How to set up Menu items such that if an instance is already running, the running instance is brought to the foreground?

[Duncan]

kde posted on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 01:31:16 +0000 as excerpted:

> On Saturday 05 March 2011 17:57:10 Duncan wrote:
>> Dotan Cohen posted on Sat, 05 Mar 2011 16:07:56 +0200 as excerpted:
>> > I have two separate cases where seniors using KDE like to open many
>> > instances of the same application rather than use the already-open
>> > application. This is a user problem, not a KDE problem, but I wonder
>> > if there is  technical solution.
>> >
>> > These users click the application's menu item to start using the
>> > application, even if there is already an open instance in the Taskbar
>> > or in the System Tray.

> If this is a general problem built into 4.xxxx KDE I will be going else
> where.
> 
> I often have several spread sheets, pdf's and all sorts of things open
> in the way you describe ie. several instances.  Under 3.xxx any number
> of instances of kde programs are fine.  ( ;-) Other than mail for
> slightly understandable reasons )

> If KDE has dropped to this sort of level it really is a rather sad
> because if it's a general thing it's a sign of extremely badly conceived
> software organisation. Instances should run entirely independently of
> each other. Bit difficult with mail but not so hard on most other
> things.

Don't worry, then.  kde4 still runs fine with multiple instances of apps 
running.  In fact, that's what Dotan C. was asking about, as that's what 
is causing the confusion with his senior users.

But you shouldn't have a problem running more than one instance of an app 
if you want, and you're not the only one that would be going elsewhere, 
were that to become a kde restriction.  Rest assured on that! =:^)

...

Dotan, while writing the above, I thought of another angle, as well.  
Perhaps part of the problem for your seniors is kde's session management.  
If they quit kde with several app instances running and kde restarts them 
when it comes back up, but they don't understand that, they may be 
starting a new instance each time, not thinking that kde might have 
remembered what was running the last time and restarted it, so the 
instances gradually build up...

Of course, you can make kde start with a clean session each time, if you 
wish.  That would cure that issue.

But what about going about it from the other angle?  Have kde start all 
the apps they need, then save that as their session, and hide the 
launcher, so all they have is the taskbar.  You could take the close 
button off the title bar too, making it more difficult to close the apps, 
and if they did, they'd only have to restart kde to have the pre-set 
session come back with all their apps.

It may or may not work in practice, but it's certainly thinking about the 
problem from "outside the box".  Reverse the problem and it goes away. =:^)

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman

___________________________________________________
This message is from the kde mailing list.
Account management:  https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde.
Archives: http://lists.kde.org/.
More info: http://www.kde.org/faq.html.