From Idesk Project Wiki

Idesk configuration

Ideskrc file

To use Idesk, you must first setup your config file. Put something like this into into .ideskrc in your home directory:

table Config
 FontName: tahoma
 FontSize: 8
 FontColor: #ffffff
 ToolTip.FontSize: 9
 ToolTip.FontName: gothic
 ToolTip.ForeColor: #0000FF
 ToolTip.BackColor: #FFFFFF
 ToolTip.CaptionOnHover: true
 ToolTip.CaptionPlacement: right
 Locked: false
 Transparency: 100
 Shadow: true
 ShadowColor: #000000
 ShadowX: 1
 ShadowY: 2
 Bold: false
 ClickDelay: 300
 IconSnap: true
 SnapWidth: 55
 SnapHeight: 100
 SnapOrigin: BottomRight
 SnapShadow: true
 SnapShadowTrans: 200
 CaptionOnHover: false
 CaptionPlacement: bottom
 FillStyle: FillHLine
 Background.File: image.jpg
 Background.Delay: 1
 Background.Source: ~/.idesktop/icons
 Background.Mode: Mirror
 Background.Color: #C2CCFF
end
table Actions
 Lock: control right doubleClk
 Reload: middle doubleClk
 Drag: left hold
 EndDrag: left singleClk
 Execute[0]: left doubleClk
 Execute[1]: right doubleClk
end

Description Idesk options for .ideskrc file

• FontName: is the name Font. Default is Arial.

• FontSize: is the size Font. Default is 16.

• ForeColor: is the Foreground color. Default is #FFFFFF (white).

• Locked: is boolean (true/false). Setting it to true disables the dragging movement.

• Transparency: is between 0 (no glow effect) and 255 (invisible without a mouseover).

• HighContrast: will draw a border around the text in the opposite colour if it is true. It will draw it in an arbitary colour if it "#aa00aa", for example. And it will not draw anything at all if it is set to false.

• Shadow: is boolean (true/false). Turning this on will draw a drop shadow of color ShadowColor behind the text. The shadow will be ShadowX pixels right and ShadowY pixels down (negative values will work). Both ShadowX and ShadowY default to 1.

• Bold: is a boolean (true/false). Setting it to true will make your font bold.

• Click Delay: is the number of milliseconds that represents a double-click.

• SingleClick: is a boolean (true/false). Setting it to true makes a single-click execute the command associated with the icon. This also means that it is impossible to drag the icon either.

• IconSnap: is a boolean (true/false). Setting it to true makes the icons snap to a grid defined by "SnapWidth" and "SnapHeight". The icon will snap to the middle of the rectangle defined by "SnapWidth" and "SnapHeight". So if "SnapWidth" = "SnapHeight" = 100, the center of the icon will by in multiples of 50: (50,50), or (50, 100), or (100, 100), or (250, 350)... You will want to make "SnapWidth" and "SnapHeight" greater than or equal to the size of the picture.

• SnapWidth: is a positive integer, see description in "IconSnap".

• SnapHeight: is a positive integer, see description in "IconSnap".

• SnapOrigin: defines where the snap grip starts from. Valid values are: TopLeft, TopRight, BottomLeft, BottomRight.

• SnapShadow: is a boolean (true/false) value. Setting it to true will make a shadow of the icon appear where the icon will snap if the drag was released there. Turn "IconSnap" on and check this out, pretty cool effect.

• SnapShadowTrans: is a integer between 0 (opaque) and 255 (invisible). It represents the transparency of the SnapShadow

• CaptionPlacement: new defines the position for Image Caption. Valid values are: Top, Bottom, Left, Right.

• CaptionOnHover: is a boolean (true/false) value. Setting it to true will make the icon's caption only appear when the mouse hovers over an icon. False is the default behavior.

• FillStyle: new defines the icon appearance when the user gives click him. The icon back to normal form when the user release the mouse button. Valid values are: FillInvert, FillHLine, FillVLine and None. None is the default behavior.

For ToolTip support (after 0.7.5 version it will be optional)

• ToolTip.FontName: new is the name Font for tooltip. Default is Arial.

• ToolTip.FontSize: new is the size Font for the tooltip. Default is 10.

• ToolTip.ForeColor: new is the Foreground color for the tooltip window. Default is #000000 (black).

• ToolTip.BackColor: new is the Background color for the tooltip window. Default is #FFFACD.

• ToolTip.CaptionOnHover: new is a boolean (true/false) value. Setting it to true will make the icon's tip text appear when the mouse hovers over an icon. False is the default behavior.

• ToolTip.CaptionPlacement: new defines the position for Image ToolTip Text. Valid values are: Top, Bottom, Left, Right.

For Background support (after 0.7.5 version it will be optional)

• Background.File: newdefine one background image for wallpaper. If the path is wrong or the image has a bad format then doesn't put nothing. This image remains although idesk program ins't running. (Default: None).

• Background.Delay: new Set the image change time in minutes format. (Default: 0 min, inactive). Max 526000 min.

• Background.Source: new Let you can define the folder where there are some images. If in the folder there aren't images or the folder didn't exist, then idesk looking for Background.File option. (Default: None).

• Background.Mode: new Is the display mode for the images, the possible values are: Stretch, Scale, Center, Fit o Mirror). (Default: Stretch).

• Background.Color: new Let you define the color for borders on Fit and Center options for Background.mode. If you don't define a Background.Color value then the Background is transparent and it get the background from the original Desktop background. (Default: None).

You can choose the mouse cursor type when it be over

• CursorOver: new defines the mouse cursor type when the mouse hovers over an icon. Valid values are:

    num_glyphs
    X_cursor
    arrow
    based_arrow_down
    based_arrow_up
    boat
    bogosity
    bottom_left_corner
    bottom_right_corner
    bottom_side
    bottom_tee
    box_spiral
    center_ptr
    circle
    clock
    coffee_mug
    cross
    cross_reverse
    crosshair
    diamond_cross
    dot
    dotbox
    double_arrow
    draft_large
    draft_small
    draped_box
    exchange
    fleur
    gobbler
    gumby
    hand1
    hand2
    heart
    icon
    iron_cross
    left_ptr
    left_side
    left_tee
    leftbutton
    ll_angle
    lr_angle
    man
    middlebutton
    mouse
    pencil
    pirate
    plus
    question_arrow
    right_ptr
    right_side
    right_tee
    rightbutton
    rtl_logo
    sailboat
    sb_down_arrow
    sb_h_double_arrow
    sb_left_arrow
    sb_right_arrow
    sb_up_arrow
    sb_v_double_arrow
    shuttle
    sizing
    spider
    spraycan
    star
    target
    tcross
    top_left_arrow
    top_left_corner
    top_right_corner
    top_side
    top_tee
    trek
    ul_angle
    umbrella
    ur_angle
    watch
    xterm

Further Snapping Description

              .          .          .
              .          .          .
              |__________|__________|_______ . . .
              |          |          |
              |          |          |
          y   |          |          |
              |          |          |
              |          |          |
        [>    |__________|__________|________ . . .
        |           x
        |           
        |

This is the bottom left of the desktop (SnapOrigin: BottomLeft)

X represents the snap width Y represents the snap height Snap origin only describes which corner of the screen

So basically set snap width to the width of the "box" you want the icon contained in and set snap height to the height of the "box" you want the icon contained in.

The icon will snap to the middle of that box specified by snap width and snap height. You will typically want the width and heihgt to be a bit larger than the width and height of the icons (make the height bigger if you use a caption).

Action Configuration

In the Action table 5 different actions can be configured.

Lock: Disables icon dragging to prevent accidental movement. Reload: Reloads all of the config options and gets a new background. Drag: Puts the icon in drag mode. Icon follows cursor. EndDrag: End the drag mode, icon will be positioned at the cursor. Execute[i]: Executes the ith icon command. So the Execute[0] action is the default action and run Command[0] (in the icon config file), Execute[1] runs Command[1] and so forth.

The options for each command are as follows:

<shift> <control> <alt> [Button] [ClickType]
 [Button] = left, middle, and/or right
 [ClickType] = singleClk, doubleClk, tripleClk, or hold

Some examples

The default settings, should be self explanitory.

       Lock: right doubleClk
       Reload: middle doubleClk
       Drag: left hold
       EndDrag: left singleClk
       Execute[0]: left doubleClk

Note: Drag starts when left button is pressed and Drag ends when left button is released.

Left single click while holding shift on the keyboard Execute[0]: shift left singleClk Left double click while holding down the right mouse button. Execute[0]: left doubleClk right hold And for those with too many fingers, middle double click while holding down the left and right mouse buttons, and control, alt, and shift on the keyboard. Execute[0]: control shift alt left hold middle doubleClk right hold.

Notes

For the Drag action I recommend only doing button holds and for the EndDrag I recommend using single clicks. This way the icon begins dragging as soon as you press the button and stops dragging as soon as you release the button. Using other actions should work as expected, but there are a few small bugs.

If two actions have the same key/button combinations they both will occur, unless one is the reload action. The reload action always only happens by itself.

Idesktop Directory

You need to first create a .idesktop directory in your home dir and inside that directory:

mkdir $HOME/.idesktop

Where $HOME is your own home directory. Of course you don't need to write $HOME, do just do

Add an icon

To add an icon, create a file inside the .idesktop directory with .lnk extention for example, home.lnk and inside the file put something like this:

  table Icon
     Caption: Home
     ToolTip.Caption: My home
     Icon: /home/you/.idesktop/home.png
     Command[0]: nautilus /home/you
     Command[1]: nautilus /home/you/otherDir     
     Width: 320
     Height: 200
     X: 20
     Y: 20
  end

These are the options for icon file, they should mostly be self-explantory. The Icon option is the graphic file for the icon image (with a support format). The Execute[i] action (in .ideskrc) runs the Command[i]. If the Caption field is blank or just one space, then no caption will be created for the icon.

Another example will be:

   table Icon
     Caption: Mozilla-Thunderbird
     ToolTip.Caption: Run Thunderbird
     Command: mozilla-thunderbird
     Icon: /home/you/icons/mozilla-thunderbird.png
     Width: 600
     Height: 700
     X: 30
     Y: 20
   end

Here the Execute[0] action (in .ideskrc) runs the Command. if there are another Execute[i] actions (in .ideskrc) will be ignored, because just there is a Command definition in this icon file.

Important for SVG!

If you use a svg icon need to set Width and Height to your desired pixel size. Just make sure that the X value plus the width doesn't exceed your window diemensions, you get a segfault (same for Y value and height). It is best to set X and Y to zero to prevent this.

SVG support was remove in 0.7.x version!!