Subject: FVWM: Lots of fun Fvwm questions

From: ralph stickley <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 05 Oct 2000 12:58:29 -0400

Hello,
I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I'll start here.

I'm using fvwm for a thin client device and have setup the desktop (as
requested)
to mimic the windows environment (using  fvwm  2.2.4 ).  Even after
weeks of
hacking, some things just don't act like I'd expect .

So, a couple of fun questions:

1. When the "start" button is depressed, it always looks "depressed"
- any way to pop the start button back up ??
- any way to make the menu popup "on top" of the "start" button ?
(instead of off to the side - any magical context rectangle number?)

2. I start an application in another desktop, but when the application
closes, it never returns to the first desktop.  If I don't display the
Pager, there
seems "to the user" no way to get back (at least key bindings work).
- any way to automagically return to the first desktop?
- or - any way to make the taskbar popup  when a window closes??

3. What is required to get the "Beep" to work - maybe I'm missing  a
driver
file or something here. (I really want beep to work from within a
FvwmScript file!)

4. Is there any way to configure the window list so that my Alt-Tab
switches
through the  windows ? (The flipfocus doesn't seem to work as explained
in the manual)
Is there  a way to get the window list to popup in the middle of the
screen everytime ?? (more magical context rectangle numbers :)

And in the FvwmScripts:

5. Does anyone know how to make the mini-scroll bars behave ??
- one mouse click and release increments the number by two...
- first click always increments - even if you click the down button
- Maybe my mouse bindings are messing stuff up ??

6. Are the script limitations (60 variables) being lifted in the near
future ??

7. Why can you not hide rectangle widgets ?

8. Must the mouse be pointing inside the text box to accept input
? (This is annoying!)

9. Highilighting text inside an input text box has no affect  -  I
expect the highlighted text
to be erased when I press a key. Any way to configure this to work ??

Anyhow, if someone has any pointers on these questions - or if you'd
like to check out
my startup resouce file just let me know.

BTW, I have written about 3K lines of FvwmScript programs to do lots of
desktop setups
stuff.  I  copied from other scripts around and added some of my own to
do Network setup,
 Date (and time), TouchScreen calibration and Startup applications among
others. If
anyone is interested in these, just let me know...

Thanks in Advance!

Ralph Stickley
Datalux, Corp.

http://www.datalux.com

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---

From: Olivier Chapuis <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 06 Oct 2000 09:33:45 +0200

> (instead of off to the side - any magical context rectangle number?)

This is a well known bug in the 2.2.x series, it is fixed in
the 2.3.x series.

> file or something here. (I really want beep to work from within a

Are you sure that your bell is on (man xset)?

> 6. Are the script limitations (60 variables) being lifted in the near

In the next beta 2.3.22 you can use a lot of variables (5120) and a
lot of widgets (1000). In the current beta 2.3.21 you can already
used 512 variables.
 
> 7. Why can you not hide rectangle widgets ?

Because there are not real widget, there are "widget" which
write directly on the main widget.
 
> 8. Must the mouse be pointing inside the text box to accept input

Yes. Agree with you, but it is still the case in the betas
and will be probably the case in 2.4.

> anyone is interested in these, just let me know...

Note that there are new scripts in the current betas.

Sorry to do not answer all your questions.
Olivier

---

From: ralph stickley <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 06 Oct 2000 11:06:09 -0400

Olivier,

Thanks for the input!  Nothing to do now except wait for the next release :)

One more question I forgot to ask :

How do you do the keybinding for the "Start" menu and the "Start" key on the
keyboard ?

I haven't seen an example of this for 2.2.4 ....

Olivier Chapuis wrote:

> <snip>

Hmmm....yep
bell percent: 50   bell pitch: 400   bell duration: 100

I also have modules sound core, sound and sb installed - not sure what / who
is in control of the beeper

xkbbell doesn't work either  ...

> <snip>

Ahhhh....Ugly!

> Sorry to do not answer all your questions.

Thanks again - this clears up a lot...

Ralph

Linux - always Beta, all the time !

---

From: Mikhael Goikhman <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 7 Oct 2000 01:15:38 +0200

> I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but I'll start here.

This is a good place to ask. If you want to be aware of the developement
there is fvwm-workers@ list.

> (instead of off to the side - any magical context rectangle number?)

Use:

  *FvwmTaskBarStartMenu MenuFvwmRoot Root +1p o100-25p

> - any way to automagically return to the first desktop?

You can start FvwmEvent and hook destroy_window event to something like:

  Desk 0 0

In 2.3 it can be done more effectivelly using PassId of FvwmEvent
and having in the hook function: WindowId $w ("MyApp") GotoDesk 0 0

> - or - any way to make the taskbar popup  when a window closes??

The same here. Just add this after/instead Desk command:

  Menu MenuFvwmRoot Root +1p o100-25p

In 2.2 this will change desk or/and pop up the menu after any window
closing, so you probably may want to have a function which first starts
FvwmEvent, then your application; in destroy_window: KillModule FvwmEvent.

> file or something here. (I really want beep to work from within a

Bell is translated by X Server to machine specific sound as far as I know,
for example directly to PC native speaker. Do you hear a bell after:

  echo [Press Ctrl-V][Press Ctrl-G][Press Enter]

> screen everytime ?? (more magical context rectangle numbers :)

Here is an example (this is explained in the 2.2 man page):

  Key Tab A M WindowList Root c c

  DestroyFunc WindowListFunc
  AddToFunc   WindowListFunc
  + "I" WindowId $0 FlipFocus
  + "I" WindowId $0 Raise
  + "I" WindowId $0 WarpToWindow 50 50

Do you say FlipFocus does not work as expected? Please give more info.
The 'Key Tab A M' binding above doesn't work on my keyboard, fixed in 2.3.

Also in 2.3 you have built-in Alt-Tab (unless you redefine this), which is
what you want. And Tab inside WindowList (and other menus) works.

> - Maybe my mouse bindings are messing stuff up ??

Seems like a problem. I fear it can't be solved without fixing the source.

> to be erased when I press a key. Any way to configure this to work ??

You can submit a feature request for this via the bug tracking system.

Regards,
Mikhael.

---

From: ralph stickley <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 09 Oct 2000 15:15:28 -0400

Mikhael,
Thanks for the input - things are starting to look "normal" - ahhhh!

Hey, while your here :-)  My start menu is almost there - but...

1.a  is there any way to bind the Start key on the keyboard to the Start menu
?

1.b is there any way to configure the start menu to remain on-screen after
an item with a sub-menu is clicked ?? If I click on "Programs..." the sub
menu
is displayecd, but the start menu disappears. - whoa..now where did that
get off to ??

>   *FvwmTaskBarStartMenu MenuFvwmRoot Root +1p o100-25p

Yep...works great - I even understand it after going back to read the manual.

Note, if the user extends the taskbar the window pops up at the same place,
overlaying the start button... might be a way to make it relative to the
taskbar window or some other trick....

>   Menu MenuFvwmRoot Root +1p o100-25p,

Ok, I got nothing here....I don't know where to start or where to stick the
FvwmEvent
thing.  more manual reading is in order  :-(  What is the desk command ??

My application has  a style defined as:
Style "xxx"  border Width 0 , NoHandles, NoTitle, NoDecorHint, StartsOnDesk 2

from the StartMenu:
+ "xxx" Exec /usr/bin/xxx

from the Buttons in the pager:
*FvwmButtons (Title Xxx, Icon icons_bt.xpm, Action 'Exec /usr/bin/xxx')

>   echo [Press Ctrl-V][Press Ctrl-G][Press Enter]

Hmmm...this does nothing...I think there is some fundamental problem here
besides general operator error :-O

I'm using a Media GX with the sound, soundcore and sb modules installed...
any suggestions ? and how do you use these modules anyhow ??

>   + "I" WindowId $0 WarpToWindow 50 50

Hmmm...works same as the default WindowList Func

> The 'Key Tab A M' binding above doesn't work on my keyboard, fixed in 2.3.

The binding works and displays the window list as expected. However,
you have to use the mouse or cursor keys to pick a window.  Another Alt-tab
or even just the Tab key would be handy (as I expected to occur from the
FlipFocus option).

> what you want. And Tab inside WindowList (and other menus) works.

Yep...gotta get me some of that 2.3 stuff...

> You can submit a feature request for this via the bug tracking system.

I guess I'll try to get the 2.3 stuff before I submit any bugs or
features....

> Mikhael.

Thanks for the input - my start menu is now operating "reasonably" and
the Alt Tab feature has been added.

Later,
Ralph

---

From: Mikhael Goikhman <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 05:36:20 +0200

On 09 Oct 2000 15:15:28 -0400, ralph stickley wrote:
> 1.a  is there any way to bind the Start key on the keyboard to the Start menu?

Ok, I explain what I did, maybe it can be useful to someone.
I started xev and pressed my Start key. I got keycode 117 (it may be
different on your keyboard) and no keysym assigned with it.
Similarly, `xmodmap -pk | grep 117` gave no keysyms.

Then I executed `xmodmap -e 'keycode 117 = F13'`, i.e. assigned this key
to symbolic name F13, which is not used on my keyboard. Then started
FvwmConsole, executed the following and everything worked:

  Key F13 A A Menu MenuFvwmRoot Root +1p o100-25p

So, if I wanted to be annoyed by these extra keys I would just add this
"xmodmap -e .." command to my ~/.xinitrc or call it from InitFunction.

> 1.b is there any way to configure the start menu to remain on-screen
> after an item with a sub-menu is clicked ?? If I click on "Programs..."
> the sub menu is displayecd, but the start menu disappears. - whoa..now
> where did that get off to ??

In 2.3, the default is what you want. In 2.2, this is not configurable.

> taskbar window or some other trick....

You can also try 'Mouse c -100m' or so, but I think the first is better.

> thing.  more manual reading is in order  :-(  What is the desk command ??

Desk (the new name is GotoDesk) changes the current desk.

> *FvwmButtons (Title Xxx, Icon icons_bt.xpm, Action 'Exec /usr/bin/xxx')

Take a look at fvwm.org/generated/FAQ.html and read question 3.18 and 3.19.
I hope you will learn something useful.

> any suggestions ? and how do you use these modules anyhow ??

It is really not fvwm specific, try to find about "bell in X" on internet.

Regards,
Mikhael.

---

From: ralph stickley <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 10 Oct 2000 11:33:16 -0400

Mikhael,
Wow - that worked great!
My "start" key was keycode 115, the "right mouse button" key is117...

Also, I just inserted the expression:

keycode 115 = F13

in my  .../xinit/Xmodmap file.

Of course, the application ("Citrix") is using the start key too  but now
X captures it first - proving once again that no good deed goes
unpunished :)

Thanks for all the help.  I'll check out the FAQ too...keep the noise
down on this list a little....

Later,
Ralph