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dsar

Member

From: Saint Petersburg

Registered: 2014-10-09

Posts: 44

i3wm bindsym does not work but it works in terminal

Solution: use --release flag and it will work perfectly!

bindsym --release Shift+Print exec scrot -s '%Y-%m-%d_$wx$h.png' -e 'mv $f ~/Pictures/Screenshots/'

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Hello,

I am using i3wm and I have installed scrot for screenshots.
After installing it, I bindsym Print key to my ~/.i3/config file and it works fine.
When I hit Print key I have a screenshot in ~/Pictures/Screenshots folder.

bindsym Print exec scrot -u '%Y-%m-%d_$wx$h.png' -e 'mv $f ~/Pictures/Screenshots/'

The problem is that I want to bindsym Shift+Print to do "select-screenshot" (to be able to select the area that I want to take a shot)
so I did pretty much the same but with the flag -s as I read it from the manual.

bindsym Shift+Print exec scrot -s '%Y-%m-%d_$wx$h.png' -e 'mv $f ~/Pictures/Screenshots/'

When I hit Shift+Print it doesn't response at all but the strange thing is that when I run the same command from the terminal it works.
I tried to run it as a background process as well but nothing happen again.

Any ideas?

Thank you!

Last edited by dsar (2014-10-17 15:38:02)

ajbibb

Member

Registered: 2012-02-12

Posts: 142

Re: i3wm bindsym does not work but it works in terminal

I don't have scrot installed so can't help you there, but I do have i3.

I just did a test on my system binding an open terminal command with bindsym Print, and then bindsym Shift+Print, and both worked here. 

Can you try your command from a terminal using i3-msg:

i3-msg exec scrot -s '%Y-%m-%d_$wx$h.png' -e 'mv $f ~/Pictures/Screenshots/'

  If that works it means that i3 can execute the command and there is a problem with Shift+Print bind. I'd then suggest trying with another bind, perhaps $mod+Print

For what it is worth I had one keyboard (very old) where i3 would not recognize the Mod4 (Windows) key.  I also note that on the keyboard where I am now the Print Screen key is all by itself, while on my office computer Print Screen is shifted from the SysReq key.  It is one of those odd keys, so I guess I'm trying to say it may not be anything that you are doing wrong.

rolo

Member

Registered: 2014-10-17

Posts: 1

Re: i3wm bindsym does not work but it works in terminal

I believe what you need is the --release flag which will trigger the binding not on the KeyPress event, but on the KeyRelease event

bindsym --release Shift+Print exec scrot -s '%Y-%m-%d_$wx$h.png' -e 'mv $f ~/Pictures/Screenshots/'

dsar

Member

From: Saint Petersburg

Registered: 2014-10-09

Posts: 44

Re: i3wm bindsym does not work but it works in terminal

I believe what you need is the --release flag which will trigger the binding not on the KeyPress event, but on the KeyRelease event

bindsym --release Shift+Print exec scrot -s '%Y-%m-%d_$wx$h.png' -e 'mv $f ~/Pictures/Screenshots/'

Perfect!! That works 100% fine
Thank you ALL very much for your help!