FvwmGoodStuff(1.20)
NAME
FvwmGoodStuff - the FVWM button panel module
SYNOPSIS
FvwmGoodStuff is spawned by fvwm, so no command line invo-
cation will work.
DESCRIPTION
The FvwmGoodStuff 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. FvwmGoodStuff
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.
Note that this is the older version of FvwmButtons
(decended from fvwm 1.xx GoodStuff module), which was
rewritten as of fvwm beta 2.0.42 to have more powerful
configuration capabilities (see it's man page). If you
don't want to exploit these new capabilities, or the new
version gives you troubles, you may want to use this older
module instead.
COPYRIGHTS
The FvwmGoodStuff 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, FvwmGoodStuff will search for a
configuration file which describes the button panel geome-
try, 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 FvwmGoodStuff executable is linked to another name,
ie ln -s FvwmGoodStuff TermStuff, or if FvwmGoodStuff is
invoked with a parameter, ie Module FvwmGoodStuff
TermStuff, then another module called TermStuff can be
started with a completely different configuration than
FvwmGoodStuff, simply by changing the keywords
FvwmGoodStuff??? to TermStuff???. This way multiple but-
ton-bars can be used.
INVOCATION
FvwmGoodStuff can be invoked by inserting the line 'Module
FvwmGoodStuff' in the .fvwmrc file. This can be placed on
a line by itself, if FvwmGoodStuff 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 FvwmGoodStuff.
CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
The following options can be placed in the .fvwmrc file
*FvwmGoodStuffGeometry geometry
Specifies the FvwmGoodStuff window location and/or
size. If the size is not specified, FvwmGoodStuff
will auto-size itself in a reasonable manner. The
geometry is a standard X11 window geometry specifi-
cation.
*FvwmGoodStuffFont font
Specifies the font to be used for labeling the but-
tons.
*FvwmGoodStuffRows rows
Specifies the number of rows of buttons to be cre-
ated. If unspecified, 2 rows will be used.
*FvwmGoodStuffColumns 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.
*FvwmGoodStuffFore color
Specifies the color for button label text and
monochrome icons.
*FvwmGoodStuffBack color
Specifies the color for the buttons.
*FvwmGoodStuff[(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. FvwmGoodStuff 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: '*FvwmGood-
Stuff junk clock.xpm Swallow "Clock" Exec rclock'
will cause FvwmGoodStuff to spawn an rclock pro-
cess, 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 the module instead of 'Exec whatever',
like: '*FvwmGoodStuff - foobar Swallow "FvwmPager"
FvwmPager 0 0'.
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 FvwmGoodStuff initialization commands:
##############################################################
# Load any modules which should be started during
# fvwm initialization
ModulePath /usr/lib/X11/fvwm:/usr/bin/X11
Module FvwmGoodStuff
# Make FvwmGoodStuff title-bar-less, sticky, and give it an icon
NoTitle FvwmGoodStuff
Sticky FvwmGoodStuff
Icon "FvwmGoodStuff" toolbox.xpm
##############################################################
##############################################################
#Definitions used by the modules
*FvwmGoodStuffFore Black
*FvwmGoodStuffBack #908090
*FvwmGoodStuffGeometry -135-5
*FvwmGoodStuffRows 1
*FvwmGoodStuffFont -adobe-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
*FvwmGoodStuff Resize resize.xpm Resize
*FvwmGoodStuff Move arrows2.xpm Move
*FvwmGoodStuff Lower Down Lower
*FvwmGoodStuff Raise Up Raise
*FvwmGoodStuff Kill bomb.xpm Destroy
*FvwmGoodStuff Dopey rterm.xpm Exec "big_win" xterm -T big_win -geometry 80x50
*FvwmGoodStuff Snoopy rterm.xpm Exec "small_win" xterm -T small_wi
*FvwmGoodStuff Xcalc rcalc.xpm Exec "Calculator" xcalc
*FvwmGoodStuff XMag magnifying_glass2.xpm Exec "xmag" xmag
*FvwmGoodStuff Mail mail2.xpm Exec "xmh" xmh
*FvwmGoodStuff(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 FvwmGoodStuff.
AUTHOR
Robert Nation