by typing:

Figure 2: Raiders of the lost file…

Go on to run ./install.sh , and say No ,

when asked if you want to Install the ser-

vicemenu globally? .

Your Konqueror context menu should

now have two new entries below Actions

| Clean Backup File (see

Figure 1). Clicking on

Delete backup files (*~)

will delete any files that

end with a tilde ( ~ ) in

the selected directory. But

you can opt to Move

backup files (*~) to

Tr a sh, to move them to

the trashcan just in case.

the right approach, if you want

to benefit from the huge selection

of extensions that Konqueror context

menus can offer. These otherwise hid-

den “service menus” can help you

master daily chores and make working

with your Linux desktop a much more

enjoyable experience.

Seek and Ye Shall Find

To add an Actions | Find in Folder… entry

to your file manager context menu, you

will need the 11544-find_in_folder.

desktop.tar.bz2 package from http://

www.kde-apps.org/content/download.

php?content=11544 . The package con-

tains a single file find_in_folder.desktop ,

which you just need to copy to ~/.kde/

share/apps/konqueror/servicemenus (or

$KDEDIR/share/apps/konqueror/service-

menus to make the entry available

globally).

Clicking on the entry, as shown in

Figure 2, will open the kfind program

in the current directory, thus providing

convenient file searching capabilities.

bunzip2 -c 13685-cleanbak-1.0.2 U

.tar.bz2 | tar xvf -

and changing to the directory created by

this step, cleanbak-1.0.2 . The software

comes complete with a GUI-based install

tool, which unfortunately tends to “for-

get” to create the installation directory. If

Cleanbak is the first service menu you

have created, and you need the tool for

your own personal use rather than global

access, the following line should do the

trick of creating the necessary directory:

Tidying Up

One of these items is called Clean

Backup Files . It is available as a small

7.6KBytes download from the Web

site at http://www.kde-apps.org/content/

download.php?content=13685 . Clean

Backup Files extends the context menu

Attached

Many files are just too useful, or too

pretty, to keep them all to yourself. Why

KTools

In this column we present tools, month by

month, which have proven to be especially

useful when working under KDE, solve a

problem which otherwise is deliberately

ignored, or are just some of the nicer things

in life, which – once discovered – you would

not want to do without.

mkdir ~/.kde/share/apps U

/konqueror/servicemenus

GLOSSARY

Figure 1: Cleanbak helps you get rid of unwanted

backup files at the click of the mouse.

Context menu: A menu that pops up in a

graphical user interface when the user right

clicks. The menu items change to reflect the

individual context.

September 2004

www.linux-magazine.com

Service Menus for Konqueror

T he right button is definitely

KTools

LINUX USER

not share, by mailing them to a good

friend? Adding the mail_as_attach-

ment.desktop file to the appropriate

servicemenu directory, allows you to

right click the file you want to mail, and

select Actions | Mail as attachment… .

This will bring up kmail with the

selected file already attached to an email

message, which you still need to write,

of course.

The attachment tool is available

as a download from http://www.

kde-apps.org/content/download.php?

content=13280 . To unpack, simply

type:

Background

If while browsing you stumble across an

image that perfectly matches your cur-

rent mood, and would thus make the

perfect background, you

can save yourself the

detour via the Control Cen-

ter by installing the Set as

background service . The

package is available as a

download from http://

www.kde-apps.org/content/

download.

php?content=12469 .

You need to unpack the archive (using

tar -xvzf 12469-setbackground.tar.gz ),

and then run the install script provided

by the developers to choose between

a global ( ./install.sh --global-install in

the setbackground directory)

or single-user installation

( ./install.sh --user-install ).

The service menu demon-

strates its “background

knowledge” when you right

click an image file. Actions |

Set as background (see Figure

5) gives you a shortcut to the

normal steps in the KDE Con-

trol Center: Appearance |

Background . You can opt to

tile the background image

( Tiled ), or you might prefer a ( Centered )

image – just click on the appropriate

menu entry, and your wish is KDE’s

command.

Figure 5: Changing the

desktop appearance.

files for example, or run system manage-

ment programs, the current user needs to

be root . There are two service menus

that prompt you for the root password

when you right click, and

switch to admin mode if

you supply appropriate cre-

dentials.

Edit as Root ( http://www.

kde-apps.org/content/down

load.php?content=11998 )

opens the selected file in

kwrite , when you click

Actions | Edit as Root , assuming that you

enter the right password in the dialog.

The fact that the archive file, called

11998-edit as SU.desktop.tar.gz , is actu-

ally a simple tar archive without gzip

compression can be confusing. So just

say tar -xvf to unpack.

The “Run As Root” service menus

( http://www.kde- apps.org/content/down

load.php?content=11227 ) follow a simi-

lar approach. The two files in the archive

open as SU.desktop and run as SU.desk-

top add two entries to the Konqueror

context menu Actions | Open as root and

Actions | Run as root .

unzip 13280-mail_as_attachment U

-0.1.zip

This will place the

mail_as_attach-

ment.desktop file in

a subdirectory called

mail_as_attachment .

If you want to

mail multiple files as

attachments, you

might prefer to

check out the Attach

to Email Service

Menu , which allows

you to attach com-

plete directories (see Figure 4 below

right). Another good thing: the tool,

which is available from http://www.

kde-apps.org/content/download.php?

content=11234 , not only works with

kmail , but with other email clients,

should you prefer to use them.

The install script included in the

11234-attach-to-email-servicemenu.tar.

bz2 archive has parameters for a global

install:

Figure 3: This useful helper makes

child’s play of mailing email

attachments.

KDE Extractor

Extract to Subdirectory , which you

can download from http://www.kde-

apps.org/content/download.php?content

=13544 , is another interesting tool.

After completing the install, you can

simply right click an archive file that

you want to upack, and select Actions |

Extract to subdirectory . This tells KDE

to create a subdirectory with the same

name, but without the extension,

and place the archive content in that

directory.

For example, this creates a direc-

tory called 11256-Make Executable

for the 11256-Make Executable.tar.bz2

archive from http://www.kde-apps.org/

content/download.php?content=11256 .

The install script provided with the

archive is only suitable for a global

install on Suse, so you might prefer to

manually copy make_executable.desktop

to the appropriate servicemenu directory

if you are using another Linux distribu-

tion.

After doing so, you can right click files

that can be made executable, and select

Action | Make file executable and Action |

Make file non-executable .

Becoming “root”

To edit some files, global configuration

./install.sh --global-install

./install.sh --local-install will restrict the

tool your own personal Konqueror con-

text menu.

If do not use Kmail, you need to select

Use a different email client below KDE

Components | Component Chooser |

Email client in the KDE Control Center,

and specify your email program of

choice. In future, whenever you select

Actions | Attach to Email , the attachment

helper will call your favorite email pro-

gram.

Figure 4: The “Attach to Email Service Menu” can

attach whole directories, and add a note to that

effect to the email message.

■

www.linux-magazine.com September 2004

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