bmpanel2 thread

nsf · 2009-08-07 07:39:24

Good time of day, archers. I decided to stop waiting and make a release for bmpanel2.. and call it alpha
If you don't know what I'm talking about please visit: http://nsf.110mb.com/bmpanel
That was the first version of the project.

But since it's an alpha version, there are definitely things that are missing. So.. if any questions will arise, I will answer them and maybe even make the fix (if critical) and write down the FAQ. Please ask them here!

I've uploaded the version to AUR ("bmpanel2"), so do your:

yaourt -S bmpanel2

and judge!

First steps are:

bmpanel2

or more nicer theme:

bmpanel2 --theme=xsocam_dark

Bmpanel2 has config file, but the default values are nice and theme parameter can be overriden by command line as shown above. You don't need the config file (even though I stated it in my blog earlier).

Links:
http://bmpanel2.googlecode.com - official site of the project
http://nsfdev.wordpress.com - my blog, there are few details on bmpanel2 development proccess

Thanks for you time!

Last edited by nsf (2009-08-07 07:41:24)

DonVla · 2009-08-07 11:48:27

hi nsf,
what's the difference to bmpanel v1?

xd-0 · 2009-08-07 11:48:54

This is someting I have been waiting for
I'll start testing it later this evening, and perhaps even submit some suggestions and bugs.

nsf · 2009-08-07 12:09:01

DonVla wrote:

hi nsf,
what's the difference to bmpanel v1?

Hi, DonVla.
1. New libraries base (pango + cairo = better font handling mainly, subpixel antialiasing).
2. A completly new codebase, which allows to add new widgets easily.
3. Thanks to (2), we have even a drag'n'drop feature.
4. Erm.. New widgets, currently they aren't well PRed, but there are few (decor, launchbar).
5. A few changes in theme engine - it's more flexible.
6. New theme format which is more flexible and extensible too.
7. Few improvements in system tray. It's still the most horrible area of the panel, since the protocol itself sucks (btw, there is a new system tray protocol in KDE 4.3, hopefully it will be popular enough to replace the old one, it uses dbus, which is "ugh..", but it's still better).

Shortly - it's not something completely new and innovative, but it's a better software than the previous one.

I just hope, eventually it will be the best companion panel for openbox and pekwm window managers. I like openbox for simplicity and clearness, and pekwm for it's look. These two are kinda my two philosophies. Simplicity and beauty.

Last edited by nsf (2009-08-07 12:18:17)

Paaskehare · 2009-08-10 07:22:57

The first url in your thread since to be down, so I can't see it right now, I wanted to check it out before I got home and could try it out for real

Last edited by Paaskehare (2009-08-10 07:23:57)

nsf · 2009-08-10 07:31:36

Paaskehare wrote:

The first url in your thread since to be down, so I can't see it right now, I wanted to check it out before I got home and could try it out for real

Strange Works for me.

Paaskehare · 2009-08-10 10:09:33

It works now for me too

I like the way your themes are built up in a simple file that is easy to modify and make your own themes too, I will give this a try when I get home and provide some feedback

kasbah · 2009-08-13 19:07:48

I tried this for a little while. It looks very nice (especially with the theme). If you could close windows with right click and the arch theme (from bmpanel) was implimented I would stick with it. Didn't encounter any bugs. Thanks for the hard work!

ugaciaka · 2009-08-14 09:18:13

good! I very happy for this news!

nsf · 2009-08-14 11:56:41

kasbah wrote:

I tried this for a little while. It looks very nice (especially with the theme). If you could close windows with right click and the arch theme (from bmpanel) was implimented I would stick with it. Didn't encounter any bugs. Thanks for the hard work!

You can kill apps by just dragging task out of the panel (far enough).

Arch theme will be never ported to bmpanel2, unless there will be composite mode in the panel.

weakhead · 2009-08-15 14:03:23

Just installed it. It works!
I've checked config files, downloaded Muin and Isotop themes from your blog and also checked their configs. I can see many improvements, especially ability to stretch images and proper display of transparent png files (so you don't have to always make images with their background).
Launchbar is also good thing (didn't tested it yet). Conifg syntax - after porting many themes to BMPanel, it feel kinda strange, but I'm sure that I just need to get used to it.

Here's my wishlist as a user and themer:
- making alternative workspace switcher that works like Fluxbox's one (displays only name of active workspace, clicking on it (or using arrows near it) changes workspace);

EDIT: removed most wishes after I've checked THIS SITE.

Last edited by weakhead (2009-08-15 14:10:00)

nsf · 2009-08-15 16:20:59

weakhead wrote:

Here's my wishlist as a user and themer:
- making alternative workspace switcher that works like Fluxbox's one (displays only name of active workspace, clicking on it (or using arrows near it) changes workspace);

It's a good idea, I'll think about it.

jakadinho · 2009-08-19 08:35:06

God job, but unfortunately i'm adicted to bmpanel1 function right click -> minimise all windows. To have that in 2. version would be super cool.

atomkarinca · 2009-08-19 10:48:52

Great job you've done here. I really dig the launchbar. I use it as a start menu in Openbox (with a little help from xdotool) and it's working great. Only problem I have is that it reacts as a window, not a dock. What I mean is, I use margins in Openbox and with v1 the dock doesn't get affected by it (which it shouldn't) however with v2 it follows the margins. Is this a feature or a bug? (I'm using v2.0.1a by the way)

nsf · 2009-08-19 11:00:33

atomkarinca wrote:

Great job you've done here. I really dig the launchbar. I use it as a start menu in Openbox (with a little help from xdotool) and it's working great. Only problem I have is that it reacts as a window, not a dock. What I mean is, I use margins in Openbox and with v1 the dock doesn't get affected by it (which it shouldn't) however with v2 it follows the margins. Is this a feature or a bug? (I'm using v2.0.1a by the way)

I'm not sure why v1 doesn't get affected by openbox's margins, because it should be. And why the panel shouldn't? NETWM doesn't say anything about that as far as I can understand. Maybe I'm wrong. Btw, the whole STRUT thing in NETWM sucks.

Also maybe I got you wrong, a screenshot should help.

Last edited by nsf (2009-08-19 11:00:58)

atomkarinca · 2009-08-19 11:10:09

@nsf, never mind, I tried it with a logout/login and it's working fine now. I guess the margins start working after all the things get started. It works for me

PiousMinion · 2009-11-01 10:52:23

Instructions for luanchbar: http://nsfdev.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/the-launchbar/

Instructions found, but they don't work. The launchbar area appears, but no icons are in it. I used the exact examples from the site above for firefox and gvim and the icon files do exist. This happens with any theme I adjust to include the launchbar.

Does anyone have a working launchbar and might know why I don't?

Last edited by PiousMinion (2009-11-01 11:13:29)

nsf · 2009-11-01 11:06:09

PiousMinion wrote:

I can't seem to find docs anywhere on how exactly to set up icons for the launchbar.
Ideas?
EDIT:
Nevermind, found it.
http://nsfdev.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/the-launchbar/

You should use bmpanel2cfg program, it comes with both bmpanel2 AUR packages.

PiousMinion · 2009-11-01 11:16:50

nsf wrote:

PiousMinion wrote:
I can't seem to find docs anywhere on how exactly to set up icons for the launchbar.
Ideas?
EDIT:
Nevermind, found it.
http://nsfdev.wordpress.com/2009/08/15/the-launchbar/
You should use bmpanel2cfg program, it comes with both bmpanel2 AUR packages.

bmpanel2 in the AUR didn't include bmpanel2cfg.
bmpanel2-git did, but it crashes instantly.

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/bmpanel2cfg", line 573, in <module>
    lbedit = LaunchbarEditor()
  File "/usr/bin/bmpanel2cfg", line 351, in __init__
    self.parse_items()
  File "/usr/bin/bmpanel2cfg", line 547, in parse_items
    for i in g_launch:
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/bmpanel2.py", line 509, in __iter__
    yield LaunchbarItem(c.value, c['icon'].value)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/bmpanel2.py", line 143, in __getitem__
    raise KeyError, item
KeyError: 'icon'

EDIT:
I wiped my config and everything works fine with bmpanel2cfg
I assume my error was using single tab in the file instead of double tab.
thanks.

Last edited by PiousMinion (2009-11-01 11:22:03)

nsf · 2009-11-01 11:26:21

PiousMinion wrote:

bmpanel2 in the AUR didn't include bmpanel2cfg.
bmpanel2-git did, but it crashes instantly.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/bin/bmpanel2cfg", line 573, in <module>
    lbedit = LaunchbarEditor()
  File "/usr/bin/bmpanel2cfg", line 351, in __init__
    self.parse_items()
  File "/usr/bin/bmpanel2cfg", line 547, in parse_items
    for i in g_launch:
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/bmpanel2.py", line 509, in __iter__
    yield LaunchbarItem(c.value, c['icon'].value)
  File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/bmpanel2.py", line 143, in __getitem__
    raise KeyError, item
KeyError: 'icon'
EDIT:
I wiped my config and everything works fine with bmpanel2cfg
I assume my error was using single tab in the file instead of double tab.
thanks.

Are you sure?

[nsf @ ~]$ pacman -Ql bmpanel2 | grep bmpanel2cfg
bmpanel2 /usr/bin/bmpanel2cfg
bmpanel2 /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/bmpanel2cfg-1.0-py2.6.egg-info

I've updated the bmpanel2 package to bmpanel2 2.1pre1, so maybe that's the issue.

The crash might happen only when your config file is screwed. Just delete it and let bmpanel2cfg make it for you. I'll fix this too as far as I can (I mean bad input handing).

Wiz · 2009-12-12 15:22:21

nsf wrote:

Arch theme will be never ported to bmpanel2, unless there will be composite mode in the panel.

Is there any luck it will be added, with systray support ? That would be killer.

nsf · 2009-12-12 19:07:56

Wiz wrote:

nsf wrote:
Arch theme will be never ported to bmpanel2, unless there will be composite mode in the panel.
Is there any luck it will be added, with systray support ? That would be killer.

Maybe, but unlikely.

darkarchon · 2010-02-24 12:50:43

I'd like to say that I really like both bmpanel and bmpanel2.
Is there any way to make right mouse button iconify all windows in bmpanel2 like in bmpanel? I find it really useful.

nsf · 2010-02-24 12:56:48

darkarchon wrote:

I'd like to say that I really like both bmpanel and bmpanel2.
Is there any way to make right mouse button iconify all windows in bmpanel2 like in bmpanel? I find it really useful.

Currently, no. But if I don't forget about your feature request, I'll add it someday.
To make sure that I won't forget you can help me with that by adding a feature request here: http://code.google.com/p/bmpanel2/issues/list ;-)

darkarchon · 2010-02-25 11:16:50

Thanks.
Submitted feature request :]

Arch Linux

#1 2009-08-07 07:39:24

bmpanel2 thread

#2 2009-08-07 11:48:27

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#3 2009-08-07 11:48:54

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#4 2009-08-07 12:09:01

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#5 2009-08-10 07:22:57

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#6 2009-08-10 07:31:36

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#7 2009-08-10 10:09:33

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#8 2009-08-13 19:07:48

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#9 2009-08-14 09:18:13

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#10 2009-08-14 11:56:41

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#11 2009-08-15 14:03:23

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#12 2009-08-15 16:20:59

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#13 2009-08-19 08:35:06

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#14 2009-08-19 10:48:52

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#15 2009-08-19 11:00:33

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#16 2009-08-19 11:10:09

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#17 2009-11-01 10:52:23

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#18 2009-11-01 11:06:09

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#19 2009-11-01 11:16:50

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#20 2009-11-01 11:26:21

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#21 2009-12-12 15:22:21

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#22 2009-12-12 19:07:56

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#23 2010-02-24 12:50:43

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#24 2010-02-24 12:56:48

Re: bmpanel2 thread

#25 2010-02-25 11:16:50

Re: bmpanel2 thread

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