TkDesk User's Guide: Configuration of TkDesk

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## 7. Configuration of TkDesk

Currently, TkDesk can be configured only by editing ASCII files. This is not necessarily a drawback, because this way you can add complex Tcl/Tk procedures to the configuration files, but if you don't know Tcl/Tk you would probably prefer a dialog-based configuration. This should be implemented in a future release of TkDesk.

If you don't know Tcl/Tk: don't despair! For the biggest part of TkDesk's configuration files it is absolutely not necessary for you to know how to program in Tcl/Tk, since you just have to modify values or extend the examples I have provided. And to those who want to exploit all of the power available by using Tcl/Tk as TkDesk's configuration language, have a look at the answer to FAQ Where can I find out more about Tcl/Tk?.

The configuration files can be accessed from the `TkDesk` menu via the entry `Edit Config Files`, or from the "Configuration" submenu of the popup menu of the application bar's first button (I should really call this the "comet-button" or something similar). The built-in editor will then appear with the selected configuration file(s) already loaded. Each configuration file contains rather detailed comments on what the individual settings are for, and how they can be modified. Well, at least they contain examples, which can guide your modification attempts. Once you have modified the configuration file, you can save it and reload it into TkDesk making use of the entries of the editor's "TkDesk" menu described in section The Built-in Editor. Use F5 to save the file and reload it into TkDesk, and F6 to do the same but additionally close the configuration file.

The following sections briefly describe what the individual configuration files are used for by TkDesk, and what settings can be defined by them.

As already mentioned, each configuration file contains directions on how to modify its definitions. The general advice is: just look at the example definitions, because these make things clearer than lots of explanations can. And don't be shy, but experiment! It's easier than you might think, really!

## 7.1 AppBar

This configuration file lets you define all aspects of the application bar (apart from its geometry, use the entries of the submenu "Application Bar" of the comet-button's popup menu for this). This is what you can define here:

- If the application bar should be managed by the window manager just as an ordinary window. I don't like this, so this is disabled by default `:-)`.
- The maximum number of buttons in a column (vertical layout) or row (horizontal layout). Yes, the application bar can contain several columns or rows!
- The fonts to use for the time and date display.
- The actual button definitions, ie. which image to display, and the entries of the (possibly cascaded) popup menu. See the "AppBar" file itself for the syntax used. TkDesk comes with a rich set of b/w XBM and colour XPM images, these are located in the `images` subdirectory of TKDesk's library directory. You can find out where this is by looking at the fifth line of the `tkdesk` script.

## 7.2 ButtonBar

This file defines the contents and appearance of the Button Bar, which is displayed underneath the menu bar of TkDesk's file browser or file list windows. Both button bars are configured independently from one another.

## 7.3 Commands

In this file you can define entries which will be added to TkDesk's "Command" menu, for example to uncompress all selected files or do whatever you can possibly imagine.

## 7.4 Directories

Here you can define entries and cascaded submenus of directories which will be added to TkDesk's "Directories" menu. More details are contained in the "Directories" file itself.

You can also define a list of directories whose parent directories are not to be displayed in file browser windows, as is usually the case with your home directory. This can speed up display of directories underneath an AFS directory, for instance.

Another list lets you define action that are to be performed when a specific directory is opened. This can be used for example to auto-mount floppy and CDROM drives.

## 7.5 FileTags

Contains definitions for color and font of specific file types, that will be used in TkDesk's file lists. Also the icons displayed when the "Add Icons" option is selected are configured here, as well as the icons used for the desk items, i.e. files and directories which have been dropped on the root window.

## 7.6 Popups

The popup menus that appear when the right mouse button is clicked over a file or directory are defined here. There are individual definitions for the popup menus of directories, executables, and of other files.

## 7.7 Sounds

Here the command to be used for playing sounds can be defined, as well as the sound files which are to be played at certain events. TkDesk comes with a few VOC sound files which are located in the `sounds` subdirectory of TkDesk's library directory. You can find out where this is by looking at the fifth line of the `tkdesk` script.

## 7.8 System

All the more "basic" features of TkDesk can be configured here. These are:

- Colours to be used by TkDesk,
- Fonts to be used by TkDesk,
- Default geometry of file listboxes,
- Definitions of shell command which are used by TkDesk to copy, move, delete etc. files. These should be fine as they are in most cases.
- The default command for printing,
- Which editor to use, plus settings for the built-in editor,
- Periods for automatic refreshing of the file lists and saving of TkDesk's configuration,
- Maximum number of entries in history menus,
- If TkDesk should ask for confirmation when the user wants to quit TkDesk,
- If TkDesk should allow the menus to be "tearoff-able",
- The paths in which TkDesk will look for images and sounds used in the configuration files,
- Icons to use for file list and browser windows, and for the help window,
- And if TkDesk should try to emulate Motif as closely as possible.

And that's it! Well, for the moment at least...

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