Add an option to lock icons in the dock

[glichou]

Problem

Currently, when an icon is dragged out of the dock, the icon is removed from the dock, this is very great normally but not for people with poor motor skills or eyesight (such as the elderly). Following the installation of eOS 8 at my grandmother's I noticed that she regularly deleted the dock icons when trying to open an application, which is annoying because she doesn't know how to open an application otherwise.

Proposal

Would it be possible to add an option in the settings to lock the dock to prevent icons from being accidentally deleted? Ideally, this option would be in elementary OS settings and not with a right click (the top would be to have it accessible only after entering the user session password).

Prior Art (Optional)

No response

[teamcons]

The issue with a setting is people would need to know it may be there, and look for it, to arrange what would need to be a better, more accessible default to begin with.

Id rather suggest other approaches:
-A minimum drag distance. So even if she drags it a bit, it isnt far enough for the dock to consider it a real, clear intentional "drag to remove"
This approach may remove the obstacle of "the icon is removed"... but the app doesnt start because it was dragged, not clicked, so there is still the obstacle of "i tried to click"

-Change the feature in "drag and drop app to start it" ? Which makes it go the opposite than current. But tbh it is a weird feature to begin with. But it makes sense to drag an app icon on the screen and see it enlarge in a window
this makes a difficulty to click still result in an intended action
it brings a slight annoyant to touch screen users who may feel a long press to get the menu to unpin is annoying

-No "drag to remove app icon" by default, with possibility to enable it. So the default is the accessible one, and the existence of a setting inform of the existence of the feature to someone who doesnt need it but would appreciate it
Same issue as the first approach, the issue of "i tried to click but i dragged it"

(Huh interesting. I didnt know that feature existed... it doesnt even work on my computer!...)

[danirabbit]

@teamcons see also #31

I don't think this should be closed as a duplicate quite yet, but there is some other sentiment behind just removing/changing this feature rather than adding a setting

[teamcons]

@teamcons see also #31

I don't think this should be closed as a duplicate quite yet, but there is some other sentiment behind just removing/changing this feature rather than adding a setting

Yes i was thinking of this oooold issue. I somehow thought it was the reason i couldnt drag to remove here

Following the installation of eOS 8 at my grandmother's I noticed that she regularly deleted the dock icons when trying to open an application, which is annoying because she doesn't know how to open an application otherwise.

I do not know how technically advanced you are, but the Dconf setting is /io/elementary/dock/launchers
And i think dconf supports changing a key to read-only ?

I am not smart enough to figure this one out, so take it with many grains of salt, but as a temporary workaround maybe that is something you can investigate
maybe in virtual machine, to not break her computer

[ernstki]

Following the installation of eOS 8 at my grandmother's I noticed that she regularly deleted the dock icons when trying to open an application, which is annoying because she doesn't know how to open an application otherwise.

@glichou Mega bonus points for installing elementary OS for your grandmother and opening an issue in the issue tracker to get it to work better for her. ❤️

[teamcons]

Speaking of which, @glichou did you figure a workaround ?

else i can always do super quick a branch that removes delete-on-dragout that you can compile (or that i can package for you if i figure out how)

[glichou]

Hello everyone !

Thanks for your answers, I didn’t had time for the moment to find a woraround sadly, as I’m living in an another country it is a bit difficult to test :(.

@teamcons Yes! If it possible it will be with great pleasure ! I think I can compile it (not sure but I will try). At first I wanted to modify the dock by myself but I didn’t know how to.

[teamcons]

@glichou

I did a branch. i changed the instructions to explain step by step how you can do it.
https://github.com/teamcons/dock/tree/dock-but-no-delete-on-dragout

this is pretty much the official dock, but with these changes:
teamcons@5b12878

once installed (i believe it will ask for permission) you dont need to do anything else. if the last command doesnt cut it, try rebooting

I believe it is the part that handles "doing the poof animation and removing the dock" ?
Let me know how it goes. My dock just somehow never had that feature working in the first place, so testing against it may be a bit pointless

[glichou]

Thanks a lot @teamcons ! I will try it, if I don't answer quickly, it's because I'll have to go on a trip, so don't worry, I'll be in touch. Have a nice day !

[glichou]

Hello @@teamcons ,

I just tried to install the specific dock you made for me :D, but unfortunately I get a little error. I will retry later but I post it here to not forget the error.

`michelle@Ordinateur-Michelle:/Documents/dock/dock$ meson build --prefix=/usr
The Meson build system
Version: 1.3.2
Source dir: /home/michelle/Documents/dock/dock
Build dir: /home/michelle/Documents/dock/dock/build
Build type: native build
Project name: io.elementary.dock
Project version: 8.0.2
C compiler for the host machine: cc (gcc 13.3.0 "cc (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu224.04) 13.3.0")
C linker for the host machine: cc ld.bfd 2.42
Vala compiler for the host machine: valac (valac 0.56.17)
Host machine cpu family: x86_64
Host machine cpu: x86_64
Found pkg-config: YES (/usr/bin/pkg-config) 1.8.1
Run-time dependency gee-0.8 found: YES 0.20.6
Run-time dependency gio-2.0 found: YES 2.80.0
Run-time dependency gio-unix-2.0 found: YES 2.80.0
Run-time dependency glib-2.0 found: YES 2.80.0
Run-time dependency gobject-2.0 found: YES 2.80.0
Run-time dependency gtk4 found: YES 4.14.2
Run-time dependency gtk4-wayland found: YES 4.14.2
Run-time dependency gtk4-x11 found: YES 4.14.2
Run-time dependency x11 found: YES 1.8.7
Found CMake: /usr/bin/cmake (3.28.3)
WARNING: CMake Toolchain: Failed to determine CMake compilers state
Run-time dependency granite-7 found: NO (tried pkgconfig and cmake)

meson.build:26:14: ERROR: Dependency "granite-7" not found, tried pkgconfig and cmake

A full log can be found at /home/michelle/Documents/dock/dock/build/meson-logs/meson-log.txt
WARNING: Running the setup command as meson [options] instead of meson setup [options] is ambiguous and deprecated.
`

I

[leolost2605]

@glichou a workaround (without having to install a custom dock) for now could be using the secure session (wayland). If you don't have any specific problems with wayland I would recommend that anyway.
To do that: before logging in click the gear and select secure session
On wayland the apps are "locked" by default (definitely a feature not a bug 😬 )

[leolost2605]

Hello @@teamcons ,
I just tried to install the specific dock you made for me :D, but unfortunately I get a little error. I will retry later but I post it here to not forget the error.
michelle@Ordinateur-Michelle:/Documents/dock/dock$ meson build --prefix=/usr The Meson build system Version: 1.3.2 Source dir: /home/michelle/Documents/dock/dock Build dir: /home/michelle/Documents/dock/dock/build Build type: native build Project name: io.elementary.dock Project version: 8.0.2 C compiler for the host machine: cc (gcc 13.3.0 "cc (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu224.04) 13.3.0") C linker for the host machine: cc ld.bfd 2.42 Vala compiler for the host machine: valac (valac 0.56.17) Host machine cpu family: x86_64 Host machine cpu: x86_64 Found pkg-config: YES (/usr/bin/pkg-config) 1.8.1 Run-time dependency gee-0.8 found: YES 0.20.6 Run-time dependency gio-2.0 found: YES 2.80.0 Run-time dependency gio-unix-2.0 found: YES 2.80.0 Run-time dependency glib-2.0 found: YES 2.80.0 Run-time dependency gobject-2.0 found: YES 2.80.0 Run-time dependency gtk4 found: YES 4.14.2 Run-time dependency gtk4-wayland found: YES 4.14.2 Run-time dependency gtk4-x11 found: YES 4.14.2 Run-time dependency x11 found: YES 1.8.7 Found CMake: /usr/bin/cmake (3.28.3) WARNING: CMake Toolchain: Failed to determine CMake compilers state Run-time dependency granite-7 found: NO (tried pkgconfig and cmake) meson.build:26:14: ERROR: Dependency "granite-7" not found, tried pkgconfig and cmake A full log can be found at /home/michelle/Documents/dock/dock/build/meson-logs/meson-log.txt WARNING: Running the setup command as meson [options] instead of meson setup [options] is ambiguous and deprecated.

You also have to install development files for granite, elementary's additional widget library:
sudo apt install libgranite-7-dev

[glichou]

Thanks for your help @leolost2605 ! I didn’t know about the Wayland trick, I will have a try ! I hope it won't cause any problems with the other applications, anyway my grandmother only uses her computer to look at photos, emails, a bit of internet and of course slideshows with LibreOffice. Pretty basic uses ;)

[teamcons]

Ah so this is why the feature did not work with me
i feel stupid now