NickelMenu: An integrated launcher for Kobo eReaders

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by compurandom

Nice icon. Hey, if you have to add a new icon to the bottom bar for NickelMenu anyway, can we add a second one for a second set of menu entries?

I'm not planning on adding a second icon to the bottom bar for a few reasons:

• What if Kobo wants to do that (there's only room for one more)?
• It won't be consistent with older versions.
• I might be making the clock into a trigger for the main menu in the future.

[geek1011]

NickelMenu v0.3.2

This release consists of fixes, updates, and improvements for 4.23.15505. In addition, there are some minor documentation improvements and a fix for using generators in the reader/browser menus. No changes are required to your configuration files, and all firmware versions 4.6+ are still fully supported.

• On 4.23.15505+, the `main` menu location will now show as a button in the bottom nav bar which opens a standalone menu.
• Updated `nickel_open:library:*` and `nickel_misc:home` actions for compatibility with 4.23.15505.
• Updated documentation for the `main` location, and the `nickel_orientation` and `nickel_browser` actions for 4.23.15505.
• Tested all actions with 4.23.15505.
• Fixed parsing browser and library locations in generators.
• `nickel_open:library:library` and `nickel_open:library:library2` are now identical.

See the release on GitHub for more details.
.

[babygau]

@geek1011, is it possible to put nickel menu item in `more` tab, i find myself `nickelmenu` tab is redundant and clutter.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by babygau

@geek1011, is it possible to put nickel menu item in `more` tab, i find myself `nickelmenu` tab is redundant and clutter.

Personally, I like it where it is. I don't find it redundant since it's the only instance on the home/my books/discover/more screens. I also like having the 5 icons since, to my eyes, it balances the bottom bar. The current location also saves me a tap each time I want to use a NickelMenu function.

[babygau]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Personally, I like it where it is. I don't find it redundant since it's the only instance on the home/my books/discover/more screens. I also like having the 5 icons since, to my eyes, it balances the bottom bar. The current location also saves me a tap each time I want to use a NickelMenu function.

your opinion is not wrong, however, i think it would be better to have more options for everyone

[Vladi69]

I see that it doesn't accept <label> like ON/OFF in reader, library, browser. But in main it is accepted, seems strange. Is it known?

[John F]

With the Kobo firmware changing, any chance that you can implement setting the light level using nickelmenu?

[compurandom]

Debugging NickelMenu is an exercise in frustration.
It'd be a lot less so if an error didn't zap all my custom menus, especially the one containing force usb...

Instead of ignoring all configuration, when it gets an error, could you have it add the config error to the menu as it does now and then do one of the following:

* stop reading config entries, but accept what it has read so far

* abort reading the current file (or ignore everything in the current file) but continue to the next file as if there was no error

* skip the flawed entry (and any following chained entries), but continue with the rest of the file

Ideallly, if there are multiple flaws, it might end up with multiple config errors in the menu.

[compurandom]

On a related note, the entry that was failing for me was:

menu_item:main:Web Browser: nickel_browser:

Did I miss something to open a non-modal default url?
I can get it to work if I either add modal or add a url (or both).

Also, there's no examples in Doc for nickel_browser

[Patatas]

Dumb question, with Nickelmenu can I launch QT apps, or thats outside of the scope of things it can run?

I am unsure if this can be a replacement to something like Kobo Launcher or if they are different things?

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by babygau

@geek1011, is it possible to put nickel menu item in `more` tab, i find myself `nickelmenu` tab is redundant and clutter.

Originally Posted by DNSB

Personally, I like it where it is. I don't find it redundant since it's the only instance on the home/my books/discover/more screens. I also like having the 5 icons since, to my eyes, it balances the bottom bar. The current location also saves me a tap each time I want to use a NickelMenu function.

I also like it where it is, since in addition to the points you mentioned, I also find it easier to press blindly when it's in the corner.

Originally Posted by babygau

your opinion is not wrong, however, i think it would be better to have more options for everyone :thumbsup:

I don't want to add too many arbitrary options to NickelMenu for a few reasons:

• Options for positioning are going towards being out of scope for NickelMenu, which is intended for adding custom menu items, not changing the UI in general.
• The fewer options there are, the less breakage there is between firmware versions and the more flexibility I have to improve things in the long term while keeping compatibility. For example, if I had given more options for where to add the menu items in the main menu, implementing live reloading would have been a lot more complicated, and also, I would now have to figure out what to do with that option (e.g. not everyone reads the documentation, but might complain if an option they see somewhere stops working in a new version) since it only applies on the older firmware version.
• If I add options for positioning, I won't be able to reload them with the rest of the config without a lot more work and code.
• The fewer options there are, the stabler it is.
• For this option in particular, remember that NM used to add items to the menu, and it's not like you could control that before this version.

Originally Posted by Vladi69

I see that it doesn't accept <label> like ON/OFF in reader, library, browser. But in main it is accepted, seems strange. Is it known?

Can you show me the exact `menu_item`s you added to the config file, and if possible, a screenshot of what happens?

Originally Posted by John F

With the Kobo firmware changing, any chance that you can implement setting the light level using nickelmenu?

The situation with the frontlight hasn't changed.

Originally Posted by compurandom

Debugging NickelMenu is an exercise in frustration.
It'd be a lot less so if an error didn't zap all my custom menus, especially the one containing force usb... :)

Instead of ignoring all configuration, when it gets an error, could you have it add the config error to the menu as it does now and then do one of the following:

* stop reading config entries, but accept what it has read so far

* abort reading the current file (or ignore everything in the current file) but continue to the next file as if there was no error

* skip the flawed entry (and any following chained entries), but continue with the rest of the file

Ideallly, if there are multiple flaws, it might end up with multiple config errors in the menu.

The issue with that is it makes reloading a bit more complicated, but I'll consider it for later.

Originally Posted by compurandom

On a related note, the entry that was failing for me was:

menu_item:main:Web Browser: nickel_browser:

Did I miss something to open a non-modal default url?
I can get it to work if I either add modal or add a url (or both).

Also, there's no examples in Doc for nickel_browser

Are you sure you included the trailing colon? If so, what was the exact error message?

Originally Posted by Patatas

Dumb question, with Nickelmenu can I launch QT apps, or thats outside of the scope of things it can run?

I am unsure if this can be a replacement to something like Kobo Launcher or if they are different things?

Yes, you should be able to launch normal Qt apps with NickelMenu as long as the executable is standalone or you have a script to launch it. You can use the `cmd_spawn` action to start it.

[Gibbo]

@geek1011 is it possible for nikel menu to make the clock stay on all screens?.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Gibbo

@geek1011 is it possible for nikel menu to make the clock stay on all screens?.

That would be a question for the patches, not NickelMenu.

[compurandom]

(about keeping menus on errors)

Originally Posted by geek1011

The issue with that is it makes reloading a bit more complicated, but I'll consider it for later.

I can see how that could be messy. And ironically, debugging was made even more frustrating because sometimes it didn't reload without a reboot anyway. A reload option would also have been nice for the debug cycle. A reload (or reload/cancel) from the error dialog would be perfect, but no idea if that's possible, and if it actually reloaded after every usb eject, it wouldn't be needed.

Are you sure you included the trailing colon? If so, what was the exact error message?

I actually converted it from the old nickel_misc:web_browser format, and then read the docs, changed it to nickel_browser without the trailing colon, read the docs again, and then added the colon.

So I've tried it all ways, although it is possible it didn't reload on some of the attempts and I didn't notice. Also possibly an early error made it stop reloading and it took a reboot to clear that.

The error was something like parse error in field 5 unexpected end of line.

edit: I'm sure the last version I tested before I got it working had the trailing colon and so it had a reboot immediately before I gave up on the line I pasted.

[geek1011]

Originally Posted by compurandom

I can see how that could be messy. And ironically, debugging was made even more frustrating because sometimes it didn't reload without a reboot anyway. A reload option would also have been nice for the debug cycle. A reload (or reload/cancel) from the error dialog would be perfect, but no idea if that's possible, and if it actually reloaded after every usb eject, it wouldn't be needed.

Err, that doesn't make any sense at all. It should be checking the config for changes every time the menu is opened. I think your editor or something else may be keeping copies of the broken config somewhere. Can you try making changes between usb ejects and then send me the syslog so I can take a look?

The error was something like parse error in field 5 unexpected end of line.

Are you sure it was with the nickel_browser line?