life without a panel

Mr Green · 2008-01-25 20:53:34

Just wondered if its possible to live without a panel?

I like to have a clock on the screen and a list of open windows and [o the shame!]] some launchers for apps

Would love to get back to using Openbox but I have got real lazy

MrG

Dheart · 2008-01-25 20:59:00

Openbox + pypanel solves it all...
Anyway when you mentioned it... some applications have tray icons which are unclickable without a panel... that's the only problem, I think.

Gilneas · 2008-01-25 21:03:21

I haven't had a panel for almost a year (with dwm) and I'm not missing it.

I used to have a clock in firefox, and screen, but I don't anymore (cause of 3.0beta and tiling (bare aterms))
List of open windows I don't need. I bound CapsLock to "alt-tab" behaviour for extra ease, sometimes I'll forget about a loose term behind firefox or something, but that's alright.
And I use a menu for launching apps (currently a home brewed Xdialog menu), which also displays time/HD use/load avg in the title.

Ashren · 2008-01-25 21:08:34

Gilneas would you please pass on your homebrew?

Gilneas · 2008-01-25 21:28:35

Sure, but I'm actually trying to make a better one.

(substitute dash with bash if you don't have it)

#! /bin/dash
setsid $(awk -F'[ /]' '
{ print "\"" $0 "\" \"" $NF "\"" }' < $HOME/.menurc | xargs Xdialog --menubox "$(usefulinfo)" 400 400 400 2>&1 )&

It can be simplified, the second argument (description) is now the last word of the command.
Xdialog isn't the nicest solution, you'll notice it's somewhat inconvenient with the keyboard.
Plus it needs GTK, it's the only GTK app I have (not GTK2 though).
Since I have tiling, I don't know if 400/400/400 is appropriate at all... (I could put 1/1/1 and get the same result)

Needs a ".menurc" in ~, which has commands only.
e.g.

nice firefox
aoss dosbox
wine $g/freecell.exe

usefulinfo script: (only looks at sda7) (works nice in .bashrc too)

#! /bin/dash
( date '+%a, %b %d, %H:%M'; df -h | awk '/sda7/ {print $4}'; cat /proc/loadavg ) | sed 'N;N;s/\n/ || /g'

Gilneas · 2008-01-25 22:34:19

I gave it another shot with dialog in a new aterm. (sorry for posting offtopic twice)

I use two programs now, to avoid a quoting hell.

#! /bin/dash
aterm -sl 0 +sb +ls +trsb +tr -e menu2
setsid $(cat /tmp/menu) &

menu2:

#! /bin/dash
awk -F'[ /]' '{ print "\"" $0 "\" \"" $NF "\"" }' < $HOME/.menurc | xargs dialog --menu "$(usefulinfo)" 999 999 999 2>/tmp/menu

For some reason it needs a second to process Escape... (right + enter works fine though)

ibendiben · 2008-01-25 23:28:08

It is better to use dialog --file. xargs can't handle dialogs exit status. Also you can use 0 0 0 to autoconf hight, width, list-length...
To use dialog --file you need to write all options to the file though...
So dialog --file /path/yourfile 2>/tmp/menu

yourfile:

--menu "$(usefulinfo)" 0 0 0 \
your list... \
... \
... \

Also awk doesn't need the '<' before the filepath AFAIK
Can you explain what you want with this? '{ print "\"" $0 "\" \"" $NF "\"" }' it looks like it could use some improvement

Last edited by ibendiben (2008-01-25 23:35:04)

Gilneas · 2008-01-26 00:13:04

That's pretty cool.

I experimented a bit.
If you edit the .menurc a bit to "command" "description" (if it has spaces it needs to be quoted)
you can load it with
dialog --menu "$(usefulinfo)" 0 0 0 --file .menurc

(as if --file works like an include)

the --file doesn't mind newlines, so no need to escape them, they are treated as a new item.

Unfortunately, when I run something like this:

aterm -sl 0 +sb +ls +trsb +tr -e "dialog --menu \"$(usefulinfo)\" 0 0 0 --file $HOME/.menurc 2>/tmp/menu"

it exits immediately, while if I put that line ("dialog....2>/tmp/menu") in a script and run that, it does work.

PS a ~/.dialogrc I just made, it looks pretty good
PS2 that awk statement prints the command (entire line) and the last bit of the command (makes a good description) with some quotes around them.

Last edited by Gilneas (2008-01-26 00:22:24)

skottish · 2008-01-26 01:25:18

I only have a clock on my desktop. Everything else in E17 is easy handled with a mouse or the keyboard.

ibendiben · 2008-01-26 01:37:42

Gilneas wrote:

That's pretty cool.
I experimented a bit.
If you edit the .menurc a bit to "command" "description" (if it has spaces it needs to be quoted)
you can load it with
dialog --menu "$(usefulinfo)" 0 0 0 --file .menurc

Thanks!

Gilneas wrote:

the --file doesn't mind newlines, so no need to escape them, they are treated as a new item.
Unfortunately, when I run something like this:
aterm -sl 0 +sb +ls +trsb +tr -e "dialog --menu \"$(usefulinfo)\" 0 0 0 --file $HOME/.menurc 2>/tmp/menu"
it exits immediately, while if I put that line ("dialog....2>/tmp/menu") in a script and run that, it does work.

That's why it needs the newlines escaped I think. Have the same problem if you escape?

Gilneas wrote:

PS a ~/.dialogrc I just made, it looks pretty good
PS2 that awk statement prints the command (entire line) and the last bit of the command (makes a good description) with some quotes around them.

For this:
nice firefox
aoss dosbox
wine $g/freecell.exe
you wouldn't need the quotes and if the menu needs spaces or any separator, it's more convenient to use sed imho. like this: sed "#$.* <separator> .*$ <separator> $discription$$#\"\1\" \"\2\"#", which is quotable, so you can use only one script...right?... or??

Gilneas · 2008-01-26 02:01:47

ibendiben wrote:

That's why it needs the newlines escaped I think. Have the same problem if you escape?

Escaping didn't help, in fact it made the other program not work.
Try this for instance, does it quit immediately?

aterm -e "dialog --menu title 0 0 0 item1 desc1 item2 desc2"

ibendiben wrote:

it's more convenient to use sed imho.

Yeah you're right, sed would really be easier, I had my mind fixed on awk and then it's hard to see otherwise.
I think it would transform into:

sed 's#\(.*[ /]\(.*\)\)#"\1" "\2"#'

since it doesn't need escaping the " if you put it in ', and, unlike awk's print command, it isn't in a ".

Cutting off the description at either a space or /, e.g.

echo 'wine $g/freecell.exe' | sed 's#\(.*[ /]\(.*\)\)#"\1" "\2"#'

edit:
since part 1 of the sed it the entire line, this will do too

sed 's#.*[ /]\(.*\)#"&" "\1"#'

Last edited by Gilneas (2008-01-26 02:25:05)

ibendiben · 2008-01-26 02:24:59

Gilneas wrote:

ibendiben wrote:
That's why it needs the newlines escaped I think. Have the same problem if you escape?
Escaping didn't help, in fact it made the other program not work.
Try this for instance, does it quit immediately?
aterm -e "dialog --menu title 0 0 0 item1 desc1 item2 desc2"

don't quote the dialog command..., just: aterm -e dialog --menu title 0 0 0 item1 desc1 item2 desc2
works with me

ibendiben wrote:

it's more convenient to use sed imho.

Gilneas wrote:

Yeah you're right, sed would really be easier, I had my mind fixed on awk and then it's hard to see otherwise.
I think it would transform into:
sed 's#$.*[ /]\(.*$\)#"\1" "\2"#'
since it doesn't need escaping the " if you put it in ', and, unlike awk's print command, it isn't in a ".
Cutting off the description at either a space or /, e.g.
echo 'wine $g/freecell.exe' | sed 's#$.*[ /]\(.*$\)#"\1" "\2"#'

Well but if you wanted to quote the sed command later, I thought you would need that single quote...

Gilneas wrote:

I use two programs now, to avoid a quoting hell.

Gilneas · 2008-01-26 02:46:14

ibendiben wrote:

don't quote the dialog command..., just: aterm -e dialog --menu title 0 0 0 item1 desc1 item2 desc2
works with me

You're right, but it's still not working. It doesn't seem to redirect

aterm -e dialog --menu title 0 0 0 item1 desc1 item2 desc2 2>/tmp/menu
cat /tmp/menu

There isn't some secret --output-file option is there? (I saw an --output-fd, but that won't work will it?)

upsidaisium · 2008-01-26 03:40:58

i haven't had a panel in my setup for a while, and all's well for me. currently i'm using evilwm, and i tend to not have more than one application open per virtual desktop (i've got them, why not use them?) which are easy enough to switch between, so a panel seems silly.

dumas · 2008-01-26 06:22:18

Am I the only one here who uses fluxbox without a panel? I use another homebrew app to choose windows rather than cycle through them with Alt Tab.

Here's the code, requires wmctrl and zenity. I don't like zenity too much.

#!/bin/bash
desktop=`wmctrl -d | awk '$2=="*" {print $1}'`
windows=$(wmctrl -l | awk "\$2==$desktop {print}" | cut -d' ' -f2-4 --complement | sed 's/ /_/g')
select=`zenity --list --column Windows --text 'Choose window:' --title Expose $windows | cut -d_ -f1`
wmctrl -i -a $select

jk

Xilon · 2008-01-26 06:47:17

Well I don't have a "panel" per se, but I do have a bar (dzen), which displays the time, some stats, along with a tray. I don't miss a thing

wuischke · 2008-01-26 08:39:33

Nothing on OpenBox.

I use gmrun (no reason for me to reinvent the wheel) and hotkeys to start applications and find myself doing a alt+f1;date [enter];ctrl+d sequence when I want to know the time.

z3ppelin · 2008-01-26 11:15:31

I'm using openbox with fbpanel as launcher - 4 icons, autohide, no clock (I've got one in screen), no tray (gajim always on first dekstop, notifications do all I need), gmrun and shortcuts for quick launching. I almost dont use right-click menu.

gunnihinn · 2008-01-26 12:02:19

Gilneas wrote:

I haven't had a panel for almost a year (with dwm) and I'm not missing it.

Second that, except I'm using Evilwm.

All the programs I use regularly are launched by "mod 4 + char" and the more infrequently used ones are started by "alt + f2" which launches gmrun. Turns out that the only programs I need to bind shortcuts for are Firefox, Sonata, Emacs, Pidgin and Xterm + a screen session launched on login. I've got a laptop, so I've also got some multimedia buttons lying around which I've bound to mpc shortcuts.

I do like the menu-hacks in this thread, I used Openbox for a bit and miss not having a menu that shows me all running screen sessions.

Mr Green · 2008-01-26 15:30:32

I think Openbox window list would be all I need [if I get stuck] on screen clock well.... its not a big problem but when I am on forums reading Mikkos posts I lose all track of time :-)

EDIT Thread Jackers.... lol

Last edited by Mr Green (2008-01-26 15:30:49)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-01-25 20:53:34

life without a panel

#2 2008-01-25 20:59:00

Re: life without a panel

#3 2008-01-25 21:03:21

Re: life without a panel

#4 2008-01-25 21:08:34

Re: life without a panel

#5 2008-01-25 21:28:35

Re: life without a panel

#6 2008-01-25 22:34:19

Re: life without a panel

#7 2008-01-25 23:28:08

Re: life without a panel

#8 2008-01-26 00:13:04

Re: life without a panel

#9 2008-01-26 01:25:18

Re: life without a panel

#10 2008-01-26 01:37:42

Re: life without a panel

#11 2008-01-26 02:01:47

Re: life without a panel

#12 2008-01-26 02:24:59

Re: life without a panel

#13 2008-01-26 02:46:14

Re: life without a panel

#14 2008-01-26 03:40:58

Re: life without a panel

#15 2008-01-26 06:22:18

Re: life without a panel

#16 2008-01-26 06:47:17

Re: life without a panel

#17 2008-01-26 08:39:33

Re: life without a panel

#18 2008-01-26 11:15:31

Re: life without a panel

#19 2008-01-26 12:02:19

Re: life without a panel

#20 2008-01-26 15:30:32

Re: life without a panel

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