fehlstart: a simple, quick application launcher written in C

Guff · 2011-07-03 14:50:05

So for a couple days now, I've been contributing a little to fehlstart. As the title states, it's a simple application launcher, and that's all it is. No tweeting, no file management, no nothin' that ain't launchin'.

maep is the primary author, and he's done almost all the work thus far. I've just tweaked a few lines here and there, and added the config file stuff.

Features include:

A configuration file in your xdg config directory (i.e. ~/.config/fehlstart/fehlstart.rc) that currently does nothing but set the hotkey to launch fehlstart with.
A command line option, --one-way, that makes fehlstart pop up immediately and then exit once you're done, as opposed to staying in the background listening for the hotkey.
Pretty icons! Well, whatever icon is specified by the selected application's desktop file, or a default icon if one isn't found
Choice learning (i.e., it remembers what string you used to launch which application)

Future features (hopefully) include:

More robust matching. Specifically, the ability to detect acronyms (e.g. "gimp" instead of "GNU Image Manipulation Program").
Learning. Rarely is the question asked: is our fehlstart learning? Well, right now, no. It isn't.
Other stuff?

Dependencies

libkeybinder
gtk2

Screenshots:

AUR

You can find fehlstart-git here in the AUR.

Feedback and suggestions appreciated.

Last edited by Guff (2011-07-12 19:21:58)

twix · 2011-07-03 22:56:11

Great idea, i was looking for a lightweight application launcher !

However, i could not get the interface, it is not responsive to super + space.

Info : arch x86_64 up-to-date, version fehlstart-git-20110704-1, Option "XkbLayout" "fr", libkeybinder installed from AUR

Guff · 2011-07-03 23:33:43

twix wrote:

Great idea, i was looking for a lightweight application launcher !
However, i could not get the interface, it is not responsive to super + space.
Info : arch x86_64 up-to-date, version fehlstart-git-20110704-1, Option "XkbLayout" "fr", libkeybinder installed from AUR

Hmm. Are there no error messages?
Are you sure the binding isn't taken by something else, like, say, your window manager or anything?

twix · 2011-07-04 10:14:29

I've tested it on openbox, and the default binding worked. So I think a conflict is the problem.

Second problem : on openbox, the typing box does not get the focus when launched, while there is no problem about that on gnome3 fallback

EDIT : there was no error messages, just

(fehlstart:11239): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
reading /home/twix/.local/share/applications

(fehlstart:11239): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

Last edited by twix (2011-07-04 10:28:08)

Guff · 2011-07-04 14:11:55

twix wrote:

I've tested it on openbox, and the default binding worked. So I think a conflict is the problem.
Second problem : on openbox, the typing box does not get the focus when launched, while there is no problem about that on gnome3 fallback
EDIT : there was no error messages, just
(fehlstart:11239): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed
reading /home/twix/.local/share/applications

(fehlstart:11239): GLib-GObject-CRITICAL **: g_object_unref: assertion `G_IS_OBJECT (object)' failed

I did a little something that might help with the focus issues, but no guarantees. Can you upgrade and try again?

Also, on openbox when that happens, does clicking the window give it focus?

twix · 2011-07-04 15:22:57

I have updated Fehlstart, and the problem is still here : the focus is not acquired by fehlstart when lauched on openbox, and the last update removed icon display too.

On XFCE there is no focus problem.

On all environment, clicking the window give focus on it

Guff · 2011-07-04 15:53:02

twix wrote:

I have updated Fehlstart, and the problem is still here : the focus is not acquired by fehlstart when lauched on openbox, and the last update removed icon display too.
On XFCE there is no focus problem.
On all environment, clicking the window give focus on it

Oh, yeah, for the icon thing, just add

[Icons]
show=true

to your ~/.config/fehlstart/fehlstart.rc or just delete the file and it will be generated with all the defaults when you launch it again.

Does openbox have focus stealing prevention features? That's the only thing I can think of that would be giving you this trouble.

twix · 2011-07-04 16:25:08

Ok, the icon thing was trivial

For the focus, openbox give it to new windows by default, and I've checked the config file, it's good :

<focus>
    <focusNew>yes</focusNew>
    <!-- always try to focus new windows when they appear. other rules do
       apply -->
    <followMouse>no</followMouse>
    <!-- move focus to a window when you move the mouse into it -->
    <focusLast>yes</focusLast>
    <!-- focus the last used window when changing desktops, instead of the one
       under the mouse pointer. when followMouse is enabled -->
    <underMouse>no</underMouse>
    <!-- move focus under the mouse, even when the mouse is not moving -->
    <focusDelay>200</focusDelay>
    <!-- when followMouse is enabled, the mouse must be inside the window for
       this many milliseconds (1000 = 1 sec) before moving focus to it -->
    <raiseOnFocus>no</raiseOnFocus>
    <!-- when followMouse is enabled, and a window is given focus by moving the
       mouse into it, also raise the window -->
  </focus>

Guff · 2011-07-04 16:36:59

Hmm. Well, the author has apparently also encountered this bug. We'll both try and figure out how to deal with it.
I'll take a look at kupfer's code, see if there's anything to deal with focus issues.

Guff · 2011-07-04 18:21:17

Twix, I think I might have solved it. At least, it solved the problem for me in my test environment.
I've pushed the change out, so can you upgrade and try it one more time?

twix · 2011-07-04 19:31:13

Nice ! You solved it, it now works like a charm

I will look into you push, as I'm interested in C/C++ development, but do not have currently the full knowledge and ideas to start with.

Hehe, your fix is simple, just the windows type was bad isn't it ?

Guff · 2011-07-04 19:51:06

twix wrote:

Nice ! You solved it, it now works like a charm
I will look into you push, as I'm interested in C/C++ development, but do not have currently the full knowledge and ideas to start with.
Hehe, your fix is simple, just the windows type was bad isn't it ?

Ah, good.

Well, this project isn't too complicated. Maybe too much for a beginner, but hey, I'm fairly new to programming myself. I'd say one of the things that's been the most helpful for me is just sprucing up and reorganizing code other people have written. It helps one to get an understanding of what's going on, but the work isn't extremely involved.

Yup, that was it. GTK_WINDOW_POPUP windows aren't under the control of the window manager, so it doesn't have to fight for input focus. I'm still fairly new to GTK, though, so I wasn't immediately aware of how to make it an override redirect window.

pogeymanz · 2011-07-04 21:20:28

Just a suggestion for your matching issue (gimp versus gnu image manipulation program). You could look at dmenu-launch in the AUR and see how it does it. It's written in bash, but its matching works like you said you want this to.

Guff · 2011-07-05 01:08:12

pogeymanz wrote:

Just a suggestion for your matching issue (gimp versus gnu image manipulation program). You could look at dmenu-launch in the AUR and see how it does it. It's written in bash, but its matching works like you said you want this to.

Ah, thanks. Turns out, rather than actually matching against acronyms and whatnot, it just matches against both the executable and the application name. Which works in this case, because the GIMP's executable is just "gimp".

So, I added this functionality to fehlstart. Not sure if I still need to do real acronym matching or not though.

Guff · 2011-07-07 15:35:25

Just to let everyone know, maep has added some basic learning functionality to fehlstart. He's also done a great job cleaning up a lot of the code, and from now on you won't have to manually edit the configuration files every time a new option is added, that will be taken care of automatically without wiping your existing settings.

twix · 2011-07-08 19:16:47

Nice work

Maybe you could point this thread to maep, or maybe start another one on a more "generic" forum, I think it will be better for everyone

Guff · 2011-07-08 22:11:51

twix wrote:

Nice work
Maybe you could point this thread to maep, or maybe start another one on a more "generic" forum, I think it will be better for everyone

I already let maep know soon after I posted it.

As to posting it somewhere else, well, I don't go much anywhere else. Any suggestions?

twix · 2011-07-08 23:14:18

Hmm, in fact I don't go anywhere else too, apart reddit. Maybe a post in the linux or archlinux subreddit would make fehlstart more popular...

Guff · 2011-07-09 00:51:05

twix wrote:

Hmm, in fact I don't go anywhere else too, apart reddit. Maybe a post in the linux or archlinux subreddit would make fehlstart more popular...

Well, I first found out about it myself because maep posted it to r/linux. I think a repost so soon would be considered poor etiquette.

maep · 2011-07-09 18:33:48

greetings! I've been monitoring this thread for bug reports. also yes, I think posting it on r/linux again now would be bad form. maybe I'll write something on the LXDE forums. happy launching!

twix · 2011-07-12 15:47:43

I have just tested it on WMFS and awesome, it works flawlessly, respecting screens and tags on default configuration
(I'm new to tiling WMs)

loganfynne · 2011-07-12 15:50:16

I must say, I love this application.

Guff · 2011-07-12 19:24:10

twix wrote:

I have just tested it on WMFS and awesome, it works flawlessly, respecting screens and tags on default configuration
(I'm new to tiling WMs)

loganfynne wrote:

I must say, I love this application.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Any suggestions?

twix · 2011-07-13 10:03:28

Ok, here we go then :

- In the wiki, add example to the key binding, for two modifier keys, Fn keys etc

- Maybe allow customizing the size of window, position of the icon ... if it don't bloat out the program

DIDI2002 · 2011-07-13 10:28:37

Hi, I really like this work of yours!
Pretty amazing it's only 48k installed, I've never seen gtk in plain C.

How about this: When you type in "/home..." or anything that starts with a forward slash, you do xdg-open file:///home (or whatever way you can open a file-browser)4

Last edited by DIDI2002 (2011-07-13 10:31:13)

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#1 2011-07-03 14:50:05