The Status Line

Documentation / Contents - Menu & Shortcuts

• Overview of Menu & Shortcuts
  • Two Pages, Two Files
  • Who Is In Charge
• Editing the Desktop Menu
  • Reading the Tree
  • Changing a Label or a Command
  • Adding Items, Submenus and Separators
  • Deleting and Reordering
  • Reload File
• Editing Shortcuts
  • The Action List
  • The Inspector
• Setting a Shortcut
  • Arming the Capture
  • When a Chord Is Already Taken
  • Clear and Reset Default
  • Reset All Defaults
• The Action Catalog
  • Window
  • Desktop
  • Tiling
  • Session
  • Launchers
• Where the Settings Live
  • The Shortcuts File
  • The Menu File
  • The Legacy Keys File
• The Status Line
• Keys and Shortcuts in the Editor
• Copyright Information

The Status Line

A single line of text runs along the bottom of the window, above the Help and Close buttons. It is the only place the editor reports what it just did, so it is worth reading.

Messages You Will See

After a shortcut change

Bound Control+Alt+k -> session.osk    the capture succeeded
Cleared (unbound).                    Clear freed the chord
Restored stock default for this action.
All shortcuts restored to stock defaults.
Capture cancelled.                    Escape, or pressed again
Press a shortcut (Esc cancels).       the capture is armed
Select an action first.               nothing is selected
Select an action under a category.    a heading is selected
Could not grab keyboard for capture.  something else holds it

A conflict message names the action that already owns the chord, in English and by technical id, and selects that action in the list. See Setting a Shortcut.

After a menu change

Added command item.
Added submenu.
Added separator.
Deleted.
Moved up.
Moved down.
Reloaded menu from disk (local edits discarded).

About saving

Saved keys.conf - cywm reloading hotkeys.
Saved menu - cywm reloading.
Saved keys.conf (could not notify cywm).
Saved menu (could not notify cywm).
Error: could not write keys.conf
Error: could not write ~/.cyanotype/menu

"Could not notify" is not a failure to save. The file is written; there is simply no Blueprint window manager listening, so nothing has changed on screen yet. Your settings will be picked up when one starts.

"Error: could not write" is a real failure. Check that the directory ~/.cyanotype exists and that you can write to it.

Dry run

Dry-run: keys not written.
Dry-run: menu not written.

The editor was started with --dryrun, which builds and shows the whole window but writes nothing and sends nothing. It is there so the panel can be exercised safely, including on a machine whose settings you do not want to disturb.