NAME

FvwmCommand - fvwm command external interface

SYNOPSIS

FvwmCommand [-cmrvw] [-S name] [-i level] [-f name] [-F level] [command...]

DESCRIPTION

FvwmCommand lets you monitor fvwm transaction and issue fvwm command from a shell command line or scripts. FvwmCommand takes each argument as a fvwm command. Quotes can be used to send commands including spaces.

FvwmCommand 'FvwmPager 0 1'

INVOCATION

FvwmCommandS should be spawned once by fvwm, either in .fvwm2rc file, from menu, or from FvwmConsole. From then on, FvwmCommand can be called from a shell or script to execute fvwm commands.

From within .fvwm2rc file:

Module FvwmCommandS


    or
AddToFunc StartFunction "I" Module FvwmCommandS

Then, in script file or from shell:

FvwmCommand  'popup Utilities'

OPTIONS

-c

Informs FvwmCommand to read multiple commands from the standard input instead of the one command specified in the command line arguments. This disables -m or -i.

(echo "Exec xload"; echo "Beep") | FvwmCommand -c
    

-F <level>

Specifies the level of fvwm window flags FvwmCommand outputs.

-f <name>

Specifies an alternative FIFO set to communicate with a server. The default FIFO set is /var/tmp/FvwmCommand-${DISPLAY}C, in which FvwmCommand..C is used to send commands and FvwmCommand..M is to receive messages. If that path is unusable ${FVWM_USERDIR}/FvwmCommand-${DISPLAY} will be used instead. FvwmCommandS must have been invoked with the same <name> as its first argument prior to FvwmCommand invocation. Alternatively, option -S can be used. Refer option -S. This option -f is useful when a dedicated connection is necessary to run a background job while another connection is kept for interactive use.

-i <level>

Specifies the level of information that FvwmCommand outputs.

-m

Monitors fvwm window information transaction. FvwmCommand continuously outputs information that it receives without exiting. This option can be used in a background job often combined with -i3 option in order to control windows dynamically.

FvwmCommand -mi3 | grep 'iconify'
    

It will report when windows are iconified or de-iconified.

Note: FvwmCommand does not block buffer its output but many utilities such as grep or sed use block buffer. The output of the next example will not show up until either FvwmCommand is terminated or stdout buffer from grep is filled.

FvwmCommand -mi3 | grep ' map' |
sed 's/\(0x[0-9a-f]*\).*/windowid \1 move 0 0/'
    

Instead, use tools with buffer control such as pty or perl. The below will iconify new windows when opened.

Fvwm -mi3 | perl -ne '
$|=1;
print "windowid $1 iconify\n" if /^(0x\S+) add/;
´ > ~/.FvwmCommandC
    

-r

Waits for a reply before it exits. FvwmCommand exits if no information or error is returned in a fixed amount of time period. (Refer option -w.) The option -r overrides this time limit and wait for at least one message back. After the initial message, it will wait for another message for the time limit. This option is useful when the system is too loaded to make any prediction when the system is responding AND the command causes some message to be sent back.

-S <name>

Invokes another server, FvwmCommandS, with FIFO set <name>.
If -f option is not used with this option, the invoking FvwmCommand uses the default FIFO to communicate the default server to invoke a new server.
If -f option is used with this option, the invoking FvwmCommand uses the default FIFO to communicate the default server to invoke a new server. Then, switch the FIFO set and start communicating the new server.
This option -S is useful when a dedicated connection is necessary to run a background job while another connection is kept for interactive use.

If the <name> is a relative path name, that is relative from where fvwm is running, not from where FvwmCommand is invoked.

-v

Returns FvwmCommand version number and exits.

-w <time>

Waits for <time> micro seconds for a message. FvwmCommand exits if no information or error is returned in a fixed amount of time period unless option -m is used. The default is 500 ms. This option overrides this default value.

WRAPPER

FvwmCommand.sh has bourne shell function definitions to keep the syntax similar to fvwm configuration file. This file is to be sourced:

. FvwmCommand.sh


DesktopSize 5x5

FvwmCommand.pm is for perl in order to keep the syntax similar to fvwm configuration file. Commas can be used to separate fvwm commands' arguments.

use FvwmCommand;
if( $ARGV[0] eq 'home' ) {


    Desk 0,0; GotoPage '1 1';
}elsif( $ARGV[0] eq 'jump' ) {


    Desk "0 2"; GotoPage 0, 1;
}

Although arguments in FvwmCommand are not case sensitive as fvwm, the functions defined in FvwmCommand.sh and FvwmCommand.pl are case sensitive.

ERRORS

If the following error message show up, it is most likely that FvwmCommandS is not running.

FvwmCommand error in opening message fifo
--No such file or directory--

Fvwm modules don't return error messages to fvwm but output on stderr. These error messages will not be shown as FvwmCommand messages.

FvwmCommand is an interface to send commands to and receive information from Fvwm2 from processes which are not Fvwm modules.

EXAMPLES

test1.pl - takes 1 argument 't' to invoke FvwmTalk
'td' to kill FvwmTalk
'' to move windows
test2.sh - takes 1 argument 'b' to invoke FvwmButtons
'kb' to kill FvwmButtons
'r' to change # of button rows
'c' to change # of button columns
ex-auto.pl - auto raise small windows. It will keep them visible.
ex-cascade.pl - cascade windows, then move them back.
ex-grpmv.pl - choose a group of windows to move together.

Above examples are not meant to be practical but to show how it can
be done.

focus-link.pl
This is a user programmable window focus script.
Default behavior is:
1. When a window is opened up, focus the window and move the pointer
to it. The parent window regains focus when a window is closed.
Parenthood is determined when a window is opened. It is the last
focused window with the same X class.
2. #1 would not occur to AcroRead opening window.
3. #1 would not occur when SkipMapping is set and the window is the
only window of its class.
4. For Netscape find dialog window, addition to #1, resize the window
to 300x150 pixels and move it to East edge of the screen.
Download/upload windows will not be focused nor be in focus link
list.
5. Move appletviewer to NorthWest corner.
6. Xterm won't focus back to its parent after closed.
7. When a window is de-iconified, focus it and move the pointer.

focus-Netscape.pl
Focuses pop-up windows, such as 'open URL' or 'find' whenever
opened up. This let the user to type in immediately without
moving mouse. This script also moves 'download' window to the
right edge to keep it visible. If this is invoked from
.fvwm2rc, use as:

AddToFunc "StartFunction" "I" Module FvwmCommandS
+ "I" Exec $HOME/scripts/focus-Netscape.pl

push-away.pl <direction> <window name>
Pushes windows away to avoid overlapping. use as:

push-away.pl up 'Fvwm Pager'

SEE ALSO

fvwm

AUTHOR

FvwmCommand is the original work of Toshi Isogai.