Lubuntu 18.04 / lxpanel 0.9.3 accidental removal of 2nd toolbar

Question

A transparent, auto-hiding button bar was created on the left edge of the screen. It had all my most-frequently used programs on it. Was trying to add another program and accidentally clicked "Remove "Application Launch Bar" From Panel or Delete This Panel. (Dumb touchpad likes to move when finger is lifted.) Anyways it disappeared, and now another one cannot be created on the left edge. Positon Edge: Left is greyed out. How can this be remedied?

Answer 1

Looking in /home/username/.config/lxpanel/Lubuntu/panels there are two files, left and panel. panel contains the expected settings for the bottom bar including Plugin{} sections for the various controls. However left contains just a header:

# lxpanel <profile> config file. Manually editing is not recommended.
# Use preference dialog in lxpanel to adjust config when you can.

Global {
    edge=left
    monitor=0
    height=32
    align=center
    width=50
    transparent=1
    background=0
    tintcolor=#ffffff
    alpha=80
    iconsize=21
    widthtype=request
    autohide=1
    heightwhenhidden=1
    setpartialstrut=0
}

So the panel is still there - it just has no functions assigned to it, so is a size of 0, and nothing is displayed to right-click on. To remedy this, the left file could be deleted. This should allow a new one to be fully rebuilt on the left side.

A slightly easier solution is to add a Plugin{} section to the left file like so:

# lxpanel <profile> config file. Manually editing is not recommended.
# Use preference dialog in lxpanel to adjust config when you can.

Global {
    edge=left
    monitor=0
    height=32
    align=center
    width=50
    transparent=1
    background=0
    tintcolor=#ffffff
    alpha=80
    iconsize=21
    widthtype=request
    autohide=1
    heightwhenhidden=1
    setpartialstrut=0
}
Plugin {
    type=launchbar
    Config {
        Button {
            id=menu://applications/Accessories/pcmanfm.desktop
        }
    }
}

Logoff and log back on, and the panel should once again be visible, albeit with only one icon on it. But it can now be right-clicked to get to the preferences. All of the desired applications will need re-added.

To prevent having to rebuild in the future, copy or backup the /home/username/.config/lxpanel/Lubuntu/panels/left file.