This file is doing my head in Thing is, it comes up with strange settings for
a) my activity bar
b) my fancy panel
every time I start kde.

Even if I delete the offending stanzas from plasma-desktop-appletsrc they just regenerate with the wrong settings as soon I call up plasma again...

Stumped. Anybody got a clue where to look next?

Are you making sure that Plasma is fully closed when making the edits?

Procedure:

1) kquittap plasma
2) editing
3) plasma-desktop &

I assumed that was enough.

Also, is there any info out there on how the different plasma files interact and which is responsible for what? I spent an hour googling yesterday but didn't find anything pertinent.

As for plasma-desktop-appletsrc - I'd also be keen on info on the numbers next to the containments.

Basically, just a bit of info on what does what would be great...

And bcooksley - how comes it is always you who is lumbered with answering my posts ? Seriously, your continued patience is much appreciated!

Thanks

That should be enough. Perhaps plasma-desktoprc will contain some references to the entries that you keep deleting? Only the Plasma developers will likely have any idea regarding the relationships between them...

1) kquitapp plasma-desktop

just to point out the obvious mistake

Sounds too good to be true, LBL. Unfortunately it is My fancypanel is still being reset and the activitybar faaar too large. Here an excerpt of my plasma-desktop-appletsrc. The first stanza shows a properly sized activitybar, the second the "misformed" one.

[Containments][3][Applets][36]
geometry=120,0,259.00664306459,55
immutability=1
plugin=activitybar
zvalue=0

[Containments][3][Applets][36]
geometry=120,0,205.802635051592,55
immutability=1
plugin=activitybar
zvalue=0

How is the activity bar too large? This may be caused by a widget setting a minimum size.

It spans a good third of my taskbar - for only two activities - so we are talking about a width of some 600 pixel. As stated, this is not the original behaviour but only appears after a restart or two of plasma. Suddenly, bang, it muscles everything else out of the way...

Hm, so what exactly is a minimum size setting for widgets and where do I find it?

The minimum size setting is set programatically by Applet developers.