Settings of xfdashboard

note: This document is work-in-progress and refers to the current development version of xfdashboard. Settings names and types may change although it is tried to keep it stable. It may also not be up-to-date.

Table of content


Get and modify settings

The settings of xfdashboard are stored via Xfconf in channel xfdashboard.

To get value of a setting execute the following command: 

xfconf-query -c xfdashboard -p PROPERTY-NAME

To modify a value either use the graphical editor xfce4-settings-editor or run the following command:

xfconf-query -c xfdashboard -p PROPERTY-NAME -n -t TYPE -s VALUE

The PROPERTY-NAME is a combination of a path and a name. Please notice the path which has to be prefixed to the real property name, e.g. you have to prefix / to the property theme - which is /theme at the end - to change the theme property.

The path is mentioned in the introduction of each group.

Table of settings

General

The following table lists all possible settings affecting the core of xfdashboard. All property names must be prefixed with the path /.


Name Type Default Description
always-launch-new-instance boolean false If set to true clicking a favourite in quicklaunch will always start a new instance of this application. Otherwise the last known active window of this application will be activate.
enable-unmapped-window-workaround boolean false If set to true a workaround for minimized windows is activated which tries to get still images of these windows by restoring them shortly and minimizing them again. Be aware that this is a workaround and your minimized windows could stay unminimized.
favourites array of strings (empty) Contains a list of strings. Each string specifies a .desktop file to an application shown in quicklaunch. The order in this array is the order how the icons in quicklaunch appear. Each .desktop file must be given without path - just the plain filename.
min-notification-timeout unsigned integer 3000 Specifies the minimum time in milliseconds a notification is displayed on screen.
reset-search-on-resume boolean true If set to true then the search view will be resetted when xfdashboard resumes. That means the active view is switched back to last view active before search was started and search box will be emptied.

This setting only takes effect if xfdashboard is running in daemon mode.
switch-view-on-resume string (empty) If set to a valid and known internal name of a view this view will always be activated when xfdashboard resumes and specified view is not a search view. This setting is case-sensitive.

Valid names for built-in views are: windows and applications.

This setting only takes effect if xfdashboard is running in daemon mode.
theme string xfdashboard Name of theme to use for styling. More information about file-location and how this setting is used see section File location and structure in documentation about theming.
window-content-creation-priority string (empty) Defines the priority for window content creation. The following values are valid: immediate, high, normal and low. The value 'immediate' will create the window content for each window at the time it was requested. It is also the default value if property was not set or set to an invalid value. The other values define the time spent to create window contents when the application is idle. While 'high' tries to create as many window content textures as possible, the values 'normal' and 'low' will create much less.

Applications view

The following table lists all possible settings affecting the built-in applications view of xfdashboard. All property names must be prefixed with the path /components/applications-view/.


Name Type Default Description
show-all-apps boolean false If set to true a menu entry "All installed applications" is shown containing all installed applications without any sub-directory.

Search view

The following table lists all possible settings affecting the built-in search view of xfdashboard. All property names must be prefixed with the path /components/search-view/.


Name Type Default Description
delay-search-timeout unsigned integer 0 Defines a timeout in milliseconds when to start a search after the first character in search box was entered. When the timeout is reached the initial search with the search term entered so far is performed. Further searches will not be delayed and performed immediately. A value of 0 disables any delay.

Windows view

The following table lists all possible settings affecting the built-in windows view of xfdashboard. All property names must be prefixed with the path /components/windows-view/.


Name Type Default Description
scroll-event-changes-workspace boolean false If set to true any scroll event, like mouse-whell up or down, will change the active workspace. This behaviour is the same as in workspace selector.

Key bindings and actions

A key binding describes which action to trigger when a specified key combination is pressed at an actor - optionally this action can be triggered at a different target actor.

Key bindings are configured in a XML document.

xfdashboard will look up for the key binding configuration file bindings.xml at the paths in the following order:


The XML document must begin with the top-level element <bindings> which is a grouping element for all key bindings defined. The top-level element does not expect any attributes set.

Key bindings are <key> elements under the top-level elements and takes two required attributes and three optional attributes.

The first required attribute is code which describes the key combination. Each key and modifier must be listed here and seperated by either +, - or spaces. Modifiers must be enclosed by < and >. Valid modifiers are: <Ctrl>, <Control>, <Shift>, <Alt>, <Mod1>, <Mod2>, <Mod3>, <Mod4>, <Mod5>, <Super>, <Hyper> and <Meta>.

The second required attribute is source which describes which actor must have be focus when the key combination configured in code is pressed to get the action triggered. It take the object's class name. Using XfdashboardFocusable as source matches every currently focused actor and can be used as a global key bindings which works at any time.

The third attribute when is optional and describes when the action should be triggered - either when the key combination configured in code is pressed or released. Valid value are pressed when the action should be triggered when the key combination is pressed or released when it should be triggered on release of the pressed key combination. If this attribute is missing the default is pressed.

The fourth attribute target is optional and describes at which other actor the action should be triggered at. The target actor must be a focusable actor that means it must be derived from class XfdashboardFocusable. The value of this attribute is the object's class name of the targer. If this attribute is missing the default is to trigger the action on currently focused actor which is usually the same as in source.

The fifth attribute allow-unfocusable-targets is optional and describes if an action should also be triggered, even if an unfocusable actor was defined at target. This attribute expect a boolean value - either true or false. But also their numeric counterparts 0 and 1 are valid. Usually you should never set this attribute and is mostly used for views at the moment as the view in target may not be active and visible at the time the action should be triggered. If this attribute is missing the default is false.

The content of the key element is the action to trigger and must be set.

The format for the XML file can be described with the following simple but not fully accurate DTD: 

<!ELEMENT bindings    (key*)>

<!ELEMENT key     (#CDATA)>
<!ATTLIST key     code                         CDATA    #REQUIRED
                  source                       CDATA    #REQUIRED
                  when                         CDATA    #IMPLIED
                  target                       CDATA    #IMPLIED
                  allow-unfocusable-targets    CDATA    #IMPLIED>

List of actions

XfdashboardApplication
Action Description
exit Quits application

XfdashboardFocusManager
Action Description
focus-move-first Move focus to first focusable actor
focus-move-next Move focus to next focusable actor
focus-move-previous Move focus to previous focusable actor
focus-move-last Move focus to last focusable actor

XfdashboardFocusable
Action Description
selection-move-left Move selection left
selection-move-right Move selection right
selection-move-up Move selection up
selection-move-down Move selection to left
selection-move-page-left Move selection left by page
selection-move-page-right Move selection right by page
selection-move-page-up Move selection up by page
selection-move-page-down Move selection down by page
selection-move-first Move selection to first item
selection-move-next Move selection to next item (independent from view mode, e.g. moves up in list mode and may move row in icon mode)
selection-move-previous Move selection to previous item (independent from view mode, e.g. moves up in list mode and may move row in icon mode)
selection-move-last Move selection to last item
selection-activate Activate current selection
focus-move-to Move focus to a specific actor (e.g. the actor specified as target in key bindings)

XfdashboardQuicklaunch
Action Description
favourite-reorder-left Move selected favourite to left and reorder all favourites
favourite-reorder-right Move selected favourite to right and reorder all favourites
favourite-reorder-up Move selected favourite upwards and reorder all favourites
favourite-reorder-down Move selected favourite downwards and reorder all favourites
selection-add-favourite Add current selection at any focusable actor to favourites if possible
selection-remove-favourite Remove current selection from favourites (like dragging it to trash)

XfdashboardWindowsView
Action Description
window-close Close window of current selection in view
windows-activate-window-one Activate first window in view
windows-activate-window-two Activate second window in view
windows-activate-window-three Activate third window in view
windows-activate-window-four Activate 4th window in view
windows-activate-window-five Activate 5th window in view
windows-activate-window-six Activate 6th window in view
windows-activate-window-seven Activate 7th window in view
windows-activate-window-eight Activate 8th window in view
windows-activate-window-nine Activate 9th window in view
windows-activate-window-ten Activate 10th window in view
windows-show-numbers Show digit for key-binding shortcut instead of close button
windows-hide-numbers Hide digit for key-binding shortcut and show close button again

(c) 2012-2017 Stephan Haller