Openbox + Pypanel Question

Mandor · 2007-01-27 23:20:55

I'm trying to switch to a WM instead of complete DE and I decided to try Openbox and Pypanel. It works quite well, but I have a problem - the panel stands above my windows. I know I can make it appear below, but what I actually want is the windows not to overlap with it when maximized - the panel should be still visible (like a standard panel, in other words). I would like to know if that is possible and (of course) will appreciate any hint.

Beside that, it seems that Pypanel changed the way Openbox works - now the resize cursor appears only in the upper corners of windows and not in the lower (as it was before pypanel). Do I miss something or "it's a feature" (and if yes, can it be changed back)?

Tanks for your time in advance.

wounded · 2007-01-28 00:42:09

I thought windows didn't overlap it by default? Well, I know it is possible but I don't have an openbox setup at the moment to check but ~/.pypanelrc i believe is the donfiguration file. You can do a lot of neat stuff and the overlapping option is probably in there somewhere. It's fairly straight forward so you shouldn't have much trouble figuring it out.

Last edited by wounded (2007-01-28 00:44:45)

Mandor · 2007-01-28 08:50:47

Well, I have to say that before asking, I read few times .pypanerc (and also changed some things), as well as searched the wiki, the forum and googled for a while. Still I did not see anything helpful, so if somebody knows exactly where this is done and spend some time to post it, I will appreciate it

onearm · 2007-01-28 10:03:19

The only thing I can think of is this option in pypanelrc (which you'll have surely already checked...)

ABOVE           = 1             # Panel is always above other apps

Hope it helps

Mr Green · 2007-01-28 10:22:48

where onscreen is panel top or bottom? pypanel for me works better at the bottom of screen

dedhart · 2007-01-28 11:42:36

I would like to know how you all got pypanel to work in the first place. After the latest python update, I can't seem to get pypanel to work at all.

Mandor · 2007-01-28 15:34:17

@ onearm: That's exactly what I've put.

@ Mr Green: My panel is at the top of the screen. I will try it in the bottom, but that's still does not really solves the problem.

@ dedhar: It's a fresh install. There's an article in the wiki that says something about changing line 530 in /usr/lib/python2.4/site-packages/Xlib/protocol/display.py to "recv = self.socket.recv(4096)", but as I read some code and didn't find a reason to add that line (line 530 is a comment), I didn't change it and nothing seems broken. You may try add it or remove it, if it's there and see what happens. That's what I could suggest with my limited experience.

I really doubt this line could be the problem (since the overlap seems like a feature to me), but I still will try it.

Edit: Wow, with the panel at the bottom of the screen it works just fine. Too bad...
Edit 2: After an update (which, however, updated only gtk2) and a new try with top panel, it works fine too. Sorry for the bothering, but yesterday I spend few hours trying to fix that (generally rereading pypanel and openbox config files)

Last edited by Mandor (2007-01-28 15:51:08)

Mandor · 2007-01-28 19:59:45

Just to mention, while the overlap issue ws resolved, there are still no resize cursors in the bottom corners of windows i.e. advice will still be useful.

I have another question, hopefully related to Openbox/Pypanel, so I will use the same topic. I want to know whether some thing are possible with Openbox and Pypanel, and if not, what eventually I need more.

The final result I need is something like that.

1. A panel like [desktop number][(basic) system monitor][system tray][date/time]

Pypanel seems to do all but the system monitor thing, so my question is if there is a system monitor that could be configured as a line (conky ?)

2. List of open windows (task bar) in openbox menu/application

Is it possible to get a list of all windows in an Openbox menu (pipemenu?) - like the one in the default, but standalone and bound to a keyboard combination. Optionally a standalone program (which I could bind to keyboard) that performs the same (eventually displaying icons).

3. Minimize all windows key binding

Something like "Show desktop", but without the desktop I may be lame, but I couln't find such action in openbox config.

Thanks in advance.

Mr Green · 2007-01-28 20:46:39

well try middle mouse button ... [think thats what you are looking for...] you should be able to bind that to a key in rc.xml

conky is your best bet for system stuff otherwise add a pipe-menu

other than that look for a different panel that suits your needs better [xfce4 panel, lxpanel, or even gnome!]

may not help you but its just some thoughts

Mandor · 2007-02-01 16:35:42

Some more questions about Openbox. I trashed Pypanel anyway - it does not handle non Latin characters anyway... Now I use fbpanel - pretty much fails with transparency, but does most I need.

So, I just wondered if I could find out how exactly the "client-list-menu" is written, because I would prefer to have a menu that directly shows clients from all desktops, so it is quicker to choose with the keyboard. I couldn't find any documentation, nor results in Internet. Maybe a custom pipe menu would work if I knew how to get a list of current clients in bash or python...Any suggested material will be appreciated.

Another stupid question is what exactly are these "dock" entries in rc.xml (they seem to appear in obconf too)? Just curiosity.

Thanks in advance.

skymt · 2007-02-01 19:34:21

Mandor wrote:

So, I just wondered if I could find out how exactly the "client-list-menu" is written, because I would prefer to have a menu that directly shows clients from all desktops, so it is quicker to choose with the keyboard. I couldn't find any documentation, nor results in Internet. Maybe a custom pipe menu would work if I knew how to get a list of current clients in bash or python...Any suggested material will be appreciated.

Looking at the PyPanel source, it looks like python-xlib does an adequate job. I suggest you look at how PyPanel gets the window list (it's quite readable code, despite the lack of commenting).

Another stupid question is what exactly are these "dock" entries in rc.xml (they seem to appear in obconf too)? Just curiosity.

That's just a place Openbox puts dockapps. Other window managers call it the "slit" (Fluxbox) or "wharf" (Afterstep).

Thanks in advance.

You're welcome!

Mandor · 2007-02-02 08:13:22

Wow, that's open source, indeed I'm just too fresh and it really didn't occurred me to look at the source of something that has similar functionality. I'm catching myself asking stupid questions too often

After reading some code from pypanel, fbpanel and openbox, I figure out that if I am not able to configure such this behavior as a openbox menu in its config files, then I will have to make a program that not only returns a list of all clients from all desktops for the pipe menu, but also handle the unminimizing/focusing of the relevant window... If there is something existing that does it, I will be happy to know. Else I will have use the default "client-list-menu" and alt-tab for some time .

Last edited by Mandor (2007-02-02 11:40:10)

Arch Linux

#1 2007-01-27 23:20:55

Openbox + Pypanel Question

#2 2007-01-28 00:42:09

Re: Openbox + Pypanel Question

#3 2007-01-28 08:50:47

Re: Openbox + Pypanel Question

#4 2007-01-28 10:03:19

Re: Openbox + Pypanel Question

#5 2007-01-28 10:22:48

Re: Openbox + Pypanel Question

#6 2007-01-28 11:42:36

Re: Openbox + Pypanel Question

#7 2007-01-28 15:34:17

Re: Openbox + Pypanel Question

#8 2007-01-28 19:59:45

Re: Openbox + Pypanel Question

#9 2007-01-28 20:46:39

Re: Openbox + Pypanel Question

#10 2007-02-01 16:35:42

Re: Openbox + Pypanel Question

#11 2007-02-01 19:34:21

Re: Openbox + Pypanel Question

#12 2007-02-02 08:13:22

Re: Openbox + Pypanel Question

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