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Lars Stokholm

Member

From: Denmark

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 223

New Pidgin messages in dwm

Short version
What do you guys/girls do to get notified about new messages in Pidgin, using the dwm window manager?

Long version
Using the Message Notification plugin, Pidgin can set the Urgent Hint on the message window, if a new message is recieved. As a result the parent tag will change color in the dwm bar. But this only works if a message window if already open. If only the Buddy List is open, I won't get notified. What can I do to get notified when a new message is recieved, if only the Buddy List is open?

SamC

Member

From: Calgary

Registered: 2008-05-13

Posts: 611

Website

Re: New Pidgin messages in dwm

Don't new chat windows pop up, with the urgent hint set?

Lars Stokholm

Member

From: Denmark

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 223

Re: New Pidgin messages in dwm

Nope, they pop up if you haven't set "Hide new IM convesations" to "Always" in Tools > Preferences > Interface. Using the Message Notification plugin to set the Urgent Hint has no effect on that. It serves no notify dwm that a window on some tag needs attention. But it only works on message/conversation windows, not on the Buddy List.

I guess I could set "Hide new IM convesations" to "Never" and have the new conversations pop up, but I don't want to be disturbed by that. I want to be notified in another way.

Last edited by Lars Stokholm (2010-07-10 19:56:47)

lswest

Member

From: Munich, Germany

Registered: 2008-06-14

Posts: 456

Website

Re: New Pidgin messages in dwm

I use the statuscolors patch, which changes the background of the corresponding workspace in an "alert" fashion.  That what you were looking for?

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Lswest <- the first letter of my username is a lowercase "L".
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SamC

Member

From: Calgary

Registered: 2008-05-13

Posts: 611

Website

Re: New Pidgin messages in dwm

I guess I could set "Hide new IM convesations" to "Never" and have the new conversations pop up, but I don't want to be disturbed by that. I want to be notified in another way.

I'd recommend that you make a rule that puts all of your IMs on a 'Chat' workspace by default, so that they can pop up as they wish, but don't bother you. You'll get the notifications, and then you can take whatever action you want regarding them (Move them to another workspace, replay, whatever).

Lars Stokholm

Member

From: Denmark

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 223

Re: New Pidgin messages in dwm

I'd recommend that you make a rule that puts all of your IMs on a 'Chat' workspace by default, so that they can pop up as they wish, but don't bother you. You'll get the notifications, and then you can take whatever action you want regarding them (Move them to another workspace, replay, whatever).

Yeah, I thought about that. It's a good idea and will be my fallback, if no better solution is found.

I wonder if Pidgin even notifies the window manager when a message is recevied. If not, then surely there's nothing dwm or any other wm can do about it.

moljac024

Member

From: Serbia

Registered: 2008-01-29

Posts: 2,676

Re: New Pidgin messages in dwm

I'd recommend that you make a rule that puts all of your IMs on a 'Chat' workspace by default, so that they can pop up as they wish, but don't bother you. You'll get the notifications, and then you can take whatever action you want regarding them (Move them to another workspace, replay, whatever).

Yeah, I thought about that. It's a good idea and will be my fallback, if no better solution is found.

I wonder if Pidgin even notifies the window manager when a message is recevied. If not, then surely there's nothing dwm or any other wm can do about it.

Maybe try the guifications plugin. But in essence, pidgin works best with a system tray...

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geniuz

Member

Registered: 2010-04-10

Posts: 127

Re: New Pidgin messages in dwm

I'd recommend that you make a rule that puts all of your IMs on a 'Chat' workspace by default, so that they can pop up as they wish, but don't bother you. You'll get the notifications, and then you can take whatever action you want regarding them (Move them to another workspace, replay, whatever).

Yeah, I thought about that. It's a good idea and will be my fallback, if no better solution is found.

I wonder if Pidgin even notifies the window manager when a message is recevied. If not, then surely there's nothing dwm or any other wm can do about it.

Maybe try the guifications plugin. But in essence, pidgin works best with a system tray...

I agree, I don't use dwm myself. But in Musca I generally have a separate workspace for pidgin in which I allow new conversation windows to open. On top of that, I have a system tray (trayer) running that notifies me of incoming messages through the pidgin tray icon. Works like a charm if you ask me .

Lars Stokholm

Member

From: Denmark

Registered: 2009-03-17

Posts: 223

Re: New Pidgin messages in dwm

I never managed to get Pidgin to notify about the first new message. What I did to solve it was this: Uninstall Pidgin, install Bitlbee and set it up with screen and irssi. Works better that I had ever imagined.