TkDesk User's Guide: Frequently Asked Questions

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## 8. Frequently Asked Questions

This section is intended to give answers to the most frequently asked questions about TkDesk. This file is derived from the emails I'm receiving, so if you think something is missing just tell me about it (`zzhibol@rrzn-user.uni-hannover.de`).

## 8.1 How can I change the position of the application bar?

You can drag the application bar around simply by holding down the Alt- or Meta-key and simultaneously pressing the left mouse button over the application bar. You can also invoke the "Move..." entry from the comet button's popup menu to do the same without having to press Alt/Meta.

Since version 1.0b1 the configuration file "AppBar" sets also a variable named tkdesk(appbar,wm_managed) which can be used to have the apllication bar managed by the window manager, although this is usually not necessary.

## 8.2 Can I have transparent icons?

No, but have a look at the answer to the next question.

## 8.3 How can I change the background colour of the icons and desk items?

The background colour of icons used when the window manager iconifies a window can be set in the configuration file "System". The variable you are looking for is tkdesk(color,icon_background). By setting this variable to the same colour as your root window you can achieve the effect of transparent icons. You can define the colour either as a normal name (such as "grey", "blue") or in the form #rrggbb.

## 8.4 How can I have a different set of desk items on each virtual screen?

(This answer applies to fvwm, but should be transferable to other virtual window managers.)

First, you have to set the variable `tkdesk(desk_items,wm_managed)` in the System config file to 1. Then you have to configure fvwm to not decorate windows of class `dsk_DeskItem`. For instance:

> `

>     Style "dsk_DeskItem"    NoTitle, NoHandles, WindowListSkip, BorderWidth 0

> `

## 8.5 Binding to execute (export foo=bar; program;) doesn't work.

Yes, this is a bit tricky. What you need to do is the following:

> `

>     dsk_exec sh -c {export foo=bar; program}

> `

## 8.6 I'd like TkDesk to do this and that. How can I achieve this?

The first place to start are the various configuration files of TkDesk. These can be accessed either by the "TkDesk/Edit Config Files" menu of the file browser windows, or by the "Configuration" submenu of the popup menu of the very first button of the application bar of TkDesk. `:-)`

Since TkDesk uses Tcl as the language for its configuration, and these configuration files are simply "source"ed, you could add any sort of Tcl proc for instance to the configuration file "System". This proc would then be available in every other configuration file as well. With the set of commands provided by TkDesk, which are listed e.g. in the configuration file "Popups", TkDesk provides a very powerful platform for the user who knows Tcl.

## 8.7 Is there a TkDesk mailing list?

Yes! Thanks to Chris Sterritt, there is a mailing list dedicated to TkDesk at mrj.com. Just send a mail to `majordomo@mrj.com` with an empty subject line and "subscribe tkdesk" as the message body. Please join!

## 8.8 Where can I find out more about Tcl/Tk?

The official Tcl/Tk homepage is at `http://www.sunlabs.com/research/tcl`. The Tcl/Tk FAQs and lots of user-contributed software can be obtained from `ftp://ftp.neosoft.com/pub/tcl`. There is also a newsgroup dedicated to Tcl/Tk: `comp.lang.tcl`.

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