Users starting Solaris 10 for the first time usually have two choices: CDE or JDS (Java Desktop System). While CDE lacks certain features and the comfort known from other desktop systems, like a one-click window selection area or a pager, it’s still my first choice. Why? Because it’s fast due to an extremely small memory footprint, quite easy to use and stable. It is therefore perfectly suited for administrative and development tasks.

No, this is not an homage to the antiquated Common Desktop System but since I have done some customizations to my systems I’d like to share it with you. So, in this article I am going to show you how to:

• customize CDE’s Workspace Menu
• place applications icons on the desktop
• integrate arbitrary window managers and desktop systems with dtlogin

Customizing CDE’s Workspace Menu

CDE’s Front Panel is handy for the most important tasks but is the wrong place to put your applications into because it quickly gets jam-packed with lots of icons. Instead use the Workspace Menu which pops up when clicking the right mouse button on the desktop. It can be customized quite easily but requires some initial efforts and some understanding of the dt directory structure.

Solaris’ desktop configuration is located in /usr/dt. We never do customizations to any of the files contained therein, instead we make copies of single files or complete directory structures and modify them. This approach is needed to prevent the loss of your customizations resulting from patches and system updates. System-wide modifications visible to all users of this particular system are put in /etc/dt and per-user customizations are expected to be found in $HOME/.dt.

The workspace manager searches for one of the following resource description files, where $LANG is the value of the language environment on a per-user basis:

• $HOME/.dt/$LANG/dtwmrc
• $HOME/.dt/dtwmrc
• /etc/dt/config/$LANG/sys.dtwmrc
• /etc/dt/config/sys.dtwmrc
• /usr/dt/config/$LANG/sys.dtwmrc
• /usr/dt/config/sys.dtwmrc

The first file found is the first used. If no file is found, a set of built-in specifications is used. We can specify exactly three kinds of resources in dtwmrc: Buttons, Menus and Keys. In this article I will explain how to create Menu resources only.

Modifying the Workspace Menu

The factory default of the Workspace Menu is outlined in /usr/dt/config/sys.dtwmrc which we copy to $HOME/.dt/$LANG/dtwmrc. The variable $LANG denotes the lanugage environment you’re currently using which can be any of the names found in /usr/dt/config. If you for example run CDE with en_US.ISO-8859-1 as you’re language environment you’ll have to copy sys.dtwmrc to $HOME/.dt/en_US.ISO-8859-1/dtwmrc and modify this file. (NOTE: It may be an anomaly on my system, but placing dtwmrc in $HOME/.dt/dtwmrc does not work for me; only files placed in my language environment folder are recognized.)

Usually you don’t have to keep all the entries in dtwmrc since it is merged with the files found in /etc/dt and /usr/dt. For those not familiar with the syntax, here are some hints on what the entries in dtwmrc mean:

Menu menu_name {
    label  [mnemonic]  [accelerator]   function
    label  [mnemonic]  [accelerator]   function
              .
              .
    label  [mnemonic]  [accelerator]   function
}

Menu is a keyword that denotes the beginning of a menu specification. It is followed the name of the menu which may contain alphanumeric characters only. Inside the curly braces are placed the respective menu entries with the mnemonic and the accelerator being optional. Mnemonics are functional only when the menu is posted and keyboard traversal applies. Depending on the funtion different or no arguments are expected to follow the function name.

A sample menu specification might look like this:

Menu MyMenu {
    "My Menu"               f.title
    "My first Menu Entry"   f.exec "/usr/bin/myapp"
     no-label               f.separator
    "Another Menu Entry"    f.action DtFile
}

While f.exec expects a string to an executable or script including any arguments, f.action invokes an action from the action database. Enter man dtwmrc to see what functions are allowed for which resources and contexts. Besides f.exec and f.action other usefull functions are f.separator to insert a horizontal line between menu entries and f.title to provide a name for the Menu. no-label is a placeholder that effectively expands to an empty string which prevents breaking with the menu specification syntax.

Finally, we’ll have to tell the root menu that there is another submenu to be added. Locate the Menu RootMenu entry (which is most likely to be found at the beginning of the file) and add the line:

"My Menu"  f.menu MyMenu

The root menu follows the same conventions as other menu specifications. My Menu is the label which is displayed in the Workspace Menu, f.menu is the function that tells the root menu to integrate the menu specification MyMenu. That’s it.

When finished with the modifications, you may have to click the “Refresh Workspace Menu” item from the “Windows” menu. On my Solaris box all alternations are visible at once without the need to refresh the menu explicitly.

Placing Application Icons on the Desktop

Unfortunately, CDE lacks one of the most important features: letting users place icons on the desktop, either application icons or shortcuts to their favorite documents. Often, the CDE beginner is asking can I place arbitrary icons on my desktop? and is answered no! which is only partially correct. It is indeed possible to place icons on the desktop which are associated with an action. As a matter of fact, actions can be augmented with user-defined commands with the COMMAND property thus enabling users to put an icon on the desktop which points to a document or URL and is actually represented by an action invoking the appropriate application. So, yes, you can place icons on the desktop, but not arbitrary icons as they must be associated with an action.

To create a desktop icon we will have to create a Known Application a.k.a. Action. Once an Action has been created it can be placed on the desktop, invoked from the command line or put into the front panel. Following is an instruction on how to create an action and how to place it as an icon on the desktop and the front panel.

Creating an Action

1. Start the Application Manager (click on the icon of a filing cabinet with a pencil).
2. In the pplication Manger window, double-click on the Desktop Applications icon.
3. In the Desktop Applications window, double-click on the Create Action icon.
4. Fill in the Create Action panel:
1. If you chose not to use the application icon set, ignore the following four steps and proceed to the Command When Action Is Opened step.
2. In the Action Icons area, click on Find Set…
3. In the left pane, double-click on cde$home_defaults:[icons]
4. In the right pane, click on the application icon.
5. Click on OK.
6. In the Command When Action Is Opened field, enter the DCL command starting the application, adding evtl. parameters of the form %Arg_1%, like gv %Arg_1%
7. In the Help Text For Action Icon field, enter some help text you want to appear when help is requested.
8. In the Window Type field, select Graphical (X-Window).
5. If you want to see files with a application icon in the File Manager, perform the following steps. This step is optional; you can skip this section and proceed to step 6.
1. Click on the Advanced button on the lower left side of the Create Action window.
2. Click on the Add button next to the Datatypes That Use This Action pane. A new Add Datatype window will open.
3. Click on the Edit button. A new window will open.
4. Click on the small button to the left of the Name Pattern box.
5. Fill in *.type in the Name Pattern box.
6. Click on OK. You are back in the Add Datatype window.
7. Click on the Find Set button.
8. Choose the icon file you would like to use.
9. Click on OK
10. Click on OK in the Add Datatype window.
11. Repeat for all datatypes you would like to give the application icon.

Note: If you previously added the application icon to your desktop, and you now want to enable the application icon in the File Manager, execute these steps:

1. Perform the steps 1, 2 and 3 above.
2. In the Create Action window select File -> Open. You should see a application.dt file in the right pane.
3. Select this file and click on OK.
12. When you have finished filling in the Create Action panel, select File -> Save.
13. Select File -> Exit to exit the Create Action application.
14. Log out and terminate the CDE session, and then log back in again starting a new CDE session. This is required so that CDE can see the changes you made.

Making the Application Appear as a Desktop Icon or Entry in the Control Panel

The application is now a Known Application to CDE. To make the application appear as a desktop icon or appear as an entry in the Front Panel, perform the following steps.

1. Start the File Manager (click on the icon of a filing cabinet with files).
2. If necessary, scroll down the window until you see the application icon.
3. To create a desktop icon, drag the application icon from the File Manager onto the desktop.
4. To add the application to the Front Panel:
1. Expand the sub-panel to which you want to add the application (for example, Personal Applications) by clicking on the upwards facing triangle above the sub-panel.
2. Drag the application icon from the File Manager onto the Install icon.

Integration of Other Window Managers

In case the system(s) you’re administering server multiple users with different needs, you may want to provide for them different desktop environments such as KDE, GNOME and the like. It may therefore be useful to allow users to choose their preferred environment from the dtlogin screen. Although most of these ready-to-run packages already integrate themselves into dtlogin I does not hurt to know how to integrate any window manager or desktop system. Here is how it can be done.

The system wide default files for CDE configuration are located in /usr/dt/config and Sun recommends that if any personal customizations are to be done that they be placed under the /etc/dt/config directory (which does not exist by default).

Please follow the following steps to add your favorite window manager to dtlogin; I’ll use Enlightenment as an example (btw: you will need superuser privileges to make the needed changes):

1. Create the necessary directories:

   # mkdir -p /etc/dt/appconfig/icons/C
   # mkdir -p /etc/dt/config/C/Xresources.d

2. Copy some existing files for modification:

# cp -p /usr/dt/config/Xsession.ow /etc/dt/config/Xsession.el
# cp -p /usr/dt/config/Xsession.ow2 /etc/dt/config/Xsession.el2

The new files Xsession.el and Xsession.el2 need to be edited. Basically, change all occurences of Xsession.ow to Xsession.el and OpenWindows to Enlightenment. In addition alter any explicit references to /usr/dt into /etc/dt.

Please note that, conventionally, there are two setup scripts used in CDE login.

/etc/dt/config/Xsession.el should look something like this:

#!/bin/ksh
 
DTDSPMSG=/usr/dt/bin/dtdspmsg
 
if [ -z "$SESSIONTYPE" ]; then
    export SESSIONTYPE="altDt"
fi
 
if [ -z "$DTSTARTIMS" ]; then
    export DTSTARTIMS="False"
fi
 
if [ -z "$SDT_ALT_SESSION" ]; then
    export SDT_ALT_SESSION="/etc/dt/config/Xsession.el2"
fi
 
if [ -z "$SDT_ALT_HELLO" ];  then
    if [ -x $DTDSPMSG ]; then
       export SDT_ALT_HELLO="/usr/dt/bin/dthello -string
        '`$DTDSPMSG -s 37 /usr/dt/lib/nls/msg/$LANG/dthello.cat 1
        'Starting Enlightenment'`' &"
    else
       export SDT_ALT_HELLO="/usr/dt/bin/dthello -string
       'Starting Enlightenment' &"
    fi
fi
 
export SDT_NO_DSDM=""
 
if [ -x /etc/dt/config/Xsession ]; then
    /etc/dt/config/Xsession
else
    /usr/dt/bin/Xsession
fi

/etc/dt/config/Xsession.el2 should look something like this

#!/bin/ksh
 
unset SDT_ALT_SESSION
unset SDT_ALT_HELLO
unset SDT_NO_DSDM
 
# Find "xinitrc" file by standard precedence rules and start
# the user's Enlightenment Desktop.
 
DEFAULT_XINITRC="/etc/dt/config/Xinitrc.el"
HOME_XINITRC="$HOME/.xinitrc"
PATH=/usr/dt/bin:$PATH:/usr/openwin/bin
 
if [ -z "$XINITRC" ]; then
    if [ -f $HOME_XINITRC ]; then
        XINITRC=$HOME_XINITRC
    else
        XINITRC=$DEFAULT_XINITRC
    fi
fi
 
echo "Enlightenment Desktop Login"
 
if [ -f $XINITRC ]; then
    echo "using xinitrc file: $XINITRC"
    /bin/ksh $XINITRC
else
    echo "xinitrc file: $XINITRC not found"
 
    if [ -f $DEFAULT_XINITRC ]; then
        echo "using xinitrc: $DEFAULT_XINITRC"
        /bin/ksh $DEFAULT_XINITRC
    fi
fi

3. Create a resources file:

# cp -p /usr/dt/config/C/Xresources.d/Xresources.ow
/etc/dt/config/C/Xresources.d/Xresources.el

This file should edited to look like the following:

Dtlogin*altDtsIncrement:   True
Dtlogin*altDtName:  Enlightenment Desktop
Dtlogin*altDtKey:   /opt/csw/bin/enlightenment
Dtlogin*altDtStart: /usr/openwin/lib/xdm/Xsession.el
Dtlogin*altDtLogo:  Dtlogo

The meaning of the resource names are as follows

Dtlogin*altDtsIncrement

The presence of the altDtsIncrement resource in these files causes an incre- mented count number to be appended to the resources. This feature is mostly useful for “package added” desktops.

Dtlogin*altDtName

This is the name of the new desktop which will appear in the Sessions menu.

Dtlogin*altDtKey

This is what window manager to run. We specify the executable or script to invoke but do not qualify it.

Dtlogin*altDtStart

This is the configuration script.

Dtlogin*altDtLogo

This is the logo that appears in the dtlogin window and is a 237×237 XPM file located in /usr/dt/appconfig/icons/C/. NOTE: These files have an extension of .pm not .xpm, don’t ask me why but that is the way Sun does it.

Use the correct location for /opt/csw/bin/enlightenment on your system or whatever window manager you plan to use.

4. If you have a suitablely sized icon for your window manager you can place a copy in /etc/dt/appconfig/icons/C and modify the resource Dtlogin*altDtLogo appropriately. All you have to specifiy is the name of the image file without extension. This is a 237 x 237 pixel XPM format file (preferably 256 colors, otherwise it will not work on 8-bit or pseudocolor displays). Put this file in /usr/dt/appconfig/icons/C. Rename it with the extension .pm but do not include this extension in the resource string shown above. For example, if you name your logo file Ellogo.pm, simply enter Ellogo in Xresources.el.