wmswallow
A WindowMaker dock applet to make any application dockable.
Copyright 2000 by Friedrich Delgado Friedrichs
(be sure to read the LICENCE file as well)
===========================================================================
Why?
----
I wanted to have coolmail in my Windowmaker dock.
How?
----
INSTALLATION:
+++++++++++++
untar the sources by typing something along the lines of
zcat wmswallow.tar.Z|tar cvf -
cd wmswallow
make <platform>
where platform is currently one out of
xfree, solaris, solaris-gcc
The xfree target works under linux and freebsd.
Linux is tested best, since i'm hacking this stuff under linux (at
home). I have access to several Solaris Workstations (some sparcs, and
2 pcs) whith quite different Installations which i regularly use, so
the solaris target will at least get some attention. Solaris users
please read README.solaris for some hints.
Other Unices might or might not get happy with the xfree target or
some or other... I really think using autoconf/automake for this small
app would be overkill. If you devise a proper patch for a different
Unix-flavour, i will include it, but i might not be able to test it.
(I have currently access to FreeBSD and AIX, in addition to my
"home-platforms")
After compilation put the binary somewhere you like (e.g. in /usr/local/bin)
and in case you want to delete the Sourcetree, you might want to copy the
README to /usr/doc/wmswallow
Now try
wmswallow -h
to get a basic idea how it works.
USE:
++++
Then some things you might try out are:
(i.e. lots of)
EXAMPLES:
=========
------- wmswallow coolmail coolmail
(Will make coolmail docked, but it starts an xterm with mailx
per default so you will probably want:)
------- wmswallow coolmail coolmail -e "xterm -n mutt -T mutt -e mutt"
------- wmswallow glbiff glbiff
(glbiff is really a killer! Try it! (If you have some 3D
hardware) :-) Find it at
http://www.dgp.toronto.edu/~mac/projects/glbiff.html
------- wmswallow asclock asclock -shape -exe plan
(Works with the unpatched "classic" version of asclock)
------- wmswallow oclock oclock -transparent -minute red -bd green
(is one of my personal favorites)
------- wmswallow tuXeyes tuXeyes --puppy
(a nice alternative to xeyes)
------- wmswallow Lament /usr/local/bin/demos/lament -name Lament -geom 55x57
(/usr/local/bin/demos is where my xscreensaver demos are
installed.
This commandline demonstrates two things:
1. You can give a WM_CLASS on the commandline instead of a WM_NAME
2. Some applications don't handle resizing well and must get the correct
geometry on their commandline, which is always 55x57 for dockapps.)
------- wmswallow xaos xaos
(This kinda obsoletes wmmand :-)
------- wmswallow xload xload -nolabel -hl LightSeaGreen -fg LightSeaGreen \
-bg black -update 5
(This is like wmload, but there is a frame at the edges which is a
little annoying, so wmload is a better choice)
------- wmswallow -focus XTerm
(Weeelll...
1. wmswallow can swallow apps without starting them
2. it takes the first it gets
3. swallowed apps can take keyboard focus now! (Is that useful? I doubt
it, but i could not resist :-))
------- wmswallow -geom 64x64 -getclick "xterm -e top" xeyes xeyes
(A more advanced example. The xeyes look better with 64x64 than
with the default width/height of 55x57, and since xeyes ignores
mouseclicks, we can grab them and execute an xterm on a click.
Note that you must poke xeyes right in the eye! :-)
------- wmswallow -noshape -getclick gtop -geom 57x57 xload xload -nolabel \
-hl LightSeaGreen -fg LightSeaGreen -bg black -update 5
(This looks and behaves a little more like wmload. Executes
the "Gnome Systemmonitor" on a mouse click. The -noshape
option lets wmswallow ignore any shape the application might
have. I thought this would increase performance for some
apps, but it doesn't. [It just uses a very slight bit less
memory])
------- wmswallow -unmanaged xteddy xteddy
(swallows the left ear of an xteddy, that will complain about it...
completely useless :-)
------- wmswallow -focus bb xterm -bg black -fg white -T bb -fn "-*-*-*-*-*-*-2-*-*-*-*-*-*-*" -geometry 50x25 -e bb -driver curses
(utterly useless as well! :)
How not?
--------
When should you *not* use wmswallow?
- In general, if a special dockapp for that purpose already exists, you
should use it, because every instance of wmswallow has a memory
footprint of about 600k, and a simple dockapp usually uses less
ressources. If the WindowMaker developers will one day choose to
implement "swallowing" applications as a feature in the WindowMaker
dock, this will probably a much more simple and clean solution.
- You should not swallow applications over slow network links.
First tests show, that 2 mbit/s are more than enough, but 90kbit/s get
terribly hogged if you run wmswallow on a remote hosts over such a
link. Note that i am not referring to your hardware, but to the
overall throughput that can be acchieved between the two hosts.
Have a lot of fun... :-)
Thanks
------
The following people helped and/or contributed to wmswallow:
Dan Piponi <dan@mvfx.com>:
Makefile fix for FreeBSD
Jason Lowdermilk <lowdermilk@visto.com>:
diff to enable wmswallow really to look after the WM_NAME of a
window.
Valuable suggestions and code on how to identify the wanted
window more reliably.
further valuable input
honx:
Giving me the idea to wmswallow, by constantly nagging that
WindowMaker cannot swallow apps :-) Next thing to satisfy this
dude, somebody will have to write a pager for WindowMaker
(like the one for fvwm) that works *without* gnome... Somebody
else will have to do that, since i don't like Pagers :-)
