Menus

CEW4 · 10-29-2011, 02:12 PM

Hi,

what I've always been dearly missing in Calibre is the lack of menus. The focus on toolbar icons just doesn't do it for me.

So I looked into the help files on plugin development. From what I've read, it should be a simple matter of creating a menu, then calling the corresponding function. Is this correct, or am I overlooking some complication?

Furthermore, if such a plugin is indeed possible - has anyone else ever worked on such? I presume that this is not exactly a new idea. Is it?

Regards,
CEW4

user_none · 10-29-2011, 03:32 PM

Are you referring to a menu bar like the standard File, Edit...? Calibre already has this functionality. It is only default enabled on OS X. You can customize it and make it appear by adding items to it in Preferences, Toolbars. Look for the menubar and device menubar entries.

CEW4 · 10-29-2011, 03:50 PM

That's exactly what I mean. And I'm aware of the options in Preferences, yet I've not been able to use them: I'm successful in adding a command to the menu bar, but not a menu.

Can you help me on this?

DoctorOhh · 10-29-2011, 11:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CEW4

That's exactly what I mean. And I'm aware of the options in Preferences, yet I've not been able to use them: I'm successful in adding a command to the menu bar, but not a menu.

Can you help me on this?

There is nothing to help, you've figured it all out and it doesn't do what you expect. However there are right click context menus that you can access via the main library view or the browser view.

Moderator Notice
Thread moved, read this Development forum sticky post, PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING - The purpose of this subforum, before posting again in the development sub-forum.

PeterT · 10-29-2011, 11:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwanthny

There is nothing to help, you've figured it all out and it doesn't do what you expect. However there are right click context menus that you can access via the main library view or the browser view.

Thread moved, read this Development forum sticky post, PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING - The purpose of this subforum, before posting again in the development sub-forum.

Normally I accept your moves; however the original post DID MEET THE CRITERIA; the author was asking about writing a PLUGIN to support menus...

And why you move this to a LIBRARY MANAGEMENT sub-forum is totally beyond me.

DoctorOhh · 10-30-2011, 12:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

Normally I accept your moves; however the original post DID MEET THE CRITERIA; the author was asking about writing a PLUGIN to support menus...

He wasn't at all clear that he is interested in writing a plugin or code to support his inquiry. The sticky post states:

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaley

This subforum is not the place for bug reports, enhancement proposals unless you make clear in your post that you are prepared to develop the enhancements yourself, discussions about how to use calibre, regular expressions, how to import and export, or other general questions.

His post seemed more like an enhancement request or "how to" question.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

And why you move this to a LIBRARY MANAGEMENT sub-forum is totally beyond me.

Since he was asking about using existing features of the calibre library GUI it seemed appropriate, but placing it in the general calibre forum might be better.

Karma your way for adding clarity.

I moved it back to the development forum. I still don't think this is appropriate for the development forum, but I'll leave it in development to give the OP a chance to expresses his interest in developing code to add the menu structure he desires.

theducks · 10-30-2011, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PeterT

Normally I accept your moves; however the original post DID MEET THE CRITERIA; the author was asking about writing a PLUGIN to support menus...

And why you move this to a LIBRARY MANAGEMENT sub-forum is totally beyond me.

I am going to back Walt's initial Call(s).

This did not appear to be a development question (other than possibly a personal hack,which the rules are not clear on, to me.).

CEW4 · 10-30-2011, 06:38 AM

The way I understand the situation from the replys, Calibre's built in options do not provide menus. They may start to implement such, but not to the extent that they would be usable as one would expect.

And indeed my intent is to create a plugin that does provide full "classic" menus. The purpose of my post was to find out

a) if there already is such an effort and

b) if I overlooked some technical issue that would make this goal impractical to realize.

So far, I think the answers to this are No and No. Right? ;-)

DoctorOhh · 10-30-2011, 06:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CEW4

The way I understand the situation from the replys, Calibre's built in options do not provide menus.

Just what you see when you go to Preferences - Toolbars and click the dropdown arow to see what menus you can modify.

Quote:

Originally Posted by CEW4

And indeed my intent is to create a plugin that does provide full "classic" menus. The purpose of my post was to find out

a) if there already is such an effort and

b) if I overlooked some technical issue that would make this goal impractical to realize.

So far, I think the answers to this are No and No. Right? ;-)

No and I have no idea. Looking forward to seeing what you might come up with.

Welcome Aboard.

CEW4 · 10-30-2011, 06:50 AM

Good enough. I'll give it a try.

Thanks!

itimpi · 10-30-2011, 06:55 AM

If by 'classic' menus you mean a menu bar as opposed to the toolbar used by default then can already have this. By default the menu bar is empty and thus not displayed. As was mentioned in an earlier reply you can populate a menu under Preferences->Interface->Toolbar and select the Menubar (one for normal case and another for when device connected) and then customise it by adding the entries you want on it.

If you want additional functionality on this menu bar customisation then enhancing the current functionality is the way to proceed.

CEW4 · 10-30-2011, 07:00 AM

Thanks for your comment. With the built-in functionality I was only able to put a command to the menu bar, but not to create a real menu (like "File", "About" etc.) that itself contains commands.

A previous reply stated that this is the way it's supposed to work. To me, that's no solution at all.

itimpi · 10-30-2011, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CEW4

Thanks for your comment. With the build-in functionality I was only able to put a command to the menu bar, but not to create a real menu (like "File", "About" etc.) that itself contains commands.

A previous reply stated that this is the way it's supposed to work. To me, that's no solution at all.

That was why I said that you may want to look at how the current menubar functionality works. It should be possible to enhance it I would have thought to give the sort of functionality that you are talking about. That would certainly be the right way forward so that it was properly integrated into Calibre. However I would see it as being a non-trivial task.

It could also be worth looking at how on a Mac entries are added to the standard Mac menubar in case that is something that can be built on.

CEW4 · 10-30-2011, 07:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by itimpi

That was why I said that you may want to look at how the current menubar functionality works. It should be possible to enhance it I would have thought to give the sort of functionality that you are talking about.

Yes, I see. But you are right - I feel that this kind of modification would be beyond me. The API interface looks somewhat clear to me, but I haven't dipped into the main Calibre code and don't feel confident enough to do it yet either.

DoctorOhh · 10-30-2011, 07:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CEW4

Yes, I see. But you are right - I feel that this kind of modification would be beyond me. The API interface looks somewhat clear to me, but I haven't dipped into the main Calibre code and don't feel confident enough to do it yet either.

So it looks like creating a plugin with the items you think are missing might be the way to go. Every plugin I have has an extensive menu attached to it.

10-29-2011, 02:12 PM	#1
CEW4 Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Germany Device: Oyo, Kindle	Menus Hi, what I've always been dearly missing in Calibre is the lack of menus. The focus on toolbar icons just doesn't do it for me. So I looked into the help files on plugin development. From what I've read, it should be a simple matter of creating a menu, then calling the corresponding function. Is this correct, or am I overlooking some complication? Furthermore, if such a plugin is indeed possible - has anyone else ever worked on such? I presume that this is not exactly a new idea. Is it? Regards, CEW4

10-30-2011, 07:00 AM	#12
CEW4 Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Germany Device: Oyo, Kindle	Thanks for your comment. With the built-in functionality I was only able to put a command to the menu bar, but not to create a real menu (like "File", "About" etc.) that itself contains commands. A previous reply stated that this is the way it's supposed to work. To me, that's no solution at all. Last edited by CEW4; 10-30-2011 at 07:09 AM.

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10-29-2011, 03:32 PM	#2
user_none Sigil & calibre developer Posts: 2,487 Karma: 1063785 Join Date: Jan 2009 Location: Florida, USA Device: Nook STR	Are you referring to a menu bar like the standard File, Edit...? Calibre already has this functionality. It is only default enabled on OS X. You can customize it and make it appear by adding items to it in Preferences, Toolbars. Look for the menubar and device menubar entries.

10-29-2011, 03:50 PM	#3
CEW4 Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Germany Device: Oyo, Kindle	That's exactly what I mean. And I'm aware of the options in Preferences, yet I've not been able to use them: I'm successful in adding a command to the menu bar, but not a menu. Can you help me on this?

10-30-2011, 06:38 AM	#8
CEW4 Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Germany Device: Oyo, Kindle	The way I understand the situation from the replys, Calibre's built in options do not provide menus. They may start to implement such, but not to the extent that they would be usable as one would expect. And indeed my intent is to create a plugin that does provide full "classic" menus. The purpose of my post was to find out a) if there already is such an effort and b) if I overlooked some technical issue that would make this goal impractical to realize. So far, I think the answers to this are No and No. Right? ;-)

10-30-2011, 06:50 AM	#10
CEW4 Member Posts: 23 Karma: 10 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Germany Device: Oyo, Kindle	Good enough. I'll give it a try. Thanks!

10-30-2011, 06:55 AM	#11
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,553 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	If by 'classic' menus you mean a menu bar as opposed to the toolbar used by default then can already have this. By default the menu bar is empty and thus not displayed. As was mentioned in an earlier reply you can populate a menu under Preferences->Interface->Toolbar and select the Menubar (one for normal case and another for when device connected) and then customise it by adding the entries you want on it. If you want additional functionality on this menu bar customisation then enhancing the current functionality is the way to proceed.

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