Fvwm3Form

NAME

FvwmForm - input form module for Fvwm

SYNOPSIS

Module FvwmForm [ Alias ] FvwmForm must be spawned by Fvwm. If invoked from the command line, FvwmForm prints its version number and exits.

DESCRIPTION

FvwmForm provides a mechanism to get user input and act accordingly. This is achieved by means of a form that the user can fill out, and from which the user can select actions he wants Fvwm to take. A form consists of five types of items: text labels, single-line text inputs, mutually-exclusive selections, multiple-choice selections, and action buttons. These items are arranged into several lines, with a very flexible layout. A text label only serves the purpose of explanation. It cannot accept any input. A timeout entry provides a mechanism for timing out the form and performing a certain action when the timeout occurs. The countdown is displayed similar to a text label except that it updates with the amount of time left. A text input field can be used to edit a single-line string. FvwmForm accepts Emacs-style cursor movement keys. See FvwmFormInput for details. Mouse copy is not supported, but you can paste. A selection consists of several choices. The selection itself is a logical entity that doesn’t have any display feature. Each choice is displayed as a push-button followed by a explanatory text label. When selected, an exclusive choice shows a circle in the middle, while a multiple choice shows a check. An action button, when activated sends one or more commands to Fvwm or executes shell commands. The shell commands can contain the content of the input fields on the form and reflect the setting of choices on the form. The action buttons can be activated thru keyboard or mouse.

INITIALIZATION

FvwmForm invoked without an alias uses configuration commands starting with "*FvwmForm". Normally you would invoke FvwmForm with an alias representing the name of a form, its configuration commands and configuration file. For example, the command "Module FvwmForm Rlogin" uses configuration commands starting with "*Rlogin", and reads the optional configuration file "Rlogin". All forms, regardless of alias, scan first for configuration commands that start with "*FvwmFormDefault". These commands normally come from the builtin form "FvwmForm-Form" which saves commands to the file ".FvwmForm". The physical reading of the optional input file, ".FvwmForm", is done only the first time FvwmForm is invoked, or after "FvwmForm-Form" updates the file. When the file ".FvwmForm" is read, it is done by sending the command "Read .FvwmForm Quiet" to fvwm. Because of the way the "read" command works, the file can reside in your personal fvwm user directory, or be in the fvwm data directory. See the description of the read command in the fvwm man page for more information about the environment variable $FVWM_USERDIR. Then FvwmForm reads the rest of the configuration fvwm has stored up. Fvwm stores configuration on an ongoing basis. The initial configuration comes from the .fvwm2rc file. Other sources, including "Read" commands can define a form. When letting FvwmForm and fvwm read files, remember that these files contain commands that can execute shell commands, so you should be careful about setting permissions on these files. When FvwmForm is invoked with a window context, e.g. from a window menu, all commands it sends to Fvwm will have that window context. This would allow FvwmForm to control the window it is invoked from. After all the configuration commands have been read, FvwmForm displays the form defined by the commands.

DEFAULTS

FvwmForm creates a built-in form named "FvwmForm-Form" that creates a file called ".FvwmForm". This file contains saved default form colors and fonts. Other forms use these defaults unless they are overridden within the form. The default creating form would normally be invoked from a "module menu". For example, if you call your module menu "Module-Popup", you would add the line: AddToMenu "Module-Popup" "FvwmForm Defaults" FvwmForm FvwmForm-Form When you select "FvwmForm Defaults" from your module menu, a form is displayed that shows the current defaults and allows you to change them. If you activate the "Save Restart Me" button, the ".FvwmForm" file is written and "FvwmForm-Form" exits and restarts to show the new defaults. An example of what this file might contain after a save is: The commands in this file are just like any other FvwmForm command except that they start with "*FvwmFormDefault". FvwmForm only reads the file ".FvwmForm" the first time it is started or after the file is changed by "FvwmForm-Form". It does so by sending the command "*FvwmFormDefault: Read x". With "x" set to "y" or "n". "n" makes FvwmForm send a "read .FvwmForm quiet" command to fvwm.

VARIABLE SUBSTITUTION

If you supply variables and values on the command line used to start FvwmForm (like this): Module FvwmForm MyForm ACTION=Browse "TITLE=Browse Form" Then all FvwmForm input commands undergo variable substitution. The variables from the command line are exported. Then every command gets expanded using the variables from the environment. For example, assuming the above invocation of "MyForm", commands would be changed like this: Before *MyForm: Text "$TITLE, Home $HOME, Going to $ACTION" After *MyForm: TEXT "Browse Form, Home /home/me, Going to Browse" Using this facility should make it possible for one form to be used for different sets of input data.

CONFIGURATION

The following commands can be set in the .fvwm2rc file or thru any of the other ways that fvwm can accept commands. The simplest technique is to create a file in the read-only architecture-independent data directory, [PREFIX/share/fvwm] or your personal fvwm directory [$HOME/.fvwm], that matches the form alias. In the following paragraphs the string "FvwmForm" would normally be the form alias. FvwmForm reads commands before the form is ever displayed, and while the form is being displayed. The following commands are accepted before the form is displayed: The following commands are accepted while the form is displayed: The "Map", "UnMap" and "Stop" facility is under development and is currently not explained in this document, since it is likely to change. The order of the options DOES matter. The first background text color, "*FvwmFormBack", encountered before a displayable item sets the default background color for the entire form. Other than that, colors, fonts, text, choices and buttons can be intermixed in any order. The are no builtin limits on form size, number of items on a form, or number of fonts or colors used. *FvwmForm: GrabServer *FvwmForm: WarpPointer *FvwmForm: Geometry geometry *FvwmForm: Position x y *FvwmForm: Colorset n *FvwmForm: Back color *FvwmForm: Fore color *FvwmForm: ItemColorset n *FvwmForm: ItemBack color *FvwmForm: ItemFore color *FvwmForm: Font font *FvwmForm: ButtonFont font *FvwmForm: InputFont font *FvwmForm: TimeoutFont font *FvwmForm: Line justification *FvwmForm: Message *FvwmForm: PadVText Pixels *FvwmForm: Text string *FvwmForm: Title string *FvwmForm: Input name size init_string *FvwmForm: Selection name type *FvwmForm: Separator *FvwmForm: Choice name value on | off string *FvwmForm: Button type string [key] *FvwmForm: Command command $(name) $(name?string) $(name!string) *FvwmForm: UseData datafile leading *FvwmForm: ButtonPointer pointername *FvwmForm: ButtonInPointer pointername *FvwmForm: InputPointer pointername *FvwmForm: ButtonPointerFore|Back color *FvwmForm: ButtonInPointerFore|Back color *FvwmForm: InputPointerFore|Back color *FvwmForm: Timeout tenth_of_seconds command "text"

EXAMPLES

All of the following "examples" are installed in the read-only architecture-independent data directory, [PREFIX/share/fvwm], during fvwm installation. The following commands create a menu to invoke the examples:

EXAMPLE 1 - QUIT VERIFY

This example simulates the mwm way of confirming logout. Return does the logout, Escape cancels logout. It times out after 20 seconds and performs the equivalent of the 'Logout' button.

EXAMPLE 2 - REMOTE LOGIN

This example lets the user type in a host name, an optional user name, and opens an xterm window from the remote host.

EXAMPLE 3 - CAPTURE WINDOW

This example provides a front-end to xwd, xwud, and xpr.

EXAMPLE 4 - TALK FORM

This example provides a replacement for the module FvwmTalk. There are 2 forms, "FvwmForm-Talk." which executes commands, or sends commands to fvwm for execution, and "FvwmForm-TalkHelp." which is a help form. In the help form, notice how vertical line spacing is changed. Normal FvwmForm line spacing assumes text is intermixed with buttons, help forms require different spacing.

BUGS AND LIMITATIONS

FvwmForm is a fairly simple method of providing input. There is no input validation facility. FvwmForm has no way of dealing with lists. Report bugs to the fvwm-workers list.

COPYRIGHTS

FvwmForm is original work of Thomas Zuwei Feng (). <[email protected]> Copyright Feb 1995, Thomas Zuwei Feng. No guarantees or warranties are provided or implied in any way whatsoever. Use this program at your own risk. Permission to use, modify, and redistribute this program is hereby given, provided that this copyright is kept intact.

CHANGES

During the fall of 1998, Dan Espen removed all form size limits, added unlimited font and color changing, form spacing control, configuration file reading, global control of appearance, synchronous command execution, Error message display, variable substitution, configurable pointers, and lots of other damage. No additional copyright is imposed.