GoodStuff(1.20) GoodStuff(1.20)
NAMEGoodStuff - the FVWM button panel module
SYNOPSISGoodStuff is spawned by fvwm, so no command line invoca-
tion will work.
DESCRIPTION
The GoodStuff module provides a button panel which sits on
the X terminal's root window. The user can press the but-
tons at any time, and trigger invocation of a user-speci-
fied 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.
COPYRIGHTS
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.
INITIALIZATION
During initialization, GoodStuff will search for a config-
uration 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 -sGoodStuff TermStuff, then another module called
TermStuff can be started, with a completely different con-
figuration than GoodStuff, simply by changing the keywords
Good??? to Term???. This way multiple button-bars can be
used.
INVOCATIONGoodStuff 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
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directory specified in the ModulePath configuration option
to attempt to locate GoodStuff.
CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
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 geom-
etry is a standard X11 window geometry specifica-
tion.
*GoodStuffFont font
Specifies the font to be used for labeling the but-
tons.
*GoodStuffRows rows
Specifies the number of rows of buttons to be cre-
ated. 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 specifica-
tion 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
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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.
SAMPLE CONFIGURATION
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/X11/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
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*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 but-
ton's borders. "whatever", of course, is a non-existent
icon file, and will be ignored by GoodStuff.
AUTHOR
Robert Nation
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