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Associations of files with applications Rightclicking on objects im ROX-Filer |
In the context menu under the menu item "Options..." ROX-Filer offers a multitude of possible settings which refer to the appearance and the behavior of the file manager. The settings alternatives are mostly self-explanatory and are explained thoroughly in the source Manual.html.
In spite of the positive experience about the high speed, the reliability and the impressing modularity of the ROX-Filer, a sometimes irritating disadvantage strikes: the file manager ignores completely the associations of the file types with certain applications which are defined in the system. That means that in ROX-Filer every such association has to be set up manually, namely through the context menu of a file under the menu item "Set Run Action...". Initially it contains only the file placeholder ' "$@"', which has to be preceded by the application associated with the file. The file manager then keeps this association for all files of this type. Alternatively the placeholder can be preceded by xdg-open or, even better, by the Starbuntu program all-open, a kind of universal application which opens every file type with the application which is designated for this type. In Starbuntu this way has been chosen. Only when a new file type has to be introduced or the default application has to be changed, this must be defined for xdg-open or all-open what can be done with the Mime Type Editor xfce4-mime-settings.
If you want to open a file exceptionally with a different application you can choose between three alternatives:
The regarding application is often used also for other file types.
In this case you click in the context menu of the file on "Send to..." and then on "Customise". A new folder window pops up in which you copy the desktop configuration file of the regarding application which can be found in /usr/share/applications or in ~/.local/share/applications and then you remove the extension ".desktop" from the copy. From now on after a click on "Send to..." this application will be offered and can be chosen to open the regarding file or other appropriate files as well.
The regarding application can be used only for the type of the present file.
In this case you click in the context menu of the file on "Customize Menu..." and you proceed as it is explained in the previous paragraph. From now on the application will be offered in the upper part of the context menu of any file of this type. This procedure is reasonable also in case of non-connected file types what you can recognize when the context menu of the regarding file begins with "Customize Menu...".
The regarding application is going to be used only once.
In this case you click in the context menu of the file on "Send to..." and then on the Starbuntu item "Application". A text entry window pops up in which you type the name of the application followed by the placeholder " $@" and then you confirm the entry with "OK". The file will be opened but the file manager doesn't keep this association. However, the text entry will be saved in an entry history which can be displayed after a click on the arrow on the right of the text entry window.
Alternatively, you can navigate to the desired application in the Starbuntu application menu, click on the Parameters area and then enter the file path. In this case, however, there is no historization.
The file manager ROX-Filer doesn't know a trash bin. Instead of that it offers only "Delete". Therefore Starbuntu had to offer a workaround:
The program trash was developed which provides the desktop configuration file "_ To Trash" for the context menu of any file type. When a new file type is introduced, Starbuntu takes care that "_ To Trash" gets integrated also in the context menu of this new type.
The trash bin is located in the folder ~/.local/share/Trash. This folder contains the subfolders files and info. The program trash deposits the trashed files in the folder files and the informations which are necessary for restoring these files in the folder info and, if wanted, restores them by means of these informations and the desktop configuration file "_ Restore From Trash".
Unlike some other file managers the ROX-Filer in its context menus doesn't provide the possibility to open an object as root or as another user.
Here Starbuntu finds a remedy by adding the item '→ Other User' to the context menus of the following object types:
application/x-sharedlib
application/x-shellscript
inode/directory
inode/mount-point
text/plain
This menu item can also be found under "Send To..." so that also other object types can be opened as different user.
After clicking on this menu item the Starbuntu progrmm gsu appears allowing a user change and expecting the password of the chosen user and then opening the regarding object as this user (with root privileges if the user belongs to the sudo group).
The Starbuntu program mark-dir adds to the file manager Rox beyond the bookmarks a second way to mark folders. For this purpose the regarding folder can be marked either by typing a hotkey (default hotkey: Super+o) or by clicking on its symbol with the right mouse button and choosing the menu item "Mark Folder". This feature is reasonable because the mark will be kept until it's deleted manually. The file manager, however, forgets the history of visited folders as soon as it's closed.
The Starbuntu program marked-dir displays the list of the marked folders. It can be opened either by typing a hotkey (default hotkey: Control+Super+o) or by clicking with the right mouse button on any folder symbol and choosing the menu item "Marked Folders".
A double click on a folder of this list opens it in a new Rox window.
The list of the marked folders is administrated by the Starbuntu program list-cmd-edit and can be edited like all other lists of list-cmd-edit. Its raw data are located in ~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer/marked-directories.lst.
The list of the marked folders includes always the folders of the selected groups which are defined in ~/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer/Groups.xml (for more detailed information see here). These folders are preceded by the respective group numbers. In the file manager they serve as hotkeys with which the regarding folders can be opened immediately, and they can be set or removed with marked-dir.
Warning: If you rightclick in ROX-Filer on an object the following in its context menu selected action refers normally to the object itself. But in case one or more other objects have previously been marked the selected action instead refers to these ones, what can lead to undesired effects. By first leftclicking on a free space or by pressing the Escape key you remove all possibly still existent marks.
Also a problem solution provided by Starbuntu can help. This workaround consists of pressing the Control key while pressing the right mouse button. This key combination triggers the command xdotool keyup Control key Escape sleep 0.1 keydown Control click 1 keyup Control click 3 which cares for removing current marks before pressing the right mouse button and instead marking the object under the mouse pointer.
The desktop manager rox indeed provides a slightly cumbersome way to define a background image but doesn't offer it in the context menu of image folders or images nor cooperates with image viewers like Eye of Gnome (eog), that means that their offer to define a displayed image as background image isn't of any use.
The Starbuntu program set-wallpaper or its graphical user interface refresh-pinboard as well as a supplement to eog eliminate this deficit, so that now a background image folder resp. a single background image can be set in the file manager by means of the corresponding folder or file context menu. A single background image will be static, that means that there isn't a periodic change of wallpapers with variety-rox any more.
The file manager ROX-Filer doesn't recognize mountable media like other hard disk partitions, memory sticks or inserted CD-ROMs if they are not predefined in /etc/fstab.
The Starbuntu program watch-ports finds a remedy: it watches continuously whether mountable media are getting plugged in or removed, and if so it makes the Starbuntu program get-devs update the desktop symbols at the left or lower edge of the screen being linked with these media.
If you click on such a symbol, the regarding medium will be mounted by means of the Starbuntu program automount in the folder /media/<user>/<label of the medium> and by means of the Starbuntu program Rox2 two windows of the ROX-Filer will be opened displaying the regarding medium and the Home folder. After you have closed these windows the medium will be unmounted again.
© 2024 Peter Starfinger