path: root/doc/faq/panel.docbook

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<chapter id="panel">
<title>The panel</title>


<qandaset>
<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>How do I add applications to the &kde; panel (&kicker;)?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>There are several ways to add an application to the panel, of
which the easiest is to right-click on the panel, and from the context
menu which appears, select <menuchoice><guimenu>Panel
Menu</guimenu><guisubmenu>Add to
Panel</guisubmenu><guisubmenu>Application
Button</guisubmenu></menuchoice> and then the application for which
you want to add a link.</para> <para>For more ways of adding buttons
to the panel, refer to the &kicker; Handbook.</para>

</answer>
</qandaentry>


<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>Is it possible to change the <guibutton>K</guibutton> button of
the panel to another picture?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>The simplest way is to download a new icon theme with a &kmenu; icon
you prefer from 
<ulink url="http://www.kde-look.org">http://www.kde-look.org</ulink> and 
install it using the &kcontrolcenter;.</para>
<para>In order to change only the &kmenu; icon you can overwrite the
<filename>kmenu.png</filename> image for every size in an icon theme set.
So, for &kde; default icons this would be <filename>$<envar>KDEDIR</envar>/share/icons/default.kde/<replaceable>size</replaceable>/apps/kmenu.png</filename>,
where <replaceable>size</replaceable> is one of the sizes included in the
&kde; icon theme. 
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question>
<para>
After an upgrade my &kmenu; appears to be empty! How can I get my menu back?
</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>
In &kde; 3.2 and later local modifications to the &kmenu; are stored
in
<filename>$<envar>HOME</envar>/.config/menus/applications-kmenuedit.menu
</filename>. Try moving this file out of the way and then issuing the
command <userinput><command>kbuildsycoca</command>
<option>--noincremental</option></userinput>. This should restore you to the
default system menus.
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question><para>My desktop panel has disappeared. How can I get it
back?</para>
</question>

<answer>

<para>The panel disappearing is usually due to it crashing. This is
most often caused by loading an applet that has a fatal bug or due to
a bad installation of &kde; and/or the panel.</para>

<para>The easiest way to get the panel back is to launch the
<guilabel>Run Command</guilabel> window by pressing <keycombo
action="simul">&Alt;<keycap>F2</keycap> </keycombo> and entering
<userinput><command>kicker</command></userinput> and then pressing the
<guibutton>OK</guibutton> button.</para>

<para>If the panel continues to disappear, you may wish to either
remove or edit by hand your
<filename>$<envar>KDEHOME</envar>/share/config/kickerrc</filename>
file, where <filename
class="directory">$<envar>KDEHOME</envar></filename> is usually
<filename class="directory">~/.kde</filename>. If you choose to edit
it by hand, start by removing the applet entry groups.</para>

</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry><question>
<para>Where did the Icon Zooming option that used to be in &kicker; go?
</para></question>
<answer><para>
Icon zooming was not actively maintained and had caused severe bugs and usability issues. It was replaced in &kde; 3.4 by the new mouse over effects, which combine esthetics with useful information.
</para></answer>

</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question><para>How can I start an application minimized to the system
tray?</para>
</question>
<answer>
<para>Use <command>ksystraycmd</command>. For example, to start a &konsole; hidden
in the system tray, run <userinput><command>ksystraycmd </command>
<option>--hidden</option> <command>konsole</command></userinput>. For
more information about <command>ksystraycmd</command>, see the section
<quote>Advanced Window Management</quote> in the &kde;
User Guide.</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

<qandaentry>
<question><para>How do I use the &Windows; key to open the &kmenu;?</para>
</question>

<answer><para>Previous versions of &kde; provided a trick to allow you to
use the &Windows; key both as a modifier (so you could have shortcuts
like <keycombo action="simul"><keysym>Win</keysym><keycap>R</keycap>
</keycombo>), and as a regular key (so that pressing
<keysym>Win</keysym> on its own could open the &kmenu;). This feature
was removed for reasons of usability and accessibility, as well as
keeping the code clean. For current versions of &kde;, you have two
options: either use a different shortcut to open the &kmenu; (the
default is <keycombo action="simul">&Alt;<keycap>F1</keycap>
</keycombo>), or remap the <keysym>Win</keysym> key to be a regular
key, rather than a modifier.</para>

<para>If you choose to do the second, here's one way:

<orderedlist>
<listitem><para>Find the keycode for your <keysym>Win</keysym> key
using <command>xev</command>: Run the command
<userinput><command>xev</command></userinput> in a &konsole;, and
press the <keysym>Win</keysym> key. Look in the output of
<command>xev</command> for
<computeroutput>keycode <replaceable>n</replaceable></computeroutput>,
where <replaceable>n</replaceable> is the keycode of the
<keysym>Win</keysym> key.</para>
</listitem>

<listitem><para>Use <command>xmodmap</command> to remap the
<keysym>Win</keysym> key. An appropriate command is <userinput><command>xmodmap
<option>-e</option> 'keycode
<replaceable>n</replaceable>=Menu'</command></userinput>.</para>
</listitem>

<listitem><para>In the &kcontrolcenter;, go to
<menuchoice><guimenu>Regional &amp;
Accessibility</guimenu><guimenuitem>Keyboard Shortcuts</guimenuitem>
</menuchoice> and set the shortcut for <guilabel>Popup Launch
Menu</guilabel> to the <keysym>Win</keysym> key. You should now be
able to popup the &kmenu; by pressing the <keysym>Win</keysym> key.</para>
</listitem>

<listitem><para>One more step is required to save the changes across
settings: Create a file <filename>~/.kde/env/win-key.sh</filename>
(create the directory if it doesn't exist), and add the
<command>xmodmap</command> command you used previously to it. The
change should now be applied every time you start &kde;.</para>
</listitem>
</orderedlist>
</para>
</answer>
</qandaentry>

</qandaset>
</chapter>

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