Couple o' Fluxbox Questions

[gkedrovs]

I have the latest, greatest copy of Fluxbox up and running on my Red Hat 7.2 system. Snappy!

I'm used to KDE, so it's taking me a little time to get used to the Fluxbox environ. If you run Fluxbox, can you help me out with a couple questions?

1. How to I run a script file from the menu? I want to crank up OpenOffice Writer from the menu (I can edit my ~/.fluxbox/menu fine), but I don't know the syntax to add it to the menu. The script file is /opt/OpenOffice.org1.0/programs/swriter. In order to run it from command line, I have to go to that subdir and do a ./swriter. How do I do that via the menu (or an icon - see below)?

2. Icons. I see from other posts that to get icons in Fluxbox, I need to add a separate program. Do you use icons? Why or why not (in Fluxbox)? What icon add-in program do you prefer, and why (if you have the time to help on the philosophy end of your choice).

3. The slip. ("Excuse me, your slip showing.") Do you use it? For what? Where's your favorite place to get dockapps (docapps.org? DocApps Warehouse?). Is there an easy way to get dock apps? I encountered a bit of dependency hell last night trying to get an a weather dockapp installed. Gave up (it was too late, and Wine worked me over this weekend - I was braindead).

Thanks for any help you'd care to give. :-)

-Greg

[HuiLai]

hey dude,

B]1. How to I run a script file from the menu? I want to crank up OpenOffice Writer from the menu (I can edit my ~/.fluxbox/menu fine), but I don't know the syntax to add it to the menu. The script file is /opt/OpenOffice.org1.0/programs/swriter. In order to run it from command line, I have to go to that subdir and do a ./swriter. How do I do that via the menu (or an icon - see below)? [/B]

FIRST:
pick your wonderful text editor to edit ~/.fluxbox/menu.

THEN:
If you check out the fluxbox site there are alot of helpful docs.
for menu editing syntax check out: Fluxbox's site on menu editing commands (http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/docs/en/newdoc.menuedit.php#commands)

what i would do is add an "office" submenu

then
[submenu] (Office Stuff) {office}
[exec] (OpenOffice) {./swriter or /path/to/program}
[end]

#2. i don't use icons. The whole reason i got into flux is so i could avoid all that extra crap. ;-)

#3. I don't use the slip. haven't really got a chance to use it :rolleyes:

[Wallex]

Fluxbox veterans? Calling it slip! I think the right name is Slit. I only use it for gkrellm, so that I can always keep an eye on what's going on in my system (plus, apps don't maximize over it). Anyway.. it's true, go check the documentation over at Fluxbox's site, it's much more complete than the manual. Now on to the questions:
1- As was said before, you edit that file likethat.. altough at first I was lost, and instead used this program called fluxmenu to edit my menu (easier to understand if you can't get the sintaxis used in the configuration file). Also, you might or might not have known this, but executing:
cd /opt/OpenOffice.org1.0/programs/
./swriter
is the same as executing:
/opt/OpenOffice.org1.0/programs/swriter
(so this is the line you want to place in the config file)
2. Icons? Some people have the bad habit of thinking only KDE and Gnome give you icons (because those two are resources hog and unless you have plenty of ram, you won't even be feeling the extra speed Flux is known for). The 'light' alternative is the Rox filemanager, it is a filemanager, but it can also be used to place icons on the desktop of any windows manager! I haven't used it, but you might want to go give it a look.
3. This was answered at the beginning, oops. As I said before, the only app I use there is gkrellm, so I don't know where to download and get others. As for how to dock an app there, from what I read in gkrellm, most programs that can dock themselves like that do it using the -w switch. So I do 'gkrellm -w' to send it to the slit. You should try and see (or use program --help or program -h to get a list of available parameters and seek something that sounds like docking).

[gkedrovs]

Sorry... "SLIP" of the finger... Thanks. I'm no Fluxbox "veteran."

And, no, I did not know that running a script with full path was the same as ./scriptName. Thanks for that one. I'll just add that to the submenu I already have for OpenOffice.

I have quite a little blowtorch for a machine (P3 with lotsa speed and RAM), so KDE funtions fine. Fluxbox SNAPS! though, It's suprising how quick it is. I'll log in and start to wait (like in KDE), then I realize ... Oh! It's there! No time at all. Neat.

I'm no so sure I want to use icons, but... that slit thing is intriguing. It seems like it's a lot of what Fluxbox is about. But, I don't know if I'd use it... Gotta play with it some more. :-) That's half the fun, ain't it? Well... okay, 75% of the fun!

Thanks, again, guys!

-Greg