[Feature request] Whisker-like Start menu

[gfgit]

Hi, this is my first issue here :)

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
I don't like the behavior of existing application menu. Being a menu, when you open a sub item menu but mouse pointer goes out of the widget, it closes.
So you have to hover all the time the right area...
Also it's small so not really accessible in my opinion.

Describe the solution you'd like

• New application menu popup
• Doesn't need mouse constantly hovering
• Bigger icons for better accessible usability
• Scroll-able application list for each category
• Search bar on top/bottom
• User actions on bottom (Logout, Shutdown...)
• Opens with keyboard shortcut (for example Super/Meta key)

Much like Window 7 Start, Xfce Whisker menu, KDE Plasma menu.

Describe eventual alternatives you've considered
Surely there are standalone panel docks or menus which would solve this.
For example:

• Install Xfce Whisker manu, package xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin on Debian/Ubuntu
• Add a new custom Quick Launcher on LXQt Panel invoking xfce4-popup-whiskermenu

Downsides:

• Popup overlaps LXQt panel and needs xfce4-panel running for connecting with DBus to it.
• It depends on GTK which is not bad but being a Qt desktop environment it's not ideal.

Context

I will try to experiment a bit and open a pull request if it succeeds. Basically I think the existing menu code can be reused and just change the UI layout.

Let me know your opinions!

[tsujan]

It has been requested several times. This will be accepted if its author makes a PR: lxqt/lxqt#1991 (comment) (the source is here: https://github.com/elviosak/plugin-wingmenu).

[tsujan]

Duplicate of lxqt/lxqt#1196

[gfgit]

Sorry, I tried searching for previous issue but only on this repository

[tsujan]

No need to be sorry. It took me some time to find one of the reports.

[gfgit]

@tsujan

will be accepted if its author makes a PR: lxqt/lxqt#1991 (comment) (the source is here: https://github.com/elviosak/plugin-wingmenu).

Hi, it seems development is stuck on licence issues. The menu code seems easy compared to the whole lxqt-panel source, so would it be possibile to start over a new menu plugin instead of waiting for a response?
I would like to contribute but avoiding copying existing code to prevent further issues

[tsujan]

We don't have luck here ;) Wingmenu seems ready for a PR, but its author hasn't been accessible. I haven't read its code — was waiting for a PR — so, I don't know about its probable issues.

If you've prepared a better or cleaner patch, please make a PR.

[gfgit]

@tsujan I'm working on a new implementation, now it's still proof of concept.
I don't know if I can look at wingmenu code, to avoid licensing issues I didn't look.
Now I have to choose how to store the application list. I must be by toplevel category (like a flattened tree) and also by name to allow some kind of "All applications" virtual category and also allow searching.
Search is a big problem. It should match every word in the app name and in future potentially also it's keywords.
Do you have suggestions?
Code is at: https://github.com/gfgit/lxqt-panel/tree/work/gfgit/fancy-menu

PS: name is just random

[tsujan]

@gfgit

It's very good to know that you're working on it. Your work would be very appreciated. But please remain accessible after making a working code ;) The author of wingmenu suddenly disappeared without making a PR, although it seems that his code worked fine.

Since it's open-source, I think it's a good idea to start with wingmenu's code, add fixes to it, and make a PR. But that's only a suggestion; you're free to do it in any way you prefer. Frankly, I haven't looked into wingmenu's code (my main area of activity in LXQt is related to its file manager), and what I know of licensing is minimal.