Openbox: Bring back lost windows

vivitron · 2011-04-26 00:04:32

I use Arch and openbox for my laptop. Unfortunately, when I dock/undock to my dual screens, I often end up with windows left out of reach.

I could not find a tool that solved the problem (although one probably exists), so I put one together using wmctrl and xdpyinfo.

I've posted the script here: http://lmbrt.com/a/63

It's also attached to this post. I hope someone finds it useful.

#!/usr/bin/perl
#
# Copyright 2011 Dustin Lambert
#
# This script is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
# as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
# This script is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
# without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
# See the GNU General Public License for more details.
#
# You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this script.
# If not, see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.
#
 
my $lines = `wmctrl -G -l`;
my $res = `xdpyinfo | grep dimensions`;
 
$res =~ /^\s+dimensions:\s+(\d+)x(\d+)/;
my $screenWidth = $1;
my $screenHeight = $2;
 
print "Screen size: $screenWidth x $screenHeight\n";
 
foreach my $line(split(/\n/, $lines))
{
    $line =~ s/\s+/ /g;
    my($windowID, $level, $posX, $posY, $width, $height)=split(/ /, $line);
 
    if ($level ne -1)
    {
        $doMove = 0;
        # resize windows if they are currently larger than screen
        if ($width > $screenWidth)
        {
            $width = $screenWidth - 5;
            $doMove = 1;
        }
        if ($height > $screenHeight)
        {
            $height = $screenHeight - 5;
            $doMove = 1;
        }
 
        # if they are off the screen, move them    
        if (($posX + $width) > $screenWidth)
        {
            $posX = $screenWidth - $width;
            $doMove = 1;
        }
 
        if (($posY + $height) > $screenHeight)
        {
            $posY = $screenHeight - $height;
            $doMove = 1;
        }
 
        # might have gotten into negative areas with moving... also windows will be in the negative if they are above the screen
        # move them to pos 1
        if ($posX < 1)
        {
            $doMove = 1;
            $posX = 1;
        }
         
        if ($posY < 1)
        {
            $doMove = 1;
            $posY = 1;
        }
 
        # our calcs are not perfect... only rearrange if there was a problem
        if ($doMove eq 1)
        {      
            system("wmctrl -i -r $windowID -e 0,$posX,$posY,$width,$height");
        }
    }
}

Xyne · 2011-04-26 04:34:30

Good idea! It's one of those "gah, why didn't I think of that?" ideas.

I most often run into off-screen windows in Twinview mode when there is no second monitor though, so they're technically "on-screen" as far as the system is concerned and wouldn't be caught by this script (at least I don't think they would, from a cursory examination). It did however inspire me to write something with xdotool to move the active window to the mouse location with an Openbox keybind: http://xyne.archlinux.ca/scripts/openbox/#winhere

Until now I've been focusing the window, maximizing it, then dragging it onto the visible screen.

Arch Linux

#1 2011-04-26 00:04:32

Openbox: Bring back lost windows

#2 2011-04-26 04:34:30

Re: Openbox: Bring back lost windows

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