.desktop files for settings panels

Brian J. Tarricone bjt23 at cornell.edu
Thu Feb 26 05:27:00 CET 2004


i'd like to make .desktop files for the settings panels so they can be 
automatically included in the menu depending on whether or not the app 
that it 'belongs to' is installed or not.  i've come up with the 
following scheme:

desktop file: xfce-$(panelname)-settings.desktop (installed to 
$datadir/applications)
Name in desktop file: Xfce4 $(panelname) Settings
icon file name: xfce4-$(panelname).png (installed to $datadir/pixmaps)

my reasoning on leaving the '4' off of the filename is basically because 
the 'registered environment' in the spec for the xfce desktop is simply 
"XFCE" and not "XFCE4", and i think from that perspective the .desktop 
files should be namespaced in "xfce".  i put the '4' in the displayed 
name so as to be clearer to the user, and the '4' is in the icon file on 
the off chance that there's a conflict with and already-installed icon.

as a sample, i've already commited xfce-backdrop-settings.desktop:

[Desktop Entry]
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Xfce4 Backdrop Settings
Comment=Settings for the Xfce 4 Backdrop
Exec=xfce-setting-show backdrop
Icon=xfce4-backdrop.png
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=X-XFCE;Settings;DesktopSettings;
OnlyShowIn=XFCE;

the one oddity- "XFCE" is a registered environment for the "OnlyShowIn" 
case, but isn't a registered category.  thus, per the spec, its category 
must be "X-XFCE".

questions:
1) what do we think about my naming conventions?
2) should "Gtk;" also be listed in the "Categories" string?
3) capitalisation and spacing: Xfce4? Xfce 4? xfce4?  xfce 4?  etc.
4) assuming we're agreed on the above, can i go ahead and start creating 
and committing files for all the modules that provide settings panels?

sorry if all this sounds very nitpicky, but i'm very much a details guy...

    -brian



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