FvwmCommand (1)

SYNOPSIS

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

DESCRIPTION

FvwmCommand lets you monitor fvwm2 transaction and issue fvwm2 command from a shell command line or scripts. FvwmCommand takes each argument as a fvwm2 command. Quotes can be used to send commands including spaces. FvwmCommand 'FvwmPager 0 1'

INVOCATION

FvwmCommandS should be spawned once by fvwm2, either in .fvwm2rc file, from menu, or from FvwmConsole. From then on, FvwmCommand can be called from a shell or script to execute fvwm2 commands.

From within .fvwm2rc file: Module FvwmCommandS

or

AddToFunc "InitFunction" "I" Module FvwmBanner + "I" Module FvwmPager 0 8 + "I" Module FvwmCommandS

AddToFunc "RestartFunction" "I" Module FvwmCommandS + "I" Module FvwmPager 0 8

Then, in script file or from shell:

FvwmCommand 'popup "Utilities"'

OPTIONS

Specifies the level of fvwm2 window flags FvwmCommand outputs.
No window flags will be printed.
Full window flags will be printed if information level, -i option, is 2 or 3.

Specifies an alternative FIFO set to communicate with a server. The default FIFO set is ~/.FvwmCommand, in which ~/.FvwmCommandC is used to send commands and ~/.FvwmCommandM is to receive messages. 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.

Specifies the level of information that FvwmCommand outputs.
Error messages only. FvwmCommand -i0 FvwmBanner will show a banner without any output. On the other hand, FvwmCommand -i 0 foobar will return, [FVWM][executeModule]: <<ERROR>> No such module \'foobar\' in ModulePath '/usr/lib/X11/fvwm2'

Note that Fvwm2 doesn't return any error messages in cases like below since 'windowid' itself is a valid command. FvwmCommand -i 0 'windowid foo bar'

Errors and window configuration information. This is the default. FvwmCommand send_windowlist Information like below will show up.

0x02000014 window FvwmConsole 0x02000014 icon FvwmConsole 0x02000014 class XTerm 0x02000014 resource FvwmConsole 0x01c00014 window console 0x01c00014 icon console 0x01c00014 class XTerm 0x01c00014 resource console 0x01000003 window Fvwm Pager 0x01000003 icon 0x01000003 class FvwmModule 0x01000003 resource FvwmPager 0x00c0002c window emacs: FvwmCommand.man 0x00c0002c icon FvwmCommand.man 0x00c0002c icon file xemacs.xpm 0x00c0002c class Emacs 0x00c0002c resource emacs end windowlist The first column shows the window ID number, which can be used in 'windowid' command. The second column shows the information types. The last column shows the information contents. If no information is returned, add -w <time> or -r option. This might be needed in heavily loaded systems.

Above and static window information. FvwmCommand -i2 'FvwmPager 0 1' The below is its output.

0x03c00003 frame x 962, y 743, width 187, height 114 0x03c00003 desktop 0 0x03c00003 StartIconic no 0x03c00003 OnTop yes 0x03c00003 Sticky yes 0x03c00003 WindowListSkip yes 0x03c00003 SuppressIcon no 0x03c00003 NoiconTitle no 0x03c00003 Lenience no 0x03c00003 StickyIcon no 0x03c00003 CirculateSkipIcon no 0x03c00003 CirculateSkip no 0x03c00003 ClickToFocus no 0x03c00003 SloppyFocus no 0x03c00003 SkipMapping no 0x03c00003 Handles no 0x03c00003 Title no 0x03c00003 Mapped no 0x03c00003 Iconified no 0x03c00003 Transient no 0x03c00003 Raised no 0x03c00003 Visible no 0x03c00003 IconOurs no 0x03c00003 PixmapOurs no 0x03c00003 ShapedIcon no 0x03c00003 Maximized no 0x03c00003 WmTakeFocus no 0x03c00003 WmDeleteWindow yes 0x03c00003 IconMoved no 0x03c00003 IconUnmapped no 0x03c00003 MapPending no 0x03c00003 HintOverride yes 0x03c00003 MWMButtons no 0x03c00003 MWMBorders no 0x03c00003 title height 0 0x03c00003 border width 4 0x03c00003 base size width 8, height 7 0x03c00003 size increment width 9, height 9 0x03c00003 min size width 8, height 7 0x03c00003 max size width 32767, height 32767 0x03c00003 gravity SouthEast 0x03c00003 pixel text 0xffffff, back 0x7f7f7f 0x03c00003 window Fvwm Pager 0x03c00003 icon Fvwm Pager 0x03c00003 class FvwmModule 0x03c00003 resource FvwmPager

All information available. FvwmCommand -i3 'Killmodule Fvwm*' This will report which windows are closed. 0x03400003 destroy 0x02400002 destroy

Monitors fvwm2 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 deiconified. 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

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 predition when the system is responding AND the command causes some message to be sent back.

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 fvwm2 is running, not from where FvwmCommand is invoked.

Returns FvwmCommand version number and exits.

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 fvwm2 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 fvwm2 configuration file. Commas can be used to separate Fvwm2 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 fvwm2, 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-- Fvwm2 modules don't return error messages to fvwm2 but output on stderr. These error messages will not be shown as FvwmCommand messages.

SEE ALSO

fvwm2

AUTHOR

Toshi Isogai isogai@ucsub.colorado.edu