Re: [dev] onscreen keyboards (xvkbd), dwm, and dmenu (part II with a patch to dwm)

> Another issue is to shrink the client area available to the managed
> clients so that the keyboard does not cover the clients. Probably
> a meter of taste, but it is not nice to write to the client where the
> cursor is covered by the keyboard and you do not see what you are
> writing (that is on the Neo FreeRunner screen). There is a heuristic in
> dwm that if a client asks for a geometry equal to the dimensions of the
> screen it is considered to be asking for the fullscreen mode and it also
> covers dwm bar. One could use similar heuristic to detect an on screen
> keyboard -- if a not managed window has the geometry that covers the
> full width of the screen and extends exactly to the bottom of the screen
> than it is an on screen keyboard (or a bottom bar, but I care for the
> keyboard only) and then the client area would be shrank not to cover the
> keyboard. But I have not prepared this patch yet.

Hi, this patch to svkbd was exactly what I wanted; I removed my previous
patch and added the following (its kinda hackish but should give you an
idea of what to do). Works perfect.

In config.h add:

(1) static void set_bar_height(const Arg *arg);

(2) In keys[]:

        { ShiftMask|ControlMask, XK_F1, set_bar_height, {.i = 2}},
        { ShiftMask|ControlMask, XK_F2, set_bar_height, {.i = 52}},
        { ShiftMask|ControlMask, XK_F2, spawn, SHCMD("dwmbar.sh")},
        { ShiftMask|ControlMask, XK_F2, togglebar, {0}},
        { ShiftMask|ControlMask, XK_F2, spawn, SHCMD("svkbd-small.sh")},
        { ShiftMask|ControlMask, XK_F3, set_bar_height, {.i = 202}},
        { ShiftMask|ControlMask, XK_F3, spawn, SHCMD("dwmbar.sh")},
        { ShiftMask|ControlMask, XK_F3, togglebar, {0}},
        { ShiftMask|ControlMask, XK_F3, spawn, SHCMD("svkbd-normal.sh")},

(3) void
set_bar_height(const Arg *arg) {
  bh = dc.font.height + arg->i;
}

I have two svkbd's: svkbd-tiny (one line with up/down/left/right for
pdf reading) and svkbd-big (the normal keyboard).
My eee T91 has an acpi event on a button on the top which I press to call a
script that calls xdotools to call either F1, F2, or F3. Here it is:

#!/bin/sh
# called from acpi event
# if svkbd-small, then launch the big
# if svkbd-big, then kill
# if nothing, launch the small

pid_small=$(pgrep svkbd-tiny)
pid_big=$(pgrep svkbd-big)

if [[ $pid_small == "" ]]; then
  if [[ $pid_big == "" ]]; then
# echo "Nothing is running, launch small"
        DISPLAY=:0.0 xdotool key control+shift+F2
        exit;
  else
# echo "Big is running, close it"
   DISPLAY=:0.0 xdotool key control+shift+F3
   DISPLAY=:0.0 xdotool key control+shift+F1 # reset the barheight to 2 (normal)
   exit;
  fi
else
# echo "Small is running, close it, launch big"
        DISPLAY=:0.0 xdotool key control+shift+F2
        DISPLAY=:0.0 xdotool key control+shift+F3
        exit
fi

The dwmbar.sh runs xsetroot -name "some info i like". It is optional.

Maybe others have a better way, but so far I'm pretty happy with this
solution.

>
> Best,
> Łukasz
>
> Fix svkbd to use override_redirect so dwm will not manage svkbd window:
>
> diff -r 5a356042d49c svkbd.c
> --- a/svkbd.c Tue Aug 10 23:15:12 2010 +0200
> +++ b/svkbd.c Sat Jan 29 21:21:30 2011 +0100
> @@ -309,6 +309,7 @@
> setup(void) {
> int i;
> XWMHints *wmh;
> + XSetWindowAttributes wa;
>
> /* init screen */
> screen = DefaultScreen(dpy);
> @@ -331,7 +332,12 @@
> for(i = 0; i < LENGTH(keys); i++)
> keys[i].pressed = 0;
>
> - win = XCreateSimpleWindow(dpy, root, wx, wy, ww, wh, 0, dc.norm[ColFG], dc.norm[ColBG]);
> + wa.override_redirect = True;
> + wa.border_pixel = dc.norm[ColFG];
> + wa.background_pixel = dc.norm[ColBG];
> + win = XCreateWindow(dpy, root, wx, wy, ww, wh, 0,
> + CopyFromParent, CopyFromParent, CopyFromParent,
> + CWOverrideRedirect | CWBorderPixel | CWBackingPixel, &wa);
> XSelectInput(dpy, win, StructureNotifyMask|ButtonReleaseMask|
> ButtonPressMask|ExposureMask|LeaveWindowMask);
> wmh = XAllocWMHints();
>

-- 
sic dicit magister P
PhD Candidate
Collaborative Programme in Ancient and Medieval Philosophy
University of Toronto
http://individual.utoronto.ca/peterjh