You are not logged in.

#1 2008-08-10 19:49:14

lldmer
Member
From: Amsterdam
Registered: 2008-05-17
Posts: 119

Openbox - System Tray in menu

Since a couple of days ago I've been making the switch from Gnome to Openbox. So far I'm really liking it, and I feel a new fanboyish feeling developing inside of me smile

I'm still busy trying to find the optimal configuration for myself. One of the things I'm still not entirely happy about is the lack of a system tray. I do however really like to work without panels (firefox just seems so much bigger in fullscreen tongue). For starting and switching applications I use the (root)menu and the alt-tab menu, which are mapped to my mouse5 and mouse6 button respectively (maybe a nice suggestion for anyone?).

Now, what would really make me happy is to be able to add the contents of the system tray to either the alt-tab menu or the root (right click) menu. I've tried some googling but didn't find a mention of it anywhere.

Does anybody has some suggestion on where to look or how to achieve this?


For lack of better words: chair, never, toothbrush, really. Ohw, and fish!

Offline

#2 2008-08-10 21:19:41

moljac024
Member
From: Serbia
Registered: 2008-01-29
Posts: 2,676

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

Yes, I've often thought about how cool it would be to display the system tray in the openbox menu just like it can display the open windows.

But nothing like that exists as far as I know, so you'd have to code it yourself. Or talk the openbox devs into doing it big_smile


The day Microsoft makes a product that doesn't suck, is the day they make a vacuum cleaner.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But if they tell you that I've lost my mind, maybe it's not gone just a little hard to find...

Offline

#3 2008-08-11 06:48:46

hk2717
Member
From: China
Registered: 2007-09-13
Posts: 217

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

If you prefer systray without a panel, you may try stalonetray or trayer. If you don't want them to use up any screen  space, set it as your Openbox dockapp and autohide mode.

Offline

#4 2008-08-12 00:54:05

lldmer
Member
From: Amsterdam
Registered: 2008-05-17
Posts: 119

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

From the system tray specifications on freedesktop.org http://standards.freedesktop.org/system … 01s03.html:

An application wishing to provide an icon to the system tray should first locate the system tray by requesting the owner window of the manager selection. If the manager selection has no owner, clients may use the method described in the ICCCM (watching for a MANAGER client message) to be notified when a system tray appears.

So it seems a system tray would need a window in order to get programs to submit their stuff. To bad, I was hoping this might be a nice project to learn some python (or programming in general) tongue. Maybe I can get stalonetray to tell the menu what's in the tray, keeping stalonetray itself permanently hidden. 'Till then I'll just make do with stalonetray tongue.

thnx for your suggestions.


For lack of better words: chair, never, toothbrush, really. Ohw, and fish!

Offline

#5 2008-08-12 19:57:26

bogomipz
Member
From: Oslo, Norway
Registered: 2003-11-23
Posts: 169

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

lldmer wrote:

So it seems a system tray would need a window in order to get programs to submit their stuff.

That is not a problem because the openbox menu already is a window. It probably only gets hidden between uses, and if that's not the case, it could be changed to do that. So using the menu should not be any different from using an auto-hiding panel or dock to hold the tray.


All of your mips are belong to us!!

Offline

#6 2008-08-13 03:40:48

thisllub
Member
From: Northern NSW Australia
Registered: 2007-12-28
Posts: 231

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

This is a superior solution

    <keybind key="C-Menu">
      <action name="ShowMenu">
        <menu>client-list-combined-menu</menu>
      </action>
    </keybind>

Press Ctrl-Menu.

Offline

#7 2008-08-13 17:18:39

ghostHack
Member
From: Bristol UK
Registered: 2008-02-29
Posts: 261

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

thisllub wrote:

This is a superior solution

    <keybind key="C-Menu">
      <action name="ShowMenu">
        <menu>client-list-combined-menu</menu>
      </action>
    </keybind>

Press Ctrl-Menu.

This only shows open and minimised windows, not applications in the system tray

Offline

#8 2008-08-13 17:20:00

Ramses de Norre
Member
From: Leuven - Belgium
Registered: 2007-03-27
Posts: 1,289

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

thisllub wrote:

This is a superior solution

    <keybind key="C-Menu">
      <action name="ShowMenu">
        <menu>client-list-combined-menu</menu>
      </action>
    </keybind>

Press Ctrl-Menu.

Middle click on your desktop already does that..

Offline

#9 2008-08-14 04:35:41

thisllub
Member
From: Northern NSW Australia
Registered: 2007-12-28
Posts: 231

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

ghostHack wrote:

This only shows open and minimised windows, not applications in the system tray

I have no need for a system tray.

Ramses de Norre wrote:

Middle click on your desktop already does that..

The point of using Openbox is efficiency.

I have a number of shortcuts fo placing windows that remove the need for me to use a mouse at all if I wish
With the Vimperator plugin for Firefox I can do without a mouse for extended periods of time.

My hands thank me for it.

Offline

#10 2008-08-14 09:20:01

DonVla
Member
From: Bonn, Germany
Registered: 2007-06-07
Posts: 997

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

lldmer wrote:

Now, what would really make me happy is to be able to add the contents of the system tray to either the alt-tab menu or the root (right click) menu. I've tried some googling but didn't find a mention of it anywhere.

Does anybody has some suggestion on where to look or how to achieve this?

you cannot show systray minimized applications in the menu (btw, that's the sense of systray - to get apps out of the way, but not close them). one can possibly write a pipemenu which does this.
however as a workaround you can use stalonetray or peksystray in the dock with autohide.

ps: i should read all the posts.... you did so already. smile

Last edited by DonVla (2008-08-14 09:21:21)

Offline

#11 2008-08-14 17:37:18

Blice
Member
Registered: 2008-08-05
Posts: 29

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

thisllub wrote:
ghostHack wrote:

This only shows open and minimised windows, not applications in the system tray

I have no need for a system tray.

Ramses de Norre wrote:

Middle click on your desktop already does that..

The point of using Openbox is efficiency.

I have a number of shortcuts fo placing windows that remove the need for me to use a mouse at all if I wish
With the Vimperator plugin for Firefox I can do without a mouse for extended periods of time.

My hands thank me for it.

That's sort of rude. The whole point of this thread was so he could get a systemtray, and you come in showing something completely different with "i don't need a systemtray"?? Sigh.

If you want an efficient wm use a tiling wm. Openbox is meant for simplicity and cleanliness.

No wasted space/Keybind for everything == A tiling wm.

Offline

#12 2008-08-14 22:47:08

thisllub
Member
From: Northern NSW Australia
Registered: 2007-12-28
Posts: 231

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

Blice wrote:

That's sort of rude. The whole point of this thread was so he could get a systemtray, and you come in showing something completely different with "i don't need a systemtray"?? Sigh.

If you want an efficient wm use a tiling wm. Openbox is meant for simplicity and cleanliness.

No wasted space/Keybind for everything == A tiling wm.

Point taken.
I meant no offense and apologise if any was taken, just illustrating a point.
Openbox and gmrun give me everything I need to manage my workflow.
I have been writing software for a living for more than 20 years now and spend a lot of time at a keyboard.
I disagree on a tiling WM.
I use 3 screens and placing windows into a few simple, logical locations with a keystroke is far better.
I don't use menus or panels either.
I realised that everything I used menus and panels and systemtrays for I could do better and faster without them.
Every time I use KDE or Gnome I realise that there is nothing there (except wobbly windows) that I don't use in Openbox.

I guess the system tray in Windows put me off the concept. I had as little as possible in mine and I would encounter people with 20 items in there that couldn't understand why their computer was slow.
A system tray fits well with a distro like Mint where everything possible is loaded at once.
However Mint and Ubuntu are the opposite to the KISS principle that Arch and Openbox represent.

Yet you are free to use whatever you like.

Offline

#13 2008-08-14 23:08:06

moljac024
Member
From: Serbia
Registered: 2008-01-29
Posts: 2,676

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

Sometimes you can't get by without a system tray. What about Instant Messaging ? Pidgin is more convenient than irssi or any other CLI IM client....

Last edited by moljac024 (2008-08-14 23:19:03)


The day Microsoft makes a product that doesn't suck, is the day they make a vacuum cleaner.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
But if they tell you that I've lost my mind, maybe it's not gone just a little hard to find...

Offline

#14 2008-08-15 04:22:27

thisllub
Member
From: Northern NSW Australia
Registered: 2007-12-28
Posts: 231

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

Never used it.
Years ago when I ran Windows I used to resent MSN loading and staying loaded when I ran Outlook.

Offline

#15 2008-08-15 11:37:01

DonVla
Member
From: Bonn, Germany
Registered: 2007-06-07
Posts: 997

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

thisllub wrote:

Never used it.
Years ago when I ran Windows I used to resent MSN loading and staying loaded when I ran Outlook.

nice for you ... ... ...

Offline

#16 2008-08-15 11:56:56

Stythys
Member
From: SF Bay Area
Registered: 2008-05-18
Posts: 878
Website

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

moljac024 wrote:

Sometimes you can't get by without a system tray. What about Instant Messaging ? Pidgin is more convenient than irssi or any other CLI IM client....

I used to use pidgin but switched to bitlbee recently. I don't see how it's much more convenient...if anything it's less. I still get little notifications when people IM, and I just switch to the window, which is more integrated with my IRC chats now.

but yeah for the OP, I use stalonetray for my systemtray. works brilliantly smile

Last edited by Stythys (2008-08-15 11:57:20)


[home page] -- [code / configs]

"Once you go Arch, you must remain there for life or else Allan will track you down and break you."
-- Bregol

Offline

#17 2008-08-16 17:49:49

Bonzodog
Member
From: Leicester, UK
Registered: 2008-02-14
Posts: 106

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

I actually use peksystray for my systemtray, as its dockable, and will go along with the gtk theme that you use.

Offline

#18 2008-08-18 22:28:37

lldmer
Member
From: Amsterdam
Registered: 2008-05-17
Posts: 119

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

Thanks for all your reactions.

I guess if you don't use apps that try to use a systray (or set them up to minimize instead), there's no real need for a system tray. But as moljac024 mentions, it can be comfortable to use for example with IM. Maybe there is some other way to nicely show messages (for example the change of color of the pidgin icon when you receive a new message) without a system tray always taking up space (or always popping up when I move my mouse there). Although I realize that's what system tray's are for tongue.

I guess I'll just mess around with some system trays. Maybe there is some way to let pidgin use popups like skype does. Might not be ideal, but nicer than always having a system tray in screen I think smile


For lack of better words: chair, never, toothbrush, really. Ohw, and fish!

Offline

#19 2008-08-19 05:30:58

Intrepid
Member
Registered: 2008-06-11
Posts: 254

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

I suggest that you take others' advice and use an "autohiding" systray/panel (I've used xfce-panel and trayer).

However, I personally run them with translucency via xcompmgr.  I found it's more convenient to have a translucent system tray yet still visible than one that hides during notifications.

I guess I'll just mess around with some system trays. Maybe there is some way to let pidgin use popups like skype does. Might not be ideal, but nicer than always having a system tray in screen I think smile

Ever consider using noteo from the AUR?  It was made with archlinux' simplicity in mind, and gives me translucent, inobtrusive popups telling me, for example, which pacman packages can be upgraded.  It could also tell me MPD status, and I think pidgin may be implemented.


Intrepid (adj.): Resolutely courageous; fearless.

Offline

#20 2008-08-19 13:38:36

lldmer
Member
From: Amsterdam
Registered: 2008-05-17
Posts: 119

Re: Openbox - System Tray in menu

Intrepid wrote:

Ever consider using noteo from the AUR?  It was made with archlinux' simplicity in mind, and gives me translucent, inobtrusive popups telling me, for example, which pacman packages can be upgraded.  It could also tell me MPD status, and I think pidgin may be implemented.

Thanks for the suggestion! I will test it some more, but noteo seems great so far smile The noteo-notify module (replacing the notification-daemon) and a pidgin add-on (pidgin-libnotify) seem to be working together nicely smile Maybe this was what I was looking for all along tongue

Last edited by lldmer (2008-08-19 13:39:00)


For lack of better words: chair, never, toothbrush, really. Ohw, and fish!

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB