[hackers] [wmii] Add first, incomplete draft of new wmii guide/reference. Proofers? || Kris Maglione

From: <hg_AT_suckless.org>
Date: Sun, 24 May 2009 02:08:18 +0000 (UTC)

changeset: 2467:dfb3bbffd367
tag: tip
user: Kris Maglione <jg_AT_suckless.org>
date: Sat May 23 22:08:12 2009 -0400
files: cmd/wmii/message.c doc/wmii.pdf doc/wmii.tex img/mkfile img/wmii.pdf
description:
Add first, incomplete draft of new wmii guide/reference. Proofers?

diff -r 0ab9741bbff2 -r dfb3bbffd367 cmd/wmii/message.c
--- a/cmd/wmii/message.c Fri May 22 23:58:56 2009 -0400
+++ b/cmd/wmii/message.c Sat May 23 22:08:12 2009 -0400
@@ -579,7 +579,7 @@
         bufprint("focuscolors %s\n", def.focuscolor.colstr);
         bufprint("font %s\n", def.font->name);
         bufprint("grabmod %s\n", def.grabmod);
- bufprint("incmode %s\n", incmodetab[screen->barpos]);
+ bufprint("incmode %s\n", incmodetab[def.incmode]);
         bufprint("normcolors %s\n", def.normcolor.colstr);
         bufprint("view %s\n", selview->name);
         return buffer;
diff -r 0ab9741bbff2 -r dfb3bbffd367 doc/wmii.pdf
Binary file doc/wmii.pdf has changed
diff -r 0ab9741bbff2 -r dfb3bbffd367 doc/wmii.tex
--- /dev/null Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/doc/wmii.tex Sat May 23 22:08:12 2009 -0400
@@ -0,0 +1,1108 @@
+\documentclass[letterpaper,oneside]{scrbook}
+
+\usepackage{txfonts}
+
+\usepackage{fontspec}
+\usepackage{xunicode}
+\usepackage{xltxtra}
+
+\usepackage{fancyvrb}
+\usepackage[top=1in,bottom=1in]{geometry}
+\usepackage{graphicx}
+\usepackage[xetex,breaklinks,colorlinks,linkcolor=black]{hyperref}
+\usepackage{makeidx}
+\usepackage{xcolor}
+
+\setmainfont[Mapping=tex-text, Numbers=OldStyle]{Palatino LT Std}
+
+% Key specs
+\def\key#1{{\small$\langle$\addfontfeature{Numbers=Lining}#1\/$\rangle$}}
+\let\<=<
+\catcode`\<=\active
+\def<#1>{\key{#1}}
+
+% Display ‹...› and «...» as text in left and right pointing
+% angle brackets. I use «» and ‹› because my terminal doesn't
+% display left and right pointing angle brackets properly, and
+% Xorg's compose maps don't provide them, anyway.
+\catcode`\«=\active
+\catcode`\‹=\active
+\def‹#1›{$\langle${\itshape#1}$\rangle$}
+\def«#1»{$\langle\langle${\itshape#1}$\rangle\rangle$}
+
+% Display |...| as verbatim, teletype text.
+\DefineShortVerb{\|}
+
+\makeatletter
+\let\:=:
+\catcode`\:=\active
+\def:{\@ifnextchar:{\coloncoloneq}{\:}}
+\def\coloncoloneq#1{\@ifnextchar={$\Coloneqq$\coloncoloneqq}{\:\:}}
+\def\coloncoloneqq#1{}
+
+% Create a verbatim {code} environment which highlights strings
+% and comments. Several unicode characters are hacked to replace
+% the grabbed characters, since we can't escape them in the
+% verbatim environment.
+\colorlet{comment}{gray}
+\colorlet{string}{yellow!80!black!100}
+\let\‘=‘
+\let\“=“
+\catcode`¶=6
+\catcode`#=\active\let#=\#
+\catcode`\#=\active
+\catcode`“=\active
+\catcode`‘=\active
+\def“¶1”{{\color{string}\“¶1”}}%
+\def‘¶1’{{\color{string}\‘¶1’}}%
+\DefineVerbatimEnvironment{code}{Verbatim}{xleftmargin=2em,gobble=2,%
+ codes={\catcode`\#=\active\catcode`\:=\active\catcode`“=\active\catcode`‘=\active},%
+ defineactive={%
+ \def#{\itshape\color{comment}\let“=\“\let‘=\‘\#}%
+ }}
+\catcode`\#=6
+\catcode`“=12
+\catcode`‘=12
+
+% Convenience defs for the various wmii commands, and a few
+% others.
+\def\wmii{{\tt wmii}}
+\def\wiIXmenu{{\tt wi9menu}}
+\def\wimenu{{\tt wimenu}}
+\def\wmiir{{\tt wmiir}}
+\def\ninep{{\addfontfeature{Numbers=Lining}9P}}
+
+\begin{document}
+\thispagestyle{empty}
+\leavevmode
+\vfill
+
+\begin{center}
+ \centerline{\includegraphics[width=2in]{../img/wmii.pdf}}
+
+ \vskip 1in
+
+ \LARGE
+ The \wmii\ User Guide
+
+ \vskip .5in
+
+ \Large
+ Kris Maglione \\[1em]
+ \addfontfeature{Numbers=Lining}
+ 23 May 2009
+
+\end{center}
+
+\vfill
+
+\newpage
+
+\frontmatter
+
+\tableofcontents
+
+\mainmatter
+
+\chapter{Introduction}
+
+\wmii\ is a simple but powerful window manager for the X Window
+System. It provides both the classic (“floating”) and tiling
+(“managed”) window management paradigms, which is to say, it does
+the job of managing your windows, so you don't have to. It also
+provides programability by means of a simple file-like
+interface, which allows the user to program in virtually any
+language he chooses. These basic features have become
+indispensible to the many users of \wmii\ and other similar
+window managers, but they come at a cost. Though our penchant
+for simplicity makes \wmii's learning curve significantly
+shorter than most of its competitors, there's still a lot to
+learn. The rest of this guide will be devoted to familiarizing
+new users with \wmii's novel features and eccentricities, as
+well as provide advanced users with an in-depth look at our
+customization facilities.
+
+\section{Concepts}
+
+As noted, \wmii\ provides two management styles:
+
+\begin{description}
+ \item[Managed] This is the primary style of window management
+ in \wmii. Windows managed in this style are automatically
+ arranged by \wmii\ into columns. Columns are created and
+ destroyed on demand. Individual windows in the column may be
+ moved or resized, and are often collapsed or hidden
+ entirely. Ad-hoc stacks of collapsed and uncollapsed windows
+ allow the user to efficiently manage their tasks. When
+ switching from an active to a collapsed window, the active
+ window collapses, and the collapsed one effectively takes
+ its place.
+ \item[Floating] Since some programs aren't designed in ways
+ conducive to the managed work flow, \wmii\ also provides the
+ classic “floating” window management model. In this model,
+ windows float above the managed windows, and may be moved
+ freely about. Other than automatic placement of new windows
+ and snapping of edges, \wmii\ doesn't manage floating
+ windows at all.
+ \item[Fullscreen] Fullscreen mode is actually a subset of the
+ floating style. Windows may be toggled to and from
+ fullscreen mode at will. When fullscreen, windows reside in
+ the floating layer, above the managed windows. They have no
+ borders or titlebars, and occupy the full area of the
+ screen. Other than that, however, they're not special in any
+ way. Other floating windows may appear above them, and the
+ user can still select, open, and close other windows at
+ will.
+\end{description}
+
+\subsection{The Filesystem}
+
+All of \wmii's customization is done via a virtual filesystem.
+Since the filesystem is implemented in the standardized \ninep\
+protocol, it can be accessed in many ways. \wmii\ provides a
+simple command-line client, \wmiir, but many alternatives exist,
+including libraries for Python, Perl, Ruby, PHP, and C. It can
+even be mounted, either by Linux's 9p.ko kernel module or
+indirectly via FUSE.
+
+The filesystem that \wmii\ provides is “virtual”, which is to
+say that it doesn't reside on disk anywhere. In a sense, it's a
+figment of \wmii's imagination. Files, when read, represent
+\wmii's current configuration or state. When written, they
+perform actions, update the UI, etc. For instance, the directory
+|/client/| contains a directory for each window that \wmii\
+is currently managing. Each of those directories, in turn,
+contains files describing the client's properties (its title,
+its views\footnote{Views in \wmii\ are akin to workspaces or
+virtual desktops in other window managers, but with some subtle
+differences.}, its state). Most files can be written to update
+the the state they describe. For instance,
+|/client/sel/ctl| describes the state of the selected
+client. If a client is fullscreen, it contains the line:
+
+\begin{code}
+ Fullscreen on
+\end{code}
+
+\noindent To change this, you'd update the file with the line
+|Fullscreen off| or even |Fullscreen toggle| to toggle
+the client's fullscreen state.
+
+The concept of controlling a program via a filesystem derives
+from Plan 9, where such interfaces are extensive and well
+proven. The metaphor has shown itself to be quite intuitive to
+Unix users, once the shock of a “virtual” filesystem wears off.
+The flexibility of being able to control \wmii\ from myriad
+programming languages, including the standard Unix shell and
+even from the command line, is well worth the shock.
+
+\subsection{Views and Tags}
+
+Like most X11 window managers, \wmii\ provides virtual
+workspaces. Unlike other window managers, though, \wmii's
+workspaces are created and destroyed on demand. Instead of being
+sent to a workspace, windows in \wmii\ are tagged with any
+number of names. Views are created dynamically from these tags,
+and automatically if the user tries to access them. For
+instance, if a window is given the tags ‘foo’ and ‘bar’, the two
+views ‘foo’ and ‘bar’ are created, if they don't already exist.
+The window is now visible on both of them. Moreover, tags can be
+specified as regular expressions. So, a client tagged with {\tt
+\verb+/^foo/+} will appear on any view named ‘foo’, ‘foo:bar’,
+and so forth. Any time a client is tagged with a matching tag,
+or the user opens a matching view, the window is automatically
+added to it.
+
+\subsection{The Bar}
+
+\wmii\ provides a general purpose information bar at the top or
+bottom of the screen. The bar is divided into a left and a right
+section. Each section is made up of buttons, with a single
+button spanning the gap between the two sides. Buttons can be
+individually styled, and can hold any text content the user
+wishes. By convention, the buttons to the left show view names,
+and those to the right display status information.
+
+\subsection{The Menus}
+
+\wmii\ includes two simple, external menu programs. The first,
+\wimenu, is keyboard-based, and is used launch programs and
+generally prompt the user for input. It provides a list of
+completions which are automatically filtered as you type. The
+second, \wiIXmenu, is mouse-based, and is generally used to
+provide context menus for titlebars and view buttons. Both menus
+can be easily launched from shell scripts or the command line,
+as well as from more complex scripting languages.
+
+\subsection{The Keyboard}
+
+\wmii\ is a very keyboard friendly window manager. Most actions
+can be performed without touching the mouse, including
+launching, closing, moving, resizing, and selecting programs.
+New keybindings of any complexity can easily be added to handle
+any missing functionality, or to simplify any repetative tasks.
+
+\subsection{The Mouse}
+
+Despite being highly keyboard-accessible, \wmii\ strives to be
+highly mouse accessible as well. Windows can be moved or resized
+by dragging their window borders. When combined with a key
+press, they can be moved, resized, or raised by dragging any
+visible portion of the window. Mouse menus are accessed with a
+single click and drag. View buttons in the bar and client
+titlebars respond to the mouse wheel; view buttons can be
+activated by dragging any draggable object (e.g., a file from a
+file manager) over them.
+
+\chapter{Getting Started}
+
+This section will walk you through your first \wmii\ startup.
+For your first experience, we recommend running \wmii\ in its
+own X session, so you can easily switch back to a more
+comfortable environment if you get lost. Though you may start
+\wmii\ from a session manager in your day to day use, these
+instructions will use |xinit|. To begin with, copy this file
+to your home directory, so we can open it in your new X session.
+Then setup your |~/.xinitrc| as follows:
+
+\begin{code}
+ cd
+
+ # Start a PDF viewer with this guide. Use any viewer
+ # you're comfortable with.
+ xpdf wmii.pdf &
+
+ # Launch wmii
+ exec wmii
+
+ # That was easy.
+\end{code}
+
+Before you run |xinit|, make sure you know how to switch
+between terminals. Depending on your system, your current X
+session is probably on terminal 5 or 7. You should be able to
+switched between your terminals by pressing
+Ctrl-Alt-F$\langle n\rangle$. Assuming that your current X
+session is on terminal 7, you should be able to switch between
+it and your new session by pressing Ctrl-Alt-F7 and Ctrl-Alt-F8.
+Now you should be ready to start \wmii. When you run the
+following command, from a terminal, you should be presented with
+a new X session, running wmii, with this document open in a PDF
+viewer occupying most of the screen. When you're there, come
+back to this page and continue. Now, open a terminal and
+execute:
+
+\begin{code}
+ xinit
+\end{code}
+
+\section{Your First Steps}
+
+If everything went according to plan, you should be viewing this
+from a nearly empty \wmii\ session. We're going to be using the
+keyboard a lot, so let's start with a convention for key
+notation. We'll be using the key modifiers Control, Alt, Shift,
+and Meta\footnote{The Windows© key on most keyboards. The
+Penguin key, on the more tongue in cheek varieties.}, which
+we'll specify as C-, A-, S-, and M-, respectively. So, <C-S-a>
+means pressing ‘|a|’ while holding |Control| and |Shift|. We'll
+also express mouse clicks this way, which <M-Mouse1> signifying
+a press of the right mouse button, with the Meta key depressed.
+Buttons 4 and 5 are the up and down scroll wheel directions,
+respectively.
+
+\subsection{Floating Mode}
+
+Begining with what's familiar to most years, we'll first explore
+floating mode. First, we need to select the floating layer.
+Press <M-Space>. You should see the titlebar of this window
+change color. Now, press <M-Return> to launch a terminal.
+The easiest way to drag the terminal around is to press and hold
+<M-Mouse1> over the window and simply drag the window
+around. You should be able to drag the window anywhere onscreen
+without ever releasing the mouse button. As you drag near the
+screen edges, you should notice a snap. If you try to drag the
+window fully off-screen, you'll find it constrined so that a
+portion always remains visible. Now, release the window and move
+the mose toward one of its corners. Press and hold
+<M-Mouse3>\footnote{The right button.}. As you drag the
+mouse around, you should see the window resized accordingly.
+
+To move the window without the modifier key, move the pointer
+over the layout box to the left of its titlebar. You should see
+the cursor change. Now, simply click and drag. To resize it,
+move the pointer toward the window's edge until you see the
+cursor change, and again, click and drag. Now, to close the
+window, move the mouse over the windows titlebar, press and hold
+<Mouse3>, select |Delete|, and release it. You should
+see this window's titlebar return to its original color,
+indicating that it's regained focus.
+
+\subsection{Managed Mode}
+
+Now, for the fun part. We'll start exploring managed mode by
+looking at the basics of columns. In the default configuration,
+columns have three modes:
+
+\begin{description}
+ \item[Stack] <M-s> The default mode for new columns. Only one window
+ is fully visible per column at once. The others only display
+ their title bars. When new windows are added to the column,
+ the active window collapses, and the new one takes its
+ place. Whenever a collapsed client is selected, the active
+ window is collapsed to take its place.
+ \item[Max] <M-m> Like stack mode, but the titlebars of collapsed
+ clients are hidden.
+ \item[Default] <M-d> Multiple uncollapsed windows may be visible at
+ once. New windows split the space with the other uncollapsed
+ windows in their vicinity. Windows may still be collapsed by
+ shrinking them to the size of their titlebars. At this
+ point, the behavior of a stack of collapsed and uncollapsed
+ clients is similar to that of stack mode.
+\end{description}
+
+Before we open any new windows in managed mode, we need to
+explore the column modes a bit. Column modes are activated with
+the key bindings listed above. This column should be in stack
+mode now. Watch the right side of the titlebar as you press
+<M-m> to enter max mode. You should see an indicator appear.
+This tells you the number of hidden windows directly above and
+below the current window, and its position in that stack. Press
+<M-d> to enter default mode. Now we're ready to open another
+client. Press <M-Return> to launch another terminal. Now,
+press <M-S-l> to move the terminal to a new column to the
+right of this one. Once it's there, press <M-Return> two
+more times to launch two more terminals. Now that you have more
+than one window in a column, cycle through the three column
+modes again until they seem familiar.
+
+\subsection{Keyboard Navigation}
+
+To begin, switch back to default mode. The basic keyboard
+navigation keys, <M-h>, <M-j>, <M-k>, and <M-l>,
+derive from vi, and represent moving left, down, up, and right
+respectively. Try selecting each of the four windows currently
+visible on screen. Notice that navigation wraps from one side of
+the screen to the other, and from the top to the bottom. Now,
+return to the write column, switch to stack mode, and select
+each of the three terminals again. Do the same in max mode,
+paying careful attention to the indicator to the right of the
+tilebar.
+
+Now that you can select windows, you'll want to move them
+around. To move a window, just add the Shift key to the
+direction keys. So, to move a window left, instead of <M-h>,
+type <M-S-h>. Now, experiment with moving windows, just as
+you did with navigating them, in each of the three column modes.
+Once you're comfortable with that, move a window to the floating
+layer. Since we toggled between the floating and managed layers
+with <M-Space>, we'll move windows between them with
+<M-S-Space>. Try moving some windows back and forth until it
+becomes familiar. Now, move several windows to the floating
+layer and try switching between them with the keyboard. You'll
+notice that <M-h> and <M-l> don't function in the
+floating layer. This is for both historical and logistical
+reasons. <M-j> and <M-k> cycle through floating windows
+in order of their most recent use.
+
+\subsection{Mouse Navigation}
+
+\wmii uses the “sloppy focus” model, which is to say, it focuses
+windows when the mouse enters them and when you click them. It
+focuses windows only when you select them with the keyboard,
+click their titlebars, or press click them with <M-Mouse2>.
+Collapsed windows may be opened with the mouse by clicking their
+titlebars. Moving and resizing floating windows should be
+largely familiar, and has already been covered. The same can't
+be said for managed windows.
+
+Let's begin working with the mouse in the managed layer. Return
+to a layout with this document in a column on the left, and
+three terminals in a column to the right. Switch the right
+column to default mode. Now, bring the mouse to the top of the
+third terminal's titlebar until you see a resize cursor. Click
+and drag the titlebar to the very top of the screen. Now, move
+the cursor to the top of the second terminal's titlebar and drag
+it to the very bottom of the screen. Press <M-d> to restore the
+terminals to their original sizes. Now, click and hold the
+layout box of the second terminal. Drag it to the middle of the
+terminal's window and release. Click and hold the layout box of
+the third terminal and drag it to the middle of the first
+terminal's window. Finally, drag the first terminal's layout box
+to halfway down this window. <M-Mouse1> works to the same
+effect as dragging the layout box, but allows you to click
+anywhere in the window.
+
+Now that you've seen the basics of moving and dragging windows,
+let's move on to columns. Click and drag the border between the
+two columns. If that's a difficult target to click, there's a
+triangle at the top of the division between the two columns that
+you can click and drag as well. If that's still too hard a
+target, try using <M-Mouse3>, which works anywhere and provides
+much richer functionality.
+
+\section{Running Programs}
+
+You've already seen the convenience key binding to launch a
+terminal, but what about other programs? To get a menu of all of
+the executables in your path, type <M-p>. This should replace
+the bar at the bottom of the screen with a prompt, followed by a
+string of completions. Start typing the name of a program that
+you want to open. You can press <Tab> and <S-Tab> to cycle
+through the completions, or you can just press <Return> to
+select the first one. If you want to execute a more complex
+command, just type it out and press <Return>. If you want to
+recall that command later, use \wimenu's history. Start typing
+the command you want and then press <C-p> until you come to it.
+
+When you're done with a program, you'll probably want an easy
+way to close it. The first way is to ask the program to close
+itself. Since that can be tedious (and sometimes impossible),
+\wmii\ provides other ways. As mentioned, you can right click
+the titlebar and select |Delete|. If you're at the keyboard,
+you can type <M-S-c>. These two actions cause \wmii\ to ask
+nicely that the program exit. In those sticky cases where the
+program doesn't respond, \wmii\ will wait 10 seconds before
+prompting you to kill the program. If you don't feel like
+waiting, you can select |Kill| from the window's titlebar
+menu, in which case \wmii\ will forcefully and immediately kill
+it. Beware, killing clients is a last resort. In cases where the
+same program opens multiple windows, killing one will kill them
+all—without warning.
+
+\section{Using Views}
+
+As already noticed, \wmii's concept of virtual workspaces is
+somewhat unique, so let's begin exploring it. Open up a terminal
+and press <M-S-2>. You should see a new button on the bar at the
+bottom of the screen. When you click it, you should see your
+original terminal. Press <M-1> to come back here. Now, press
+<M-3>, and <M-1> again to return here once more. Notice that the
+views were created when needed, and destoryed when no longer
+necessary. If you want to select a view with a proper name, use
+<M-t> and enter the name. Other than the dynamic creation of
+views, this is still similar to the familiar X11 workspace
+model. But that's just the begining of \wmii's model. Open a new
+terminal, and type:
+
+\begin{code}
+ echo ‘Hello world!’
+\end{code}
+
+\noindent Now, type <M-S-t>. In the menu that appears, enter
+|1+2+3|. Now, visit the views |1|, |2|, and |3|, and you'll see
+the client on each. To remove a tag, type <M-S-t> again, and
+this time enter |-2|. You'll notice that the client is no longer
+on the |2| view. Finally, tag names needn't be discrete,
+ordinary strings. They can also be regular expressions. Select
+the terminal again, and enter |+/^5/|. Now, switch to the |5|
+view. Now try the |6| view. Finally, type <M-t> and enter |50|
+to check the |50| view. Clients tagged with regular expressions
+are attached to any matching views when they're created. So,
+when you switch to an empty view, or tag a client with a new
+tag, any clients with matching regular expressions are
+automatically added to it. When all explicitely tagged clients
+disappear from the view, and it's no longer visible, clients
+held there by regular expressions are automatically removed.
+
+\section{Learning More}
+
+For full tables of the standard key bindings, and descriptions
+of the precise semantics of the topics discussed above, you
+should refer to \wmii's |man| pages.
+
+\chapter{Customizing \wmii}
+
+There are several configuration schemes available for \wmii. If
+you're only looking to add basic key bindings, status monitors,
+{\it et cetera}, you should have no trouble modifying the stock
+configuration for your language of choice. If you're looking for
+deeper knowledge of \wmii's control interface, though, this
+section is for you. We'll proceed by building a configuration
+script in POSIX |sh| syntax, and move on to a discussion of the
+higher level constructs in the stock configuration scripts.
+
+\section{Events}
+
+The \wmii\ control interface is largely event driven. Each event
+is represented by a single, plain-text line written to the
+|/event| file. You can think of this file as a named pipe. When
+reading it, you won't recieve an EOF\footnote{End of File} until
+\wmii\ exits. Moreover, any lines written to the file will be
+transmitted to all of its readers. Notable events include key
+presses, the creation and destruction of windows, and changes of
+focus and views.
+
+We'll start building our configuration with an event processing
+framework:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Event Loop» ::=
+ # Broadcast a custom event
+ wmiir xwrite /event Start wmiirc
+
+ # Turn off globbing
+ set -f
+ # Open /event for reading
+ wmiir read /event |
+ # Read the events line by line
+ while read line; do
+ # Split the line into words, store in $@
+ set -- $line
+ event=$1; shift
+ line = "$(echo $line | sed ‘s/^[^ ]* //’ | tr -d ‘\n’)"
+ # Process the event
+ case $event in
+ Start) # Quit when a new instance starts
+ [ $1 = wmiirc ] && exit;;
+ «Event Handlers»
+ esac
+ done
+\end{code}
+
+Now, we need to consider which types of events we'll need to
+handle:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Event Handlers» ::=
+ «View Button Events»
+ «Urgency Events»
+ «Unresponsive Clients»
+ «Notice Events»
+ «Key Events»
+ «Client Menu Events»
+ «Tag Menu Events»
+\end{code}
+
+\section{Bar Items}
+
+The bar described by the files in the two directories |/lbar/| and
+|/rbar/| for buttons of the left and right side of the bar,
+respectively. The format of the files is:
+
+\begin{code}
+ ‹Color Tuple› ‹Label›
+\end{code}
+
+although the color tuple may be elided in cases where the label
+doesn't match its format.
+
+A ‹Color Tuple› is defined as:
+
+\begin{code}
+ ‹tuple› ::= ‹foreground color› ‹background color› ‹border color›
+ ‹color› ::= #‹6 character RGB hex color code›
+\end{code}
+
+Let's define our basic theme information now:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Theme Definitions» ::=
+ normcolors=‘#000000 #c1c48b #81654f’
+ focuscolors=‘#000000 #81654f #000000’
+ background=‘#333333’
+ font=‘drift,-*-fixed-*-*-*-*-9-*-*-*-*-*-*-*’
+\end{code}
+
+\subsection{View Buttons}
+
+With a basic understanding of bar items in mind, we can write
+our view event handlers:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «View Button Events» ::=
+ CreateTag) # CreateTag ‹Tag Name›
+ echo $normcolors $1 | wmiir create /lbar/$1;;
+ DestroyTag) # DestroyTag ‹Tag Name›
+ wmiir rm /lbar/$1;;
+ FocusTag) # FocusTag ‹Tag Name›
+ wmiir xwrite /lbar/$1 $focuscolors $1;;
+ UnfocusTag) # UnfocusTag ‹Tag Name›
+ wmiir xwrite /lbar/$* $normcolors $1;;
+\end{code}
+
+\subsection{Urgency}
+
+Windows can specify that they require attention, and in X11
+parlance, this is called urgency. When a window requests
+attention as such, or declares that it's been satisfied, \wmii\
+broadcasts an event for the client and an event for each view
+that it belongs to, and fills in the client's layout box. It's
+the job of a script to decide how handle it above and beyond
+that. The standard scripts simply mark urgent views with an
+asterisk:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Urgency Events» ::=
+ # The urgency events are ‘Client’ events when the program
+ # owning the window sets its urgency state. They're ‘Manager’
+ # events when wmii or the wmii user sets the state.
+ UrgentTag) # UrgentTag ‹‘Client’ or ‘Manager’› ‹Tag Name›
+ wmiir xwrite /lbar/$2 *$2;;
+ NotUrgentTag) # NotUrgentTag ‹‘Client’ or ‘Manager’› ‹Tag Name›
+ wmiir xwrite /lbar/$2 $2;;
+\end{code}
+
+\subsection{Notices}
+
+The standard scripts provide a custom Notice event for
+displaying status information. The events appear in the long bar
+between the left and right sides for five seconds.
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Notice Events» ::=
+ Notice)
+ wmiir xwrite /rbar/!notice $line
+ kill $xpid 2>/dev/null # Let's hope this isn't reused...
+ { sleep 5; wmiir xwrite /rbar/!notice ‘ ’; } &
+ xpid = $!;;
+\end{code}
+
+\section{Keys}
+
+Now to the part you've no doubt been waiting for: binding keys.
+When binding keys, you need to be aware of two files, |/keys|
+and |/event|. The former defines which keys \wmii\ needs to
+grab, and the latter broadcasts the events when they're pressed.
+Key names are specified as a series of modifiers followed by a
+key name, all separated by hyphens. Valid modifier names are
+|Control|, |Shift|, |Mod1| (usually Alt), |Mod2|, |Mod3|, |Mod4|
+(usually the Windows® key), and |Mod5|. Modifier keys can be
+changed via |xmodmap(1)|, which is beyond the scope of this
+discussion. Key names can be detected by running |xev| from a
+terminal, pressing the desired key, and looking at the output
+(it's in the parentheses, after the keysym). A \wmii-specific
+utility is forthcoming.
+
+Examples key bindings:
+
+\begin{description}
+ \item[Windows® key + Capital A] |Mod4-Shift-A|
+ \item[Control + Alt + Space] |Mod1-Control-Space|
+\end{description}
+
+Now, let's bind the keys we plan on using:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Bind Keys» ::=
+ {
+ cat <<!
+ Mod4-space
+ Mod4-d
+ Mod4-s
+ Mod4-m
+ Mod4-a
+ Mod4-p
+ Mod4-t
+ Mod4-Return
+ Mod4-Shift-space
+ Mod4-f
+ Mod4-Shift-c
+ Mod4-Shift-t
+ Mod4-h
+ Mod4-j
+ Mod4-k
+ Mod4-l
+ Mod4-Shift-h
+ Mod4-Shift-j
+ Mod4-Shift-k
+ Mod4-Shift-l
+ !
+ for i in 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0; do
+ echo Mod4-$i
+ echo Mod4-Shift-$i
+ done
+ } | wmiir write /keys
+\end{code}
+
+and lay a framework for processing their events:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Key Events» ::=
+ Key) # Key ‹Key Name›
+ case $1 in
+ «Motion Keys»
+ «Client Movement Keys»
+ «Column Mode Keys»
+ «Client Command Keys»
+ «Command Execution Keys»
+ «Tag Selection Keys»
+ «Tagging Keys»
+ esac;;
+\end{code}
+
+\section{Click Menus}
+
+Sometimes, you have your hand on the mouse and don't want to
+reach for the keyboard. To help cope, \wmii\ provides a
+mouse-driven, single-click menu. The default configuration uses
+it for client and tag menus.
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Click Menu Initialization» ::=
+ clickmenu() {
+ if res=$(wmii9menu -- “$@”); then eval “$res”; fi
+ }
+\end{code}
+
+\section{Control Files}
+
+Most filesystem objects, including the root directory, have
+control files, named |ctl|. The first line of most control files
+is the cannonical name of the directory they reside in, which
+comes in handy for the special |sel/| directories, which are
+aliases for the currently selected object of a group. The
+following lines represent properties of the object. Control
+files may be written to, in similar syntax to the values that
+can be read, to update those properties. For instance, if a file
+contains:
+
+\begin{code}
+ Fullscreen on
+\end{code}
+
+\noindent either of the following, when written to the file,
+will disable the |Fullscreen| state:
+
+\begin{code}
+ Fullscreen off
+ Fullscreen toggle
+\end{code}
+
+\section{Clients}
+
+Clients are represented by directories under the |/client/|
+tree. Subdirectory names represent the client's X11 window ID.
+The special |sel/| directory represents the currently selected
+client. The files in these directories are:
+
+\begin{description}
+ \item[ctl] The control file. The properties are:
+ \begin{description}
+ \item[Fullscreen] The client's fullscreen state. Then
+ |on|, the client is displayed fullscreen on all of its
+ views. Possible values are |on|, |off|, and |toggle|.
+ \item[Urgent] The client's urgency state. When |on|, the
+ client's layout box will be highlighted. Possible values
+ are |on|, |off|, and |toggle|.
+ \item[kill] When written, the window is closed politely,
+ if possible.
+ \item[slay] When written, the client is killed peremptorily.
+ \end{description}
+ \item[props] The client's window class (the X11 |WM_CLASS|
+ property) and title string, separated by colons. This file
+ is not writable.
+ \item[label] The client's window title. May be written to
+ change the client's title.
+ \item[tags] The client's tags. Tag names are separated by |+|
+ signs. Tags begining and ending with |/| are treated as
+ regular expressions. If the written value begins with a |+|
+ or a |-|, the tags are updated rather than overwritten. Tag
+ names which directly fillow a |-| sign are removed rather
+ than added. Regular expression tags which directly follow a
+ minus sign are treated as exclusion expressions. For
+ example, the tag string |+/foo/-/food/| will match the tag
+ |foobar|, but not the tag |foodstand|.
+\end{description}
+
+\subsection{Key Bindings}
+
+To control clients, we'll add the following key bindings:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Client Command Keys» ::=
+ Mod4-Shift-c) wmiir xwrite /client/sel/ctl kill;;
+ Mod4-f) wmiir xwrite /client/sel/ctl Fullscreen toggle;;
+\end{code}
+
+And to manage their tags, we'll need:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Tagging Keys» ::=
+ Mod4-Shift-t)
+ # Get the selected client's id
+ c=$(wmiir read /client/sel/tag | sed 1q)
+ # Prompt the user for new tags
+ tags=$(wmiir ls /tag | sed ‘s,/,,; /sel/d’ | wimenu)
+ # Write them to the client
+ wmiir xwrite /client/$c/tags $tag;;
+ Mod4-Shift-[0-9])
+ wmiir xwrite /client/sel/tags ${2##*-};;
+\end{code}
+
+\subsection{Click Menus}
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Client Menu Events» ::=
+ ClientMouseDown) # ClientMouseDown ‹Client ID› ‹Button›
+ [ $2 = 3 ] && clickmenu \
+ “Delete:xwrite /client/$1/ctl kill” \
+ “Kill:xwrite /client/$1/ctl slay” \
+ “Fullscreen:/client/$1/ctl Fullscreen on”
+\end{code}
+
+\subsection{Unresponsive Clients}
+
+When \wmii\ tries to close a window, it waits 8 seconds for the
+client to respond, and then lets its scripts decide what to do
+with it. The stock scripts prompt the user for input:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Unresponsive Clients» ::=
+ UnresponsiveClient) # UnresponsiveClient ‹Client ID›
+ {
+ # Use wihack to make the xmessage a transient window of
+ # the problem client. This will force it to open in the
+ # floaing layer of whatever views the client is attached to
+ resp=$(wihack -transient $1 \
+ xmessage -nearmouse -buttons Kill,Wait -print \
+ “The following client is not responding.” \
+ “What would you like to do?$(echo)” \
+ $(wmiir read /client/$1/label))
+ [ $resp = Kill ] && wmiir xwrite /client/$1/ctl slay
+ } &;;
+\end{code}
+
+\section{Views}
+
+Views are represented by directories under the |/tag/| tree. The
+special |sel/| directory represents the currently selected
+client. The |sel| tag is treated similarly elsewhere. The files
+in these directories are:
+
+\begin{description}
+ \item[ctl] The view's control file. The properties are:
+ \item[select ‹Area›] Select the column ‹Area›, where
+ ‹Area› is a 1-based column index, or |~| for the floating
+ area.
+ \item[select ‹Area› ‹Client Index›] Select the column ‹Area›, and
+ the ‹Client Index›th client.
+ \item[select client ‹Client ID›] Select the client with the
+ X11 window ID ‹Client ID›.
+ \item[select ‹Direction›]
+ Select the client in ‹Direction› where ‹Direction› may be
+ one of ‹up $\wedge$ down $\wedge$ left $\wedge$ right›.
+ \item[send client ‹Client ID› ‹Area›] Send ‹Cleint ID› to
+ ‹Area›. ‹Area› may be |sel| for the selected area, and
+ |client ‹Client ID›| may be |sel| for the currently selected
+ client.
+ \item[send client ‹Client ID› ‹Direction›]
+ Send ‹Client ID› to a column or position in its column in
+ the given direction.
+ \item[send client ‹Client ID› toggle] If ‹Client ID› is
+ floating, send it to the managed layer. If it's managed,
+ send it to the floating layer.
+ \item[swap client ‹Client ID› \ldots] The same as the |send|
+ commands, but swap ‹Client ID› with the client at the given
+ location.
+ \item[colmode ‹Area› ‹Mode›] Set ‹Area›'s mode to ‹Mode›,
+ where ‹Mode› is a string of values similar to tag
+ specifications. Values which may be added and removed are as
+ follows for managed areas:
+
+ \begin{description}
+ \item[stack] One and only one client in the area is
+ uncollapsed at any given time. When a new client is
+ selected, it is uncollapsed and the previously selected
+ client is collapsed.
+ \item[max] Collapsed clients are hidden from view
+ entirely. Uncollapsed clients display an indicator
+ {\it‹n›/‹m›}, where ‹m› is the number of collapsed
+ clients directly above and below the client, plus one,
+ and ‹n› is the client's index in the stack.
+ \end{description}
+
+ For the floating area, the values are the same, except that
+ in |max| mode, floating clients are hidden when the managed
+ layer is selected.
+ \item[grow ‹Frame› ‹Direction› {[‹Amount›]}] Grow ‹Frame› in
+ the given direction, by ‹Amount›. ‹Amount› may be any
+ integer, positive or negative. If suffixed with |px|,
+ it specifies an exact pixel amount, otherwise it specifies a
+ “reasonable increment”. Defaults to 1.
+
+ ‹Frame› may be one of:
+ \begin{itemize}
+ \item client ‹Client ID›
+ \item ‹Area› ‹Client Index›
+ \end{itemize}
+ \item[nudge ‹Frame› ‹Direction› {[‹Amount›]}] The same as
+ |grow|, but move the client in ‹Direction› instead of
+ resizing it.
+\end{description}
+
+\subsection{Key Bindings}
+
+We'll use the following key bindings to interact with views:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Motion Keys» ::=
+ Mod4-h) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl select left;;
+ Mod4-l) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl select right;;
+ Mod4-k) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl select up;;
+ Mod4-j) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl select down;;
+ Mod4-space) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl select toggle;;
+
+ «Client Movement Keys» ::=
+ Mod4-Shift-h) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl send sel left;;
+ Mod4-Shift-l) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl send sel right;;
+ Mod4-Shift-k) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl send sel up;;
+ Mod4-Shift-j) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl send sel down;;
+ Mod4-Shift-space) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl send sel toggle;;
+
+ «Column Mode Keys» ::=
+ Mod4-d) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl colmode sel -stack-max;;
+ Mod4-s) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl colmode sel stack-max;;
+ Mod4-m) wmiir xwrite /tag/sel/ctl colmode sel stack+max;;
+\end{code}
+
+\subsection{Click Menus}
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Tag Menu Events» ::=
+ LeftBarMouseDown) # LeftBarMouseDown ‹Button› ‹Bar Name›
+ [ $1 = 3 ] && clickmenu \
+ “Delete:delete_view $2”
+\end{code}
+
+\section{Command and Program Execution}
+
+Perhaps the most important function we need to provide for is
+the execution of programs. Since \wmii\ users tend to use a lot
+terminals often, we'll add a direct shortcut to launch one.
+Aside from that, we'll add a menu to launch arbitrary programs
+(with completions) and a separate menu to launch wmii specific
+commands.
+
+We use |wmiir setsid| to launch programs with their own session
+IDs to prevent untoward effects when this script dies.
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Command Execution Initialization» ::=
+ terminal() { wmiir setsid xterm “$@” }
+ proglist() {
+ IFS=: set -- $1
+ find -L $@ -maxdepth 1 -perm /111 | sed ‘s,.*/,,’ | sort | uniq
+ unset IFS
+ }
+\end{code}
+
+\subsection{Key Bindings}
+\begin{code}
+ «Command Execution Keys» ::=
+ Mod4-Return) terminal & ;;
+ Mod4-p) eval exec wmiir setsid "$(proglist $PATH | wimenu)" &;;
+ Mod4-a) {
+ set -- $(proglist $WMII_CONFPATH | wimenu)
+ prog = $( (PATH=$WMII_CONFPATH which $1) ); shift
+ eval exec $prog “$@”
+ } &;;
+\end{code}
+
+\section{The Root}
+
+The root filesystem contains the following:
+
+\begin{description}
+ \item[ctl] The control file. The properties are:
+ \begin{description}
+ \item[bar on ‹top $\wedge$ bottom›] Controls where the bar
+ is shown.
+ \item[bar off] Disables the bar entirely.
+ \item[border] The border width, in pixels, of floating
+ clients.
+ \item[colmode ‹Mode›] The default column mode for newly
+ created columns.
+ \item[focuscolors ‹Color Tuple›] The colors of focused
+ clients.
+ \item[normcolors ‹Color Tuple›] The colors of unfocused
+ clients and the default color of bar buttons.
+ \item[font ‹Font›] The font used throughout \wmii. If
+ prefixed with |xft:|, the Xft font renderer is used, and
+ fonts may be antialiased.
+ \item[grabmod ‹Modifier Keys›] The key which must be
+ pressed to move and resize windows with the mouse
+ without clicking hot spots.
+ \item[incmode ‹Mode›] Controls how X11 increment hints are
+ handled in managed mode. Possible values are:
+ \begin{description}
+ \item[ignore] Increment hints are ignored entirely.
+ Clients are stretched to fill their full allocated
+ space.
+ \item[show] Gaps are shown around managed client
+ windows when their increment hints prevent them from
+ filling their entire allocated space.
+ \item[squeeze] When increment hints cause gaps to show
+ around clients, \wmii\ will try to adjust the sizes
+ of the clients in the column to minimize lost space.
+ \end{description}
+ \item[view ‹Tag›] The currently visible view.
+ \item[exec ‹Command›] Replaces this \wmii\ instance with
+ ‹Command›. ‹Command› is split according to rc quoting
+ rules, and no expansion occurs. If the command fails to
+ execute, \wmii\ will respawn.
+ \end{description}
+ \item[props] The client's window class (the X11 |WM_CLASS|
+ property) and title string, separated by colons. This file
+ is not writable.
+ \item[label] The client's window title. May be written to
+ change the client's title.
+ \item[tags] The client's tags. Tag names are separated by |+|
+ signs. Tags begining and ending with |/| are treated as
+ regular expressions. If the written value begins with a |+|
+ or a |-|, the tags are updated rather than overwritten. Tag
+ names which directly fillow a |-| sign are removed rather
+ than added. Regular expression tags which directly follow a
+ minus sign are treated as exclusion expressions. For
+ example, the tag string |+/foo/-/food/| will match the tag
+ |foobar|, but not the tag |foodstand|.
+\end{description}
+
+\subsection{Configuration}
+
+We'll need to write our previously defined theme information to
+\wmii:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Configuration» ::=
+ «Theme Definitions»
+
+ xsetroot -solid $background
+ wmiir write /ctl <<!
+ border 2
+ focuscolors $focuscolors
+ normcolors $normcolors
+ font $font
+ grabmod Mod4
+ !
+\end{code}
+
+\subsection{Key Bindings}
+
+And we need a few more key bindings to select our views:
+
+\begin{code}
+ «Tag Selection Keys» ::=
+ Mod4-Shift-t)
+ # Prompt the user for a tag
+ tags=$(wmiir ls /tag | sed ‘s,/,,; /sel/d’ | wimenu)
+ # Write it to the filesystem.
+ wmiir xwrite /ctl view $tag;;
+ Mod4-[0-9])
+ wmiir xwrite /ctl view ${2##*-};;
+\end{code}
+
+\section{Tieing it All Together}
+
+\begin{code}
+ #!/bin/sh
+ «Click Menu Initialization»
+ «Command Execution Initialization»
+
+ «Configuration»
+
+ «Bind Keys»
+ «Event Loop»
+\end{code}
+
+\end{document}
diff -r 0ab9741bbff2 -r dfb3bbffd367 img/mkfile
--- a/img/mkfile Fri May 22 23:58:56 2009 -0400
+++ b/img/mkfile Sat May 23 22:08:12 2009 -0400
@@ -21,6 +21,9 @@
                 quit
         !
 
+%.pdf: %.eps
+ sh epstopdf $stem.eps
+
 %-small.png: %.eps
         iconwidth = 16
         iconscale = `{*=$epsbox; hoc -e $iconwidth/'('$3-' '$1')'}
diff -r 0ab9741bbff2 -r dfb3bbffd367 img/wmii.pdf
Binary file img/wmii.pdf has changed
Received on Sun May 24 2009 - 02:08:18 UTC

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.2.0 : Sun May 24 2009 - 02:12:04 UTC