Subject: FVWM: Re: Some fvwm config questions

From: An Thi-Nguyen Le <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2000 11:04:00 -0600

This should probably go on the fvwm user list, not fvwm-workers.  :)

[Paul D. Smith - Fri,  8 Dec 2000 09:43:18 AM CST]
> First, when I log in my GNOME Panel is left in the middle of the screen
> rather than along the bottom.  I have to move it by hand (which wouldn't

Not much experience with GNOME weirdness here.  I think there's something 
in the fvwm FAQ about this; not sure.  

> One other exception (where it doesn't obey the geometry) is my Emacs VM
> frame; I have it set up so that it starts in a specific position by
> adding that position to the Emacs frame display parameters... but it
> doesn't work.  The odd thing is that I do the same thing for a Gnus
> frame and an Info reader frame and the main frame, and that works!
> 
> Do you think it's the NoPPosition option that's causing this?  I can't
> recall, now, why I added that option.  Any other ideas or ways to fix
> it?

Probably.  I only use NoPPosition for apps that are *really* annoying 
about position (like Netscape).  NoPPosition otherwise causes problems 
with user geometry placement sometimes.

> I have a button panel split into three "sections": the first contains
> two buttons vertically, each pixmap is 30x27.  The second contains 9
> buttons in a 3x3 square; here each pixmap is 14x14.  The last section is
> a swallowed xmcd in "mini" mode.
> My problem is that I can't get the sizes correct.  Not only is the width
> of the small pixmaps too big, but there's a huge tract of empty
> FvwmButton space to the right of the contents of the button bar.

There is, in the FvwmButtons manpage, a treatise on the layout algorithm.

> (3x3, Container (Columns 3, Rows 3, Frame 2))

This is the root of the problem.  Don't use '3x3'; 1x1 would be better
here.  You also told FvwmButtons there would only be one row of buttons.

> (6x3, Frame 0, \
>   Swallow(UseOld,NoClose) miniXMcd 'Exec exec xmcd -name miniXMcd')

Here I would suggest 3x1 at best.  

-- 
An Thi-Nguyen Le
|The last time I saw him he was walking down Lover's Lane holding his own hand.
|		-- Fred Allen
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---

From: "Paul D. Smith" <[email-masked]>
Date: 08 Dec 2000 12:44:26 -0500

%% An Thi-Nguyen Le <[email-masked]> writes:

  atl> This should probably go on the fvwm user list, not fvwm-workers.  :)

Well, I put it here because it was using the beta release.  Perhaps
you're right, though.

  atl> Not much experience with GNOME weirdness here.  I think there's
  atl> something in the fvwm FAQ about this; not sure.

Nope.

  atl> There is, in the FvwmButtons manpage, a treatise on the layout
  atl> algorithm.

Yes; I didn't follow it within the context of my setup.  I'll try
again.

  >> (3x3, Container (Columns 3, Rows 3, Frame 2))

  atl> This is the root of the problem.  Don't use '3x3'; 1x1 would be
  atl> better here.  You also told FvwmButtons there would only be one
  atl> row of buttons.

I've tried all sorts of different things, including nothing at all.
Most resulted in tiny unreadable buttons scrunched up to the right.

Changing the above to 1x1 seemed to work OK (why do I have to specify
1x1?  If I don't put anything there it doesn't work right; shouldn't the
default be 1x1?  Oh well), except that the icons in the first button are
too wide.

The reason I was attempting to use things like 3x2, etc. is to break the
grid down into smaller bits, where I can say the first container
takes up two grid spaces and the second takes up 3 grid spaces, to get a
more precise layout (equivalent to the first container taking up 1 space
and the second taking up 1.5 spaces).  I've done this kind of thing in
the past with FvwmButtons, and it worked, but I can't seem to get this
one working.

Hmm... now when I just tried this it worked!  I think it was giving a
value greater than 1 for the y coordinate that was screwing everything
up; as long as I left that at 1 it works.

I used 2x1 for the first container, 3x1 for the second, and 9x1 for the
swallowed xmcd (I tried 8x1 but it was a _mite_ too small).

Weird.  Oh well, thanks.

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 Paul D. Smith <[email-masked]>    HASMAT--HA Software Methods & Tools
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---

From: Dominik Vogt <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000 21:38:19 +0100

> up; as long as I left that at 1 it works.

This is easy to explain.  At first you ask that the whole button
bar has only one row:

  Rows 1

But then you specify buttons with a height of 3:

Of course this does not fit into the button bar.  Instead of
exiting with an error message, FvwmButtons calculates the total
number of sub buttons you need for all your elements:

  1x1 =  1  for the first container
  3x3 =  9  for the second container
  6x3 = 18  for the swallowed window
  ----------------------------------
        28  buttons total

To accomodate all buttons, it makes the button bar 1 button tall
and 28 buttons wide.  This is why the button bar is so wide.

Finally, it places your buttons.  The first container causes no
problem.  The second one is too tall (3x3) and is cropped to 3x1.
The same happens for the swallowed window: 6x3 -> 6x1.  You will
notice some error messages on your console:

  foo: Button too tall. Giving up
  Button=8 num_rows=3 bheight=3 h=1
  foo: Button too tall. Giving up
  Button=1 num_rows=1 bheight=3 h=0

So, in the end all your buttons use 1+3+6 = 10 sub buttons, but
the whole button bar has 28 sub buttons.

> swallowed xmcd (I tried 8x1 but it was a _mite_ too small).

I recommend to use fixed geometries for the whole button bar
anyway.  This way this funny button shuffling algorithm is never
used.  At the end of the FvwmButtons man page you will find an
example (actually, this is my FvwmButtons config).

Bye

Dominik ^_^  ^_^

--
Dominik Vogt, [email-masked]
Reply-To: [email-masked]
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