[solved] Menu keybinding

[MarkGrieveson]

Hello.  I'm using VL 7.0 with XFCE.  I'm wondering how I can set up a keybinding to open the menu -- IE, in Windows the special Windows key or pressing Ctrl-Alt-Esc would be the same as using the mouse to press the Start button.  So, I'm hoping to set up some sort of key binding to allow a keyboard press, like the special Windows key, to be the same as pressing the Menu button with the mouse.

Under Settings, I did find the Keyboard option (Menu/Settings/Keyboard/Application Shortcuts) but I'm unsure what command is equal to pressing the Menu button.  I'm also unsure what the notation for the Windows key is (IE, the Alt key is <Alt>, and the Ctrl key seems to be <Control>...is it mod4?).  Also, in playing around with the Application Shortcuts of the Keyboard, it didn't allow me to add anything.  I would press the "+ Add" button, and it requested a command, but did not give me the option of specifying the Shortcut.  I also tried the Menu Editor, to see if I could glean a bit more information about the Keyboard option within Settings, but it didn't seem to list it.

I did a search, and found this post, which was interesting, but I'd rather not screw around with the systems xmodmap.  That just seems like overkill.  I figure I really should just be able to easily add a keybinding via the Settings Keyboard manager, but, as I mentioned before, it seems blocked to me for some reason.

But I digress.  Anyway, if anyone knows how I can set up the aforementioned keybinding (or any keybinding with the Settings Keyboard manager), please let me know.

[rbistolfi]

Hi Mark,

You can go to settings, keyboard, application shortcuts, and bind a combination of your liking to the "xfdesktop --menu" command. That will show a menu under the current mouse pointer position.

HTH, Rodrigo

[MarkGrieveson]

Hi Rodrigo, thanks for the information.  I'm sure it will be helpful.  However, I still can't edit it, because it won't let me enter a shortcut.  It allows me to enter a command, but the shortcut space is greyed out (please see attachment).

[rbistolfi]

I had a hard time figuring it out, this is not the best UX design I have seen. Once you click "Accept" in that dialog with the proper command, a new dialog will appear. Press the key combination you want and it will be set (hopefully.)

Let us know if that works.

[fogpipe]

Hello.  I'm using VL 7.0 with XFCE.  I'm wondering how I can set up a keybinding to open the menu -- IE, in Windows the special Windows key or pressing Ctrl-Alt-Esc would be the same as using the mouse to press the Start button.  So, I'm hoping to set up some sort of key binding to allow a keyboard press, like the special Windows key, to be the same as pressing the Menu button with the mouse.

Under Settings, I did find the Keyboard option (Menu/Settings/Keyboard/Application Shortcuts) but I'm unsure what command is equal to pressing the Menu button.  I'm also unsure what the notation for the Windows key is (IE, the Alt key is <Alt>, and the Ctrl key seems to be <Control>...is it mod4?).  Also, in playing around with the Application Shortcuts of the Keyboard, it didn't allow me to add anything.  I would press the "+ Add" button, and it requested a command, but did not give me the option of specifying the Shortcut.  I also tried the Menu Editor, to see if I could glean a bit more information about the Keyboard option within Settings, but it didn't seem to list it.

I did a search, and found this post, which was interesting, but I'd rather not screw around with the systems xmodmap.  That just seems like overkill.  I figure I really should just be able to easily add a keybinding via the Settings Keyboard manager, but, as I mentioned before, it seems blocked to me for some reason.

But I digress.  Anyway, if anyone knows how I can set up the aforementioned keybinding (or any keybinding with the Settings Keyboard manager), please let me know.

Xmodmap looks confusing i agree, but if you place an .Xmodmap file in your home directory you wont be making any system wide alterations and if something goes wrong you can always just delete your .xmodmap file. There is a great Xmodmap article on the gentoo wiki http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Multimedia_Keys. I usually use xmodmap to bind multimedia keys. There is another utility called xbindkeys that will remap keys but i havent used that one much.

[MarkGrieveson]

For using the Settings Keyboard program, it did sort of work entering the key commands physically, though it didn't give me much time to enter the key combination I actually wanted.  However, I did see that it was possible to actually enter a keybinding in this way.  It's not very intuitive, that's for sure.  But thanks for letting me know that it can be done.

I may try to copy the .Xmodmap file to my home directory.  I was just interested in minimizing the strain on my wrist that a mouse causes.  Though frankly, the best thing for me to do is just minimize my computer use, and not play pokerTH, dopewars, or pysol.  But I digress.

Anyway, thanks for your great help.