GoodStuff - the FVWM button panel module
GoodStuff is spawned by fvwm, so no command line invocation will work.
The GoodStuff module provides a button panel 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. GoodStuff only works when fvwm
is used as the window manager.
The button panel can be of any configuration or geometry, and can have
monochrome or color icons to represent the actions which would be invoked.
The GoodStuff 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.
During initialization,
GoodStuff will search for a configuration file
which describes the button panel geometry, color, icons, and actions. The
format of this files will be described later. The configuration file will be
the one which fvwm used during its initialization.
If the GoodStuff executable is linked to another name, ie ln -s GoodStuff
TermStuff, then another module called TermStuff can be started, with a
completely different configuration than GoodStuff, simply by changing the
keywords Good??? to Term???. This way multiple button-bars can be used.
GoodStuff can be invoked by inserting the line 'Module GoodStuff' in the .fvwmrc
file. This can be placed on a line by itself, if GoodStuff is to be spawned
during fvwm's initialization, or can be bound to a menu or mouse button or
keystroke to invoke it later. Fvwm will search directory specified in the
ModulePath configuration option to attempt to locate GoodStuff.
The following options can be placed in the .fvwmrc file
- *GoodStuffGeometry geometry
- Specifies the GoodStuff window location and/or size. If the
size is not specified, GoodStuff will auto-size itself in a reasonable
manner. The geometry is a standard X11 window geometry specification.
- *GoodStuffFont font
- Specifies the font to be used for labeling the buttons.
- *GoodStuffRows rows
- Specifies the number of rows of buttons to be created. If
unspecified, 2 rows will be used.
- *GoodStuffColumns columns
- Specifies the number of columns of buttons to be created.
If unspecified, the number of columns will be set to the number of buttons
requested, divided by the number of rows. If both the rows and columns are
specified, but do not specify as many buttons as are defined, then the
users columns specification will be ignored.
- *GoodStuffFore color
- Specifies the color for button label text and monochrome
icons.
- *GoodStuffBack color
- Specifies the color for the buttons.
- *GoodStuff[(w x h)] label icon command
- Specifies a window manager built-in command, as described
in the fvwm man page, which should be executed when a button is pressed.
The label field is the text which will be written on the button. The icon
field specifies an X11 bitmap file or XPM color icon file, containing the
icon to display on the button. GoodStuff will search through the path
specified in the fvwm IconPath or PixmapPath configuration items to find
the icon file. If the optional (w x h) is specified, then this
button will be w times the normal button width and h times
the normal button height. If label is "-" then the button label
will not be displayed.
If command is an fvwm Exec command, then the button will remain
pushed in until a window whose name or class matches the qouted portion of
the command is encountered. This is intended to provide visual feedback to
the user that the action he has requested will be performed. If the qouted
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."
A single extension to the fvwm built-in command set is provided. A command
of the form: *GoodStuff junk clock.xpm Swallow "Clock" rclock
& will cause GoodStuff to spawn an rclock process, and capture the
first window whose name or resource is "Clock", and display it
in the button-bar. This is handy for applications like xclock, xbiff, and
xload. Modules can be swallowed by specifying SwallowModule instead of
just "swallow" NOTE: if you use xclock for this application, you
will want to specify xclock -padding 0.
The following are excepts from a .fvwmrc file which describe GoodStuff
initialization commands:
##############################################################
# Load any modules which should be started during
# fvwm initialization
ModulePath /usr/lib/fvwm:/usr/bin/X11
Module GoodStuff
# Make goodstuff title-bar-less, sticky, and give it an icon
NoTitle GoodStuff
Sticky GoodStuff
Icon "GoodStuff" toolbox.xpm
##############################################################
##############################################################
#Definitions used by the modules
*GoodStuffFore Black
*GoodStuffBack #908090
*GoodStuffGeometry -135-5
*GoodStuffRows 1
*GoodStuffFont -adobe-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
*GoodStuff Resize resize.xpm Resize
*GoodStuff Move arrows2.xpm Move
*GoodStuff Lower Down Lower
*GoodStuff Raise Up Raise
*GoodStuff Kill bomb.xpm Destroy
*GoodStuff Dopey rterm.xpm Exec "big_win" xterm -T big_win -geometry 80x50&
*GoodStuff Snoopy rterm.xpm Exec "small_win" xterm -T small_wi &
*GoodStuff Xcalc rcalc.xpm Exec "Calculator" xcalc &
*GoodStuff XMag magnifying_glass2.xpm Exec "xmag" xmag &
*GoodStuff Mail mail2.xpm Exec "xmh" xmh &
*GoodStuff(4x1) - whatever SwallowModule "Fvwm Pager" FvwmPager 0 3
The last line is a little tricky - it spawns an FvwmPager module, and captures
it to display in a quadruple width button. Since "-" is used for the
button label, the Pager will be resized to be as big as possible within the
button's borders. "whatever", of course, is a non-existent icon
file, and will be ignored by GoodStuff.
Robert Nation