Does a context-menu-based application menu exist?

Request

I’m looking for an alternative to Kicker (since it suffers from bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=476996, like all plasmoids do):

However, one which is a standard QtWidgets [1] context menu.

Rationale

  1. Rather like Window’s old Windows 10 Start Menu, its arrows, shadow, and border are different to all else. I’d like a consistent visual style.

  2. I’m apathetic to whether an equivalent to its favourites functionality is provided, so I don’t know of any reason why this wouldn’t be technically feasible.

  3. The Window List plasmoid switched from a custom implementation to a standard menu 6 months ago, but I don’t have reason to expect Kicker to do the same.

Environment

  1. #!/usr/bin/env sh
    kinfo
    
  2. Operating System: Fedora Linux 41
    KDE Plasma Version: 6.2.5
    KDE Frameworks Version: 6.10.0
    Qt Version: 6.8.1
    Kernel Version: 6.12.11-200.fc41.x86_64 (64-bit)
    Graphics Platform: Wayland
    

  1. discuss.kde.org/t/3148/15 ↩︎

So basically a cascading menu? Like the desktop one?

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@dzon, yeah, like plasmashell’s (and most non-QML applications’).

you mean like under Desktop > mouse actions > right-button > application menu?

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Myeah, didn’t exist in 5-ish and it doesn’t in 6-ish. Been discussed before like, for example, https://discuss.kde.org/t/bring-back-the-magic-cascading-menu-quick-access-ancestor/7213. Fwiw, at some point some dude made a menu but it was discontinued.


Personally I’ve been using the Cupnoodle menu since…forever really but as an openbox guy I kinda miss the functionality and speed of those types of menus ( especially those that support pipemenus). That’s why I implemented jgmenu on my rig. There simply aren’t any menus that can beat that type of stuff.


Doesn’t exist on kde. So, in order to get a more or less similar type of cascading, you had to completely rearrange the default menu. Adding a few ( both “favorite” apps, directory shortcuts etc…) as copy/paste/move existing contexts. Takes a bit of time, but it works.

See, in jgmenu for example, that places entry is a pipemenu ( openbox). It’s automatically generated as cascade upon cascade. In kde you’d have to create such types of entries since, at least to my knowledge, there is no menu available that does it. And certainly not apps AND directories.

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@skyfishgoo, I didn’t understand what you meant by that, until I visited @dzon’s URI:

Setting it to the middle button is perfect!

  1. If anyone notices the broken entry, you needn’t report it - I’ve filed it at bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=499474#c0.

If only I could have that invocable from a button in my panel. Does anyone have any ideas?

Kinda limited ain’t it? Maybe you could ask this guy if there are any plans for a 6-ish version. https://store.kde.org/p/1897850

Hmm, I completely didn’t know about this menu. But this one comes closest to what I said earlier about rearranging the menu, create custom entries and hide what you don’t need. It cascades and supports rightclicking and such. Halas…5-ish.

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Yeah, it would be cool if a new (configurable) kicker could be made as a default menu alternative.

@dzon, is that ultimately a standard context menu? (They can be quite versatile, so don’t inherently discount it.) Your installation is customised, so I can’t tell.

I can test myself, but I’m gonna install software from OpenDesktop’s store unless I’ve tested it in a VM first.

That last screenshot? It’s not…standard. Well, it is but with a bunch of stuff copied and replaced with the menu editor. Except for the directories of course, those aren’t auto generated. I can’t find that topic anymore, but I’ve been talking about this before. In a kicker type of menu, you can create entries any way you want with cascading submenus. As far as I know ( except for the basic desktop click menu) it’s the only one that does this. To have something like the screenshot, you just move stuff around and put everything you don’t really need on a daily basis in just one submenu ( the All of it entry) What would be nice for a hypothetical new kicker is 1) move the power stuff either to the top/bottom/none/just a few and a directory thing ( with a “show hidden” option maybe) exactly the recent files/apps is done. Anywho, what you see in that screenshot can be achieved with a regular kicker. But since you say it’s buggy…


Interesting. I usually just enable Open Terminal, Show KRunner, Lock Screen and Show Logout Screen on the Right-Button. I never got into venturing Application Launcher on the Middle-Button coz I’ve already assigned keyboard shortcuts for most of my frequently used apps. But it’s awesome to have another alternative method.

Thanks for the tip.

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I forgot to mention. More of a sidenote really. In 5-ish you can add more options to a desktop righclick. Forgotten the name, it’s somewhere on github. Anywho, I used it in the past to be able to launch jgmenu that way, in an openbox style fashion. You can’t do that with this of course. Neither can you rightclick the panel to launch kicker like you can lauch a floating openbox menu on a tint2 panel. Could be cool though, rightclick an empty space on the panel to launch kicker. Don’t know if it’s even possible to launch it using a hot corner in 6-ish.
Edit: this was that corner thingie ( 5-ish of course): https://github.com/BelkaDev/KWinEdgeCommands

@dzon, I don’t refer to the entries it’s enumerated. I refer to its implementation - whether it utilizes whatever is standard for plasmashell, like most plasmoids, or invokes a QtWidgets context menu (albeit customised, per the favourites section and search bar).

I don’t.


@Archie, can the Application Launcher be assigned a keyboard shortcut? I ask because I’d assign it to Meta, if possible (to replace the plasmoid).

It’s basically kicker so…

@dzon, it forks its codebase?

Guess so. It simply takes and adds some. Here’s what a default would look like:

as compared to a more sensed one:

Note: unlike regular kicker it adds all power buttons. I only use three. But, it places favs in a cascade. If you have a lot of favs, the regular kicker makes no sense. And in a cascade you can keep your favs if you should use another type of menu as well.

I honestly don’t know how yet but if a user can do it graphically, there ought to be a command for it and a user can keybind the command.

To my knowledge, there are no Plasma widgets that open pop-ups using the window decorations intended for application windows and QMenus. This wouldn’t make sense because it would mean they aren’t using the decorations provided by the Plasma theme, which to most people is the expected visual style for Plasma widgets.

@ngraham, like I previously mentioned, isn’t Window List an example?

Its developers deliberately replaced its context menu with a standard one near to the end of Plasma 5.x development. (I consider it to be a significant improvement.)

Window List shows literally just a standard linear menu. Kicker doesn’t do that; it has that sidebar of favorites and a search field with a custom presentation of search results. These aren’t features that a standard QMenu provides, which is why it’s implemented as a custom popup and not a QMenu.

I think what’s going on in your brain is that because it almost looks exactly like a traditional QMenu, you think it should be implemented as a traditional QMenu, but it isn’t and can’t be one.