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4. Developers' Guide

This section covers topics of interest to expert users and developers. It covers the following topics:

• kpanel Commands
• kpanelrc Configuration File

4.1 kpanel Commands

You can send commands to kpanel via the K Window Manager using either of two techniques:

KWM::sendKWMCommand(QString) (in KDE applications)
or
kwmcom command (from the command line)

kpanel responds to the following commands:

• kpanel:restart restarts the panel, reloading its configuration files.

• kpanel:hide hides the panel on the current desktop, as if the user had clicked the small textured bar at the end of the panel.

• kpanel:show shows the panel if it was hidden.

• kpanel:system opens the Application Starter.

• kpanel:goXXXXYYYY opens the Application Starter at a specific location on the screen. For example, kpanel:go05000100 opens the menu at coordinates (500,100).

• kpanel:icon:#:button changes the icon displayed for button on the panel. # can be 1-4, and refers to an icon defined for the button in the button's .kdelnk file (lines of the form icon=pixmap, icon2=pixmap, etc.).

4.2 kpanelrc

kpanel can be configured using the KDE Control Center (application starter > KDE Control Center). Choose Panel from the Applications section to work with the various configuration options.

For those who prefer to edit a configuration file, this section explains the options in the kpanelrc file, located in ~/.kde/share/config.

The kpanelrc configuration file is divided into two sections:

• kpanel
• kpanelButtons

[kpanel]

The kpanel section contains a number of entries that govern kpanel's behavior.

• AutoHide=on|off
  When on, the panel automatically hides itself when the user moves the pointer off the panel.

• AutoHideTaskbar=on|off
  When on, the taskbar automatically hides itself when the user moves the pointer off the panel.

• BackgroundTexture=pixmap
  Displays pixmap as the panel background.

• BoxHeight=value (in pixels)
  BoxWidth=value (in pixels)
  These settings determine the height of the panel and the width of buttons on the panel, respectively.

• ClockAmPm=on|off
  When on, the clock on the panel displays an AM/PM indicator; when off, the clock shows time in 24-hour format.

• DateFont=font
  Specifies the font for the clock on the panel. Use an X font specifier, like *-times-medium-i-normal--12-*.

• DateVisible=true|false
  If false, hides the panel's clock.

• DesktopButtonFont=font
  Specifies the font for the virtual desktop buttons on the panel.

• DesktopButtonHorizontalSize=value
  Specifies the width of the virtual desktop buttons on the panel. The value is multiplied by half the BoxWidth.

• DesktopButtonRows=value
  Specifies the number of rows of virtual desktop buttons on the panel.

• FoldersFirst=on|off
  When on, submenus on the application starter menu always appear at the top. When off, all items appear in alphabetical order.

• Margin=value (in pixels)
  This value specifies the size of the top and bottom border for the panel.

• MenuToolTips=value (in milliseconds)
  Specifies the length of time a user must hold the mouse over an item on the application starter menu before a tooltip appears.

• PanelHidden=00000000
  This setting specifies on which desktops the panel is hidden. There are 8 positions in the setting, corresponding to the 8 desktops. A 0 in a position indicates that the panel is visible on the corresponding desktop; a 1, that the panel is hidden. For example, a setting of 01011000 hides the panel on desktops 2, 4, and 5.

• PersonalFirst=on|off
  When on, the user's personal menu settings appear as the primary choices on the application starter menu. When off, the default KDE choices are primary.

• Position=bottom|top|left|right
  Specifies the position of the panel on the screen.

• Style=normal|tiny|large
  Specifies the style of the panel. This is used by the graphical kpanel configuration utility kcmkpanel and does not directly affect the panel's appearance.

• TaskbarButtonHorizontalSize=value
  An integer which specifies the width of the taskbar.

• TaskbarPosition=top|top_left|bottom|hidden
  Specifies the position of the taskbar on the screen. If hidden, the taskbar is not visible.

[kpanelButtons]

This section specifies the layout of the panel buttons.

• Buttons=button1, button2, ...
  A list of the buttons on the panel, where button# can be system (the application starter), windowlist (the window list), or the absolute path of a .kdelnk file.

• ButtonDelta=delta1, delta2, ...
  Specifies the positions of the buttons on the panel. The deltas are floating point values, and for each button, represent the distance from the button immediately to the left/top.

• control=value
  Specifies which button the virtual desktop button group comes after. If 0, the group comes immediately after the K button; if 1, it comes after the button after the K, and so forth.

• controldelta=delta
  Specifies the distance of the virtual desktop button group from the button immediately to the left/top.

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