Defining shortcuts in Metacity

Posted by jan.moren@lucs.lu.se on 2003-08-06 00:00:00

It is quite possible to add your own shortcut keys to Metacity to run whatever commands you like. Let's assume we want Control-e to launch gedit for us.

* Run gconf-editor (in rh9, at least, it is also available in the menu->System Tools->More System Tools->Configuration Editor).

* Go to "Apps->Metacity->Keybinding Commands"

Here we have a list of twelve slots for commands. We want one of them (command_3, say) to run gedit:

Double click (or right-click and choose "Edit key" in the popup-menu), and you will get to edit the key. In "Key Value", enter "gedit". Press OK.

Note that there is a bit of explanatory text at the bottom of the gconf-editor screen.

We have our command, but now we must also tell Metacity what key to press to run it. Go to "Global keybindings" (in the list to the left). As you see, there are a lot of stuff to bind keys to. Scroll down until you find the line "run_command_3" - it's about in the middle of the list.

* Select the line and double-click or select "Edit key". Change the key value to "e". Press "Ok".

You're done! Try it by pressing ctrl-e and you should get a gedit window.

Gconf saves stuff immediately as you enter it, and also notifies the application (Metacity, in our case) immediately, so there is no need to save or restart anything.