DAVIX Contributor Guide: Menu Items - secviz/davix GitHub Wiki

This will outline the basic step for creating new menu items and adding them to the XML file.

Step 1: Identify Category

Ultimately we may incorporate subdirectories for each tool which will increase the complexity of adding a menu item but at this point we only have the following directories:

Services (davix2014-services-<tool>.desktop)
Capture (davix2014-capture-<tool>.desktop)
Process (davix2014-process-<tool>.desktop)
Visualize (davix2014-visualize-<tool>.desktop)

Identify which category your menu item belongs under. In the case where a menu item falls under multiple categories (e.g., Chaosreader) then create separate menu item files for each category to allow the greatest flexibility.

Step 2: Create .desktop Files

Create file(s) for your new menu item following the category naming convention. For our example, Treemap, you would create the following file:

davix2014-visualize-treemap.desktop

Step 3: Edit the .desktop File Content

The very base content for a menu item follows; cut & paste into your menu item files and then we will modify the appropriate values.

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=
Name=

Modify the “Exec” and “Name” fields:

Exec contains the command to execute the application; fully qualify your paths where required.
Name is the text displayed for the menu item.

In our example we create this file:

#!/usr/bin/env xdg-open
[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Type=Application
Terminal=false
Exec=/opt/davix/scripts/treemap
Name=Treemap

Step 4: Edit the applications.menu File

Locate the section of the applications.menu file that contains the submenu for your category. Here’s an example of what the Process submenu section looks like:

<!-- DAVIX Process submenu -->
  <Menu>
    <Name>Process</Name>
    <Directory>davix2014-davix-process.directory</Directory>
    <Include>
      <Filename>davix2014-documentation-wiki.desktop</Filename> 
      <Filename>davix2014-documentation-wikistatic.desktop</Filename> 
      <Filename>davix2014-process-afterglow.desktop</Filename> 
      <Filename>davix2014-process-argus.desktop</Filename> 
      <Filename>davix2014-process-chaosreader.desktop</Filename>
      <Filename>davix2014-process-ipsumdump.desktop</Filename>  
      <Filename>davix2014-process-logstash.desktop</Filename>  
      <Filename>davix2014-process-nsmconsole.desktop</Filename>
      <Filename>davix2014-process-padsreport.desktop</Filename>
      <Filename>davix2014-process-p0f.desktop</Filename>  
      <Filename>davix2014-process-sagan.desktop</Filename>  
      <Filename>davix2014-process-scapy.desktop</Filename>  
      <Filename>davix2014-process-tcpreplay.desktop</Filename>  
      <Filename>davix2014-process-tcpslice.desktop</Filename>   
      <Filename>davix2014-process-tcpxtract.desktop</Filename> 
    </Include>
  </Menu>

Copy one of the lines, revise so it references your new menu item and paste it into the list.

For our example, here’s a segment of the Visualize submenu:


      <Filename>davix2014-visualize-tnv.desktop</Filename>
      <Filename>davix2014-visualize-zenmap.desktop</Filename>
    </Include>
  </Menu>

We’ll copy/paste the row with <Filename>davix2014-visualize-tnv.desktop</Filename> and change “tnv” to “treemap” in one row, then we have the following:

      
      <Filename>davix2014-visualize-tnv.desktop</Filename>
      <Filename>davix2014-visualize-treemap.desktop</Filename>
      <Filename>davix2014-visualize-zenmap.desktop</Filename>
    </Include>
  </Menu>

Step 5: Save and Commit

Make sure to save your files and commit them to the repository!