xfce4-finder

Smart and intuitive application finder, complete with theme and customization support for the XFCE desktop. For more up to date information visit the xfce4-finder Github Repository.

Key Features

Blazingly fast realtime application finding
Inline application argument launching using tab
- Begin by typing an application name, hit TAB_KEY to lock it in, begin typing arguments to that application (ie. “mail” TAB_KEY “someone@someplace.com” ENTER_KEY).
Customizable UI and theme using CSS
Intuitive Web/Desktop Integration
- Just type what you’re looking for, the application will determine whether or not an application should be launched or if the context requires an online web search.
Direct command invocation
- Utilize terminal commands directly by typing the executable name (ie. “gedit” ENTER_KEY).
Supports tab autocomplete for local application and filenames
Supports CONTROL_KEY + ENTER_KEY for domain name completion (ie. google => www.google.com, google.com => www.google.com, www.google => www.google.com).

Customizable Settings

Application settings can be controlled using xfconf-query.

Available settings:

/file-extension – defaults to “.desktop”, controls the filenames to use for parsing.
/web-search – defaults to “https://www.google.com/#safe=on&q=%s“, controls the url format to use when applying a web search, %s is replaced by the query to be used.
/theme = defaults to “default”, controls the CSS file to use for the application (Default location is: ~/.config/xfce4/finder/default.css).
/application-directories – defaults to /usr/share/applications and ~/.local/share/applications, specifies the directories in which to look for application files with matching /file-extension.

List all available settings:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-finder -l

List a setting:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-finder -p /web-search

Change a setting:

xfconf-query -c xfce4-finder -p /web-search -s https://www.bing.com?q=%s

Installation

This application is available under the Arch Linux AUR repository as a PKGBUILD. To install using yaourt, use the following command:

yaourt xfce4-finder

Building

To build the application you will need to have the following dependencies installed.

On Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S glib2 gtkmm garcon xfconf libxfce4util libxfce4ui automake autoconf xfce4-dev-tools

Building the application:

cd xfce4-finder/
./autogen.sh
make
make install

Running

Open xfce4-keyboard-settings and bind a key combination to use for the xfce4-finder such as META_KEY + SPACE_KEY or ALT_KEY + SPACE_KEY and invoke /usr/bin/xfce4-finder.

Once the application is displayed, begin typing. Execute commands with either the ENTER_KEY or by mouse clicking a selection in the autocomplete list.

Command Arguments

xfce4-finder 1.0

Usage:
  xfce4-finder [OPTION...]

Help Options:
  -h, --help            Show help options
  -v, --verbose         Show verbose text

Features/Issues

Feel free add feature requests or report issues: Features/Issues.

Community

Keep track of development and community news.

Follow @Collaboradev on Twitter.
Follow the Collaboradev Blog.

License

xfce4-finder is released under the MIT License.