==================================== dzen, (c) 2007-2010 by Robert Manea ==================================== Dzen is a general purpose messaging, notification and menuing program for X11. It was designed to be fast, tiny and scriptable in any language. Features -------- * Small, fast, very tiny set of dependencies (Xlib only by default) * Scriptable in any language * Sophisticated formating language - including colours, icons, graphics * Versatile - display all sorts of information * Interactive - user defined mouse and keyboard actions * Optional XFT support * Optional XINERAMA support Requirements ------------ In order to build dzen you need the Xlib header files. Installation ------------ Edit config.mk to match your local setup (dzen is installed into the /usr/local namespace by default). Afterwards enter the following command to build and install dzen (if necessary as root): make clean install Optionally if you want to use dzen's gadgets: cd gadgets make clean install Note: By default dzen will not be compiled with Xinerama and XPM support. Uncomment the respective lines in config.mk to change this. Contact: -------- Feature requests, patches or anything else related to dzen can be send to: rob dot manea at gmail dot com Running dzen ------------ dzen accepts a couple of options: -fg foreground color -bg background color -fn font -ta alignement of title window content l(eft), c(center), r(ight) -tw title window width -sa alignment of slave window, see "-ta" -l lines, see (1) -e events and actions, see (2) -m menu mode, see (3) -u update contents of title and slave window simultaneously, see (4) -p persist EOF (optional timeout in seconds) -x x position -y y position -h line height (default: fontheight + 2 pixels) -w width -xs number of Xinerama screen -v version information see (5) for the in-text formating language. X resources ----------- Dzen is able to read font and color setting from X resources. As an example you can add following lines to ~/.Xresources dzen2.font: -*-fixed-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-* dzen2.foreground: #22EE11 dzen2.background: black Window layout ------------- Dzen's window layout is as follows: ------------------------------------------ | Title window, single line | `------------------------------------------´ | | | scrollable | | Slave window | | multiple lines | | lines to display simultaneously | | controlled with the | | '-l' option | | | | | `------------------------------------------´ The first line you provide to dzen always goes to the title window, all other consecutive lines will be drawn to the slave window unless you explicitly overide this with the (5) In-text formating language command ^tw(). QA: --- Q1: I don't want a slave window, what to do? A1: Do not provide the '-l' option, all lines will be displayed in the title window, this is the default behaviour. Q2: I used the '-l' option but no slave window appears. A2: With the default event/action handling the slave window will only be displayed if you hoover with the mouse over the title window. See "(2) Events and actions" if you'd like to change this. Q3: If I echo some text or cat a file dzen closes itself imediatelly. A3: There are 2 different approaches dzen uses to terminate itself, see next section "Termination". Q4: Ok, the title and slave thing works, can I update the contents of both windows at the same time? A4: Sure, see "(4) Simultaneous updates" or use the in-text command "^tw()" to explicitly draw to the title windwow. See section (5) for further details Q5: Can i chnage color of my input at runtime? A5: Yes, you can change both background and foreground colors and much more See "(5) In-Text formating language" Q6: Can I use dzen as a menu? A6: Yes, both vertical and horizontal menus are supported. See "(3) Menu" for further details. Termination: ------------ dzen uses two different approaches to terminate itself: * Timed termination: if EOF is received -> terminate - unless the '-p' option is set · '-p' without argument persist forever · '-p' with argument n persist for n seconds * Interactive termination: if mouse button3 is clicked -> terminate - this is the default behaviour, see (2) - in some modes the Escape key terminates too, see (2) Return values: -------------- 0 - dzen received EOF 1 - some error occured, inspect the error message user defined - set with 'exit:retval' action, see (2) (1) Option "-l": Slave window -------------------------------- Enables support for displaying multiple lines. The parameter to "-l" specifies the number of lines to be displayed. These lines of input are held in the slave window which becomes active as soon as the pointer enters the title (default action) window. If the mouse leaves the slave window it will be hidden unless it is set sticky by clicking with Button2 into it (default action). Button4 and Button5 (mouse wheel) will scroll the slave window up and down if the content exceeds the window height (default action). (2) Option '-e': Events and actions ----------------------------------- dzen allows the user to associate actions to events. The command line syntax is as follows: -e 'event1=action1:option1:...option,...,action;...;event' Every event can take any number of actions and every action can take any number of options. (By default limited to 64 each, easily changable in action.h) An example: -e 'button1=exec:xterm:firefox;entertitle=uncollapse,unhide;button3=exit' Meaning: button1=exec:xterm:firefox; on Button1 event (Button1 press on the mouse) execute xterm and firefox. Note: xterm and firefox are options to the exec action entertitle=uncollapse,unhide; on entertitle (mouse pointer enters the title window) uncollapse slave window and unhide the title window button3=exit on button3 event exit dzen Supported events: ----------------- onstart Perform actions right after startup onexit Perform actions just before exiting onnewinput Perform actions if there is new input for the slave window button1 Mouse button1 released button2 Mouse button2 released button3 Mouse button3 released button4 Mouse button4 released (usually scrollwheel) button5 Mouse button5 released (usually scrollwheel) button6 Mouse button6 released button7 Mouse button7 released entertitle Mouse enters the title window leavetitle Mouse leaves the title window enterslave Mouse enters the slave window leaveslave Mouse leaves the slave window sigusr1 SIGUSR1 received sigusr2 SIGUSR2 received key_KEYNAME Keyboard events (*) (*) Keyboard events: -------------------- Every key can be bound to an action (see below). The format is: key_KEYNAME where KEYNAME is the name of the key as defined in keysymdef.h (usually: /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h). The part after 'XK_' in keysymdef.h must be used for KEYNAME. Supported actions: ------------------ exec:command1:..:n execute all given options menuexec executes selected menu entry exit:retval exit dzen and return 'retval' print:str1:...:n write all given options to STDOUT menuprint write selected menu entry to STDOUT collapse collapse (roll-up) slave window uncollapse uncollapse (roll-down) slave window togglecollapse toggle collapsed state stick stick slave window unstick unstick slave window togglestick toggle sticky state hide hide title window unhide unhide title window togglehide toggle hide state raise raise window to view (above all others) lower lower window (behind all others) scrollhome show head of input scrollend show tail of input scrollup:n scroll slave window n lines up (default n=1) scrolldown:n scroll slave window n lines down (default n=1) grabkeys enable keyboard support ungrabkeys disable keyboard support grabmouse enable mouse support only needed with specific windowmanagers, such as fluxbox ungrabmouse release mouse only needed with specific windowmanagers, such as fluxbox Note: If no events/actions are specified dzen defaults to: Title only mode: ---------------- -e 'button3=exit:13' Multiple lines and vertical menu mode: -------------------------------------- -e 'entertitle=uncollapse,grabkeys; enterslave=grabkeys;leaveslave=collapse,ungrabkeys; button1=menuexec;button2=togglestick;button3=exit:13; button4=scrollup;button5=scrolldown; key_Escape=ungrabkeys,exit' Horizontal menu mode: --------------------- -e 'enterslave=grabkeys;leaveslave=ungrabkeys; button4=scrollup;button5=scrolldown; key_Left=scrollup;key_Right=scrolldown; button1=menuexec;button3=exit:13 key_Escape=ungrabkeys,exit' If you define any events/actions, there is no default behaviour, i.e. you will have to specify _all_ events/actions you want to use. (3) Option '-m', Menu --------------------- Dzen provides two menu modes, vertical and horizontal menus. You can access these modes by adding 'v'(ertical) or 'h'(horizontal) to the '-m' option. If nothing is specified dzen defaults to vertical menus. Vertical menu, both invocations are equivalent: dzen2 -p -l 4 -m < file dzen2 -p -l 4 -m v < file Horizontal menu: dzen2 -p -l 4 -m h < file All actions beginning with "menu" work on the selected menu entry. Note: Menu mode only makes sense if '-l ' is specified! Horizontal menus have no title window, so all actions affecting the title window will be silently discarded in this mode. (4) Option '-u', Simultaneous updates ------------------------------------- ** DEPRECATED ** This option provides facilities to update the title and slave window at the same time. The way it works is best described by an example: Motivation: We want to display an updating clock in the title and some log output in the slave window. Solution: while true; do date # output goes to the title window dmesg | tail -n 10 # output goes to the slave window sleep 1 done | dzen2 -l 10 -u For this to work correctly it is essential to provide exactly the number of lines to the slave window as defined by the parameter to '-l'. (5) In-text formating & control language: ----------------------------------------- This feature allows to dynamically (at runtime) format the text dzen displays and control its behaviour. Currently the following commands are supported: Note: Doubling the '^' character ('^^') will remove the special meaning from it. Colors: ------- ^fg(color) set foreground color ^fg() without arguments, sets default fg color ^bg(color) set background color ^bg() without arguments, sets default bg color Graphics: --------- ^i(path) draw icon specified by path Supported formats: XBM and optionally XPM ^r(WIDTHxHEIGHT) draw a rectangle with the dimensions WIDTH and HEIGHT ^ro(WIDTHxHEIGHT) rectangle outline ^c(RADIUS) draw a circle with size RADIUS pixels ^co(RADIUS) circle outline Positioning: ------------ ^p(ARGUMENT) position next input amount of PIXELs to the right or left of the current position a.k.a. relative positioning ^pa(ARGUMENT) position next input at PIXEL a.k.a. absolute positioning ARGUMENT: ^p(+-X) move X pixels to the right or left of the current position (on the X axis) ^p(+-X;+-Y) move X pixels to the right or left and Y pixels up or down of the current position (on the X and Y axis) ^p(;+-Y) move Y pixels up or down of the current position (on the Y axis) ^p() without parameters resets the Y position to its default ^pa() takes the same parameters as described above but positions at the absolute X and Y coordinates Further ^p() also takes some symbolic names as argument: _LOCK_X Lock the current X position, useful if you want to align things vertically _UNLOCK_X Unlock the X position _LEFT Move current x-position to the left edge _RIGHT Move current x-position to the right edge _TOP Move current y-position to the top edge _CENTER Move current x-position to center of the window _BOTTOM Move current y-position to the bottom edge Interaction: ------------ ^ca(BTN, CMD) ... ^ca() Used to define 'clickable areas' anywhere inside the title window. - 'BTN' denotes the mouse button (1=left, 2=right, 3=middle, etc.) - 'CMD' denotes the command that should be spawned when the specific area has been clicked with the defined button - '...' denotes any text or formating commands dzen accepts - '^ca()' without arguments denotes the end of this clickable area Example: foo ^ca(1, echo one)^fg(red)click me and i'll echo one^fg()^ca() bar Actions as commands: -------------------- ^togglecollapse() ^collapse() ^uncollapse() ^togglestick() ^stick() See section (2) 'Events and actions' for a detailed description ^unstick() of each command. ^togglehide() ^hide() ^unhide() ^raise() ^lower() ^scrollhome() ^scrollend() ^exit() Other: ------ ^tw() draw to title window This command has some annoyances, as only the input after the command will be drawn to the title window, so it is best used only once and as first command per line. ^cs() clear slave window This command must be the first and only command per line. ^ib(VALUE) ignore background setting, VALUE can be either 1 to ignore or 0 to not ignore the bg color set with ^bg(color). This command is useful in combination with ^p() and ^pa() in order to position the input inside other already drawn input. Example: ^ib(1)^fg(red)^ro(100x15)^p(-98)^fg(blue)^r(20x10)^fg(orange)^p(3)^r(40x10)^p(4)^fg(darkgreen)^co(12)^p(2)^c(10) These commands can appear anywhere and in any combination in dzen's input. The color can be specified either as symbolic name (e.g. red, darkgreen, etc.) or as #rrggbb hex-value (e.g. #ffffaa). Icons must be in the XBM or optionally XPM format, see the "bitmaps" directory for some sample icons. With the standard "bitmap" application you can easily draw your own icons. Some examples: Input: ^fg(red)I'm red text ^fg(blue)I am blue Input: ^bg(#ffaaaa)The ^fg(yellow)text to ^bg(blue)^fg(orange)colorize Input: ^fg(grey70)Some text containing ^^ characters Input for icons: ^i(bitmaps/envelope.xbm) I am an envelope ^fg(yellow)and ^i(bitmaps/battery.xbm) I'm a baterry. Input for rectangles: 6x4 rectangle ^r(6x4) ^fg(red)12x8 ^r(12x8) ^fg(yellow)and finally 100x15 ^r(100x15) Input for relative positioning: Some text^p(100)^fg(yellow)100 pixels to the right^p(50)^fg(red)50 more pixels to the right Examples: --------- * Display message and timeout after 10 seconds: (echo "This is a message"; sleep 10) | dzen2 -bg darkred -fg grey80 -fn fixed * Display message and never timeout: echo "This is a message"| dzen2 -p * Display updating single line message: for i in $(seq 1 20); do A=${A}'='; print $A; sleep 1; done | dzen2 * Display header and a message with multiple lines: (echo Header; cal; sleep 20) | dzen2 -l 8 Displays "Header" in the title window and the output of cal in the 8 lines high slave window. * Display updating messages: (echo Header; while true; do echo test$((i++)); sleep 1; done) | dzen2 -l 12 The slave window will update contents if new input has arrived. * Display log files: (su -c "echo LOGFILENAME; tail -f /var/log/messages") | dzen2 -l 20 -x 100 -y 300 -w 500 * Monthly schedule with remind: (echo Monthly Schedule; remind -c1 -m) | dzen2 -l 52 -w 410 -p -fn lime -bg '#e0e8ea' -fg black -x 635 * Simple menu: echo "Applications" | dzen2 -l 4 -p -m < menufile * Horizontal menu without any files: {echo Menu; echo -e "xterm\nxclock\nxeyes\nxfontsel"} | dzen2 -l 4 -m h -p * Extract PIDs from the process table: {echo Procs; ps -a} | dzen2 -m -l 12 -p \ -e 'button1=menuprint;button3=exit;button4=scrollup:3;button5=scrolldown:3;entertitle=uncollapse;leaveslave=collapse' \ | awk '{print $1}' * Dzen as xmonad (see http://xmonad.org) statusbar: status.sh | dzen2 -ta r -fn '-*-profont-*-*-*-*-11-*-*-*-*-*-iso8859' -bg '#aecf96' -fg black \ -p -e 'sigusr1=raise;sigusr2=lower;onquit=exec:rm /tmp/dzen2-pid;button3=exit' & echo $! > /tmp/dzen2-pid Have fun.