Open Whisker menu when I press the Super (Search) key

[ghost]

I was able to achieve this by adding an Application Shortcut to Settings Manager > Keyboard that looks like this...

xfce4-popup-whiskermenu | Overlay1 Enable

Unfortunately it broke a few of the keybinds, boo. We should try to find some way around this. This functionality should be very useful.

[artingei]

+1 please implement this or albert

[hugegreenbug]

Which keybindings broke after you added this shortcut?

[ghost]

I think all of them except Fullscreen, which for me opens the display settings.

[hugegreenbug]

I guess that makes sense since the media keys are bound to Search + F key.

[serianx]

please add this! bound to ctrl+space for now but it feels weird

[adrinux]

My falco has an 'alt gr' marked right alt key, is that common to all Chromebooks?

Feel a bit like there needs to be a system setting for whether you want the media keys to work as media keys by default or function keys by default.

I think it wise that the keys should do something related to whats printed on them, function keys by default is great for the linux nerd but not so much the casual user.

[ghost]

Well, my parrot has it, so I'm assuming yes, though I'm not really sure how that's related.

Yes, that's been discussed. Not sure how that's related, either. That said, I think it does need it's own issue. Here: #87

[ghost]

Oops, didn't mean to close it.

[hugegreenbug]

In the latest nightly, the super key will open the whisker menu. That will only work if the keyboard map chosen is not the one that uses the Super key as the overlay, which is not the default.

[reynhout]

There are five keyboard maps in current nightlies (actually there are a ton, but five that are customized for Chromeb*s):

1. Chromebook | No overlay | F keys mapped to media keys
2. Chromebook | Right alt overlay
3. Chromebook | Right alt overlay | F keys mapped to media keys
4. Chromebook | Search overlay
5. Chromebook | Search overlay | F keys mapped to media keys
   • Options 1,2,3 open the Whisker Menu when the Super key is pressed
   • Options 1,3,5 send media key events when media/Fkey keys are pressed (and Fkey events when not)
   • Options 2,4 send Fkey events when the media/Fkey keys are pressed (and media key events when not)

I'm not sure what it means if there's no overlay configured...in option 1, how do you send Fkey events?

Also, a quirk: it seems that the settings dialog doesn't always save your selection...it works better if you switch to another tab of the dialog and then back to "Layout" before selecting "Close".

[adrinux]

Keep in mind that I've not installed a nightly but am just pulling in the prerelease and testing repos as per reynhout's suggestions on reddit[1], but having switched keyboard layout to the above option two on my falco the search key still doesn't open the whisper menu or apparently work as super. (Most of the media keys don't do anything different either (tabs key still opens display, full screen key does nothing). Is there anything else that needs to be done other than switching layout?

At this point I should probably just install a nightly to a USB and check with that...

[1] https://www.reddit.com/r/GalliumOS/comments/4389op/new_functionality_nightlies_and_dev_repos_wipe/czggybw

[hugegreenbug]

@reynhout When the "no overlay configured" option is selected, there is no button such as the search key or alt key that turns F keys into other keys. The media keys replace the F keys and that is all.

I thought maybe I had seen what you are talking about with the keyboard settings not showing the current selection, but I haven't seen that yet. I will try to reproduce it.

[reynhout]

Just double checked from a fresh boot (and almost fresh install): It seems that when I change the selection and then close the window and log out quickly, the selection doesn't always stick. (I expected to have to restart X to get the changes, but the changes actually take effect immediately, which is far more convenient!)

However, now I can't get option 4 to work properly. With it selected, Super does not start the Whisker Menu, nor does it enable the media keys.

[reynhout]

Option 4 ("Chromebook | Search overlay") is the default selection on a fresh install, but I can't access media keys with or without Search/Super pressed.

I prefer Option 3 ("Chromebook | Right alt overlay | F keys mapped to media keys") as the default. We get so many questions about media keys...and I like the idea of the Search key opening a search interface. R-Alt for Fkeys is OK by me, but I don't use Fkeys much.

[hugegreenbug]

I have confirmed that Option 4 doesn't work. It appears that the reason why it doesn't work is because I set the whisker menu to open when the Super L button is pressed. Maybe we should just include the right alt key layout and not the search key one.

[reynhout]

If Right Alt is not a modifier key needed by people (left-handed typists?), then I think it's safe to drop options 4,5. Option 1 might still be useful (at the expense of Fkeys) if there is only a small number of people who would need the Right modifiers. There are so few modifier keys available, it seems inevitable that someone will be disappointed. :(

I'd vote for re-ordering them as 3,2,1 with 3 as the default. That seems like the order of preference for most people (but of course I'm speaking from my preferences so I might be biased!). My thought is that most people expect the media keys (painted such) to do what they say they will do, and if they go looking for Fkeys, they'll be aware of why it isn't the default at least.

I'm using the PEPPY and YUNA keyboards. All of the assumptions get more complicated if others are significantly different.

[veganism]

I agree with reynhout, we had a discussion on IRC and it seems the most logical.

3 should be default, and I agree that 4 and 5 should be dropped because it adds more confusion. The keys should do what they are labelled as, and with #3 we would have the whisker menu accessible with the search key. That's two big pluses and the only minus is that it affects people using the right alt, which in my unfounded estimation is approximately 0 people. If there is someone out there using right alt heavily, they would have to either switch the profile or learn a different combo. Seems like the benefits far outweigh the issues of #3.

[hugegreenbug]

I agree with @veganism and @reynhout 's comments. I don't want to drop 4 & 5 though. Especially because 4 is the default currently. If I remove that, it is going to confuse existing users. I could remove 5, but I think choice is good and it isn't going to solve the shortcut issue if I do remove it, but keep 4.

So, I made the default to be 3, but I didn't remove 4 and 5. That means, that I can't make the whisker menu open with only the Super key. I've tried a number of things, but they failed. So, I made the whisker menu open with Super + m and with Alt + m. The user can still adjust the shortcuts depending on which keyboard they choose and what they prefer.

[reynhout]

closing as improved, with workaround for remainder