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FvwmButtons(1) FVWM Modules FvwmButtons(1)
NAME
FvwmButtons - the FVWM buttonbox module
SYNOPSIS
Module FvwmButtons [-g geometry] [-transient | -transientpanel] [name[configfile]]
FvwmButtons can only be invoked by fvwm. Command line invocation of
the FvwmButtons module will not work.
DESCRIPTION
The FvwmButtons module provides a window of buttons which sits on the X
terminal's root window. The user can press the buttons at any time, and
trigger invocation of a user-specified command by the window manager.
FvwmButtons only works when fvwm is used as the window manager.
The buttonbox can be of any configuration or geometry, and can have
monochrome or color icons to represent the actions which would be
invoked. Even other applications can be 'swallowed' by the button bar.
Panels that are opened on a button press are available too. See CREAT-
ING PANELS section for details.
OPTIONS
The -g option specifies the geometry of the main window. The command
line option takes precedence over any other geometry settings in the
configuration file.
The -transient option tells FvwmButtons to terminate itself after the
first key or button press has been received (presses to open a sub
panel do not count) or a sub panel has been closed or respawned. This
is especially useful for sub panels where you want to select a single
button and have it closed automatically. It could be used to create
two-dimensional graphical menus. Since -transient is an option, not a
configuration setting you can use the same configuration for transient
and non transient button bars.
The -transientpanel option does roughly the same as the -transient
option, but instead of closing the whole button bar, the window is
merely hidden. This is very useful if the button bar is started as a
subpanel of another button bar because it avoids that it must be
started again when something is selected.
INVOCATION
FvwmButtons is spawned by fvwm, so command line invocation will not
work.
FvwmButtons can be invoked by inserting the line 'Module FvwmButtons
OptionalName' in the .fvwm2rc file. This should be placed in the Start-
Function if FvwmButtons is to be spawned during fvwm's initialization.
This can be bound to a menu or mouse button or keystroke to invoke it
later.
When invoked with the OptionalName argument, the OptionalName is used
to find configuration commands. For example:
AddToFunc StartFunction Module FvwmButtons MyButtonBox
FvwmButtons will then use only the lines starting with "*MyButtonBox",
instead of the default "*FvwmButtons".
CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
The following commands are understood by FvwmButtons:
*FvwmButtons: Back color
Specifies the background color for the buttons. The relief and
shadow color are calculated from the background color.
*FvwmButtons: BoxSize algorithm
This option specifies how serious FvwmButtons takes the Rows and
Columns options (see below). It can be one of dumb, fixed or
smart.
If fixed is used and both Rows and Columns are specified and
non-zero, FvwmButtons uses exactly the number of rows and
columns specified. If the box is too small to accommodate all
buttons the module will fail.
If smart is used FvwmButtons enlarges the box so all buttons
have a chance to fit. The number of columns is increased to at
least the width of the widest button and new rows are added
until all buttons are placed. For the best tolerance of configu-
ration errors use the smart option.
dumb is neither fixed nor smart. This is the default.
*FvwmButtons: Colorset colorset
Tells the module to use colorset colorset for the window back-
ground. Refer to the FvwmTheme man page for details about col-
orsets.
*FvwmButtons: ActiveColorset colorset
Tells the module to use colorset colorset for the background
color/image and/or title color of a button when the mouse is
hovering above a button.
*FvwmButtons: PressColorset colorset
Tells the module to use colorset colorset for the background
color/image and/or title color of a button when it is pressed.
*FvwmButtons: Columns columns
Specifies the number of columns of buttons to be created. If
unspecified, the number of columns is set to the number of but-
tons requested, divided by the number of rows. If both the rows
and columns are specified, but the number of buttons is more
than the rows and columns allow for, the columns specification
is ignored unless the BoxSize option is fixed.
*FvwmButtons: File filename
Specifies that the configuration for this button is found in the
file filename. Filename can be a full pathname, or is assumed to
be in fvwm's startup directory. The configuration file is in the
same format as fvwm's configuration file, but each line is read
as if prefixed by "*FvwmButtons". Comments are given by starting
a line with "#". Line continuation is done by ending a line with
a "\".
*FvwmButtons: Font font
Specifies the font to be used for labeling the buttons, or None.
*FvwmButtons: Fore color
Specifies the color used for button label text and monochrome
icons.
*FvwmButtons: Frame width
Specifies the width of the relief around each button. If this is
a negative number, the relief is inverted. This makes the button
sunken normally and raised when activated.
*FvwmButtons: Geometry geometry
Specifies the FvwmButtons window location and size. The geome-
try is a standard X11 window geometry specification.
*FvwmButtons: ButtonGeometry geometry
This option works like the Geometry option except that the size
is the size of a single button. The size of the whole FvwmBut-
tons window is calculated by multiplying the button dimension by
the number of rows and columns.
*FvwmButtons: Padding width height
This option specifies the default horizontal padding to be width
pixels, and the vertical padding to be height pixels. The amount
of free space between the relief of the button and its contents
is normally 2 pixels on the sides and 4 pixels above and below,
except for swallowed windows and containers, which are not
padded at all, unless this option is used.
*FvwmButtons: Pixmap pixmapfile
Specifies a background pixmap to use. Specify "none" (without
the double quotes) for a transparent background.
*FvwmButtons: Rows rows
Specifies the number of rows of buttons to be created. The
default is 2 rows.
*FvwmButtons: (options) [title icon command]
Specifies the contents of a button in the buttonbox. The follow-
ing options, separated by commas or whitespace, can be given a
button:
geometry
Specifies the size and position of the button within the
FvwmButtons window or container. The geometry is a stan-
dard X11 window geometry specification. The button is
width times the normal button width and height times the
normal button height. If values for x and y are given,
the button is placed x (y) button units from the left
(top) of the container if x (y) is positive and x (y)
units from the right (bottom) if x (y) is negative. But-
tons with position arguments (x and y) are placed before
those without them. If two or more buttons are forced to
overlap by this, FvwmButtons exits with an error message.
Action [(options)] command
Specifies an fvwm command to be executed when the button
is activated by pressing return or a mouse button. The
command needs to be quoted if it contains a comma or a
closing parenthesis.
The current options of the Action are: Mouse n - this
action is only executed for mouse button n. One action
can be defined for each mouse button, in addition to the
general action.
In the command part, you can use a number of predefined
variables: $left, $right, $top and $bottom are substi-
tuted by the left, right, top and bottom coordinates of
the button pressed. $-left, $-right, $-top and $-bottom
are substituted likewise, but the coordinates are calcu-
lated from the bottom or the right edge of the screen
instead (for a button that is 5 pixels away from the
right screen border, $-right will be 5). $width and
$height are replaced by the width or height of the but-
ton. The variables $fg and $bg are replaced with the name
of the foreground or background color set with the Back
or Fore option (see below). All this is done regardless
of any quoting characters. To get a literal '$' use the
string '$$'.
Example:
*FvwmButtons: (Title xload, Action (Mouse 1) \
`Exec exec xload -fg $fg -bg $bg -geometry -3000-3000`)
Note: With fvwm versions prior to 2.5.0, actions could
not be assigned to a button that swallowed an application
window (see Swallow option). Such actions worked only
when the border around the button was clicked. This is
now possible, but to get back the old behavior, the
ActionIgnoresClientWindow can be used on the button:
*FvwmButtons: (Action beep, ActionIgnoresClientWindow, \
Swallow xeyes "Exec exec xeyes")
In this example, the action is only executed when you
click on the border of the button or the transparent part
of the xeyes window, but not on the xeyes window itself.
ActionIgnoresClientWindow
See the note in the description of Action above.
ActionOnPress
Usually the action is executed on the button release
except for the Popup action. This option changes this
behavior, the action is executed on the button press.
This may be good, for example, with Menu or SendToModule
that generates popups, or when Frame is 0 and the button
would look unresponsive otherwise.
Back color
Specifies the background color to be used drawing this
box. A relief color and a shadow color are calculated
from this.
Center The contents of the button is centered on the button.
This is the default but may be changed by Left or Right.
Colorset colorset
The given colorset can be applied to a container, a swal-
lowed application and a simple button. To apply it to a
button or container, simply put the option in a line with
a button or container description. Drawing backgrounds
for individual buttons and containers with colorsets
requires a lot of communication with the X server. So if
you are not content with the drawing speed of dozens of
buttons with colorset backgrounds, do not use colorsets
here. Setting colorsets as the background of swallowed
applications does not have this restriction but depends
entirely on the swallowed application. It may work as
you wish, but since it involves fiddling with other
applications' windows there is no guarantee for anything.
I have tested three applications: xosview works nicely
with a colorset background, xload works only with a VGra-
dient or solid background and an analog xclock leaves a
trail painted in the background color after its hands.
If the swallowed window is an fvwm module (see the
(No)FvwmModule option to Swallow), then the colorset is
not applied to the swallowed module. You should use the
colorset in the module configuration. If the swallowed
module has a transparent colorset background, then the
FvwmButtons background (and not the button colorset) is
seen by transparency of the background of the swallowed
module. Refer to the man page of the FvwmTheme module for
details about colorsets.
ActiveColorset colorset
Use colorset colorset for the background color/image
and/or title color of the button when the mouse is hover-
ing above it.
PressColorset colorset
Use colorset colorset for the background color/image
and/or title color of the button when it is pressed.
Container [(options)]
Specifies that this button will contain a miniature but-
tonbox, equivalent to swallowing another FvwmButtons mod-
ule. The options are the same as can be given for a sin-
gle button, but they affect all the contained buttons.
Options available for this use are Back, Font, Fore,
Frame and Padding. Flags for Title and Swallow options
can be set with Title(flags) and Swallow(flags). You
should also specify either "Columns width" or "Rows
height", or "Rows 2" will be assumed. For an example, see
the Sample configuration section.
The container button itself (separate from the contents)
can take format options like Frame and Padding, and com-
mands can be bound to it. This means you can make a sen-
sitive relief around a container, like
*FvwmButtons: (2x2, Frame 5, Padding 2 2, Action Beep,\
Container(Frame 1))
Typically you will want to at least give the container a
size setting widthxheight.
End Specifies that no more buttons are defined for the cur-
rent container, and further buttons will be put in the
container's parent. This option should be given on a line
by itself, i.e
*FvwmButtons: (End)
Font fontname
Specifies that the font fontname is to be used for label-
ing this button.
Fore color
Specifies the foregound color of the title and monochrome
icons in this button.
Frame width
The relief of the button will be width pixels wide. If
width is given as a negative number, the relief is
inverted. This makes the button sunken normally and
raised when activated.
Icon filename
The name of an image file, containing the icon to display
on the button. FvwmButtons searches through the path
specified in the fvwm ImagePath configuration item to
find the icon file.
ActiveIcon filename
The name of an image file, containing an alternative icon
to display on the button when the mouse is hovering above
the button. If no ActiveIcon is specified, the image
specified by Icon is displayed (if there is one).
PressIcon filename
The name of an image file, containing an alternative icon
to display on the button when the button is pressed. If
no PressIcon is specified, the image specified by Icon is
displayed (if there is one).
Id id The id to be used to identify this button. The first
character of the id should be alphabetic. See also the
"DYNAMICAL ACTIONS" section.
Left The contents of the button are aligned to the left. The
default is to center the contents on the button.
NoSize This option specifies that this button will not be con-
sidered at all when making the initial calculations of
button sizes. Useful for the odd button that gets just a
couple of pixels too large to keep in line, and therefor
blows up your whole buttonbox. "NoSize" is equivalent to
"Size 0 0".
Padding width height
The amount of free space between the relief of the button
and its contents is normally 2 pixels to the sides and 4
pixels above and below, except for swallowed windows and
containers, which are by default not padded at all. This
option sets the horizontal padding to width and the ver-
tical padding to height.
Panel [ (options) ] hangon command
Panels can be swallowed exactly like windows are swal-
lowed by buttons with the Swallow command below, but they
are not displayed within the button. Instead they are
hidden until the user presses the panel's button. Then
the panel (the window of the swallowed application) opens
with a sliding animation. The options can be any of the
flags described for the Swallow command. In addition a
direction 'left', 'right', 'up' or 'down' can be used to
specify the sliding direction.
The steps animation-steps option defines the number of
animation steps.
The delay ms option sets the delay between the steps of
the animation in milliseconds. Use zero for no delay.
The maximum delay is 10 seconds (10000). It doesn't make
any sense to use the delay option unless you also use the
smooth option.
The smooth option causes the panel to redraw between
the steps of the animation. The sliding animation may be
smoother this way, it depends on the application, and
display speed. The application may appear to grow
instead of sliding out. The animation may be slower.
The Hints option causes FvwmButtons to use the applica-
tions size hints to calculate the size of the animation
steps. Hints is the default. If the number of steps is
not what you want, try using NoHints.
The noborder option tells FvwmButtons to ignore the bor-
ders of the window when calculating positions for the
animation (equivalent to set noplr and noptb in the posi-
tion option).
With the indicator option set, FvwmButtons will draw a
small triangle in the button that will open a panel. The
triangle points in the direction where the panel will pop
up. The indicator keyword may be followed by a positive
integer that specifies the maximum width and height of
the indicator. Without this size FvwmButtons will make
the indicator fit the button. You will probably want to
use the Padding option to leave a few pixels between the
indicator and the frame of the button.
The position option allows to place the panel. The syntax
is:
position [context-window] [pos] [x y] [border-opts]
The argument context-window can be one of: Button, Module
or Root. The context-window is the window from which
panel percentage offsets are calculated. Button specifies
the panel's button, Module specifies FvwmButtons itself,
and Root specifies a virtual screen. The context-window
together with the sliding direction define a line segment
which is one of the borders of the context-window: the
top/bottom/left/right border for sliding
up/down/left/right.
The pos argument can be one of: center, left or right
(for sliding up or a down) or top or bottom (for sliding
left or right). It defines the vertical (sliding up and
down) or the horizontal (sliding left and right) position
of the Panel on the line segment. For example, for a
sliding up if you use a left pos, then the left borders
of the panel and of the context-window will be aligned.
The offset values x and y specify how far the panel is
moved from it's default position. By default, the numeric
value given is interpreted as a percentage of the context
window's width (height). A trailing "p" changes the
interpretation to mean "pixels". All offset calculations
are relative to the buttons location, even when using a
root context.
The border-opts are: mlr, mtb, noplr and noptb. They
define which border widths are taken in account. By
default, the borders of FvwmButtons are not taken in
account. mlr reverses this default for the left and the
right border and mtb reverses this default for the top
and the bottom border. Conversely, by default the borders
of the Panel are taken in account. noplr reverses this
default for the left and the right border and noptb
reverses this default for the top and the bottom border.
The defaults are sliding up with a delay of five mil-
liseconds and twelve animation steps. To post the panel
without any animation, set the number of steps to zero.
The default position is 'Button center'.
Please refer to the CREATING PANELS section for further
information on panels.
Example:
# To include the panel in a button
*FvwmButtons: (Panel(down, delay 0, steps 16) \
SubPanel "Module FvwmButtons SubPanel")
# To define the panel as an instance of
# FvwmButtons with a different name:
*SubPanel: (Icon my_lock.xpm, Action Exec xlock)
*SubPanel: (Icon my_move.xpm, Action Move)
...
Right The contents of the button are aligned to the right. The
default is to center the contents on the button.
Size width height
Specifies that the contents of this button require width
by height pixels, regardless of what size FvwmButtons
calculates from the icon and the title. A button bar with
only swallowed windows will not get very large without
this option specified, as FvwmButtons does not consider
sizes for swallowing buttons. Note that this option gives
the minimum space assured; other buttons might require
the buttonbox to use larger sizes.
Swallow [(flags)] hangon command
Causes FvwmButtons to execute command, and when a window
with a name, class or resource matching hangon appears,
it is captured and swallowed into this button. The
hangon string may contain wildcard characters ('*') that
match any substring. Swallow replaces the variables $fg
and $bg as described above for the Action option (but if
you use the UseOld and NoClose options the application is
not be restarted when FvwmButtons is restarted and thus
does not get the new colors - if you changed them). An
example:
*FvwmButtons: (Swallow XClock 'Exec xclock -geometry -3000-3000 &')
takes the first window whose name, class, or resource is
"XClock" and displays it in the button. If no matching
window is found, the "Exec" command creates one. The
argument "-geometry -3000-3000" is used so that the win-
dow is first drawn out of sight before its swallowed into
FvwmButtons.
Modules can be swallowed by specifying the module instead
of 'Exec whatever', like:
*FvwmButtons: (Swallow "FvwmPager" "FvwmPager 0 0")
The flags that can be given to swallow are:
NoClose / Close - Specifies whether the swallowed program
in this button will be un-swallowed or closed when Fvwm-
Buttons exits cleanly. "NoClose" can be combined with
"UseOld" to have windows survive a restart of the window
manager. The default setting is "Close".
NoHints / Hints - Specifies whether hints from the swal-
lowed program in this button will be ignored or not, use-
ful in forcing a window to resize itself to fit its but-
ton. The default value is "Hints".
NoKill / Kill - Specifies whether the swallowed program
will be closed by killing it or by sending a message to
it. This can be useful in ending programs that doesn't
accept window manager protocol. The default value is
"NoKill". This has no effect if "NoClose" is specified.
NoRespawn / Respawn / SwallowNew - Specifies whether the
swallowed program is to be respawned (restarted) if it
dies. If "Respawn" is specified, the program is respawned
using the original command. Use this option with care,
the program might have a legitimate reason to die. If
"SwallowNew" is given, the program is not respawned, but
if a new window with the specified name appears, it is
swallowed.
NoOld / UseOld - Specifies whether the button will try to
swallow an existing window matching the hangon name
before spawning one itself with command. The hangon
string may contain wildcard characters ('*') that match
any substring.The default value is "NoOld". "UseOld" can
be combined with "NoKill" to have windows survive a
restart of the window manager. If you want FvwmButtons to
swallow an old window, and not spawn one itself if fail-
ing, let the command be "Nop":
*FvwmButtons: (Swallow (UseOld) "Console" Nop)
If you want to be able to start it yourself, combine it
with an action:
*FvwmButtons: (Swallow (UseOld) "Console" Nop, \
Action `Exec "Console" console &`)
NoTitle / UseTitle - Specifies whether the title of the
button will be taken from the swallowed window's title or
not. If "UseTitle" is given, the title on the button
changes dynamically to reflect the window name. The
default is "NoTitle".
NoFvwmModule / FvwmModule - By default, FvwmButtons
treats the swallowed window as an fvwm module window if
the 4 first letters of the command is "Fvwm" or the 6
first letters of the command is "Module". NoFvwmModule
and FvwmModule override this logic.
Title [(options)] name
Specifies the title to be written on the button. Whites-
pace can be included in the title by quoting it. If a
title at any time is too long for its buttons, characters
are chopped of one at a time until it fits. If justify is
"Right", the head is removed, otherwise its tail is
removed. These options can be given to Title:
Center - The title is centered horizontally. This is the
default.
Left - The title is justified to the left side.
Right - The title is justified to the right side.
Side - Causes the title to appear on the right hand side
of any icon or swallowed window, instead of below which
is the default. If you use small icons, and combine this
with the "Left" or "Right" option, you can get a look
similar to fvwm's menus.
ActiveTitle name
Specifies the title to be written on the button when the
mouse is hovering above the button. If no ActiveTitle is
specified, the text specified by Title is displayed (if
there is any).
PressTitle name
Specifies the title to be written on the button when the
button is pressed. If no PressTitle is specified, the
text specified by Title is displayed (if there is any).
Legacy fields [title icon command]
These fields are kept for compatibility with previous
versions of FvwmButtons, and their use is discouraged.
The title field is similar to the option Title name. If
the title field is "-", no title is displayed. The icon
field is similar to the option Icon filename. If the icon
field is "-" no icon is displayed. The command field is
similar to the option Action command or alternatively
Swallow "hangon" command.
The command
Any fvwm command is recognized by FvwmButtons. See
fvwm(1) for more information.
The Exec command has a small extension when used in
Actions, its syntax is:
Exec ["hangon"] command
Example:
*FvwmButtons: (Action Exec "xload" xload)
The hangon string must be enclosed in double quotes.
When FvwmButtons finds such an Exec command, the button
remains pushed in until a window whose name, class or
resource matches the quoted portion of the command is
encountered. This is intended to provide visual feedback
to the user that the action he has requested will be per-
formed. The hangon string may contain wildcard
characters ('*') that match any substring. If the quoted
portion contains no characters, then the button will pop
out immediately. Note that users can continue pressing
the button, and re-executing the command, even when it
looks pressed in.
Quoting
Any string which contains whitespace must be quoted. Con-
trary to earlier versions commands no longer need to be
quoted. In this case any quoting character will be passed
on to the application untouched. Only commas ',' and
closing parentheses ')' have to be quoted inside a com-
mand. Quoting can be done with any of the three quotation
characters; single quote:
'This is a "quote"',
double quote:
"It's another `quote'",
and back quote:
`This is a strange quote`.
The back quoting is unusual but used on purpose, if you
use a preprocessor like FvwmCpp and want it to get into
your commands, like this:
#define BG gray60
*FvwmButtons: (Swallow "xload" `Exec xload -bg BG &`)
Any single character can be quoted with a preceding back-
slash '\'.
CREATING PANELS
Former versions of FvwmButtons (fvwm 2.0.46 to 2.3.6) had a different
way of handling panels. You can not use your old panel configuration
with the new panel feature. Read "CONVERTING OLD PANEL CONFIGURATIONS"
for more information.
HOW TO CREATE NEW PANELS
Any program that can be launched from within fvwm and that has a window
can be used as a panel. A terminal window could be your panel, or some
application like xload or xosview or another fvwm module, including
FvwmButtons itself. All you need to know is how to start your applica-
tion from fvwm.
The button that invokes the panel is as easily configured as any other
button. Essentially you need nothing more than the Panel option:
*FvwmButtons: (Panel my_first_panel \
"Module FvwmButtons -g -30000-30000 my_first_panel")
*FvwmButtons: (Panel my_second_panel \
"Exec exec xterm -g -30000-30000 -n my_second_panel")
This works like the Swallow option. The difference is that the appli-
cation is not put into the button when it starts up but instead hidden
from view. When you press the button for the panel the window slides
into view. The '-g -30000-30000' option tells the application that it
should be created somewhere very far to the top and left of your visi-
ble screen. Otherwise you would see it flashing for a moment when
FvwmButtons starts up. Some applications do not work well with this
kind of syntax so you may have to live with the short flashing of the
window. If you want to make a panel from another instance of FvwmBut-
tons you can do so, but you must give it a different name
('my_first_panel' in above example). If you run FvwmButtons under the
same name, new panels are created recursively until your system runs
out of resources and FvwmButtons crashes! To configure a second button
bar with a different name, simply put '*new_name' in place of familiar
with the Swallow option or if you want to learn more about how 'swal-
lowing' panels works, refer to the description of the Swallow option.
Now that your panel basically works you will want to tune it a bit.
You may not want a window title on the panel. To disable the title use
the fvwm Style command. If your button bar is the panel window should
have no icon in case it is iconified.
Style name_of_panel_window NoTitle, Sitcky, NoIcon
You may want your panel to stay open only until you select something in
it. You can give FvwmButtons the -transientpanel option after the -g
option in the command. FvwmPager has a similar option '-transient'.
Last, but not least, you can now put an icon, a title or a small arrow
in the button so that you can see what it is for. A title or icon can
be specified as usual. To activate the arrow, just add the Padding
option to leave a few pixels between the arrow and the border of the
button. An optional direction in which the panel is opened can be
given too:
*FvwmButtons: (Padding 2, Panel(down, indicator) my_first_panel \
"Module FvwmButtons -g -30000-30000 -transientpanel my_first_panel")
There are several more options to configure how your panel works, for
example the speed and smoothness of the sliding animation. Please refer
to the description of the Panel option for further details.
CONVERTING OLD PANEL CONFIGURATIONS
This section describes how to convert a pretty old syntax used in 2.2.x
versions. You may skip it if your syntax is more recent.
With the old panel feature you first had one or more lines defining
panels in your main FvwmButtons configuration:
*FvwmButtons(Title WinOps,Panel WinOps)
*FvwmButtons(Title Tools ,Panel Tools)
After the last configuration line for the main panel the configuration
of the first panel followed, introduced with a line beginning with
*FvwmButtonsPanel:
*FvwmButtonsPanel WinOps
*FvwmButtonsBack bisque2
*FvwmButtonsPanel Tools
*FvwmButtonsBack bisque2
And perhaps you had style commands for you panels:
Style FvwmButtonsPanel Title, NoHandles, BorderWidth 0
Style FvwmButtonsPanel NoButton 2, NoButton 4, Sticky
The new configuration looks much the same, but now the configuration of
the main panel is independent of the configuration of the sub panels.
The lines invoking the panels use the same syntax as the Swallow
option, so you simply add the name of the window to use as a panel and
the command to execute instead of the panel name. Note that you give
the new instance of FvwmButtons a different name.
*FvwmButtons: (Title WinOps, Panel WinOps \
"Module FvwmButtons WinOps")
*FvwmButtons: (Title Tools , Panel Tools \
"Module FvwmButtons Tools")
If you used something like 'Panel-d' you now have to use button was
selected start FvwmButtons with the '-transientpanel' option:
*FvwmButtons: (Title Tools , Panel(down) Tools \
"Module FvwmButtons -transientpanel Tools")
The rest of the configuration is very easy to change. Delete the lines
'*FvwmButtonsPanel <name>' and add <name> to all of the following con-
figuration lines for the panel instead. Use the same name in your Style
commands:
*WinOps: Back bisque2
*Tools: Back bisque2
Style "WinOps" Title, NoHandles, BorderWidth 0
Style "WinOps" NoButton 2, NoButton 4, Sticky
Style "Tools" Title, NoHandles, BorderWidth 0
Style "Tools" NoButton 2, NoButton 4, Sticky
That's it. The new panels are much more flexible. Please refer to
other parts of this documentation for details.
WHY WAS THE PANEL FEATURE REWRITTEN?
There are several reasons. The most important one is that the program
code implementing the panels was very disruptive and caused a lot of
problems. At the same time it made writing new features for FvwmBut-
tons difficult at best. The second reason is that most users were sim-
ply unable to make it work - it was way too complicated. Even I (the
author of the new code) had to spend several hours before I got it
working the first time. The third reason is that the new panels are
more versatile. Any application can be a panel in FvwmButtons, not
just other instances of FvwmButtons itself. So I sincerely hope that
nobody is angry about the change. Yes - you have to change your config-
uration, but the new feature is much easier to configure, especially if
you already know how the Swallow option works.
ARRANGEMENT ALGORITHM
FvwmButtons tries to arrange its buttons as best it can, by using
recursively, on each container including the buttonbox itself, the fol-
lowing algorithm.
Getting the size right
First it calculates the number of button unit areas it will
need, by adding the width times the height in buttons of each
button. Containers are for the moment considered a normal but-
ton. Then it considers the given rows and columns arguments. If
the number of rows is given, it will calculate how many columns
are needed, and stick to that, unless columns is larger, in
which case you will get some empty space at the bottom of the
buttonbox. If the number of columns is given, it calculates how
many rows it needs to fit all the buttons. If neither is given,
it assumes you want two rows, and finds the number of columns
from that. If the BoxSize option is set to smart at least the
height/width of the tallest/widest button is used while the
fixed value prevents the box from getting resized if both rows
and columns have been set to non-zero.
Shuffling buttons
Now it has a large enough area to place the buttons in, all that
is left is to place them right. There are two kinds of buttons:
fixed and floating buttons. A fixed button is forced to a spe-
cific slot in the button box by a x/y geometry argument. All
other buttons are considered floating. Fixed buttons are placed
first. Should a fixed button overlap another one or shall be
place outside the buttons window, FvwmButtons exits with an
error message. After that the floating buttons are placed. The
algorithm tries to place the buttons in a left to right, top to
bottom western fashion. If a button fits at the suggested posi-
tion it is placed there, if not the current slot stays empty and
the slot to the right will be considered. After the button has
been placed, the next button is tried to be placed in the next
slot and so on until all buttons are placed. Additional rows are
added below the bottom line of buttons until all buttons are
placed if necessary if the BoxSize option smart is used.
Containers
Containers are arranged by the same algorithm, in fact they are
shuffled recursively as the algorithm finds them.
Clarifying example
An example might be useful here: Suppose you have 6 buttons, all
unit sized except number two, which is 2x2. This makes for 5
times 1 plus 1 times 4 equals 9 unit buttons total area. Assume
you have requested 3 columns.
1) +---+---+---+ 2) +---+---+---+ 3) +---+---+---+
| 1 | | | 1 | | | 1 | |
+---+ + +---+ 2 + +---+ 2 +
| | | | | | 3 | |
+ + + +---+---+ +---+---+---+
| | | | | | | |
+-----------+ +---+-------+ +---+---+---+
4) +---+---+---+ 5) +---+-------+ 6) +---+-------+
| 1 | | | 1 | | | 1 | |
+---+ 2 + +---+ 2 | +---+ 2 |
| 3 | | | 3 | | | 3 | |
+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ +---+-------+
| 4 | | | 4 | 5 | | | 4 | 5 | 6 |
+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ +---+---+---+
What size will the buttons be?
When FvwmButtons has read the icons and fonts that are required
by its configuration, it can find out which size is needed for
every non-swallowing button. The unit button size of a container
is set to be large enough to hold the largest button in it with-
out squeezing it. Swallowed windows are simply expected to be
comfortable with the button size they get from this scheme. If a
particular configuration requires more space for a swallowed
window, it can be set in that button's configuration line using
the option "Size width height". This will tell FvwmButtons to
give this button at least width by height pixels inside the
relief and padding.
DYNAMICAL ACTIONS
A running FvwmButtons instance may receive some dynamical actions.
This is achived using the fvwm command
SendToModule FvwmButtons-Alias <action> <params>
Supported actions:
ChangeButton button_id options
where button_id is the id of the button to change as specified
using the Id button option. It may also be a number, in this
case the button with the given number is assumed. And finally,
button_id may be in the form +x+y, where x and y are a column
number and a row number of the button to be changed. It is pos-
sible to specify multiple option pairs (name with value) by
delimiting them using comma. Currently options include Title,
ActiveTitle, PressTitle, Icon, ActiveIcon and PressIcon.
ExpandButtonVars button_id command
where button_id has the same syntax as described in ChangeButton
above. Command may be any fvwm command with variables $var that
are expanded if supported.
Silent This prefix may be specified before other actions. It disables
all possible error and warning messages.
Example:
*FvwmButtons: (Id note1, Title "13:30 - Dinner", Icon clock1.xpm)
SendToModule FvwmButtons Silent \
ChangeButton note1 Icon clock2.xpm, Title "18:00 - Go Home"
SAMPLE CONFIGURATION
The following are excerpts from a .fvwm2rc file which describe FvwmBut-
tons initialization commands:
##########################################################
# Load any modules which should be started during fvwm
# initialization
# Make sure FvwmButtons is always there.
AddToFunc StartFunction "I" Module FvwmButtons
# Make it titlebar-less, sticky, and give it an icon
Style "FvwmButtons" Icon toolbox.xpm, NoTitle, Sticky
# Make the menu/panel look like CDE
Style "WinOps" Title, NoHandles, BorderWidth 0
Style "WinOps" NoButton 2, NoButton 4, Sticky
Style "Tools" Title, NoHandles, BorderWidth 0
Style "Tools" NoButton 2, NoButton 4, Sticky
##########################################################
DestroyModuleConfig FvwmButtons: *
*FvwmButtons: Fore Black
*FvwmButtons: Back rgb:90/80/90
*FvwmButtons: Geometry -135-5
*FvwmButtons: Rows 1
*FvwmButtons: BoxSize smart
*FvwmButtons: Font -*-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-12-*
*FvwmButtons: Padding 2 2
*FvwmButtons: (Title WinOps, Panel WinOps \
"Module FvwmButtons -transientpanel WinOps")
*FvwmButtons: (Title Tools, Panel Tools \
"Module FvwmButtons -transientpanel Tools")
*FvwmButtons: (Title Resize, Icon resize.xpm, Action Resize)
*FvwmButtons: (Title Move, Icon arrows2.xpm, Action Move )
*FvwmButtons: (Title Lower, Icon Down, Action Lower )
*FvwmButtons: (Title Raise, Icon Up, Action Raise )
*FvwmButtons: (Title Kill, Icon bomb.xpm, Action Destroy)
*FvwmButtons: (1x1,Container(Rows 3,Frame 1))
*FvwmButtons: (Title Dopey ,Action \
`Exec "big_win" xterm -T big_win -geometry 80x50 &`)
*FvwmButtons: (Title Snoopy, Font fixed, Action \
`Exec "small_win" xterm -T small_win &`)
*FvwmButtons: (Title Smokin')
*FvwmButtons: (End)
*FvwmButtons: (Title Xcalc, Icon rcalc.xpm, \
Action `Exec "Calculator" xcalc &`)
*FvwmButtons: (Title XMag, Icon magnifying_glass2.xpm, \
Action `Exec "xmag" xmag &`)
*FvwmButtons: (Title Mail, Icon mail2.xpm, \
Action `Exec "xmh" xmh &`)
*FvwmButtons: (4x1, Swallow "FvwmPager" `FvwmPager 0 3` \
Frame 3)
*FvwmButtons: (Swallow(UseOld,NoKill) "xload15" `Exec xload \
-title xload15 -nolabel -bg rgb:90/80/90 -update 15 \
-geometry -3000-3000 &`)
The last lines are a little tricky - one spawns an FvwmPager module,
and captures it to display in a quadruple width button. is used, the
Pager will be as big as possible within the button's relief.
The final line is even more magic. Note the combination of UseOld and
NoKill, which will try to swallow an existing window with the name
"xload15" when starting up (if failing: starting one with the specified
command), which is un-swallowed when ending FvwmButtons. The swallowed
application is started with "-geometry -3000-3000" so that it will not
be visible until its swallowed.
The other panels are specified after the root panel:
########## PANEL WinOps
DestroyModuleConfig WinOps: *
*WinOps: Back bisque2
*WinOps: Geometry -3-3
*WinOps: Columns 1
*WinOps: (Title Resize, Icon resize.xpm, Action Resize)
*WinOps: (Title Move, Icon arrows2.xpm, Action Move )
*WinOps: (Title Lower, Icon Down, Action Lower )
*WinOps: (Title Raise, Icon Up, Action Raise )
########## PANEL Tools
DestroyModuleConfig Tools: *
*Tools: Back bisque2
*Tools: Geometry -1-1
*Tools: Columns 1
*Tools: (Title Kill, Icon bomb.xpm, Action Destroy)
The color specification rgb:90/80/90 is actually the most correct way
of specifying independent colors in X, and should be used instead of
the older #908090. If the latter specification is used in your configu-
ration file, you should be sure to escape the hash in any of the com-
mands which will be executed, or fvwm will consider the rest of the
line a comment.
Note that with the x/y geometry specs you can easily build button win-
dows with gaps. Here is another example. You can not accomplish this
without geometry specs for the buttons:
##########################################################
# Another example
##########################################################
# Make it titlebar-less, sticky, and give it an icon
Style "FvwmButtons" Icon toolbox.xpm, NoTitle, Sticky
DestroyModuleConfig FvwmButtons: *
*FvwmButtons: Font 5x7
*FvwmButtons: Back rgb:90/80/90
*FvwmButtons: Fore black
*FvwmButtons: Frame 1
# 9x11 pixels per button, 4x4 pixels for the frame
*FvwmButtons: Geometry 580x59+0-0
*FvwmButtons: Rows 5
*FvwmButtons: Columns 64
*FvwmButtons: BoxSize fixed
*FvwmButtons: Padding 1 1
# Pop up a module menu directly above the button.
*FvwmButtons: (9x1+3+0, Padding 0, Title "Modules", \
Action `Menu Modulepopup rectangle \
$widthx$height+$lleft+$top o+50 -100m`)
# first row of buttons from left to right:
*FvwmButtons: (3x2+0+1, Icon my_lock.xpm, Action `Exec xlock`)
*FvwmButtons: (3x2+3+1, Icon my_recapture.xpm, Action Recapture)
*FvwmButtons: (3x2+6+1, Icon my_resize.xpm, Action Resize)
*FvwmButtons: (3x2+9+1, Icon my_move.xpm, Action Move)
*FvwmButtons: (3x2+12+1, Icon my_fvwmconsole.xpm, \
Action 'Module FvwmConsole')
# second row of buttons from left to right:
*FvwmButtons: (3x2+0+3, Icon my_exit.xpm, Action QuitSave)
*FvwmButtons: (3x2+3+3, Icon my_restart.xpm, Action Restart)
*FvwmButtons: (3x2+6+3, Icon my_kill.xpm, Action Destroy)
*FvwmButtons: (3x2+9+3, Icon my_shell.xpm, Action 'Exec rxvt')
# big items
*FvwmButtons: (10x5, Swallow (NoKill, NoCLose) \
"FvwmPager" 'FvwmPager * * -geometry 40x40-1024-1024')
*FvwmButtons: (6x5, Swallow "FvwmXclock" `Exec xclock \
-name FvwmXclock -geometry 40x40+0-3000 -padding 1 \
-analog -chime -bg rgb:90/80/90`)
*FvwmButtons: (13x5, Swallow (NoClose) \
"FvwmIconMan" 'Module FvwmIconMan')
*FvwmButtons: (20x5, Padding 0, Swallow "xosview" \
`Exec /usr/X11R6/bin/xosview -cpu -int -page -net \
-geometry 100x50+0-3000 -font 5x7`)
BUGS
The action part of the Swallow option must be quoted if it contains any
whitespace character.
COPYRIGHTS
The FvwmButtons program, and the concept for interfacing this module to
the Window Manager, are all original work by Robert Nation.
Copyright 1993, Robert Nation. No guarantees or warranties or anything
are provided or implied in any way whatsoever. Use this program at your
own risk. Permission to use this program for any purpose is given, as
long as the copyright is kept intact.
Further modifications and patching by Jarl Totland, copyright 1996.
The statement above still applies.
AUTHOR
Robert Nation. Somewhat enhanced by Jarl Totland, Jui-Hsuan Joshua
Feng, Scott Smedley.
3rd Berkeley Distribution 20 January 2006 (2.5.16) FvwmButtons(1)
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