Setting Panel and Panel Object Preferences (GNOME 2.2 Desktop on Linux System Administration Guide)

GNOME 2.2 Desktop on Linux System Administration Guide

Setting Panel and Panel Object Preferences

The panel-default-setup.entries file specifies the following details of the panels in the GNOME Desktop:

Number of panels.
Types of the panels.
Properties of the panels.
Contents of the panels.

The configuration of individual panels and of panel objects is a complex task. To configure individual panels and panel objects, you must first understand the structure of the panel-default-setup.entries file. For more information on the panel-default-setup.entries file, see the next section.

To set preferences for individual panels and panel objects, you must set the values of many preferences in a configuration source. The easiest way to set the values of panel preferences is to use the gconftool-2 command with the --dump and --load options. For more information on how to set preferences for panels and objects on panels, see To Set Preferences for Individual Panels and Panel Objects.

Specifying Individual Panels and Panel Objects

The file panel-default-setup.entries contains sections that specify panels and panel contents. The panel-default-setup.entries file specifies values for schema keys. The panel-default-setup.entries file resides in the /etc/gconf/schemas directory.

The panel-default-setup.entries file is structured as follows:

Keys that specify the general structure of panels, applets, and other panel objects in the GNOME Desktop. The following keys specify the number of panels, panel objects, and applets that appear in the GNOME Desktop:
- /apps/panel/default_setup/general/toplevel_id_list
- /apps/panel/default_setup/general/object_id_list
- /apps/panel/default_setup/general/applet_id_list
The keys also assign identifiers to each panel, panel object, and applet. For example, the following sample from panel-default-setup.entries specifies that one panel appears in the GNOME Desktop:
```
<entry>
      <key>toplevel_id_list</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/panel/general/toplevel_id_list</schema_key>
      <value>
        <list type="string">
          <value>
            <string>bottom_panel</string>
          </value>
        </list>
      </value>
    </entry>
```
In the panel-default-setup.entries file, the identifier bottom_panel identifies the bottom edge panel.
Keys that specify the properties of the panels. The panel property keys are structured as follows:
```
/apps/panel/default_setup/toplevels/panel-name/panel-property-key
```
For example, the key /apps/panel/default_setup/toplevels/bottom_panel/size specifies the size of the bottom panel.

Keys that specify the panel objects, the panel object properties, and the panels in which the objects reside. For example, the following sample from panel-default-setup.entries specifies a Main Menu object at the left side of the bottom panel:

<entrylist base="/apps/panel/default_setup/objects/main_menu">
   <entry>
      <key>object_type</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/panel/objects/object_type</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>menu-object</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>toplevel_id</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/panel/objects/toplevel_id</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>bottom_panel</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>position</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/panel/objects/position</schema_key>
      <value>
        <int>0</int>
      </value>
    </entry>
.
.
.
  </entrylist>

Keys that specify the applets, the applet preferences, and the panels in which the applets reside. For example, the following sample from panel-default-setup.entries specifies the Window List applet, in the bottom panel:

<entrylist base="/apps/panel/default_setup/applets/window_list">
    <entry>
      <key>object_type</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/panel/objects/object_type</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>bonobo-applet</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>toplevel_id</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/panel/objects/toplevel_id</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>bottom_panel</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
    <entry>
      <key>position</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/panel/objects/position</schema_key>
      <value>
        <int>2</int>
      </value>
    </entry>
.
.
.
    <entry>
      <key>bonobo_iid</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/panel/objects/bonobo_iid_type</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>OAFIID:GNOME_WindowListApplet</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
  </entrylist>

The OAFIID is a unique identifier for an applet. To find the OAFIID for a particular applet, see the .server file for the applet in the /usr/lib/bonobo/servers directory. For example, the following excerpt from GNOME_Wncklet_Factory.server shows the OAFIID for the Window List applet:

<oaf_server iid="OAFIID:GNOME_WindowListApplet" 
type="factory" location="OAFIID:GNOME_Wncklet_Factory">

To Set Preferences for Individual Panels and Panel Objects

To set the preferences for a panel and the objects on a panel perform the following steps:

Log in to a GNOME session, and configure the panels as required.
Use the --dump option with the gconftool-2 command line tool to generate a file that contains an XML description of your panel configuration. The --dump option generates a list that contains all preference keys in a GConf repository directory that you specify.

For example, the following command creates an XML description of the default panel configuration in a file called my-panel-setup.entries:

# gconftool-2 --dump /apps/panel/profiles/default > my-panel-setup.entries
Open the my-panel-setup.entries file in a text editor, and modify the file as required.

For example, you might want to change the location of the desktop entry files. The following is an excerpt from a file generated with the --dump option:
```
<entry>
      <key>objects/object_16/launcher_location</key>
      <schema_key>/schemas/apps/panel/objects/launcher_location</schema_key>
      <value>
        <string>hadjaha-00adce02f7.desktop</string>
      </value>
    </entry>
```
In the sample above, you might want to change the reference to hadjaha-00adce02f7.desktop to another desktop entry file that is available globally.

When you generate a panel configuration with the --dump option, the positions of the panel objects are absolute positions. You might want to change the positions of panel objects from absolute positions to relative positions. The object at the extreme left of a panel has a position value of 0. The next object has a position value of 1, and so on. If you want object positions to be relative to the right side of the panel, set the value of the right_stick key to true.
Use the --load option with the gconftool-2 command line tool to set the values of the default configuration source to the values in the my-panel-setup.entries file. For example, the following command sets the values of the keys in the default configuration source to the values of the corresponding keys in my-panel-setup.entries:

# gconftool-2 --direct --config-source xml:readwrite:/etc/gconf/gconf.xml.defaults --load my-panel-setup.entries