Circular-Application-Menu (C-A-M) by Cole Anstey

This is a circular-application-menu (C-A-M) prototype mirroring the same structure as the existing application menu for the GNOME desktop. This was originally just a paper prototype which I did back in March 2007, and decided to code over Christmas 2007-2008.

Other Implementations

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_menu

A YouTube Videos of C-A-M In Use

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXh1Tm24kTE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNyLu6JoUX8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yvLfUFHuCc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzV44KmLJrA

Updated

18th May 2009 - Fixed an error where .svg icons were not being used by default over any .xpm alternatives (http://code.google.com/p/circular-application-menu/issues/detail?id=15#c9).

14th May 2009 - Fixed an error where programs were launching and ignoring any arguments (http://code.google.com/p/circular-application-menu/issues/detail?id=15#c5). A command such as the following should now hopefully work 'nautilus /home/collie/code/circular-application-menu/'.

4th September 2008 - Added an request to display only one menu at a time (http://code.google.com/p/circular-application-menu/issues/detail?id=7). The shown menu in the hierachy can be changed via the Page-Up/PageDown/Home and End keys. Thanks to bitseven.

3rd September 2008 - Fixed an error than some people where experiencing during construction (http://code.google.com/p/circular-application-menu/issues/detail?id=6&can=1). Thanks to everyone who provided a stack trace.

27th August 2008 - Added a reflection effect by default. This stresses the processor somewhat; but it can be easily turned off (see below). Also added a highlight around the edge incase it's displayed over a black background.

25th August 2008 - Made any 'overlapped' portions of a menu by a sub menu translucent by 75%. This helps to stop the previous visual ambiguity with overlapped menus items merging with the current menu items. Also changed the small triangle which denoted a sub menu into a glyph to make it easier to differentiate between applications and menu types.

24th August 2008 - Added the ability to specify the emblem to use for the 'root' menu. By default it's the GNOME logo; but it can now be changed to allow for a specific distro logo. An Ubuntu one has been provided as an example. See the 'Application Options' section on how to specify your own.

23rd August 2008 - Changed the right mouse button click functionality slightly so it now aligns the currently shown menu to the click coordinate. Also fixed a bug so it warps the mouse to the centre of the screen when the root menu is initially shown.

28th July 2008 - The menu now uses the blur plugin by default; to blur underneath the menus. This can be turned off with an optional parameter (see below).

25th July 2008 - Fixed an error that sometimes occurred if the angle for a submenu was over 360.0 i.e. 360.6. This was a bugger to hunt down as it didn't ever happen for me, though I got reports that assertions were occasionally happening for other people in this scenario.

8th March 2008 - Initial revision.

Requirements

GNOME

A composited environment (i.e compiz, etc.)

gtk+ 2.12

compiz-devel

Installation

svn checkout http://circular-application-menu.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ circular-application-menu

cd circular-application-menu

make

su -c "install -m755 circular-main-menu /usr/bin" or sudo install -m755 circular-main-menu /usr/bin

Usage:

circular-main-menu OPTION... - circular-application-menu.

Help Options:

-?, --help Show help options

Application Options:

-h, --hide-preview

Hides the menu preview displayed when the mouse is over a menu.

-w, --warp-mouse-off

Stops the mouse from warping to the centre of the screen whenever a menu is shown.

-g, --glyph-size=S

The size of the glyphs 1=small 2=medium 3=large (default).

-b, --blur-off

Stops the blur from underneath the menu.

-e, --emblem=E

Specifies the emblems (colon separated) to use for the root menu ./pixmaps/ubuntu-emblem-normal.png:./pixmaps/ubuntu-emblem-prelight.png.

-t, --render-tabbed-only

Only shows the currently tabbed menu.

Adding as a panel launcher

1. Right-click on any vacant panel space and choose 'Add to Panel' from the displayed context menu.
2. When the 'Add to Panel' dialog opens, enter these details (ignore the quotes).
• Name: 'Circular Applications Menu'
• Generic name: 'Circular Application Menu'
• Comment: 'A Circular Application Menu Representation.'
• Command: 'circular-application-menu'
• Type: 'Application'
• Icon: < Pick one you like, I haven't designed one yet! >
• Run In Terminal: < Choose this option so the command that does not create a window in which to run. >

When you click on a menu segment the segment disappears and its displayed as the tab of the child menu. You can also use Page-Up, Page-Down, Home and End keys to navigate.

Making C-A-M the default menu for Alt+F1 (Metacity)

Change the existing 'Main Menu' to Alt+F3:

gconftool-2 --set --type string /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/panel_main_menu "

<alt>

F3"

Assign C-A-M as being Alt+F1

gconftool-2 --set --type string /apps/metacity/keybinding_commands/command_1 circular-main-menu

gconftool-2 --set --type string /apps/metacity/global_keybindings/run_command_1 "

<alt>

F1"

Anything Else

Page-Up/PageDown - Quick jump between menus in the hierachy.

Home/End - Jumps to the root menu or last sub menu.

Right-Click - Moves the currently opened menu to the mouse position.

Miscellaneous Information

• You can get a Debian pkg from http://www.getdeb.net/app/Circular+Application+Menu
• C-A-M receives a mention in the September 2008 issue of the 'LINUX Magazine'.
• Someone (not me) has dugg C-A-M !!! http://digg.com/linux_unix/Awesome_circular_application_menu_Google_Code
• My other project which I work on quite a lot is available at http://www.curlyankles.com/.

Note the blur plugin is not enabled on the system I took the screenshots from.