Subject: FVWM: TaskBar's mail indicator

From: Gregg Dameron <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 26 Jun 2002 16:13:45 -0600

Running 2.4.7 on Solaris 8.

I am trying to acquaint myself with the TaskBar's mail indicator
behavior, using a "surrogate" mailbox (a dummy file I have
designated as the MailBox) and surrogate mail messages (adding
to/removing from the file by hand, then deleting it).

Here's what I am seeing.

1.  The mailbox is checked every MailCheck seconds _provided_ the
TaskBar has work to do (like updating buttons due to window focus
changes).  If the TaskBar is idle, the mailbox is not checked until
the UpdateInterval timer expires.  I've found that I need to set
both MailCheck and UpdateInterval to the same low value, say 5, to
get timely mail indicator updates when the TaskBar is otherwise
idle.  I'm not necessarily advocating a code change, but some hints
in the man page as to the interrelationship between these two
parameters might be worthwhile.

[Side note:  The man page states that the default value for
UpdateInterval is 60.  It's actually 30, isn't it?]

2.  Single-clicking the "new" mail indicator unconditionally returns
the indicator to its "old mail" state.  Until the mailbox is
actually re-read, the indicator and its tooltip are in conflict.  A
nit, to be sure.

3.  In the "no mail" case, when no icon is rendered, the empty space
still sports a tooltip, and MailCommand can still be launched with a
double-click (both of which seem non-intuitive).  Perhaps TaskBar
could be enhanced to show three different icons for the no-mail,
old-mail and new-mail cases.  Perhaps all three icons could be
config options.

Gregg Dameron

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From: Mikhael Goikhman <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 27 Jun 2002 09:43:06 +0000

> to/removing from the file by hand, then deleting it).

This FvwmTaskBar functionality was not changed for years, I think.

To improve it you may either patch FvwmTaskBar or use FvwmButtons with
swallowing a real mail notification program like xmailbox.

> UpdateInterval is 60.  It's actually 30, isn't it?]

Yes, UpdateInterval is 30.

As for MailCheck, I see several bugs here, so it is always 10 no matter
what you configured. I may try to fix this, but I don't use FvwmTaskBar
or local email.

MailCheck always has effect if it is greater than UpdateInterval.
If MailCheck is less than UpdateInterval, it only has effect when
something is redrawn. I will documents this.

> old-mail and new-mail cases.  Perhaps all three icons could be

Well, you may replace minimail.xbm image in the sources.

Regards,
Mikhael.