Higgins, yet another application launcher.

parchd · 2016-05-30 12:23:06

I don't know if you are a mutt user, but I've created a plugin to send a mail to a contact from the mutt alias file (needs to be configured to point at the correct file - mine is in ~/.mutt/alias)

The trigger is "mail:"

#!/usr/bin/env perl

# alias.pl
# Plugin for hitchins to send mail to mutt alias
# trigger with mail:
# Created by parchd, 2016-05-30

$alias_path = "$ENV{HOME}/.mutt/alias";

sub pitem {
        my ($n, $e, $a) = @_;
        print("BEGIN\n");
        print "Text=$n\n";
        print("SubText=$e\n");
        print("Action=EXEC_TERMINAL\n");
        print("Action_p=mutt $a\n");
        print("END\n");
}


if($ARGV[0] =~ /^mail:(.*)/){

        if($1){
                pitem($1, $1, $1);
        }

        open(ALIAS, $alias_path) or die($!);
        $query = $1 || ".";

        while(<ALIAS>){
                /^alias ([^ ]+) ([^<]*)<([^>]+)/;
                $a = $1;
                $n = $2 ? $2 : $a;
                $e = $3;

                if ("$1$2$3" =~ /$query/){
                        pitem($n, $e, $a);
                }
        }

        close(ALIAS);
}

Now - I've got work to do!

Last edited by parchd (2016-05-30 12:23:50)

kokoko3k · 2016-05-30 13:09:07

parchd wrote:

Worse, though, a new bug has been introduced. I can no longer access anything but the top result. If I press the down arrow, higgins hides.

Yes, reproduced in openbox (works in kwin), but should be fixed by latest commit:
Use (desktop.activewindow = fmain.handle) instead of fmain.hasfocus()

kokoko3k · 2016-05-30 13:32:45

parchd wrote:

kokoko3k wrote:
Nope, it is fine.
I just noticed that textselection works in a weird way and i just pushed some workarounds, please try them.
It seems to work most of the time now, but sometimes it still doesn't focus.

So, since it seem to be a timing issue, here is another commit:
Try harder to select all the text from textbox1
Now there is a brute loop that tries to select the text, wait a while and exit if all of the text is selected; there is no exit condition.
So either higgins will freeze to you or the issue is solved

kokoko3k · 2016-05-30 13:42:30

parchd wrote:

I've never had any need or interest in a tray, so no I haven't got one. That could well be it.
I'm curious, what is the point of a tray icon for something like higgins?

Not going to argue:
Add an option (-n, --notray) to NOT create a tray icon even if a tray area is available

parchd · 2016-05-30 14:36:05

kokoko3k wrote:

parchd wrote:
Worse, though, a new bug has been introduced. I can no longer access anything but the top result. If I press the down arrow, higgins hides.
Yes, reproduced in openbox (works in kwin), but should be fixed by latest commit:
Use (desktop.activewindow = fmain.handle) instead of fmain.hasfocus()

That sorted it, thanks.

kokoko3k wrote:

So either higgins will freeze to you or the issue is solved

It seems to be solved. Sometimes the delay can be almost as long as 2 seconds, which isn't perfect, but so much better than it was!

kokoko3k wrote:

parchd wrote:
I've never had any need or interest in a tray, so no I haven't got one. That could well be it.
I'm curious, what is the point of a tray icon for something like higgins?
Not going to argue:
Add an option (-n, --notray) to NOT create a tray icon even if a tray area is available

Thanks, hopefully that will solve the problem.
I didn't want to argue though, I really did want to know! As someone who never uses a system tray I've got no idea what people do with them.

kokoko3k · 2016-05-30 14:42:08

Thanks, hopefully that will solve the problem.
I didn't want to argue though, I really did want to know! As someone who never uses a system tray I've got no idea what people do with them.

The tray icon is useful to me to know if higgins is actually running or not.
Also, it provides a way to hide and show the main interface if something goes wrong while registering the global hotkeys; somebody may prefer to skip the installation of xbindkeys...
Also users are used to right click on the tray to configure, quit, hide and show instead of right-clicking on the search button in the main window; that's it.

Anyway, i can't understand that 2 seconds delay; so i'll add another option to completely disable the auto-select feature and just start with an empty string every time.

-EDIT-
Now there is -c that explicitely clears the previous text.

PS: thanks for the mutt plugin, i don't personally use that, but i could add it to the shipped external example plugins (?)

Last edited by kokoko3k (2016-05-30 14:52:47)

parchd · 2016-05-30 14:53:33

kokoko3k wrote:

The tray icon is useful to me to know if higgins is actually running or not.
Also, it provides a way to hide and show the main interface if something goes wrong while registering the global hotkeys; somebody may prefer to skip the installation of xbindkeys...
Also users are used to right click on the tray to configure, quit, hide and show instead of right-clicking on the search button in the main window; that's it.
Anyway, i can't understand that 2 seconds delay; so i'll add another option to completely disable the auto-select feature and just start with an empty string every time.
-EDIT-
Now there is -c that explicitely clears the previous text

Thanks for the explanation. It probably would have helped me the first time I ran higgins and I couldn't set the bindings!

The -c option works great, and matches what I originally expected from higgins

parchd · 2016-05-30 14:56:54

kokoko3k wrote:

PS: thanks for the mutt plugin, i don't personally use that, but i could add it to the shipped external example plugins (?)

Sure. I was planning on making a repository on github to keep track of my plugins. I've got a couple of not quite right entries from my mutt plugin at the moment, trying to work out whether it is a mistake in the regex or in my alias file.

chickenPie4tea · 2016-05-31 11:20:06

Hi, Just installed from AUR today, thought I would give it a try.
I had the same experience as parchd
"Installed correctly. The first time it ran the configure dialogue never showed up, so I couldn't set the launch key combo."
I had to run it 3 times and then the blue icon showed up so I could click on to get to prefs.

What is xbindkeys used for? the keyboard shortcut to launch Higgins?
As I already have sxhkd running so would prefer to use that.

Last edited by chickenPie4tea (2016-05-31 11:22:42)

kokoko3k · 2016-05-31 11:51:59

I'll check the issue again in a fresh system, thanks for reporting.
xbindkeys is used to register a global hotkey and show/hide the main window.
if sxhkd is able to run executables, then you can use it instead; just set it up to start the higgins executable; it will raise the current instance instead of starting another one.

-EDIT-
With the latest git, you can use socat instead.
probably is more responsive than using the higgins executable again.
Given that higgins is running, the following:

sh -c "echo show | socat - UNIX-CONNECT:$HOME/.config/gambas3/higgins/socket"

...will hide and show the main window.

-EDIT-
Checked in a systemd-nspawn container after wiping ~/.config/Gambas3 completely, but i was unable to reproduce the start issue you've had.

Last edited by kokoko3k (2016-05-31 12:22:00)

chickenPie4tea · 2016-05-31 12:45:25

Thanks for the socat command, working fine with sxhkd

parchd · 2016-05-31 18:53:21

I'm having trouble with higgins again - I don't know if I just missed this yesterday or if todays update broke something, but it crashed three times trying to launch - which in turn dumped me back on the login screen 3 times. 4th time was the charm.

kokoko3k · 2016-05-31 19:09:37

Does it crash at startup, or when trying to start something from within higgins?
If it is the former, are you using it with the -n switch to disable the tray icon? It seems somehow problematic and i think it is related to dbus.
-EDIT-
The fact that it brings you to the login is weird too; do you have any log (not necessarly from higgins) of when it happens?

Last edited by kokoko3k (2016-05-31 19:11:18)

parchd · 2016-05-31 20:48:16

kokoko3k wrote:

Does it crash at startup, or when trying to start something from within higgins?
If it is the former, are you using it with the -n switch to disable the tray icon? It seems somehow problematic and i think it is related to dbus.

I am using the -n switch, and yes it is at startup. Higgins is in my autostart with "-c -u -n"

The fact that it brings you to the login is weird too; do you have any log (not necessarly from higgins) of when it happens?

It is strange - I agree. I haven't got a log, but I'll try and get a log of some sort for next time.

chickenPie4tea · 2016-06-01 09:26:51

For me it would not launch sometimes, it was to do with the INDEXER plugin, but was fine when I turned that plugin off. This was not at system startup.

kokoko3k · 2016-06-01 10:19:50

@chickenPie4tea: probably just a case? i need more info to debug, as it does not happen to me, sorry...
@parchd: Having some info on your session startup would useful for me to reproduce (dlogin manager used, if any, xinitrc script used, if any...)
thanks

parchd · 2016-06-01 10:59:47

I use sddm to start openbox.
My openbox autostart contains

compton &
hsetroot -center current_wallpaper &
conky &
higgins -c -u -n &

But I've added a redirect to the higgins line to try to log the problem next time it happens. I will let you know if I get more info.

kokoko3k · 2016-06-01 11:44:48

I've tried with kdm and openbox-session on a fresh user with your autostart file, but higgins still starts without problems (didn't tried conky).
I'll try with sddm asap...
-EDIT-
No luck; even with sddm i'm unable to crash the session; i don't know if this is good or not.
I'm going to create a test version without any reference to dbus and the trayicon for you to try

Last edited by kokoko3k (2016-06-01 11:58:43)

kokoko3k · 2016-06-01 12:11:58

Done, please try:

git clone -b higgins-nodbus https://github.com/kokoko3k/higgins.git
cd higgins/
gbc3 -e -a -g -t -p -m
gba3
cp -a ./higgins.gambas WhereverYouWant/

Now WhereverYouWant/higgins.gambas is the new executable stripped from trayicon and dbus; you can start it with or without -n ; is the same.

Last edited by kokoko3k (2016-06-01 12:12:24)

parchd · 2016-06-03 12:34:52

I haven't tried your no dbus version yet, I wanted to get some logs for you first, so here is what I logged.
Two crashes and then finally a successful start. Sadly it doesn't seem to revel much. All I can say, is that before using higgins openbox never died dumping me back on the login screen, and when it does it now (it doesn't always happen, but when it does usually twice or more in a row) it happens pretty much as soon as I see the higgins window open (it always shows for a split second before hiding on launch).

Fri Jun  3 14:27:45 CEST 2016
Global.find_term.40: checking for konsole...
Global.find_term.40: checking for gnome-terminal...
Global.find_term.40: checking for xfce4-terminal...
Global.find_term.42: found.
hSettings.ComboboxIconThemes_Change.82: breeze
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_020_APPS
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_030_EXECUTABLE
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_010_CALCULATOR
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_015_RECENT
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_040_FBOOKMARKS
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_050_LS
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_090_INDEXER
FMain.load_plugin.117: EXT:ssh.pl
FMain.load_plugin.117: EXT:alias.pl
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 14680297	PLUGIN_020_APPS
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 14680305	PLUGIN_030_EXECUTABLE
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 14680311	PLUGIN_010_CALCULATOR
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 14680317	PLUGIN_015_RECENT
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 14680323	PLUGIN_040_FBOOKMARKS
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 14680329	PLUGIN_050_LS
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 14680335	PLUGIN_090_INDEXER
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 14680343	PLUGIN_999_TEMPLATE
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 14680349	EXT:ssh.pl
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 14680355	EXT:alias.pl
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.reindex_timer_Timer.286: -116	minutes to go
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.ReIndex.316: Indexing...
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.ReIndex.317: sh -c "| sort -u"
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.reindex_timer_Timer.286: -116	minutes to go

Fri Jun  3 14:28:35 CEST 2016
Global.find_term.40: checking for konsole...
Global.find_term.40: checking for gnome-terminal...
Global.find_term.40: checking for xfce4-terminal...
Global.find_term.42: found.
hSettings.ComboboxIconThemes_Change.82: breeze
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_020_APPS
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_030_EXECUTABLE
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_010_CALCULATOR
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_015_RECENT
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_040_FBOOKMARKS
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_050_LS
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_090_INDEXER
FMain.load_plugin.117: EXT:ssh.pl
FMain.load_plugin.117: EXT:alias.pl
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 20971753	PLUGIN_020_APPS
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 20971761	PLUGIN_030_EXECUTABLE
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 20971767	PLUGIN_010_CALCULATOR
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 20971773	PLUGIN_015_RECENT
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 20971779	PLUGIN_040_FBOOKMARKS
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 20971785	PLUGIN_050_LS
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 20971791	PLUGIN_090_INDEXER
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 20971799	PLUGIN_999_TEMPLATE
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 20971805	EXT:ssh.pl
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 20971811	EXT:alias.pl
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.reindex_timer_Timer.286: -117	minutes to go
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.ReIndex.316: Indexing...
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.ReIndex.317: sh -c "| sort -u"
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.reindex_timer_Timer.286: -117	minutes to go

Fri Jun  3 14:29:09 CEST 2016
Global.find_term.40: checking for konsole...
Global.find_term.40: checking for gnome-terminal...
Global.find_term.40: checking for xfce4-terminal...
Global.find_term.42: found.
hSettings.ComboboxIconThemes_Change.82: breeze
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_020_APPS
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_030_EXECUTABLE
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_010_CALCULATOR
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_015_RECENT
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_040_FBOOKMARKS
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_050_LS
FMain.load_plugin.117: PLUGIN_090_INDEXER
FMain.load_plugin.117: EXT:ssh.pl
FMain.load_plugin.117: EXT:alias.pl
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 23068905	PLUGIN_020_APPS
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 23068913	PLUGIN_030_EXECUTABLE
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 23068919	PLUGIN_010_CALCULATOR
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 23068925	PLUGIN_015_RECENT
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 23068931	PLUGIN_040_FBOOKMARKS
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 23068937	PLUGIN_050_LS
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 23068943	PLUGIN_090_INDEXER
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 23068951	PLUGIN_999_TEMPLATE
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 23068957	EXT:ssh.pl
FMain.save_plugin_list.950: saving 23068963	EXT:alias.pl
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.reindex_timer_Timer.286: -117	minutes to go
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.ReIndex.316: Indexing...
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.ReIndex.317: sh -c "| sort -u"
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.reindex_timer_Timer.286: -117	minutes to go
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.ReIndex.316: Indexing...
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.ReIndex.317: sh -c "| sort -u"
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.indexprocess_kill.335: Finished indexing
PLUGIN_090_INDEXER.indexprocess_kill.335: Finished indexing

kokoko3k · 2016-06-03 16:38:30

Ok, maybe is just that 'flash' that interfree wirh openbox...
It is something i planned to fix anyway and i'll do asap.
...maybe an .xsession-errors log will be more useful, sorry for not having told you earlier.
Anyway there is still a chance that dbus and tray icon could be the cause (unlickely).
There is still to try to disable the indexer plugin, as suggested by chickenPie4tea.
Thanks for all of your tests!

kokoko3k · 2016-06-10 12:33:53

Today finally i reproduced an isolated openbox-session crash.
.xsession-errors logged some "BadWindow (invalid Window parameter)", so i think that the culprit of the openbox crash was somehow related to the window showing for a little while; probably it is a timing issue and a bug in the openbox code, but anyway i pushed a bunch of commits that should fight the startup window glitch under openbox.

chickenPie4tea · 2016-06-23 09:41:30

quote
"..but what it does which i didn't found in any other launcher, is the ability to use external plugins written in virtually any existing language."

I found Mutate, which makes is easy to use plugins but it has more dependencies - you need Boost installed that takes 132mb!

kokoko3k · 2016-06-23 11:00:23

Yes i saw it just yesterday and i was shocked how the approach to the external plugin was similar!
At first i thought the Mutate developer was kinda inspired by higgins; then i saw that it was released way before it

parchd · 2016-06-23 12:36:57

Ooh, I've tried out loads of launchers but never stumbled upon that one. kokoko3k, the way Mutate deals with the plugins addresses one concern I had about Higgins which is that every plugin script needs to be called for every search (to look for the trigger). Mutate sets the trigger in the main program, therefore not calling every script every time, and being more easily user configurable.

I don't know if you intend to keep Higgins going or whether you are going to use Mutate yourself, but if you could handle triggers like that in the future?

As for me, I'll probably play with both on different machines for a while and see what suits me better.

Arch Linux

#26 2016-05-30 12:23:06

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#27 2016-05-30 13:09:07

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#28 2016-05-30 13:32:45

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#29 2016-05-30 13:42:30

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#30 2016-05-30 14:36:05

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#31 2016-05-30 14:42:08

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#32 2016-05-30 14:53:33

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#33 2016-05-30 14:56:54

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#34 2016-05-31 11:20:06

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#35 2016-05-31 11:51:59

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#36 2016-05-31 12:45:25

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#37 2016-05-31 18:53:21

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#38 2016-05-31 19:09:37

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#39 2016-05-31 20:48:16

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#40 2016-06-01 09:26:51

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#41 2016-06-01 10:19:50

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#42 2016-06-01 10:59:47

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#43 2016-06-01 11:44:48

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#44 2016-06-01 12:11:58

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#45 2016-06-03 12:34:52

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#46 2016-06-03 16:38:30

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#47 2016-06-10 12:33:53

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#48 2016-06-23 09:41:30

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#49 2016-06-23 11:00:23

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

#50 2016-06-23 12:36:57

Re: Higgins, yet another application launcher.

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