Re: [wmii] Menu interface

On Sat, Jun 24, 2006 at 09:57:53AM +0200, Anselm R. Garbe wrote:
>On Fri, Jun 23, 2006 at 08:45:43PM -0400, Kris Maglione wrote:
>> On Sat, Jun 24, 2006 at 12:38:20AM +0200, Julian Stecklina wrote:
>> >Hello,
>> >
>> >I already mentioned it on IRC, but wouldn't it be an improvement to
>> >integrate wmiimenu's functionality into wmiiwm and expose it through 9P?
>> >For the usual Mod+p program menu it could work as follows:
>> >
>> >1. wmiirc creates a list of all executables and stores it into
>> >/menu/programs.
>> >
>> >2. The user presses Mod+p. wmiirc writes "show programs" into
>> >/menu/ctl. wmiiwm displays the menu.
>> >
>> >3. If the user selects a menu item an event is generated,
>> >e.g. MenuSelect programs xterm
>> >
>> >4. wmiirc starts xterm
>>
>> This is an interesting interface, actually. I can see it working well with
>> actions and views as well; the views file would be updated only when a view
>> is added or removed. It also has the advantage of keeping the list hashed
>> and the program in memory, thereby decreasing startup time. I'll look into
>> implementing this as a patch as soon as enough changes take place to make
>> it feasible. If it turns out to be useful, I'll see what I can do about
>> making it official.
>
>We already had this. Please don't clutter the wm with such kind
>of stuff. The current wmiimenu approach is much more simplier
>and can be used without 9P as well. I don't want that change.
>There is no single sane reason why this would be more
>advantageous. You can access the 9P service to build up menu
>lists, that's all we need.
Like I said, I'll write it as a patch. The idea as it's been presented
iterests me because the latency of starting a menu is unbearable at times.
I've often enough wound up entering an entire tag name in vim before the menu
has opened and I'm opened to exploring any available way to avoid it.

-- 
Kris Maglione
If there were a god, we'd be able to walk upright without back problems. -Penn Jillette