NAME
Fvwm - F? Virtual Window Manager for X11
SYNOPSIS
fvwm [-c config-command] [-d displayname] [-f config-file] [-r]
[-s [screen_num]] [-V] [-C visual-class | -I visual-id]
[-l colors [-L] [-A] [-S] [-P]] [-D] [-h] [-i client-id]
[-F state-file] [--debug-stack-ring] [-blackout]
DESCRIPTION
Fvwm is a window manager for X11. It is designed to minimize memory
consumption, provide a 3D look to window frames, and a virtual desktop.
Note that there are several window managers around that have "fvwm" in
their name. In the past, version 2.x of fvwm was commonly called fvwm2
to distinguish it from the former version 1.x (fvwm or even fvwm1).
Since version 1.x has been replaced by version 2.x a long time ago we
simply call version 2.x and all versions to come, fvwm, throughout this
document, and the executable program is named fvwm. There is an fvwm
offspring called fvwm95, it is mostly a patched version of fvwm-2.0.43.
The main goal of fvwm95 was to supply a Windows 95 like look and feel.
Since then, fvwm has been greatly enhanced and practically all fvwm95
features can be achieved by fvwm.
Fvwm provides both, a large virtual desktop and multiple disjoint
desktops which can be used separately or together. The virtual desktop
allows you to pretend that your video screen is really quite large, and
you can scroll around within the desktop. The multiple disjoint
desktops allow you to pretend that you really have several screens to
work at, but each screen is completely unrelated to the others.
Fvwm provides keyboard accelerators which allow you to perform most
window manager functions, including moving and resizing windows, and
operating the menus, using keyboard shortcuts.
Fvwm has also overcome the distinction between configuration commands
and action commands that most window managers make. Configuration
commands typically set fonts, colors, menu contents, key and mouse
function bindings, while action commands do things like raise and lower
windows. Fvwm makes no such distinction, and allows anything to be
changed at any time.
Other noteworthy differences between fvwm and other X11 window managers
are the introduction of the SloppyFocus and NeverFocus focus methods.
Focus policy can be separately specified for different window groups.
Windows using SloppyFocus acquire focus when the pointer moves into
them and retain focus until some other window acquires it. Such
windows do not lose focus when the pointer moves into the root window.
The NeverFocus policy is provided for use with windows into which one
never types (e.g. xclock, oclock, xbiff, xeyes, tuxeyes) - for example,
if a SloppyFocus terminal window has focus, moving the pointer over a
NeverFocus decoration window does not deprive the terminal of focus.
OPTIONS
These are the command line options that are recognized by fvwm:
-i | --clientid id
This option is used when fvwm is started by a session manager.
Should not be used by a user.
-c | --cmd config-command
Causes fvwm to use config-command instead of ’Read config’ (or
’Read .fvwm2rc’) as its initialization command. (Note that up to
10 -f and -c parameters can be given, and they are executed in the
order specified.)
Any module started by command line arguments is assumed to be a
module that sends back config commands. All command line modules
have to quit before fvwm proceeds on to the StartFunction and
setting border decorations and styles. There is a potential
deadlock if you start a module other than FvwmCpp/FvwmM4/FvwmPerl
but there is a timeout so fvwm eventually gets going.
As an example, starting the pager this way hangs fvwm until the
timeout, but the following should work well:
fvwm -c "AddToFunc StartFunction I Module FvwmPager"
-d | --display displayname
Manage the display called displayname instead of the name obtained
from the environment variable $DISPLAY.
-D | --debug
Puts X transactions in synchronous mode, which dramatically slows
things down, but guarantees that fvwm’s internal error messages are
correct. Also causes fvwm to output debug messages while running.
-f config-file
Causes fvwm to read config-file instead of ~/.fvwm/config as its
initialization file. This is equivalent to -c ’Read config-file’.
-h | --help
A short usage description is printed.
-r | --replace
Try to take over from a previously running wm. This does not work
unless the other wm is ICCCM2 2.0 compliant.
-F | --restore state-file
This option is used when fvwm is started by a session manager.
Should not be used by a user.
-s | --single-screen [screen_num]
On a multi-screen display, run fvwm only on the screen named in the
$DISPLAY environment variable or provided through the -d option.
The optional argument screen_num should be positive or null and
override the screen number. Normally, fvwm attempts to start up on
all screens of a multi-screen display.
-V | --version
Prints the version of fvwm to stderr. Also prints an information
about the compiled in support for readline, rplay, stroke, xpm,
png, svg, GNOME hints, EWMH hints, session management,
bidirectional text, multibyte characters, xinerama and Xft aa font
rendering.
-C | --visual visual-class
Causes fvwm to use visual-class for the window borders and menus.
visual-class can be "StaticGray", "GrayScale", "StaticColor",
"PseudoColor", "TrueColor" or "DirectColor".
-I | --visualid id
Causes fvwm to use id as the visual id for the window borders and
menus. id can be specified as N for decimal or 0xN for
hexadecimal. See man page of xdpyinfo for a list of supported
visuals.
-l | --color-limit limit
Specifies a limit on the colors used in image, gradient and
possibly simple colors used by fvwm. In fact, fvwm (and all the
modules) uses a palette with at most limit colors. This option is
only useful with screens that display 256 colors (or less) with a
dynamic visual (PseudoColor, GrayScale or DirectColor). The
default depends on your X server and how you run fvwm. In most
case this default is reasonable. The -l option should be used only
if you encounter problems with colors. By default, fvwm tries to
detect large pre-allocated palettes. If such a palette is detected
fvwm uses it and a priori the -l must not be used. Moreover, in
this case the -A and -S options are forced. Note that XFree-4.2
pre-allocates 244 colors (if you use a driver with Render support)
leaving only a few free colors. This may lead to some color
problems (and nothing can be done). XFree-4.3 or better
pre-allocate only 85 colors. If no pre-allocated palette is auto
detected the defaults are as follow:
Display depth 8 (256 colors)
PseudoColor: 68 (4x4x4 color cube + 4 grey)
GrayScale: 64 regular grey
DirectColor: 32 (3x3x3 color cube + 5 grey)
Display depth 4 (16 colors)
PseudoColor: 10 (2x2x2 color cube + 2 grey)
GrayScale: 8 regular grey
DirectColor: 10 (2x2x2 color cube + 2 grey)
These defaults may change before version 2.6. Note that if you use
a private color map (i.e., fvwm is started with the -C or the -I
options), then other defaults are used.
Now what to do if you encounter problems with colors? The first
thing to do is to check if you really cannot run your X server with
depth 15, 16 or better. Check your X server documentation. Note
that some hardware can support two different depths on the same
screen (typically depth 8 and depth 24). If depth 8 is the
default, you can force fvwm to use the best depth by using the -C
option with TrueColor as argument. So now we assume that you are
forced to run in depth 8 with a dynamic visual because your
hardware/driver cannot do better or because you need to use an
application which needs to run under this mode (e.g., because this
application needs read-write colors). What it should be understand
is that you have only 256 colors and that all the applications
which use the default color map must share these colors. The main
problem is that there are applications which use a lot or even all
the colors. If you use such application you may have no more free
colors and some applications (which used only a few colors) may
fail to start or are unusable. There are three things that can be
done (and fvwm does not really play a particular role, all
applications are concerned). The first is to run the applications
which waste your (default) color map with a private color map. For
example, run netscape with the -install option, run KDE or QT
applications with the --cmap option, use the -C option for fvwm.
The disadvantage of this method is that it is visually disturbing
(see the ColormapFocus command for a better control of the color
maps switching). The second method is to limit the number of
colors that the applications use. Again, some applications have
options to specify a given color limit. With fvwm you may try
various values, 61 (a special "visual" palette), 56 (a 4x4x3 color
cube plus 6 grey), 29 (a 3x3x3 color cube plus 2 grey), 10 or 9.
Also, you may use the -L option. However, limiting the number of
colors is not the definitive solution. The definitive solution is
to try cause applications which use a lot of colors use the same
colors. This is a difficult task as there are no formal standards
for this goal. However, some toolkits as QT and GTK use color
cubes as palettes. So, the idea is to configure your
applications/toolkits to all use the same color cube. Moreover,
you can use the colors in this color cube in your X resources
configuration files and/or as arguments to colors options. Fvwm
can use any color cube of the form RxGxB with 2 <= R <= 6, R = G,
R-1 =< B <= R and B >= 2. To get an RxGxB color cube give an
argument to -l an integer c >= R*G*B and < (R+1)*(G+1)*B if B=R and
< R*G*(B+1) if B < R (and different from 61). If c > R*G*B, then
some grey may be added to the color cube. You can use the
PrintInfo Colors [1] command to get information on your fvwm colors
setting. In particular, this command prints the palette used by
fvwm in rgb format (the last integer gives the number of times fvwm
has allocated the colors).
-L | --strict-color-limit
If the screen displays 256 colors (or less) and has a dynamic
visual, causes fvwm to use its palette for all the colors. By
default, the palette is used only for images and gradients.
-P | --visual-palette
If the screen displays 256 colors (or less) and has a dynamic
visual, this option causes fvwm to use a palette designed for
limiting the "visual" color distance between the points of the
palette. Moreover, for better color sharing, if possible colors
with a name in the X rgb data base are used for defining the colors
(with the hope that applications and images prefer to use named
colors). If the -l option is not used this palette has 61 colors.
This palette is also automatically selected if 61 or 9 is used as
argument to the -l option.
-A | --allocate-palette
If the screen displays 256 colors (or less) and has a dynamic
visual this option causes fvwm to allocate all the colors of its
palette at start up for reserving these colors for future use.
This option forces the -static-palette option. By default, fvwm
allocates (reserves) a color in its palette only if it needs this
color.
-S | --static-palette
If the screen displays 256 colors (or less) and has a dynamic
visual this option causes fvwm to never free the colors in its
palette. By default, when fvwm does not need a color any more it
frees this color so that a new color can be used. This option may
speed up image loading and save a few bits of memory.
-blackout
This option is provided for backward compatibility only. Blacking
out the screen during startup is not necessary (and doesn’t work)
anymore. This option will be removed in the future.
--debug-stack-ring
Enables stack ring debugging. This option is only intended for
internal debugging and should only be used by developers.
ANATOMY OF A WINDOW
Fvwm puts a decorative border around most windows. This border
consists of a bar on each side and a small L-shaped section on each
corner. There is an additional top bar called the title-bar which is
used to display the name of the window. In addition, there are up to
10 title-bar buttons. The top, side, and bottom bars are collectively
known as the side-bars. The corner pieces are called the frame.
With the built-in minimal configuration, dragging mouse button 1 in the
frame or side-bars begins a resize operation on the window. Dragging
mouse button 2 in the frame or side-bars begins a move operation.
There are raise/lower operations bound to a single clicking on borders.
Similarly for the window title.
Up to ten title-bar buttons may exist. Their use is completely user
definable. One popular configuration uses one button on the left that
is used to bring up a list of window options and two buttons on the
right used to iconify and maximize the window. Another popular
configuration adds a close button to the right. The number of
title-bar buttons used depends on which ones have mouse actions bound
to them. See the Mouse command.
THE VIRTUAL DESKTOP
Fvwm provides multiple virtual desktops for users who wish to use them.
The screen is a viewport onto a desktop which may be larger than the
screen. Several distinct desktops can be accessed (concept: one
desktop for each project, or one desktop for each application, when
view applications are distinct). Since each desktop can be larger than
the physical screen, divided into m by n pages which are each the size
of the physical screen, windows which are larger than the screen or
large groups of related windows can easily be viewed.
The (m by n) size (i.e. number of pages) of the virtual desktops can be
changed any time, by using the DesktopSize command. All virtual
desktops must be (are) the same size. The total number of distinct
desktops does not need to be specified, but is limited to approximately
4 billion total. All windows on a range of desktops can be viewed in
the FvwmPager, a miniature view of the desktops. The pager is an
accessory program, called a module, which is not essential for the
window manager to operate. Windows may also be listed, along with
their geometries, in a window list, accessible as a pop-up menu, or as
a separate window, called the FvwmWinList (another module).
Fvwm keeps the windows on the desktop in a layered stacking order; a
window in a lower layer never obscures a window in a higher layer. The
layer of a window can be changed by using the Layer command. The
concept of layers is a generalization of the StaysOnTop flag of older
fvwm versions. The StaysOnTop and StaysPut Style options are now
implemented by putting the windows in suitable layers and the
previously missing StaysOnBottom Style option has been added.
Sticky windows are windows which transcend the virtual desktop by
"Sticking to the screen’s glass". They always stay put on the screen.
This is convenient for things like clocks and xbiffs, so you only need
to run one such gadget and it always stays with you. Icons can also be
made to stick to the glass, if desired.
Window geometries are specified relative to the current viewport. That
is:
xterm -geometry +0+0
creates a window in the upper left hand corner of the visible portion
of the screen. It is permissible to specify geometries which place
windows on the virtual desktop, but off the screen. For example, if
the visible screen is 1000 by 1000 pixels, and the desktop size is 3x3,
and the current viewport is at the upper left hand corner of the
desktop, invoking:
xterm -geometry +1000+1000
places a window just off of the lower right hand corner of the screen.
It can be found by moving the mouse to the lower right hand corner of
the screen and waiting for it to scroll into view. A geometry
specified as something like:
xterm -geometry -5-5
places the window’s lower right hand corner 5 pixels from the lower
right corner of the visible portion of the screen. Not all
applications support window geometries with negative offsets. Some
applications place the window’s upper right hand corner 5 pixels above
and to the left of the upper left hand corner of the screen; others may
do just plain bizarre things.
There are several ways to cause a window to map onto a desktop or page
other than the currently active one. The geometry technique mentioned
above (specifying x,y coordinates larger than the physical screen
size), however, suffers from the limitation of being interpreted
relative to the current viewport: the window may not consistently
appear on a specific page, unless you always invoke the application
from the same page.
A better way to place windows on a different page, screen or desk from
the currently mapped viewport is to use the StartsOnPage or
StartsOnScreen style specification (the successors to the older
StartsOnDesk style) in your config file. The placement is consistent:
it does not depend on your current location on the virtual desktop.
Some applications that understand standard Xt command line arguments
and X resources, like xterm and xfontsel, allow the user to specify the
start-up desk or page on the command line:
xterm -xrm "*Desk:1"
starts an xterm on desk number 1;
xterm -xrm "*Page:3 2 1"
starts an xterm two pages to the right and one down from the upper left
hand page of desk number 3. Not all applications understand the use of
these options, however. You could achieve the same results with the
following lines in your .Xdefaults file:
XTerm*Desk: 1
or
XTerm*Page: 3 2 1
USE ON MULTI-SCREEN DISPLAYS
If the -s command line argument is not given, fvwm automatically starts
up on every screen on the specified display. After fvwm starts each
screen is treated independently. Restarts of fvwm need to be performed
separately on each screen. The use of
EdgeScroll 0 0
is strongly recommended for multi-screen displays. You may need to
quit on each screen to quit from the X session completely. This is not
to be confused with Xinerama support.
XINERAMA SUPPORT
Fvwm supports the Xinerama extension of newer X servers which is
similar to multi head support (multiple screens) but allows to move
windows between screens. If Xinerama support has been compiled into
fvwm, it is used whenever fvwm runs on an X server that supports and
uses multiple screens via Xinerama. Without this option, the whole
desktop is treated as one big screen. For example, menus might pop up
right between two screens. The EdgeResistance option of the Style
command command allows for specifying an explicit resistance value for
moving windows over the screen edge between two Xinerama screens.
Xinerama support can be enabled or disabled on the fly or from the
configuration file with the Xinerama command. Many modules and
commands work nicely with Xinerama displays.
Whenever a geometry in the usual X format can be supplied, fvwm’s
Xinerama extension allows for specifying a screen in addition to the
geometry (or even the screen alone). To do this, a ’@’ is added to the
end of the geometry string followed by either the screen number or a
letter. A number is taken as the number of the Xinerama screen to be
used (as configured in the X server). The letter can be one of ’g’ for
the global screen (the rectangle that encloses all Xinerama screens),
’p’ for the primary screen (see below), ’c’ for the current screen (the
one that currently contains the pointer). If the X server does not
support Xinerama or only one screen is used, the screen bit is ignored.
Style * IconBox 64x300-0-0@p
Xinerama support can be configured to use a primary screen. Fvwm can
be configured to place new windows and icons on this screen. The
primary screen is screen 0 by default but can be changed with the
XineramaPrimaryScreen command.
Xinerama support was designed to work out of the box with the same
configuration file that would work on a single screen. It may not
perform very well if the involved screens use different screen
resolutions. In this situation, windows may get stuck in the portion
of the whole desktop that belongs to neither screen. When this
happens, the windows or icons can be retrieved with the command
All MoveToScreen
that can be entered in an FvwmConsole window or with FvwmCommand.
For multi-screen implementations other than Xinerama, such as Single
Logical Screen, it is possible to simulate a Xinerama configuration if
the total screen seen by fvwm is made up of equal sized monitors in a
rectangular grid. The commands XineramaSls, XineramaSlsSize and
XineramaSlsScreens are used to configure this feature.
INITIALIZATION
During initialization, fvwm searches for a configuration file which
describes key and button bindings, and many other things. The format
of these files is described later. Fvwm first searches for
configuration files using the command
Read config
This looks for file config in $FVWM_USERDIR and $FVWM_DATADIR
directories, as described in Read. If this fails more files are
queried for backward compatibility. Here is the complete list of all
file locations queried in the default installation (only the first
found file is used):
$HOME/.fvwm/config
/usr/local/share/fvwm/config
$HOME/.fvwm/.fvwm2rc
$HOME/.fvwm2rc
/usr/local/share/fvwm/.fvwm2rc
/usr/local/share/fvwm/system.fvwm2rc
/etc/system.fvwm2rc
Please note, the last 5 locations are not guaranteed to be supported in
the future.
If a configuration file is not found, the left mouse button, or Help or
F1 keys on the root window bring up menus and forms that can create a
starting configuration file.
Fvwm sets two environment variables which are inherited by its
children. These are $DISPLAY which describes the display on which fvwm
is running. $DISPLAY may be unix:0.0 or :0.0, which doesn’t work too
well when passed through ssh to another machine, so $HOSTDISPLAY is set
to a network-ready description of the display. $HOSTDISPLAY always
uses the TCP/IP transport protocol (even for a local connection) so
$DISPLAY should be used for local connections, as it may use
Unix-domain sockets, which are faster.
If you want to start some applications or modules with fvwm, you can
simply put
Exec app
or
Module FvwmXxx
into your config, but it is not recommended; do this only if you know
what you are doing. It is usually important to start applications or
modules after the entire config is read, because it contains styles or
module configurations which can affect window appearance and
functionality.
The standard way to start applications or modules on fvwm’s start up is
to add them to an initialization function (usually StartFunction or
InitFunction). This way they are only started after fvwm finishes to
read and execute config file.
Fvwm has three special functions for initialization: StartFunction,
which is executed on startups and restarts; InitFunction and
RestartFunction, which are executed during initialization and restarts
(respectively) just after StartFunction. These functions may be
customized in a user’s config file using the AddToFunc command
(described later) to start up modules, xterms, or whatever you’d like
to have started by fvwm.
Fvwm has also a special exit function: ExitFunction, executed when
exiting or restarting before actually quitting. It could be used to
explicitly kill modules, etc.
If fvwm is run under a session manager, functions SessionInitFunction
and SessionRestartFunction are executed instead of InitFunction and
RestartFunction. This helps to define the user’s config file to be
good for both running under a session manager and without it.
Generally it is a bad idea to start xterms or other applications in
"Session*" functions. Also someone can decide to start different
modules while running under a session manager or not. For the similar
purposes SessionExitFunction is used instead of ExitFunction.
DestroyFunc StartFunction
AddToFunc StartFunction
+ I Module FvwmPager * *
+ I Module FvwmButtons
DestroyFunc InitFunction
AddToFunc InitFunction
+ I Module FvwmBanner
+ I Module FvwmTaskBar
+ I Exec xsetroot -solid cyan
+ I Exec xterm
+ I Exec netscape
DestroyFunc RestartFunction
AddToFunc RestartFunction
+ I Module FvwmTaskBar
DestroyFunc SessionInitFunction
AddToFunc SessionInitFunction
+ I Module FvwmBanner
DestroyFunc SessionRestartFunction
AddToFunc SessionRestartFunction
+ I Nop
You do not need to define all special functions if some are empty.
Also note, all these special functions may be emulated now using
StartFunction and ExitFunction, like this:
DestroyFunc StartFunction
AddToFunc StartFunction
+ I Test (Init) Module FvwmBanner
+ I Module FvwmPager * *
+ I Test (Restart) Beep
DestroyFunc ExitFunction
AddToFunc ExitFunction
+ I Test (Quit) Echo Bye-bye
+ I KillModule MyBuggyModule
+ I Test (ToRestart) Beep
COMPILATION OPTIONS
Fvwm has a number of compile-time options. If you have trouble using a
certain command or feature, check to see if support for it was included
at compile time. Optional features are described in the config.h file
that is generated during compilation.
ICONS AND IMAGES
Fvwm can load .xbm, .xpm, .png and .svg images. XBM images are
monochrome. Fvwm can always display XBM files. XPM and PNG formats
are color images. SVG is a vector graphics image format. Compile-time
options determine whether fvwm can display XPM, PNG or SVG icons and
images. See the INSTALL.fvwm file for more information.
The related SHAPE compile-time option can make fvwm display spiffy
shaped icons.
SVG rendering options
SVG images are generated from (XML) text files. A really simple SVG
file might look something like this:
<svg width="120" height="80">
<rect fill="red" width="40" height="40" x="0" y="0" />
<rect fill="lime" width="40" height="40" x="40" y="0" />
<rect fill="blue" width="40" height="40" x="80" y="0" />
<rect fill="cyan" width="40" height="40" x="0" y="40" />
<rect fill="magenta" width="40" height="40" x="40" y="40" />
<rect fill="yellow" width="40" height="40" x="80" y="40" />
</svg>
By default, SVG images are rendered as the image creator intended them
to. But since SVG is a vector graphics format, the images can be
rendered at any choosen size and rotation, e.g. making it possible to
use the same icon file rendered at diffrent sizes for the Icon and
MiniIcon styles.
The rendering options are specified as a string appended to the SVG
filename as follows:
image.svg:[!] [(1) size] [(2) position] [(3) rotation] [(4) scale] ...
(1) [-]width{x}[-]height
(2) {- | +}xpos{- | +}ypos
(3) @[-]angle
(4) {* | /}[-]factor[x | y]
The option string always starts with a colon (’:’) to separate it from
the filename. An empty option string can skip this colon, but it might
still be a good idea to include it to prevent ambiguity if the filename
contains any colon.
filename_without_colon.svg
filename:with:colon.svg:
An exclamation point (’!’) transposes the entire final image (including
the rendering area), i.e. all the horizontal and all the vertical
coordinates are swapped with each other.
image.svg:!
width and height specifies the dimensions of the rendering area in
pixels, i.e. the dimensions of the resulting image. The actual image
is fitted to fill the entire rendering area.
image.svg:60x60
Use a width or height value of 0 to keep the aspect ratio.
image.svg:0x60
image.svg:60x0
A ’-’ before width mirrors the rendering area horizontally.
image.svg:-0x0
A ’-’ before height mirrors the rendering area vertically.
image.svg:0x-0
xpos and ypos specifies a translation of the image in pixels. A
positive xpos value moves the image to the right. A positive ypos
value moves it down. Moving it partially outside of the rendering area
results in a cropped image.
image.svg:-30-0
image.svg:-0+10
image.svg:-30+10
angle specifies a rotation around the actual image center in degrees.
This might result in a cropped image. A positive value rotates the
image clockwise. Floating point values are recognized.
image.svg:@180
image.svg:@-90
image.svg:@30
image.svg:@57.3
factor specifes a scaling of the actual image (not the rendering area).
Scaling it up results in a cropped image. Floting point values are
recognized. Division by zero is ignored. If factor is directly
followed by a ’x’ or a ’y’, the scaling is horizontal or vertical
respectively. Otherwise the scaling is uniform.
image.svg:*2
image.svg:/2
image.svg:/3x
image.svg:/2y
Scaling down a translated or rotated image can prevent cropping.
image.svg:@30*0.6
Repeated usage of translation, rotation, and scaling is allowed.
Translation and rotation are additive. Scaling is multiplicative.
image.svg:*2/3
image.svg:/3x/2y
When combining affine transformations, the scaling is always done
first, then the rotation, and finally the translation.
image.svg:-30+10@30/3x/2y
Use a negative scale factor to mirror the actual image.
image.svg:-30+10@30/-3x/2y
Mirroring of the rendering area is done after any scaling, rotation or
translation of the image.
image.svg:-0x0-30+10@30/3x/2y
Transposing is done last of all, after everything else.
image.svg:!-0x0-30+10@30/3x/2y
MODULES
A module is a separate program which runs as a separate Unix process
but transmits commands to fvwm to execute. Users can write their own
modules to do any weird or bizarre manipulations without bloating or
affecting the integrity of fvwm itself.
Modules must be spawned by fvwm so that it can set up two pipes for
fvwm and the module to communicate with. The pipes are already open
for the module when it starts and the file descriptors for the pipes
are provided as command line arguments.
Modules can be spawned by fvwm at any time during the X session by use
of the Module command. Modules can exist for the duration of the X
session, or can perform a single task and exit. If the module is still
active when fvwm is told to quit, then fvwm closes the communication
pipes and waits to receive a SIGCHLD from the module, indicating that
it has detected the pipe closure and has exited. If modules fail to
detect the pipe closure fvwm exits after approximately 30 seconds
anyway. The number of simultaneously executing modules is limited by
the operating system’s maximum number of simultaneously open files,
usually between 60 and 256.
Modules simply transmit commands to the fvwm command engine. Commands
are formatted just as in the case of a mouse binding in the config
setup file. Certain auxiliary information is also transmitted, as in
the sample module FvwmButtons.
Please refer to the Module Commands section for details.
ICCCM COMPLIANCE
Fvwm attempts to be ICCCM 2.0 compliant. Check
http://tronche.com/gui/x/icccm/ for more info. In addition, ICCCM
states that it should be possible for applications to receive any
keystroke, which is not consistent with the keyboard shortcut approach
used in fvwm and most other window managers. In particular you cannot
have the same keyboard shortcuts working with your fvwm and another
fvwm running within Xnest (a nested X server running in a window). The
same problem exists with mouse bindings.
The ICCCM states that windows possessing the property
WM_HINTS(WM_HINTS):
Client accepts input or input focus: False
should not be given the keyboard input focus by the window manager.
These windows can take the input focus by themselves, however. A
number of applications set this property, and yet expect the window
manager to give them the keyboard focus anyway, so fvwm provides a
window style, Lenience, which allows fvwm to overlook this ICCCM rule.
Even with this window style it is not guaranteed that the application
accepts focus.
The differences between ICCCM 1.1 and 2.0 include the ability to take
over from a running ICCCM 2.0 compliant window manager; thus
fvwm; vi ~/.fvwm/config; fvwm -replace
resembles the Restart command. It is not exactly the same, since
killing the previously running wm may terminate your X session, if the
wm was started as the last client in your .Xclients or .Xsession file.
Further additions are support for client-side colormap installation
(see the ICCCM for details) and the urgency hint. Clients can set this
hint in the WM_HINTS property of their window and expect the window
manager to attract the user’s attention to the window. Fvwm has two
re-definable functions for this purpose, "UrgencyFunc" and
"UrgencyDoneFunc", which are executed when the flag is set/cleared.
Their default definitions are:
AddToFunc UrgencyFunc
+ I Iconify off
+ I FlipFocus
+ I Raise
+ I WarpToWindow 5p 5p
AddToFunc UrgencyDoneFunc
+ I Nop
GNOME COMPLIANCE
Fvwm attempts to be GNOME (version 1) compliant. Check
http://www.gnome.org for what that may mean. To disable GNOME hints
for some or all windows, the GNOMEIgnoreHints style can be used.
EXTENDED WINDOW MANAGER HINTS
Fvwm attempts to respect the extended window manager hints (ewmh or
EWMH for short) specification:
http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Standards_2fwm_2dspec and some
extensions of this specification. This allows fvwm to work with KDE
version >= 2, GNOME version 2 and other applications which respect this
specification (any application based on GTK+ version 2). Applications
which respect this specification are called ewmh compliant
applications.
This support is configurable with styles and commands. These styles
and commands have EWMH as the prefix (so you can find them easily in
this man page).
There is a new Context ’D’ for the Key, PointerKey, Mouse and Stroke
commands. This context is for desktop applications (such as kdesktop
and Nautilus desktop).
When a compliant taskbar asks fvwm to activate a window (typically when
you click on a button which represents a window in such a taskbar),
then fvwm calls the complex function EWMHActivateWindowFunc which by
default is Iconify Off, Focus and Raise. You can redefine this
function. For example:
DestroyFunc EWMHActivateWindowFunc
AddToFunc EWMHActivateWindowFunc I Iconify Off
+ I Focus
+ I Raise
+ I WarpToWindow 50 50
additionally warps the pointer to the center of the window.
The EWMH specification introduces the notion of Working Area. Without
ewmh support the Working Area is the full visible screen (or all your
screens if you have a multi head setup and you use Xinerama). However,
compliant applications (such as a panel) can ask to reserve space at
the edge of the screen. If this is the case, the Working Area is your
full visible screen minus these reserved spaces. If a panel can be
hidden by clicking on a button the Working Area does not change (as you
can unhide the panel at any time), but the Dynamic Working Area is
updated: the space reserved by the panel is removed (and added again if
you pop up the panel). The Dynamic Working Area may be used when fvwm
places or maximizes a window. To know if an application reserves space
you can type "xprop | grep _NET_WM_STRUT" in a terminal and select the
application. If four numbers appear then these numbers define the
reserved space as explained in the EwmhBaseStruts command.
MWM COMPATIBILITY
Fvwm provides options to emulate Motif Window Manager (Mwm) as well as
possible. Please refer to the Emulate command as well as to the Mwm
specific options of the Style and MenuStyle commands for details.
OPEN LOOK AND XVIEW COMPATIBILITY
Fvwm supports all the Open Look decoration hints (except pushpins).
Should you use any such application, please add the following line to
your config:
Style * OLDecor
Most (perhaps all) Open Look applications have a strange notion of
keyboard focus handling. Although a lot of work went into fvwm to work
well with these, you may still encounter problems. It is recommended
to use the NeverFocus focus policy and the Lenience style for all such
applications (the windows still get the focus):
Style <application name> NeverFocus, Lenience
But in case you can not live with that focus policy, you can try using
one of the other focus policies in combination with the Lenience style:
Style <application name> MouseFocus, Lenience
Style <application name> SloppyFocus, Lenience
Style <application name> ClickToFocus, Lenience
M4 PREPROCESSING
M4 pre-processing is handled by a module in fvwm. To get more details,
try man FvwmM4. In short, if you want fvwm to parse your files with
m4, then replace the command Read with FvwmM4 in your ~/.fvwm/config
file (if it appears at all), and start fvwm with the command
fvwm -cmd "FvwmM4 config"
CPP PREPROCESSING
Cpp is the C-language pre-processor. fvwm offers cpp processing which
mirrors the m4 pre-processing. To find out about it, re-read the M4
section, but replace "m4" with "cpp".
CONFIGURATION
Configuration Files
The configuration file is used to describe mouse and button bindings,
colors, the virtual display size, and related items. The
initialization configuration file is typically called config (or
.fvwm2rc). By using the Read command, it is easy to read in new
configuration files as you go.
Lines beginning with ’#’ are ignored by fvwm. Lines starting with ’*’
are expected to contain module configuration commands (rather than
configuration commands for fvwm itself). Like in shell scripts
embedded newlines in a configuration file line can be quoted by
preceding them with a backslash. All lines linked in this fashion are
treated as a single line. The newline itself is ignored.
Fvwm makes no distinction between configuration commands and action
commands, so anything mentioned in the fvwm commands section can be
placed on a line by itself for fvwm to execute as it reads the
configuration file, or it can be placed as an executable command in a
menu or bound to a mouse button or a keyboard key. It is left as an
exercise for the user to decide which function make sense for
initialization and which ones make sense for run-time.
Supplied Configuration
A sample configuration file, system.fvwm2rc, is supplied with the fvwm
distribution. It is well commented and can be used as a source of
examples for fvwm configuration. It may be copied to
/usr/local/share/fvwm/config file.
Alternatively, the built-in menu (accessible when no configuration file
is found) has options to create an initial config file for the user.
If you are new to fvwm, try fvwm-themes[] package demonstrating the
powerful fvwm functionality.
FONTS
Font names and font loading
The fonts used for the text of a window title, icon titles, menus and
geometry window can be specified by using the Font and IconFont Style,
the Font MenuStyle and the DefaultFont commands. Also, all the Modules
which use text have configuration command(s) to specify font(s). All
these styles and commands take a font name as an argument. This
section explains what is a font name for fvwm and which fonts fvwm
loads.
First, you can use what we can call a usual font name, for example,
-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--10-100-75-75-m-60-ISO8859-1
-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--10-*
-*-fixed-medium-o-normal--14-*-ISO8859-15
That is, you can use an X Logical Font Description (XLFD for short).
Then the "first" font which matches the description is loaded and used.
This "first" font depends of your font path and also of your locale.
Fonts which match the locale charset are loaded in priority order. For
example with
-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--10-*
if the locale charset is ISO8859-1, then fvwm tries to load a font
which matches
-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--10-*-ISO8859-1
with the locale charset ISO8859-15 fvwm tries to load
-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--10-*-ISO8859-15.
A font name can be given as an extended XLFD. This is a comma
separated list of (simple) XLFD font names, for example:
-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--14-*,-*-courier-medium-r-normal--14-*
Each simple font name is tried until a matching font with the locale
charset is found and if this fails each simple font name is tried
without constraint on the charset.
More details on the XLFD can be found in the X manual page, the X
Logical Font Description Conventions document (called xlfd) and the
XLoadFont and XCreateFontSet manual pages. Some useful font utilities
are: xlsfonts, xfontsel, xfd and xset.
If you have Xft support you can specify an Xft font name (description)
of a true type (or Type1) font prefixed by "xft:", for example:
"xft:Luxi Mono"
"xft:Luxi Mono:Medium:Roman:size=14:encoding=iso8859-1"
The "first" font which matches the description is loaded. This first
font depends on the XftConfig configuration file with Xft1 and on the
/etc/fonts/fonts.conf file with Xft2. One may read the Xft manual page
and the fontconfig man page with Xft2. The first string which follows
"xft:" is always considered as the family. With the second example
Luxi Mono is the Family (Other XFree TTF families: "Luxi Serif", "Luxi
Sans"), Medium is the Weight (other possible weights: Light, DemiBold,
Bold, Black), Roman is the slant or the style (other possibilities:
Regular, Oblique, Italic) size specifies the point size (for a pixel
size use pixelsize=), encoding allows for enforce a charset (iso8859-1
or iso10646-1 only; if no encoding is given the locale charset is
assumed). An important parameter is "minspace=bool" where bool is True
or False. If bool is False (the default?) Xft gives a greater font
height to fvwm than if bool is True. This may modify text placement,
icon and window title height, line spacing in menus and FvwmIdent,
button height in some fvwm modules ...etc. With a LCD monitor you may
try to add "rgba=mode" where mode is either rgb, bgr, vrgb or vbgr to
enable subpixel rendering. The best mode depends on the way your LCD
cells are arranged. You can pass other specifications in between ":",
as "foundry=foundry_name", "spacing=type" where type can be monospace,
proportional or charcell, "charwidth=integer", "charheight=integer" or
"antialias=bool" where bool is True or False. It seems that these
parameters are not always taken in account.
To determine which Xft fonts are really loaded you can export
XFT_DEBUG=1 before starting fvwm and take a look to the error log.
With Xft2 you may use fc-list to list the available fonts. Anyway, Xft
support is experimental (from the X and the fvwm point of view) and the
quality of the rendering depends on number of parameters (the XFree and
the freetype versions and your video card(s)).
After an Xft font name you can add after a ";" an XLFD font name
(simple or extended) as:
xft:Verdana:pixelsize=14;-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--14-*
then, if either loading the Xft font fails or fvwm has no Xft support,
fvwm loads the font "-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--14-*". This allows
for writing portable configuration files.
Font and string encoding
Once a font is loaded, fvwm finds its encoding (or charset) using its
name (the last two fields of the name). fvwm assumes that the strings
which are displayed with this font use this encoding (an exception is
that if an iso10646-1 font is loaded, then UTF-8 is assumed for string
encoding). In a normal situation, (i) a font is loaded by giving a
font name without specifying the encoding, (ii) the encoding of the
loaded font is the locale encoding, and then (iii) the strings in the
fvwm configuration files should use the locale encoding as well as the
window and icon name. With Xft the situation is bit different as Xft
supports only iso10646-1 and iso8859-1. If you do not specify one of
these encodings in the Xft font name, then fvwm does strings conversion
using (iii). Note that with multibyte fonts (and in particular with
"CJK" fonts) for good text rendering, the locale encoding should be the
charset of the font.
To override the previous rules, it is possible to specify the string
encoding in the beginning of a font description as follow:
StringEncoding=enc:_full_font_name_
where enc is an encoding supported by fvwm (usually font name charset
plus some unicode encodings: UTF-8, USC-2, USC-4 and UTF-16).
For example, you may use an iso8859-1 locale charset and have an
FvwmForm in Russian using koi8-r encoding. In this case, you just have
to ask FvwmForm to load a koi8-r font by specifying the encoding in the
font name. With a multibyte language, (as multibyte font works well
only if the locale encoding is the charset of the font), you should use
an iso10646-1 font:
StringEncoding=jisx0208.1983-0:-*-fixed-medium-r-*-ja-*-iso10646-1
or
"StringEncoding=jisx0208.1983-0:xft:Bitstream Cyberbit"
if your FvwmForm configuration uses jisx0208.1983-0 encoding. Another
possibility is to use UTF-8 encoding for your FvwmForm configuration
and use an iso10646-1 font:
-*-fixed-medium-r-*-ja-*-iso10646-1
or
"StringEncoding=UTF-8:xft:Bitstream Cyberbit"
or equivalently
"xft:Bitstream Cyberbit:encoding=iso10646-1"
In general iso10646-1 fonts together with UTF-8 string encoding allows
the display of any characters in a given menu, FvwmForm etc.
More and more, unicode is used and text files use UTF-8 encoding.
However, in practice the characters used range over your locale charset
(this is the case when you generate a menu with fvwm-menu-desktop with
recent versions of KDE and GNOME). For saving memory (an iso10646-1
font may have a very large number of characters) or because you have a
pretty font without an iso10646-1 charset, you can specify the string
encoding to be UTF-8 and use a font in the locale charset:
StringEncoding=UTF-8:-*-pretty_font-*-12-*
In most cases, fvwm correctly determines the encoding of the font.
However, some fonts do not end with valid encoding names. When the
font name isn’t normal, for example:
-misc-fixed-*--20-*-my_utf8-36
you need to add the encoding after the font name using a slash as a
delimiter. For example:
MenuStyle * Font -misc-fixed-*--20-*-my_utf8-36/iso10646-1
If fvwm finds an encoding, fvwm uses the iconv system functions to do
conversion between encodings. Unfortunately, there are no standards.
For conversion between iso8859-1 and UTF-8: a GNU system uses
"ISO-8859-1" and other systems use "iso881" to define the converters
(these two names are supported by fvwm). Moreover, in some cases it
may be necessary to use machine specific converters. So, if you
experience problems you can try to get information on your iconv
implementation ("man iconv" may help) and put the name which defines
the converter between the font encoding and UTF-8 at the end of the
font name after the encoding hint and a / (another possible solution is
to use GNU libiconv). For example use:
Style * Font -misc-fixed-*--14-*-iso8859-1/*/latin1
to use latin1 for defining the converter for the iso8859-1 encoding.
The "*" in between the "/" says to fvwm to determine the encoding from
the end of the font name. Use:
Style * Font \
-misc-fixed-*--14-*-local8859-6/iso8859-6/local_iso8859_6_iconv
to force fvwm to use the font with iso8859-6 as the encoding (this is
useful for bi-directionality) and to use local_iso8859_6_iconv for
defining the converters.
Font Shadow Effects
Fonts can be given 3d effects. At the beginning of the font name (or
just after a possible StringEncoding specification) add
Shadow=size [offset] [directions]]:
size is a positive integer which specifies the number of pixels of
shadow. offset is an optional positive integer which defines the
number of pixels to offset the shadow from the edge of the character.
The default offset is zero. directions is an optional set of
directions the shadow emanates from the character. The directions are
a space separated list of fvwm directions:
N, North, Top, t, Up, u, -
E, East, Right, r, Right, r, ]
S, South, Bottom, b, Down, d, _
W, West, Left, l, Left, l, [
NE, NorthEast, TopRight, tr, UpRight, ur, ^
SE, SouthEast, BottomRight, br, DownRight, dr, >
SW, SouthWest, BottomLeft, bl, DownLeft, dl, v
NW, NorthWest, TopLeft, tl, UpLeft, ul, <
C, Center, Centre, .
A shadow is displayed in each given direction. All is equivalent to
all the directions. The default direction is BottomRight. With the
Center direction, the shadow surrounds the whole string. Since this is
a super set of all other directions, it is a waste of time to specify
this along with any other directions.
The shadow effect only works with colorsets. The color of the shadow
is defined by using the fgsh option of the Colorset command. Please
refer to the Colorsets section for details about colorsets.
Note: It can be difficult to find the font, fg, fgsh and bg colors to
make this effect look good, but it can look quite good.
BI-DIRECTIONAL TEXT
Arabic and Hebrew text require bi-directional text support to be
displayed correctly, this means that logical strings should be
converted before their visual presentation, so left-to-right and
right-to-left sub-strings are determined and reshuffled. In fvwm this
is done automatically in window titles, menus, module labels and other
places if the fonts used for displaying the text are of one of the
charsets that require bidi (bi-directional) support. For example, this
includes iso8859-6, iso8859-8 and iso10646-1 (unicode), but not other
iso8859-* fonts.
This bi-directional text support is done using the fribidi library
compile time option, see INSTALL.fvwm.
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS
Almost all window manager operations can be performed from the keyboard
so mouse-less operation should be possible. In addition to scrolling
around the virtual desktop by binding the Scroll command to appropriate
keys, Popup, Move, Resize, and any other command can be bound to keys.
Once a command is started the pointer is moved by using the up, down,
left, and right arrows, and the action is terminated by pressing
return. Holding down the Shift key causes the pointer movement to go
in larger steps and holding down the control key causes the pointer
movement to go in smaller steps. Standard emacs and vi cursor movement
controls ( n , p , f , b , and j , k , h , l ) can be used instead of
the arrow keys.
SESSION MANAGEMENT
Fvwm supports session management according to the X Session Management
Protocol. It saves and restores window position, size, stacking order,
desk, stickiness, shadiness, maximizedness, iconifiedness for all
windows. Furthermore, some global state is saved.
Fvwm doesn’t save any information regarding styles, decors, functions
or menus. If you change any of these resources during a session (e.g.
by issuing Style commands or by using various modules), these changes
are lost after saving and restarting the session. To become permanent,
such changes have to be added to the configuration file.
Note further that the current implementation has the following anomaly
when used on a multi-screen display: Starting fvwm for the first time,
fvwm manages all screens by forking a copy of itself for each screen.
Every copy knows its parent and issuing a Quit command to any instance
of fvwm kills the master and thus all copies of fvwm. When you save
and restart the session, the session manager brings up a copy of fvwm
on each screen, but this time they are started as individual instances
managing one screen only. Thus a Quit kills only the copy it was sent
to. This is probably not a very serious problem, since with session
management, you are supposed to quit a session through the session
manager anyway. If it is really needed,
Exec exec killall fvwm
still kills all copies of fvwm. Your system must have the killall
command though.
BOOLEAN ARGUMENTS
A number of commands take one or several boolean arguments. These take
a few equivalent inputs: "yes", "on", "true", "t" and "y" all evaluate
to true while "no", "off", "false", "f" and "n" evaluate to false.
Some commands allow "toggle" too which means that the feature is
disabled if it is currently enabled and vice versa.
BUILTIN KEY AND MOUSE BINDINGS
The following commands are built-in to fvwm:
Key Help R A Popup MenuFvwmRoot
Key F1 R A Popup MenuFvwmRoot
Key Tab A M WindowList Root c c NoDeskSort
Key Escape A MC EscapeFunc
Mouse 1 R A Menu MenuFvwmRoot
Mouse 1 T A FuncFvwmRaiseLowerX Move
Mouse 1 FS A FuncFvwmRaiseLowerX Resize
Mouse 2 FST A FuncFvwmRaiseLowerX Move
AddToFunc FuncFvwmRaiseLowerX
+ I Raise
+ M $0
+ D Lower
The Help and F1 keys invoke a built-in menu that fvwm creates. This is
primarily for new users that have not created their own configuration
file. Either key on the root (background) window pops up an menu to
help you get started.
The Tab key pressed anywhere with the Meta key (same as the Alt key on
PC keyboards) held down pop-ups a window list.
Mouse button 1 on the title-bar or side frame can move, raise or lower
a window.
Mouse button 1 on the window corners can resize, raise or lower a
window.
You can override or remove these bindings. To remove the window list
binding, use this:
Key Tab A M -
COMMAND EXECUTION
Module and Function Commands
If fvwm encounters a command that it doesn’t recognize, it checks to
see if the specified command should have been
Function (rest of command)
or
Module (rest of command)
This allows complex functions or modules to be invoked in a manner
which is fairly transparent to the configuration file.
Example: the config file contains the line
HelpMe
Fvwm looks for an fvwm command called "HelpMe", and fails. Next it
looks for a user-defined complex function called "HelpMe". If no such
function exists, fvwm tries to execute a module called "HelpMe".
Delayed Execution of Commands
Note: There are many commands that affect look and feel of specific,
some or all windows, like Style, Mouse, Colorset, TitleStyle and many
others. For performance reasons such changes are not applied
immediately but only when fvwm is idle, i.e. no user interaction or
module input is pending. Specifically, new Style options that are set
in a function are not applied until after the function has completed.
This can sometimes lead to unwanted effects.
To force that all pending changes are applied immediately, use the
UpdateStyles, Refresh or RefreshWindow commands.
QUOTING
Quotes are required only when needed to make fvwm consider two or more
words to be a single argument. Unnecessary quoting is allowed. If you
want a quote character in your text, you must escape it by using the
backslash character. For example, if you have a pop-up menu called
"Window-Ops", then you do not need quotes:
Popup Window-Ops
but if you replace the dash with a space, then you need quotes:
Popup "Window Ops"
The supported quoting characters are double quotes, single quotes and
reverse single quotes. All three kinds of quotes are treated in the
same way. Single characters can be quoted with a preceding backslash.
Quoting single characters works even inside other kinds of quotes.
COMMAND EXPANSION
Whenever an fvwm command line is executed, fvwm performs parameter
expansion. A parameter is a ’$’ followed by a word enclosed in
brackets ($[...]) or a single special character. If fvwm encounters an
unquoted parameter on the command line it expands it to a string
indicated by the parameter name. Unknown parameters are left
untouched. Parameter expansion is performed before quoting. To get a
literal ’$’ use "$$".
If a command is prefixed with a ’-’ parameter expansion isn’t
performed. This applies to the command immediately following the ’-’,
in which the expansion normally would have taken place. When uesed
together with other prefix commands it must be added before the other
prefix.
Example:
Pick -Exec exec xmessage ’$[w.name]’
opens an xmessage dialog with "$[w.name]" unexpanded.
The longer variables may contain additional variables inside the name,
which are expanded before the outer variable.
In earlier versions of fvwm, some single letter variables were
supported. It is deprecated now, since they cause a number of
problems. You should use the longer substitutes instead.
Example:
# Print the current desk number, horizontal page number
# and the window’s class (unexpanded here, no window).
Echo $[desk.n] $[page.nx] $[w.class]
Note: If the command is called outside a window context, it prints
"$[w.class]" instead of the class name. It is usually not enough to
have the pointer over a window to have a context window. To force
using the window with the focus, the Current command can be used:
Current Echo $[desk.n] $[page.nx] $[w.class]
The parameters known by fvwm are:
$$
A literal ’$’.
$.
The absolute directory of the currently Read file. Intended for
creating relative and relocatable configuration trees. If used
outside of any read file, the returned value is ’.’.
$0 to $9
The positional parameters given to a complex function (a function
that has been defined with the AddToFunc command). "$0" is
replaced with the first parameter, "$1" with the second parameter
and so on. If the corresponding parameter is undefined, the "$..."
is deleted from the command line.
$*
All positional parameters given to a complex function. This
includes parameters that follow after "$9".
$[n]
The n:th positional parameter given to a complex function, counting
from 0. If the corresponding parameter is undefined, the "$[n]" is
deleted from the command line. The parameter is expanded unquoted.
$[n-m]
The positional parameters given to a complex function, starting
with parameter n and ending with parameter m. If all the
corresponding parameters are undefined, the "$[...]" is deleted
from the command line. If only some of the parameters are defined,
all defined parameters are expanded, and the remaining silently
ignored. All parameters are expanded unquoted.
$[n-]
All the positional parameters given to a complex function, starting
with parameter n. If all the corresponding parameters are
undefined, the "$[...]" is deleted from the command line. All
parameters are expanded unquoted.
$[*]
All the positional parameters given to a complex function. This is
equivalent of $[0-].
$[version.num]
The version number, like "2.6.0".
$[version.info]
The version info, like " (from cvs)", empty for the official
releases.
$[version.line]
The first line printed by the --version command line option.
$[vp.x] $[vp.y] $[vp.width] $[vp.height]
Either coordinate or the width or height of the current viewport.
$[desk.n]
The current desk number.
$[desk.name<n>]
These parameters are replaced with the name of the desktop number
<n> that is defined with the DesktopName command. If no name is
defined, then the default name is returned.
$[desk.width] $[desk.height]
The width or height of the whole desktop, i.e. the width or height
multiplied by the number of pages in x or y direction.
$[desk.pagesx] $[desk.pagesy]
The number of total pages in a desk in x or y direction. This is
the same as the values set by DesktopSize.
$[page.nx] $[page.ny]
The current page numbers, by X and Y axes, starting from 0. page
is equivalent to area in the GNOME terminology.
$[w.id]
The window-id (expressed in hex, e.g. 0x10023c) of the window the
command was called for or "$[w.id]" if no window is associated with
the command.
$[w.name] $[w.iconname] $[w.class] $[w.resource] $[w.visiblename]
$[w.iconfile] $[w.miniiconfile] $[w.iconfile.svgopts]
$[w.miniiconfile.svgopts]
The window’s name, icon name, resource class and resource name,
visible name, file name of its icon or mini icon defined with the
Icon or MiniIcon style (including the full path if the file was
found on disk), and (if fvwm is compiled with SVG support) the icon
or mini icon svg rendering options (including the leading colon),
or unexpanded "$[w.<attribute>]" string if no window is associated
with the command.
Note, the first 5 variables may include any kind of characters, so
these variables are quoted. It means that the value is surrounded
by single quote characters and any contained single quote is
prefixed with a backslash. This guarantees that commands like:
Style $[w.resource] Icon norm/network.png
work correctly, regardless of any special symbols the value may
contain, like spaces and different kinds of quotes.
In the case of the window’s visible name, this is the value
returned from the literal title of the window shown in the
titlebar. Typically this will be the same as $[w.name] once
expanded, although in the case of using IndexedWindowName then this
is more useful a distinction, and allows for referencing the
specific window by its visible name for inclusion in things like
Style commands.
$[w.x] $[w.y] $[w.width] $[w.height]
Either coordinate or the width or height of the current window if
it is not iconified. If no window is associated with the command
or the window is iconified, the string is left as is.
$[w.desk]
The number of the desk on which the window is shown. If the window
is sticky the current desk number is used.
$[w.layer]
The layer of the window.
$[cw.x] $[cw.y] $[cw.width] $[cw.height]
These work like $[w....] but return the geometry of the client part
of the window. In other words: the border and title of the window
is not taken into account.
$[i.x], $[it.x], $[ip.x] $[i.y], $[it.y], $[ip.y] $[i.width],
$[it.width], $[ip.width] $[i.height], $[it.height], $[ip.height]
These work like $[w....] but return the geometry of the icon
($[i....]), the icon title ($[it....]) or the icon picture
($[ip....]).
$[pointer.x] $[pointer.y]
These return the position of the pointer on the screen. If the
pointer is not on the screen, these variables are not expanded.
$[pointer.wx] $[pointer.wy]
These return the position of the pointer in the selected window.
If the pointer is not on the screen, the window is iconified or no
window is selected, these variables are not expanded.
$[pointer.cx] $[pointer.cy]
These return the position of the pointer in the client portion of
the selected window. If the pointer is not on the screen, the
window is shaded or iconified or no window is selected, these
variables are not expanded.
$[screen]
The screen number fvwm is running on. Useful for setups with
multiple screens.
$[fg.cs<n>] $[bg.cs<n>] $[hilight.cs<n>] $[shadow.cs<n>]
These parameters are replaced with the name of the foreground (fg),
background (bg), hilight (hilight) or shadow (shadow) color that is
defined in colorset <n> (replace <n> with zero or a positive
integer). For example "$[fg.cs3]" is expanded to the name of the
foreground color of colorset 3 (in rgb:rrrr/gggg/bbbb form).
Please refer to the Colorsets section for details about colorsets.
$[schedule.last]
This is replaced by the id of the last command that was scheduled
with the Schedule command, even if this command was already
executed.
$[schedule.next]
This is replaced by the id the next command used with Schedule will
get (unless a different id is specified explicitly).
$[cond.rc]
The return code of the last conditional command. This variable is
only valid inside a function and can not be used in a conditional
command. Please refer to the section Conditional Commands in the
command list.
$[func.context]
The context character of the running command as used in the Mouse,
Key or PointerKey command. This is useful for example with:
Mouse 3 FS N WindowShade $$[func.context]
$[gt.str]
return the translation of str by looking in the current locale
catalogs. If no translation is found str is returned as is. See
the LocalePath command.
$[...]
If the string within the braces is neither of the above, fvwm tries
to find an environment variable with this name and replaces its
value if one is found (e.g. "$[PAGER]" could be replaced by
"more"). Otherwise the string is left as is.
Some examples can be found in the description of the AddToFunc command.
SCRIPTING & COMPLEX FUNCTIONS
To achieve the more complex effects, fvwm has a number of commands that
improve its scripting abilities. Scripts can be read from a file with
Read, from the output of a command with PipeRead or written as a
complex function with the AddToFunc command. For the curious, section
7 of the fvwm FAQ shows some real life applications of scripting.
Please refer to the sections User Functions and Shell Commands and
Conditional Commands for details. A word of warning: during execution
of complex functions, fvwm needs to take all input from the mouse
pointer (the pointer is "grabbed" in the slang of X). No other
programs can receive any input from the pointer while a function is
run. This can confuse some programs. For example, the xwd program
refuses to make screen shots when run from a complex function. To
achieve the same functionality you can use the Read or PipeRead command
instead.
LIST OF FVWM COMMANDS
The command descriptions below are grouped together in the following
sections. The sections are hopefully sorted in order of usefulness to
the newcomer.
· Menu commands
· Miscellaneous commands
· Commands affecting window movement and placement
· Commands for focus and mouse movement
· Commands controlling window state
· Commands for mouse, key and stroke bindings
· The Style command (controlling window styles)
· Other commands controlling window styles
· Commands controlling the virtual desktop
· Commands for user functions and shell commands
· Conditional commands
· Module commands
· Quit, restart and session management commands
· Colorsets
· Color gradients
Menus
Before a menu can be opened, it has to be populated with menu items
using the AddToMenu command and bound to a key or mouse button with the
Key, PointerKey or Mouse command (there are many other ways to invoke a
menu too). This is usually done in the configuration file.
Fvwm menus are extremely configurable in look and feel. Even the
slightest nuances can be changed to the user’s liking, including the
menu item fonts, the background, delays before popping up sub menus,
generating menus dynamically and many other features. Please refer to
the MenuStyle command to learn more.
Types of Menus
In fvwm there are four slightly different types of menus:
Popup menus can appear everywhere on the screen on their own or
attached to a part of a window. The Popup command opens popup
menus. If the popup menu was invoked with a mouse button held
down, it is closed when the button is released. The item under
the pointer is then activated and the associated action is
executed.
Menu is a very similar command, but the menus it opens are
slightly less transient. When invoked by clicking a mouse
button, it stays open and can be navigated with no button held.
But if it is invoked by a button press followed by mouse motion,
it behaves exactly like a popup menu.
Tear off menus or Pin up menus are menus from either of the
above two commands that have been "torn off" their original
context and pinned on the desktop like a normal window. They
are created from other menus by certain key presses or mouse
sequences or with the TearMenuOff command from inside a menu.
Sub menus are menus inside menus. When a menu item that has the
Popup command as its action is selected, the named menu is
opened as an inferior menu to the parent. Any type of menu can
have sub menus.
Menu Anatomy
Menus consist of any number of titles which are inactive menu
items that usually appear at the top of the menu, normal items
triggering various actions when selected, separator lines
between the items, tear off bars (a horizontal broken line) that
tear off the menu when selected, and sub menu items indicated
with a triangle pointing left or right, depending on the
direction in which the sub menu appears. All the above menu
items are optional.
Additionally, if the menu is too long to fit on the screen, the
excess menu items are put in a continuation menu and a sub menu
with the string "More..." is placed at the bottom of the menu.
The "More..." string honors the locale settings.
Finally, there may be a picture running up either side of the
menu (a "side bar").
Menu Navigation
Menus can be navigated either with the keyboard or with the
mouse. Many people prefer to use the mouse, but it can be
rather tedious. Once you get the hang of it, keyboard
navigation can be much faster. While fvwm displays a menu, it
can do nothing else. For example, new windows do not appear
before the menu is closed. However, this is not exactly true
for tear off menus. See the Tear Off Menus section for details.
Mouse Navigation
Moving the pointer over a menu selects the item below it.
Normally this is indicated by a 3d border around the item, but
not all parts of a menu can be selected. Pressing any mouse
button while a menu is open by default activates the item below
it. Items of a popup menu are also activated by releasing a
held mouse button. In case of an item that hides a sub menu,
the sub menu is displayed if the pointer hovers over the item
long enough or moves close to the triangle indicating the sub
menu. This behaviour can be tuned with menu styles.
Scrolling a mouse wheel over a menu either wraps the pointer
along the menu (default), scrolls the menu under the pointer or
act as if the menu was clicked depending on the MouseWheel menu
style.
Clicking on a selected item activates it - what happens exactly
depends on the type of the item.
Clicking on a title, a separator, the side bar, or outside the
menu closes the menu (exception: tear off menus can not be
closed this way). Pressing mouse button 2 over a menu title or
activating a tear off bar creates a tear off menu from the
current menu. Clicking on a normal menu item invokes the
command that is bound to it, and clicking on a sub menu item
either closes all open menus and replaces them with the sub menu
or posts the menu (default).
Posting menus is meant to ease mouse navigation. Once a sub
menu is posted, only items from that sub menu can be selected.
This can be very useful to navigate the menu if the pointer
tends to stray off the menu. To unpost the menu and revert back
to normal operation, either click on the same sub menu item or
press any key.
Keyboard Navigation
Just like with mouse navigation, the item below the pointer is
selected. This is achieved by warping the pointer to the menu
items when necessary. While a menu is open, all key presses are
intercepted by the menu. No other application can get keyboard
input (although this is not the case for tear off menus).
Items can be selected directly by pressing a hotkey that can be
configured individually for each menu item. The hotkey is
indicated by underlining it in the menu item label. With the
AutomaticHotkeys menu style fvwm automatically assigns hotkeys
to all menu items.
The most basic keys to navigate through menus are the cursor
keys (move up or down one item, enter or leave a sub menu),
Space (activate item) and Escape (close menu). Numerous other
keys can be used to navigate through menus by default:
Enter, Return, Space activate the current item.
Escape, Delete, Ctrl-G exit the current sequence of menus or
destroy a tear off menu.
J, N, Cursor-Down, Tab, Meta-Tab, Ctrl-F, move to the next item.
K, P, Cursor-Up, Shift-Tab, Shift-Meta-Tab, Ctrl-B, move to the
prior item.
L, Cursor-Right, F enter a sub menu.
H, Cursor-Left, B return to the prior menu.
Ctrl-Cursor-Up, Ctrl-K Ctrl-P, Shift-Ctrl-Meta-Tab, Page-Up move
up five items.
Ctrl-Cursor-Down, Ctrl-J Ctrl-N, Ctrl-Meta-Tab Page-Down move
down five items.
Shift-P, Home, Shift-Cursor-Up, Ctrl-A move to the first item.
Shift-N, End, Shift-Cursor-Down, Ctrl-E move to the last item.
Meta-P, Meta-Cursor-Up, Ctrl-Cursor-Left, Shift-Ctrl-Tab, move
up just below the next separator.
Meta-N, Meta-Cursor-Down, Ctrl-Cursor-Right, Ctrl-Tab, move down
just below the next separator.
Insert opens the "More..." sub menu if any.
Backspace tears off the menu.
Menu Bindings
The keys and mouse buttons used to navigate the menu can be
configured using the Key and Mouse commands with the special
context ’M’, possible combined with ’T’ for the menu title, ’I’
for other menu items, ’S’ for any border or sidepic, ’[’ for
left border including a left sidepic, ’]’ for right border
including a right sidepic, ’-’ for top border, ’_’ for bottom
border. The menu context uses its own set of actions that can
be bound to keys and mouse buttons. These are MenuClose,
MenuCloseAndExec, MenuEnterContinuation, MenuEnterSubmenu,
MenuLeaveSubmenu, MenuMoveCursor, MenuCursorLeft,
MenuCursorRight, MenuSelectItem, MenuScroll and MenuTearOff.
It is not possible to override the key Escape with no modifiers
for closing the menu. Neither is it possible to undefine mouse
button 1, the arrow keys or the enter key for minimal
navigation.
MenuClose exits from the current sequence of menus or destroys a
tear off menu.
MenuCloseAndExec exits from the current sequence of menus or
destroys a tear off menu and executes the rest of the line as a
command.
MenuEnterContinuation opens the "More..." sub menu if any.
MenuEnterSubmenu enters a sub menu.
MenuLeaveSubmenu returns to the prior menu.
MenuMoveCursor n [m] moves the selection to another item. If
the first argument is zero the second argument specifies an
absolute item in the menu to move the pointer to. Negative
items are counted from the end of the menu. If the first
argument is non-zero, the second argument must be omitted, and
the first argument specifies a relative change in the selected
item. The positions may be suffixed with a ’s’ to indicate that
the items should refer only to the first items after separators.
MenuCursorLeft enters a sub menu with the SubmenusLeft menu
style, and returns to the prior menu with the SubmenusRight menu
style.
MenuCursorRight enters a sub menu with the SubmenusRight menu
style, and returns to the prior menu with the SubmenusLeft menu
style.
MenuSelectItem triggers the action for the menu item.
MenuScroll n performs menu scrolling according to the MouseWheel
menu style with n items. The distance can be suffixed with an
’s’ to indicate the items should refer only to the first items
after separators.
MenuTearOff turns a normal menu into a "torn off" menu. See
Tear Off Menus for details.
Tear Off Menus
A tear off menu is any menu that has been "torn off" the window
it was attached to and pinned to the root window. There are
three ways to tear off a menu: click on the menu title with
mouse button 2, press Backspace in the menu or activate its tear
off bar (a horizontal bar with a broken line). Tear off bars
must be added to the menu as any other item by assigning them
the command TearMenuOff.
The builtin tear off actions can be overridden by undefining the
builtin menu actions bound to tear off. To remove the builtin
mouse button 2 binding, use:
Mouse 2 MT A -
and to remove the builtin backspace binding, use:
Key Backspace M A -
See the section Menu Bindings for details on how to assign other
bindings for tear off.
Note that prior to fvwm 2.5.20 the tear off mouse bindings were
redefined in different way, which no longer work.
The window containing the menu is placed as any other window
would be. If you find it confusing to have your tear off menus
appear at random positions on the screen, put this line in your
configuration file:
Style fvwm_menu UsePPosition
To remove borders and buttons from a tear-off menu but keep the
menu title, you can use
Style fvwm_menu !Button 0, !Button 1
Style fvwm_menu !Button 2, !Button 3
Style fvwm_menu !Button 4, !Button 5
Style fvwm_menu !Button 6, !Button 7
Style fvwm_menu !Button 8, !Button 9
Style fvwm_menu Title, HandleWidth 0
A tear off menu is a cross breeding between a window and a menu.
The menu is swallowed by a window and its title is stripped off
and displayed in the window title. The main advantage is that
the menu becomes permanent - activating an item does not close
the menu. Therefore, it can be used multiple times without
reopening it. To destroy such a menu, close its window or press
the Escape key.
Tear off menus behave somewhat differently than normal menus and
windows. They do not take the keyboard focus, but while the
pointer is over one of them, all key presses are sent to the
menu. Other fvwm key bindings are disabled as long as the
pointer is inside the tear off menu or one of its sub menus.
When the pointer leaves this area, all sub menus are closed
immediately. Note that the window containing a tear off menu is
never hilighted as if it had the focus.
A tear off menu is an independent copy of the menu it originated
from. As such, it is not affected by adding items to that menu
or changing its menu style.
To create a tear off menu without opening the normal menu first,
the option TearOffImmediately can be added to the Menu or Popup
command.
AddToMenu menu-name [menu-label action]
Begins or adds to a menu definition. Typically a menu
definition looks like this:
AddToMenu Utilities Utilities Title
+ Xterm Exec exec xterm -e tcsh
+ Rxvt Exec exec rxvt
+ "Remote Logins" Popup Remote-Logins
+ Top Exec exec rxvt -T Top -n Top -e top
+ Calculator Exec exec xcalc
+ Xman Exec exec xman
+ Xmag Exec exec xmag
+ emacs Exec exec xemacs
+ Mail MailFunction xmh "-font fixed"
+ "" Nop
+ Modules Popup Module-Popup
+ "" Nop
+ Exit Fvwm Popup Quit-Verify
The menu could be invoked via
Mouse 1 R A Menu Utilities Nop
or
Mouse 1 R A Popup Utilities
There is no end-of-menu symbol. Menus do not have to be defined
in a contiguous region of the config file. The quoted (or first
word) portion in the above examples is the menu label, which
appears in the menu when the user pops it up. The remaining
portion is an fvwm command which is executed if the user selects
that menu item. An empty menu-label ("") and the Nop function
are used to insert a separator into the menu.
The keywords DynamicPopUpAction and DynamicPopDownAction have a
special meaning when used as the name of a menu item. The
action following the keyword is executed whenever the menu is
popped up or down. This way you can implement dynamic menus.
It is even possible to destroy itself with DestroyMenu and the
rebuild from scratch. When the menu has been destroyed (unless
you used the recreate option when destroying the menu), do not
forget to add the dynamic action again.
Note: Do not trigger actions that require user interaction.
They may fail and may screw up your menus. See the Silent
command.
Warning
Do not issue MenuStyle commands as dynamic menu actions.
Chances are good that this crashes fvwm.
There are several configurable scripts installed together with
fvwm for automatic menu generation. They have their own man
pages. Some of them, specifically fvwm-menu-directory and
fvwm-menu-desktop, may be used with DynamicPopupAction to create
a directory listing or GNOME/KDE application listing.
Example (File browser):
# You can find the shell script fvwm_make_browse_menu.sh
# in the utils/ directory of the distribution.
AddToMenu BrowseMenu
+ DynamicPopupAction PipeRead \
’fvwm_make_browse_menu.sh BrowseMenu’
Example (Picture menu):
# Build a menu of all .jpg files in
# $HOME/Pictures
AddToMenu JpgMenu foo title
+ DynamicPopupAction Function MakeJpgMenu
AddToFunc MakeJpgMenu
+ I DestroyMenu recreate JpgMenu
+ I AddToMenu JpgMenu Pictures Title
+ I PipeRead ’for i in $HOME/Pictures/*.jpg; \
do echo AddToMenu JpgMenu "‘basename $i‘" Exec xv $i; done’
The keyword MissingSubmenuFunction has a similar meaning. It is
executed whenever you try to pop up a sub menu that does not
exist. With this function you can define and destroy menus on
the fly. You can use any command after the keyword, but if the
name of an item (that is a submenu) defined with AddToFunc
follows it, fvwm executes this command:
Function <function-name> <submenu-name>
i.e. the name is passed to the function as its first argument
and can be referred to with "$0".
The fvwm-menu-directory script mentioned above may be used with
MissingSubmenuFunction to create an up to date recursive
directory listing.
Example:
# There is another shell script fvwm_make_directory_menu.sh
# in the utils/ directory of the distribution. To use it,
# define this function in your configuration file:
DestroyFunc MakeMissingDirectoryMenu
AddToFunc MakeMissingDirectoryMenu
+ I PipeRead fvwm_make_directory_menu.sh $0
DestroyMenu SomeMenu
AddToMenu SomeMenu
+ MissingSubmenuFunction MakeMissingDirectoryMenu
+ "Root directory" Popup /
This is another implementation of the file browser that uses sub
menus for subdirectories.
Titles can be used within the menu. If you add the option top
behind the keyword Title, the title is added to the top of the
menu. If there was a title already, it is overwritten.
AddToMenu Utilities Tools Title top
All text up to the first Tab in the menu label is aligned to the
left side of the menu, all text right of the first Tab is
aligned to the left in a second column and all text thereafter
is placed right aligned in the third column. All other Tab s
are replaced by spaces. Note that you can change this format
with the ItemFormat option of the MenuStyle command.
If the menu-label contains an ampersand (’&’), the next
character is taken as a hot-key for the menu item. Hot-keys are
underlined in the label. To get a literal ’&’, insert "&&".
Pressing the hot-key moves through the list of menu items with
this hot-key or selects an item that is the only one with this
hot-key.
If the menu-label contains a sub-string which is set off by
stars, then the text between the stars is expected to be the
name of an image file to insert in the menu. To get a literal
’*’, insert "**". For example
+ Calculator*xcalc.xpm* Exec exec xcalc
inserts a menu item labeled "Calculator" with a picture of a
calculator above it. The following:
+ *xcalc.xpm* Exec exec xcalc
Omits the "Calculator" label, but leaves the picture.
If the menu-label contains a sub-string which is set off by
percent signs, then the text between the percent signs is
expected to be the name of image file (a so called mini icon to
insert to the left of the menu label. A second mini icon that
is drawn at the right side of the menu can be given in the same
way. To get a literal ’%’, insert "%%". For example
+ Calculator%xcalc.xpm% Exec exec xcalc
inserts a menu item labeled "Calculator" with a picture of a
calculator to the left. The following:
+ %xcalc.xpm% Exec exec xcalc
Omits the "Calculator" label, but leaves the picture. The
pictures used with this feature should be small (perhaps 16x16).
If the menu-name (not the label) contains a sub-string which is
set off by at signs (’@’), then the text between them is
expected to be the name of an image file to draw along the left
side of the menu (a side pixmap). You may want to use the
SidePic option of the MenuStyle command instead. To get a
literal ’@’, insert "@@". For example
AddToMenu StartMenu@linux-menu.xpm@
creates a menu with a picture in its bottom left corner.
If the menu-name also contains a sub-string surrounded by ’^’s,
then the text between ’^’s is expected to be the name of an X11
color and the column containing the side picture is colored with
that color. You can set this color for a menu style using the
SideColor option of the MenuStyle command. To get a literal
’^’, insert "^^". Example:
AddToMenu StartMenu@linux-menu.xpm@^blue^
creates a menu with a picture in its bottom left corner and
colors with blue the region of the menu containing the picture.
In all the above cases, the name of the resulting menu is name
specified, stripped of the substrings between the various
delimiters.
ChangeMenuStyle menustyle menu ...
Changes the menu style of menu to menustyle. You may specify
more than one menu in each call of ChangeMenuStyle.
CopyMenuStyle orig-menustyle dest-menustyle
Copy orig-menustyle to dest-menustyle, where orig-menustyle is
an existing menu style. If the menu style dest_menustyle does
not exist, then it is created.
DestroyMenu [recreate] menu
Deletes a menu, so that subsequent references to it are no
longer valid. You can use this to change the contents of a menu
during an fvwm session. The menu can be rebuilt using
AddToMenu. The optional parameter recreate tells fvwm not to
throw away the menu completely but to throw away all the menu
items (including the title).
DestroyMenu Utilities
DestroyMenuStyle menustyle
Deletes the menu style named menustyle and changes all menus
using this style to the default style, you cannot destroy the
default menu style.
DestroyMenuStyle pixmap1
Menu menu-name [position] [double-click-action]
Causes a previously defined menu to be popped up in a sticky
manner. That is, if the user invokes the menu with a click
action instead of a drag action, the menu stays up. The command
double-click-action is invoked if the user double-clicks a
button (or hits the key rapidly twice if the menu is bound to a
key) when bringing up the menu. If the double click action is
not specified, double clicking on the menu does nothing.
However, if the menu begins with a menu item (i.e. not with a
title or a separator) and the double click action is not given,
double clicking invokes the first item of the menu (but only if
the pointer really was over the item).
The pointer is warped to where it was when the menu was invoked
if it was both invoked and closed with a keystroke.
The position arguments allow placement of the menu somewhere on
the screen, for example centered on the visible screen or above
a title bar. Basically it works like this: you specify a
context-rectangle and an offset to this rectangle by which the
upper left corner of the menu is moved from the upper left
corner of the rectangle. The position arguments consist of
several parts:
[context-rectangle] x y [special-options]
The context-rectangle can be one of:
Root
the root window of the current screen.
XineramaRoot
the root window of the whole Xinerama screen. Equivalent to
"root" when Xinerama is not used.
Mouse
a 1x1 rectangle at the mouse position.
Window
the frame of the context window.
Interior
the inside of the context window.
Title
the title of the context window or icon.
Button<n>
button #n of the context window.
Icon
the icon of the context window.
Menu
the current menu.
Item
the current menu item.
Context
the current window, menu or icon.
This
whatever widget the pointer is on (e.g. a corner of a window
or the root window).
Rectangle <geometry>
the rectangle defined by <geometry> in X geometry format.
Width and height default to 1 if omitted.
If the context-rectangle is omitted or illegal (e.g. "item" on a
window), "Mouse" is the default. Note that not all of these
make sense under all circumstances (e.g. "Icon" if the pointer
is on a menu).
The offset values x and y specify how far the menu is moved from
it’s default position. By default, the numeric value given is
interpreted as a percentage of the context rectangle’s width
(height), but with a trailing ’m’ the menu’s width (height) is
used instead. Furthermore a trailing ’p’ changes the
interpretation to mean pixels.
Instead of a single value you can use a list of values. All
additional numbers after the first one are separated from their
predecessor by their sign. Do not use any other separators.
If x or y are prefixed with "’o<number>" where <number> is an
integer, the menu and the rectangle are moved to overlap at the
specified position before any other offsets are applied. The
menu and the rectangle are placed so that the pixel at <number>
percent of the rectangle’s width/height is right over the pixel
at <number> percent of the menu’s width/height. So "o0" means
that the top/left borders of the menu and the rectangle overlap,
with "o100" it’s the bottom/right borders and if you use "o50"
they are centered upon each other (try it and you will see it is
much simpler than this description). The default is "o0". The
prefix "o<number>" is an abbreviation for "+<number>-<number>m".
A prefix of ’c’ is equivalent to "o50". Examples:
# window list in the middle of the screen
WindowList Root c c
# menu to the left of a window
Menu name window -100m c+0
# popup menu 8 pixels above the mouse pointer
Popup name mouse c -100m-8p
# somewhere on the screen
Menu name rectangle 512x384+1+1 +0 +0
# centered vertically around a menu item
AddToMenu foobar-menu
+ "first item" Nop
+ "special item" Popup "another menu" item +100 c
+ "last item" Nop
# above the first menu item
AddToMenu foobar-menu
+ "first item" Popup "another menu" item +0 -100m
Note that you can put a sub menu far off the current menu so you
could not reach it with the mouse without leaving the menu. If
the pointer leaves the current menu in the general direction of
the sub menu the menu stays up.
The special-options:
To create a tear off menu without opening the normal menu, add
the option TearOffImmediately. Normally the menu opens in
normal state for a split second before being torn off. As
tearing off places the menu like any other window, a position
should be specified explicitly:
# Forbid fvwm to place the menu window
Style <name of menu> UsePPosition
# Menu at top left corner of screen
Menu Root 0p 0p TearOffImmediately
The Animated and Mwm or Win menu styles may move a menu
somewhere else on the screen. If you do not want this you can
add Fixed as an option. This might happen for example if you
want the menu always in the top right corner of the screen.
Where do you want a menu to appear when you click on it’s menu
item? The default is to place the title under the cursor, but if
you want it where the position arguments say, use the
SelectInPlace option. If you want the pointer on the title of
the menu, use SelectWarp too. Note that these options apply
only if the PopupAsRootMenu MenuStyle option is used.
The pointer is warped to the title of a sub menu whenever the
pointer would be on an item when the sub menu is popped up (fvwm
menu style) or never warped to the title at all (Mwm or Win menu
styles). You can force (forbid) warping whenever the sub menu
is opened with the WarpTitle (NoWarp) option.
Note that the special-options do work with a normal menu that
has no other position arguments.
MenuStyle stylename [options]
Sets a new menu style or changes a previously defined style.
The stylename is the style name; if it contains spaces or tabs
it has to be quoted. The name "*" is reserved for the default
menu style. The default menu style is used for every menu-like
object (e.g. the window created by the WindowList command) that
had not be assigned a style using the ChangeMenuStyle. See also
DestroyMenuStyle. When using monochrome color options are
ignored.
options is a comma separated list containing some of the
keywords Fvwm / Mwm / Win, BorderWidth, Foreground, Background,
Greyed, HilightBack / !HilightBack, HilightTitleBack, ActiveFore
/ !ActiveFore, MenuColorset, ActiveColorset, GreyedColorset,
TitleColorset, Hilight3DThick / Hilight3DThin / Hilight3DOff,
Hilight3DThickness, Animation / !Animation, Font, TitleFont,
MenuFace, PopupDelay, PopupOffset, TitleWarp / !TitleWarp,
TitleUnderlines0 / TitleUnderlines1 / TitleUnderlines2,
SeparatorsLong / SeparatorsShort, TrianglesSolid /
TrianglesRelief, PopupImmediately / PopupDelayed,
PopdownImmediately / PopdownDelayed, PopupActiveArea,
DoubleClickTime, SidePic, SideColor, PopupAsRootMenu /
PopupAsSubmenu / PopupIgnore / PopupClose, RemoveSubmenus /
HoldSubmenus, SubmenusRight / SubmenusLeft, SelectOnRelease,
ItemFormat, VerticalItemSpacing, VerticalMargins,
VerticalTitleSpacing, AutomaticHotkeys / !AutomaticHotkeys,
MouseWheel, ScrollOffPage / !ScrollOffPage, TrianglesUseFore /
!TrianglesUseFore.
In the above list some options are listed as option pairs or
triples with a ’/’ in between. These options exclude each
other. All paired options can be negated to have the effect of
the counterpart option by prefixing ! to the option.
Some options are now negated by prefixing ! to the option. This
is the preferred form for all such options. The other negative
forms are now deprecated and will be removed in the future.
This is a list of MenuStyle deprecated negative options:
ActiveForeOff, AnimationOff, AutomaticHotkeysOff,
HilightBackOff, TitleWarpOff
Fvwm, Mwm, Win reset all options to the style with the same name
in former versions of fvwm. The default for new menu styles is
Fvwm style. These options override all others except
Foreground, Background, Greyed, HilightBack, ActiveFore and
PopupDelay, so they should be used only as the first option
specified for a menu style or to reset the style to defined
behavior. The same effect can be created by setting all the
other options one by one.
Mwm and Win style menus popup sub menus automatically. Win
menus indicate the current menu item by changing the background
to dark. Fvwm sub menus overlap the parent menu, Mwm and Win
style menus never overlap the parent menu.
Fvwm style is equivalent to !HilightBack, Hilight3DThin,
!ActiveFore, !Animation, Font, MenuFace, PopupOffset 0 67,
TitleWarp, TitleUnderlines1, SeparatorsShort, TrianglesRelief,
PopupDelayed, PopdownDelayed, PopupDelay 150, PopdownDelay 150,
PopupAsSubmenu, HoldSubmenus, SubmenusRight, BorderWidth 2,
!AutomaticHotkeys, PopupActiveArea 75.
Mwm style is equivalent to !HilightBack, Hilight3DThick,
!ActiveFore, !Animation, Font, MenuFace, PopupOffset -3 100,
!TitleWarp, TitleUnderlines2, SeparatorsLong, TrianglesRelief,
PopupImmediately, PopdownDelayed, PopdownDelay 150,
PopupAsSubmenu, HoldSubmenus, SubmenusRight, BorderWidth 2,
!AutomaticHotkeys, PopupActiveArea 75.
Win style is equivalent to HilightBack, Hilight3DOff,
ActiveFore, !Animation, Font, MenuFace, PopupOffset -5 100,
!TitleWarp, TitleUnderlines1, SeparatorsShort, TrianglesSolid,
PopupImmediately, PopdownDelayed, PopdownDelay 150,
PopupAsSubmenu, RemoveSubmenus, SubmenusRight, BorderWidth 2,
!AutomaticHotkeys, PopupActiveArea 75.
BorderWidth takes the thickness of the border around the menus
in pixels. It may be zero to 50 pixels. The default is 2.
Using an illegal value reverts the border width to the default.
Foreground and Background may have a color name as an argument.
This color is used for menu text or the menu’s background. You
can omit the color name to reset these colors to the built-in
default.
Greyed may have a color name as an argument. This color is the
one used to draw a menu-selection which is prohibited (or not
recommended) by the Mwm hints which an application has
specified. If the color is omitted the color of greyed menu
entries is based on the background color of the menu.
HilightBack and !HilightBack switch hilighting the background of
the selected menu item on and off. A specific background color
may be used by providing the color name as an argument to
HilightBack. If you use this option without an argument the
color is based on the menu’s background color. The
ActiveColorset option overrides the specified color. If the
colorset has a non solid background it is used for the
hilighting.
HilightTitleBack switches hilighting the background of menu
titles on. If a TitleColorset was used, the background colour
is taken from there. Otherwise the color is based on the menu’s
background color. If the colorset has a non solid background it
is used for the hilighting.
ActiveFore and !ActiveFore switch hilighting the foreground of
the selected menu item on and off. A specific foreground color
may be used by providing the color name as an argument to
ActiveFore. Omitting the color turns hilighting on when an
ActiveColorset is used. ActiveFore turns off hilighting the
foreground completely. The ActiveColorset option overrides the
specified color.
MenuColorset controls if a colorset is used instead of the
Foreground, Background and MenuFace menu styles. If the
MenuColorset keyword is followed by a number equal to zero or
greater, this number is taken as the number of the colorset to
use. If the number is omitted, the colorset is switched off and
the regular menu styles are used again. The foreground and
background colors of the menu items are replaced by the colors
from the colorset. If the colorset has a pixmap defined, this
pixmap is used as the background of the menu. Note that the
MenuFace menu style has been optimized for memory consumption
and may use less memory than the background from a colorset.
The shape mask from the colorset is used to shape the menu.
Please refer to the Colorsets section for details about
colorsets.
ActiveColorset works exactly like MenuColorset, but the
foreground from the colorset replaces the color given with the
ActiveFore menu style and the colorset’s background color
replaces the color given with the HilightBack command (to turn
on background hilighting you have to use the HilightBack menu
style too). If specified, the hilight and shadow colors from
the colorset are used too. The pixmap and shape mask from the
colorset are not used. Hilighting the background or foreground
can be turned off individually with the !ActiveFore or
!HilightBack menu styles.
GreyedColorset works exactly like MenuColorset, but the
foreground from the colorset replaces the color given with the
Greyed menu style. No other parts of the colorset are used.
TitleColorset works exactly like MenuColorset, but is used only
for menu titles.
Hilight3DThick, Hilight3DThin and Hilight3DOff determine if the
selected menu item is hilighted with a 3D relief. Thick reliefs
are two pixels wide, thin reliefs are one pixel wide.
Hilight3DThickness takes one numeric argument that may be
between -50 and +50 pixels. With negative values the menu item
gets a pressed in look. The above three commands are equivalent
to a thickness of 2, 1 and 0.
Animation and !Animation turn menu animation on or off. When
animation is on, sub menus that do not fit on the screen cause
the parent menu to be shifted to the left so the sub menu can be
seen.
Font and TitleFont take a font name as an argument. If a font
by this name exists it is used for the text of all menu items.
If it does not exist or if the name is left blank the built-in
default is used. If a TitleFont is given, it is used for all
menu titles instead of the normal font.
MenuFace enforces a fancy background upon the menus. You can
use the same options for MenuFace as for the ButtonStyle. See
description of ButtonStyle command and the Color Gradients
sections for more information. If you use MenuFace without
arguments the style is reverted back to normal.
Some examples of MenuFaces are:
MenuFace DGradient 128 2 lightgrey 50 blue 50 white
MenuFace TiledPixmap texture10.xpm
MenuFace HGradient 128 2 Red 40 Maroon 60 White
MenuFace Solid Maroon
Note: The gradient styles H, V, B and D are optimized for high
speed and low memory consumption in menus. This is not the case
for all the other gradient styles. They may be slow and consume
huge amounts of memory, so if you encounter performance problems
with them you may be better off by not using them. To improve
performance you can try one or all of the following:
Turn hilighting of the active menu item other than foreground
color off:
MenuStyle <style> Hilight3DOff, !HilightBack
MenuStyle <style> ActiveFore <preferred color>
Make sure sub menus do not overlap the parent menu. This can
prevent menus being redrawn every time a sub menu pops up or
down.
MenuStyle <style> PopupOffset 1 100
Run your X server with backing storage. If your X Server is
started with the -bs option, turn it off. If not try the -wm
and +bs options:
startx -- -wm +bs
You may have to adapt this example to your system (e.g. if you
use xinit to start X).
PopupDelay requires one numeric argument. This value is the
delay in milliseconds before a sub menu is popped up when the
pointer moves over a menu item that has a sub menu. If the
value is zero no automatic pop up is done. If the argument is
omitted the built-in default is used. Note that the popup delay
has no effect if the PopupImmediately option is used since sub
menus pop up immediately then.
PopupImmediately makes menu items with sub menus pop up it up as
soon as the pointer enters the item. The PopupDelay option is
ignored then. If PopupDelayed is used fvwm looks at the
PopupDelay option if or when this automatic popup happens.
PopdownDelay works exactly like PopupDelay but determines the
timeout of the PopupDelayed style.
PopdownImmediately makes sub menus vanish as soon as the pointer
leaves the sub menu and the correspondent item in the parent
menu. With the opposite option PopdownDelayed the sub menu only
pops down after the time specified with the PopdownDelay option.
This comes handy when the pointer often strays off the menu item
when trying to move into the sub menu. Whenever there is a
conflict between the PopupImmediately, PopupDelayed, PopupDelay
styles and the PopdownImmediately, PopdownDelayed, PopdownDelay
styles, the Popup... styles win when using mouse navigation and
the Popdown... styles win when navigating with the keyboard.
PopupOffset requires two integer arguments. Both values affect
where sub menus are placed relative to the parent menu. If both
values are zero, the left edge of the sub menu overlaps the left
edge of the parent menu. If the first value is non-zero the sub
menu is shifted that many pixels to the right (or left if
negative). If the second value is non-zero the menu is moved by
that many percent of the parent menu’s width to the right or
left.
PopupActiveArea requires an integer value between 51 and 100.
Normally, when the pointer is over a menu item with a sub menu
and the pointer enters the area that starts at 75% of the menu
width, the sub menu is shown immediately. This percentage can
be changed with PopupActiveArea. Setting this value to 100
disables this kind of automatic popups altogether. The default
value is restored if no or an illegal value is given.
TitleWarp and !TitleWarp affect if the pointer warps to the menu
title when a sub menu is opened or not. Note that regardless of
this setting the pointer is not warped if the menu does not pop
up under the pointer.
TitleUnderlines0, TitleUnderlines1 and TitleUnderlines2 specify
how many lines are drawn below a menu title.
SeparatorsLong and SeparatorsShort set the length of menu
separators. Long separators run from the left edge all the way
to the right edge. Short separators leave a few pixels to the
edges of the menu.
TrianglesSolid and TrianglesRelief affect how the small
triangles for sub menus is drawn. Solid triangles are filled
with a color while relief triangles are hollow.
DoubleClickTime requires one numeric argument. This value is
the time in milliseconds between two mouse clicks in a menu to
be considered as a double click. The default is 450
milliseconds. If the argument is omitted the double click time
is reset to this default.
SidePic takes the name of an image file as an argument. The
picture is drawn along the left side of the menu. The SidePic
option can be overridden by a menu specific side pixmap (see
AddToMenu). If the file name is omitted an existing side pixmap
is removed from the menu style.
SideColor takes the name of an X11 color as an argument. This
color is used to color the column containing the side picture
(see above). The SideColor option can be overridden by a menu
specific side color (see AddToMenu). If the color name is
omitted the side color option is switched off.
PopupAsRootMenu, PopupAsSubmenu, PopupIgnore and PopupClose
change the behavior when you click on a menu item that opens a
sub menu. With PopupAsRootMenu the original menu is closed
before the sub menu appears, with PopupAsSubmenu it is not, so
you can navigate back into the parent menu. Furthermore, with
PopupAsSubmenu the sub menu is held open (posted) regardless of
where you move the mouse. Depending on your menu style this may
simplify navigating through the menu. Any keystroke while a
menu is posted reverts the menu back to the normal behavior.
With PopupClose the menu is closed when a sub menu item is
activated, and the menu stays open if PopupIgnore is used (even
if the menu was invoked with the Popup command). PopupAsSubmenu
is the default.
RemoveSubmenus instructs fvwm to remove sub menu when you move
back into the parent menu. With HoldSubmenus the sub menu
remains visible. You probably want to use HoldSubmenus if you
are using the PopupDelayed style. RemoveSubmenus affects menu
navigation with the keyboard.
SelectOnRelease takes an optional key name as an argument. If
the given key is released in a menu using this style, the
current menu item is selected. This is intended for Alt-Tab
WindowList navigation. The key name is a standard X11 key name
as defined in /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h, (without the XK_
prefix), or the keysym database /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XKeysymDB.
To disable this behavior, omit the key name.
Note: Some X servers do not support KeyRelease events.
SelectOnRelease does not work on such a machine.
ItemFormat takes a special string as its argument that
determines the layout of the menu items. Think of the format
string as if it were a menu item. All you have to do is tell
fvwm where to place the different parts of the menu item (i.e.
the labels, the triangle denoting a sub menu, the mini icons and
the side pic) in the blank area. The string consists of spaces,
Tab characters and formatting directives beginning with ’%’.
Any illegal characters and formatting directives are silently
ignored:
%l, %c and %r
Insert the next item label. Up to three labels can be used.
The item column is left-aligned (%l), centered (%c) or
right-aligned (%r).
%i
Inserts the mini icon.
%> and %<
Insert the sub menu triangle pointing either to the right
(%>) or to the left (%<).
%|
The first %| denotes the beginning of the area that is
highlighted either with a background color or a relief (or
both). The second %| marks the end of this area. %| can be
used up to twice in the string. If you do not add one or
both of them, fvwm sets the margins to the margins of the
whole item (not counting the side picture).
%s
Places the side picture either at the beginning or the end
of the menu. This directive may be used only once and only
as the first or last in the format string. If the %s is not
at the beginning of the string, menus are not drawn
properly.
Space, Tab, %Space and %Tab
Add gap of one space, or a tab, using the width of the menu
font. When using a tab, the size of the gap can be one to 8
spaces since the tab position is a multiple of 8 from the
edge of the menu. The whole string must be quoted if spaces
or tabs are used.
%p
Like Space and Tab %p inserts an empty area into the item,
but with better control of its size (see below).
You can define an additional space before and after each of the
objects like this:
%left.rightp
This means: if the object is defined in the menu (e.g. if it is
%s and you use a side picture, or it is %l for the third column
and there are items defined that actually have a third column),
then add left pixels before the object and right pixels after
it. You may leave out the left or the .right parts if you do
not need them. All values up to the screen width are allowed.
Even negative values can be used with care. The p may be
replaced with any other formatting directives described above.
Note: Only items defined in the format string are visible in the
menus. So if you do not put a %s in there you do not see a side
picture, even if one is specified.
Note: The SubmenusLeft style changes the default ItemFormat
string, but if it was set manually it is not modified.
Note: If any unformatted title of the menu is wider than the
widest menu item, the spaces between the different parts of the
menu items are enlarged to match the width of the title.
Leading left aligned objects in the format string (%l, %i, %<,
first %|) stick to the left edge of the menu and trailing right
aligned objects (%r, %i, %>, second %|) stick to the right edge.
The gaps between the remaining items are enlarged equally.
Examples:
MenuStyle * ItemFormat "%.4s%.1|%.5i%.5l%.5l%.5r%.5i%2.3>%1|"
Is the default string used by fvwm: (side picture + 4 pixels
gap) (beginning of the hilighted area + 1 pixel gap) (mini icon
+ 5p) (first column left aligned + 5p) (second column left
aligned + 5p) (third column right aligned + 5p) (second mini
icon + 5p) (2p + sub menu triangle + 3p) (1p + end of hilighted
area).
MenuStyle * ItemFormat "%.1|%3.2<%5i%5l%5l%5r%5i%1|%4s"
Is used by fvwm with the SubmenusLeft option below.
VerticalItemSpacing and VerticalTitleSpacing control the
vertical spacing of menu items and titles like ItemFormat
controls the horizontal spacing. Both take two numeric
arguments that may range from -100 to +100. The first is the
gap in pixels above a normal menu item (or a menu title), the
second is the gap in pixels below it. Negative numbers do not
make much sense and may screw up the menu completely. If no
arguments are given or the given arguments are invalid, the
built-in defaults are used: one pixel above the item or title
and two below.
VerticalMargins can be used to add some padding at the top and
bottom of menus. It takes two numeric arguments that must be
positive integers (or zero). If the number of arguments or its
values are incorrect, fvwm defaults both to 0, which means no
padding at all. If the values are correct, the first one is
used for the top margin, and the second one is used for the
bottom margin.
SubmenusLeft mirrors the menu layout and behavior. Sub menus
pop up to the left, the sub menu triangle is drawn left and the
mini icon and side picture are drawn at the right side of the
menu. The default is SubmenusRight. The position hints of a
menu are also affected by this setting, i.e. position hints
using item or menu as context rectangle and position hints using
m offsets.
AutomaticHotkeys and !AutomaticHotkeys control the menu’s
ability to automatically provide hot-keys on the first character
of each menu item’s label. This behavior is always overridden
if an explicit hot-key is assigned in the AddToMenu command.
MouseWheel controls the ability to scroll the menu using a mouse
wheel. It takes one argument, that can be one of
ScrollsPointer, ScrollsMenu, ScrollsMenuBackwards or
ActivatesItem. ScrollsPointer makes the mouse wheel scroll the
pointer over a menu. This is the default. ScrollsMenu and
ScrollsMenuBackwards scroll the menu beneath the pointer.
ActivatesItem disables scrolling by mouse wheel and makes the
use of a mouse wheel act as if the menu was clicked. If no
argument is supplied the default setting is restored.
ScrollOffPage allows a menu to be scrolled out of the visible
area if MouseWheel is set to ScrollsMenu or
ScrollsMenuBackwards. This is the default. The opposite,
!ScrollOffPage disables this behaviour.
TrianglesUseFore draws sub menu triangles with the foreground
color of the menu colorset (normally drawn with the hilight
color). !TrianglesUseFore disables this behaviour.
Examples:
MenuStyle * Mwm
MenuStyle * Foreground Black, Background gray40
MenuStyle * Greyed gray70, ActiveFore White
MenuStyle * !HilightBack, Hilight3DOff
MenuStyle * Font lucidasanstypewriter-14
MenuStyle * MenuFace DGradient 64 darkgray MidnightBlue
MenuStyle red Mwm
MenuStyle red Foreground Yellow
MenuStyle red Background Maroon
MenuStyle red Greyed Red, ActiveFore Red
MenuStyle red !HilightBack, Hilight3DOff
MenuStyle red Font lucidasanstypewriter-12
MenuStyle red MenuFace DGradient 64 Red Black
Note that all style options could be placed on a single line for
each style name.
MenuStyle forecolor backcolor shadecolor font style [anim]
This is the old syntax of the MenuStyle command. It is obsolete
and may be removed in the future. Please use the new syntax as
described above.
Sets the menu style. When using monochrome the colors are
ignored. The shadecolor is the one used to draw a
menu-selection which is prohibited (or not recommended) by the
Mwm hints which an application has specified. The style option
is either Fvwm, Mwm or Win, which changes the appearance and
operation of the menus.
Mwm and Win style menus popup sub menus automatically. Win
menus indicate the current menu item by changing the background
to black. Fvwm sub menus overlap the parent menu, Mwm and Win
style menus never overlap the parent menu.
When the anim option is given, sub menus that do not fit on the
screen cause the parent menu to be shifted to the left so the
sub menu can be seen. See also SetAnimation command.
Popup PopupName [position] [default-action]
This command has two purposes: to bind a menu to a key or mouse
button, and to bind a sub menu into a menu. The formats for the
two purposes differ slightly. The position arguments are the
same as for Menu. The command default-action is invoked if the
user clicks a button to invoke the menu and releases it
immediately again (or hits the key rapidly twice if the menu is
bound to a key). If the default action is not specified, double
clicking on the menu does nothing. However, if the menu begins
with a menu item (i.e. not with a title or a separator) and the
default action is not given, double clicking invokes the first
item of the menu (but only if the pointer really was over the
item).
To bind a previously defined pop-up menu to a key or mouse
button:
The following example binds mouse buttons 2 and 3 to a pop-up
called "Window Ops". The menu pops up if the buttons 2 or 3 are
pressed in the window frame, side-bar, or title-bar, with no
modifiers (none of shift, control, or meta).
Mouse 2 FST N Popup "Window Ops"
Mouse 3 FST N Popup "Window Ops"
Pop-ups can be bound to keys through the use of the Key command.
Pop-ups can be operated without using the mouse by binding to
keys and operating via the up arrow, down arrow, and enter keys.
To bind a previously defined pop-up menu to another menu, for
use as a sub menu:
The following example defines a sub menu "Quit-Verify" and binds
it into a main menu, called "RootMenu":
AddToMenu Quit-Verify
+ "Really Quit Fvwm?" Title
+ "Yes, Really Quit" Quit
+ "Restart Fvwm" Restart
+ "Restart Fvwm 1.xx" Restart fvwm1 -s
+ "" Nop
+ "No, Don’t Quit" Nop
AddToMenu RootMenu "Root Menu" Title
+ "Open XTerm Window" Popup NewWindowMenu
+ "Login as Root" Exec exec xterm -T Root -n Root -e su -
+ "Login as Anyone" Popup AnyoneMenu
+ "Remote Hosts" Popup HostMenu
+ "" Nop
+ "X utilities" Popup Xutils
+ "" Nop
+ "Fvwm Modules" Popup Module-Popup
+ "Fvwm Window Ops" Popup Window-Ops
+ "" Nop
+ "Previous Focus" Prev (AcceptsFocus) Focus
+ "Next Focus" Next (AcceptsFocus) Focus
+ "" Nop
+ "Refresh screen" Refresh
+ "" Nop
+ "Reset X defaults" Exec xrdb -load \
$HOME/.Xdefaults
+ "" Nop
+ "" Nop
+ Quit Popup Quit-Verify
Popup differs from Menu in that pop-ups do not stay up if the
user simply clicks. These are popup-menus, which are a little
hard on the wrist. Menu menus stay up on a click action. See
the Menu command for an explanation of the interactive behavior
of menus. A menu can be open up to ten times at once, so a menu
may even use itself or any of its predecessors as a sub menu.
TearMenuOff
When assigned to a menu item, it inserts a tear off bar into the
menu (a horizontal broken line). Activating that item tears off
the menu. If the menu item has a label, it is shown instead of
the broken line. If used outside menus, this command does
nothing. Examples:
AddToMenu WindowMenu
+ I "" TearMenuOff
AddToMenu RootMenu
+ I "click here to tear me off" TearMenuOff
Title
Does nothing This is used to insert a title line in a popup or
menu.
Miscellaneous Commands
BugOpts [option [bool]], ...
This command controls several workarounds for bugs in third
party programs. The individual options are separated by commas.
The optional argument bool is a boolean argument and controls if
the bug workaround is enabled or not. It can either be "True"
or "False" to turn the option on or off, or "toggle" to switch
is back and forth. If bool is omitted, the default setting is
restored.
FlickeringMoveWorkaround disables ConfigureNotify events that
are usually sent to an application while it is moved. If some
windows flicker annoyingly while being moved, this option may
help you. Note that if this problem occurs it is not an fvwm
bug, it is a problem of the application.
MixedVisualWorkaround makes fvwm install the root colormap
before it does some operations using the root window visuals.
This is only useful when the -visual option is used to start
fvwm and then only with some configurations of some servers
(e.g. Exceed 6.0 with an 8 bit PseudoColor root and fvwm using a
24 bit TrueColor visual).
The ModalityIsEvil option controls whether Motif applications
have the ability to have modal dialogs (dialogs that force you
to close them first before you can do anything else). The
default is to not allow applications to have modal dialogs. Use
this option with care. Once this option is turned on, you have
to restart fvwm to turn it off.
RaiseOverNativeWindows makes fvwm try to raise the windows it
manages over native windows of the X server’s host system. This
is needed for some X servers running under Windows, Windows NT
or Mac OS X. Fvwm tries to detect if it is running under such
an X server and initializes the flag accordingly.
RaiseOverUnmanaged makes fvwm try to raise the windows it
manages over override_redirect windows. This is used to cope
with ill-mannered applications that use long-lived windows of
this sort, contrary to ICCCM conventions. It is useful with the
Unmanaged style option too.
FlickeringQtDialogsWorkaround suppresses flickering of the
focused window in some modules when using KDE or QT applications
with application modal dialog windows. By default this option
is turned on. This option may be visually disturbing for other
applications using windows not managed by fvwm. Since these
applications are rare it is most likely safe to leave this
option at its default.
EWMHIconicStateWorkaround is needed by EWMH compliant pagers or
taskbars which represent windows which are on a different
desktops as iconified. These pagers and taskbars use a version
of the EWMH specification before version 1.2 (the current KDE 2
& 3 versions). These pagers and taskbars use the IconicState
WM_STATE state to determine if an application is iconified.
This state, according to the ICCCM, does not imply that a window
is iconified (in the usual sense). Turning on this option
forces fvwm to establish an equivalence between the IconicState
WM_STATE state and the iconified window. This violates ICCCM
compliance but should not cause big problems. By default this
option is off.
With the DisplayNewWindowNames enabled, fvwm prints the name,
icon name (if available), resource and class of new windows to
the console. This can help in finding the correct strings to
use in the Style command.
When the ExplainWindowPlacement option is enabled, fvwm prints a
message to the console whenever a new window is placed or one of
the commands PlaceAgain, Recapture or RecaptureWindow is used.
The message explains on which desk, page, Xinerama screen and
position it was placed and why. This option can be used to
figure out why a specific window does not appear where you think
it should.
The DebugCRMotionMethod option enables some debugging code in
the ConfigureRequest handling routines of fvwm. It is not
helpful for the user, but if you report a bug to the fvwm team
we may ask you to enable this option.
The TransliterateUtf8 option enables transliteration during
conversions from utf-8 strings. By default fvwm will not
transliterate during conversion, but will fall back to alternate
strings provided by the clients if conversion from utf-8 fails
due to characters which have no direct correspondance in the
target charecter set. Some clients however neglect to set non
utf-8 properties correctly in which case this option may help.
BusyCursor [Option bool], ...
This command controls the cursor during the execution of certain
commands. Option can be DynamicMenu, ModuleSynchronous, Read,
Wait or *. An option must be followed by a boolean argument
bool. You can use commas to separate individual options. If
you set an option to "True", then when the corresponding command
is run, fvwm displays the cursor of the WAIT context of the
CursorStyle command. "False" forces to not display the cursor.
The default is:
BusyCursor DynamicMenu False, ModuleSynchronous False, \
Read False, Wait False
The * option refers to all available options.
The Read option controls the PipeRead command.
The DynamicMenu option affects the DynamicPopupAction and
MissingSubmenuFunction options of the AddToMenu command. If
this option is set to "False", then the busy cursor is not
displayed during a dynamic menu command even if this command is
a Read or PipeRead command and the Read option is set to "True".
The ModuleSynchronous option affects the ModuleSynchronous
command. If this option is set to "False", then the busy cursor
is not displayed while fvwm waits for a module started by
ModuleSynchronous to complete its startup.
The Wait option affects only the root cursor. During a wait
pause the root cursor is replaced by the busy cursor and fvwm is
still fully functional (you can escape from the pause, see the
EscapeFunc command). If you want to use this option and if you
do not use the default root cursor, you must set your root
cursor with the CursorStyle command.
ClickTime [delay]
Specifies the maximum delay in milliseconds between a button
press and a button release for the Function command to consider
the action a mouse click. The default delay is 150
milliseconds. Omitting the delay value resets the ClickTime to
the default.
ColorLimit limit
This command is obsolete. See the --color-limit option to fvwm.
ColormapFocus FollowsMouse | FollowsFocus
By default, fvwm installs the colormap of the window that the
cursor is in. If you use
ColormapFocus FollowsFocus
then the installed colormap is the one for the window that
currently has the keyboard focus.
CursorStyle context [num | name | None | Tiny | file [x y] [fg bg]]
Defines a new cursor for the specified context. Note that this
command can not control the shapes an applications uses, for
example, to indicate that it is busy. The various contexts are:
POSITION (top_left_corner)
used when initially placing windows
TITLE (top_left_arrow)
used in a window title-bar
DEFAULT (top_left_arrow)
used in windows that do not set their cursor
SYS (hand2)
used in one of the title-bar buttons
MOVE (fleur)
used when moving or resizing windows
RESIZE (sizing)
used when moving or resizing windows
WAIT (watch)
used during certain fvwm commands (see BusyCursor for
details)
MENU (top_left_arrow)
used in menus
SELECT (crosshair)
used when the user is required to select a window
DESTROY (pirate)
used for Destroy, Close, and Delete commands
TOP (top_side)
used in the top side-bar of a window
RIGHT (right_side)
used in the right side-bar of a window
BOTTOM (bottom_side)
used in the bottom side-bar of a window
LEFT (left_side)
used in the left side-bar of a window
TOP_LEFT (top_left_corner)
used in the top left corner of a window
TOP_RIGHT (top_right_corner)
used in the top right corner of a window
BOTTOM_LEFT (bottom_left_corner)
used in the bottom left corner of a window
BOTTOM_RIGHT (bottom_right_corner)
used in the bottom right corner of a window
TOP_EDGE (top_side)
used at the top edge of the screen
RIGHT_EDGE (right_side)
used at the right edge of the screen
BOTTOM_EDGE (bottom_side)
used at the bottom edge of the screen
LEFT_EDGE (left_side)
used at the left edge of the screen
ROOT (left_ptr)
used as the root cursor
STROKE (plus)
used during a StrokeFunc command.
The defaults are shown in parentheses above. If you ever want
to restore the default cursor for a specific context you can
omit the second argument.
The second argument is either the numeric value of the cursor as
defined in the include file X11/cursorfont.h or its name
(without the XC_ prefix). Alternatively, the xpm file name may
be specified. The name can also be None (no cursor) or Tiny (a
single pixel as the cursor).
# make the kill cursor be XC_gumby (both forms work):
CursorStyle DESTROY 56
CursorStyle DESTROY gumby
Alternatively, the cursor can be loaded from an (XPM, PNG or
SVG) image file. If fvwm is compiled with Xcursor support, full
ARGB is used, and (possibly animated) cursor files made with the
xcursorgen program can be loaded. Otherwise the cursor is
converted to monochrome.
The optional x and y arguments (following a file argument)
specifies the hot-spot coordinate with 0 0 as the top left
corner of the image. Coordinates within the image boundary are
valid and overrides any hot-spot defined in the (XPM/Xcursor)
image file. An invalid or undefined hot-spot is placed in the
center of the image.
CursorStyle ROOT cursor_image.png 0 0
The optional fg and bg arguments specify the foreground and
background colors for the cursor, defaulting to black and white
(reverse video compared to the actual bitmap). These colors are
only used with monochrome cursors. Otherwise they are silently
ignored.
CursorStyle ROOT nice_arrow.xpm yellow black
DefaultColors [foreground] [background]
DefaultColors sets the default foreground and background colors
used in miscellaneous windows created by fvwm, for example in
the geometry feedback windows during a move or resize operation.
If you do not want to change one color or the other, use - as
its color name. To revert to the built-in default colors omit
both color names. Note that the default colors are not used in
menus, window titles or icon titles.
DefaultColorset [num]
DefaultColorset sets the colorset used by the windows controlled
by the DefaultColors command. To revert back to the
DefaultColors colors use
DefaultColorset -1
or any variant of the DefaultColors command.
DefaultFont [fontname]
DefaultFont sets the default font to font fontname. The default
font is used by fvwm whenever no other font has been specified.
To reset the default font to the built-in default, omit the
argument. The default font is used for menus, window titles,
icon titles as well as the geometry feedback windows during a
move or resize operation. To override the default font in a
specific context, use the Style * Font, Style * IconFont, or
MenuStyle commands.
DefaultIcon filename
Sets the default icon which is used if a window has neither an
client-supplied icon nor an icon supplied via the Icon option of
the Style command.
DefaultLayers bottom put top
Changes the layers that are used for the StaysOnBottom,
StaysPut, StaysOnTop Style options. Initially, the layers 2, 4
and 6 are used.
Deschedule [command_id]
Removes all commands that were scheduled with the id command_id
with the Schedule command from the list of commands to be
executed unless they were already executed. If the command_id
is omitted, the value of the variable $[schedule.last] is used
as the id.
Emulate Fvwm | Mwm | Win
This command is a catch all for how miscellaneous things are
done by fvwm. Right now this command affects where the
move/resize feedback window appears and how window placement is
aborted. To have more Mwm- or Win-like behavior you can call
Emulate with Mwm or Win as its argument. With Mwm resize and
move feedback windows are in the center of the screen, instead
of the upper left corner. This also affects how manual
placement is aborted. See the ManualPlacement description.
EscapeFunc
By default the key sequence Ctrl-Alt-Escape allows for escaping
from a Wait pause and from a locked ModuleSynchronous command.
The EscapeFunc command used with the Key command allows for
configuring this key sequence. An example:
Key Escape A MC -
Key Escape A S EscapeFunc
replaces the Ctrl-Alt-Escape key sequence with Shift-Escape for
aborting a Wait pause and ModuleSynchronous command. EscapeFunc
used outside the Key command does nothing.
FakeClick [command value] ...
This command is mainly intended for debugging fvwm and no
guarantees are made that it works for you. FakeClick can
simulate mouse button press and release events and pass them to
fvwm or the applications. The parameters are a list of commands
which consist of pairs of command tokens and integer values, The
press and release commands are followed by the appropriate mouse
button number and generate a button press or release event on
the window below the pointer. The wait commands pauses fvwm for
the given number of milliseconds. The modifiers command
simulates pressing or releasing modifier keys. The values 1 to
5 are mapped to Mod1 to Mod5 while 6, 7 and 8 are mapped to
Shift , Lock and Control The modifier is set for any further
button events. To release a modifier key, use the corresponding
negative number. The depth command determines to which window
the button events are sent. With a depth of 1, all events go to
the root window, regardless of the pointer’s position. With 2,
the event is passed to the top level window under the pointer
which is usually the frame window. With 3, events go to the
client window. Higher numbers go to successive sub windows.
Zero (0) goes to the smallest window that contains the pointer.
Note that events propagate upward.
FakeClick depth 2 press 1 wait 250 release 1
This simulates a click with button 1 in the parent window (depth
2) with a delay of 250 milliseconds between the press and the
release. Note: all command names can be abbreviated with their
first letter.
FakeKeypress [command value] ...
This command is mainly intended for debugging fvwm and no
guarantees are made that it works for you. FakeKeypress can
simulate key press and release events and pass them to fvwm or
applications. The parameters are a list of commands which
consist of pairs of command tokens and values. The press and
release commands are followed by a key name. The key name is a
standard X11 key name as defined in
/usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h, (without the XK_ prefix), or the
keysym database /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XKeysymDB. The wait,
modifiers and depth commands are the same as those used by
FakeClick.
Save all GVim sessions with: "Esc:w\n"
All (gvim) FakeKeypress press Escape \
press colon \
press w \
press Return
Save & exit all GVim sessions with: "Esc:wq\n"
All (gvim) FakeKeypress press Escape \
press colon \
press w \
press q \
press Return
Send A to a specific window:
WindowId 0x3800002 FakeKeypress press A
Note: all command names can be abbreviated with their first
letter.
GlobalOpts [options]
This command is obsolete. Please replace the global options in
your configuration file according to the following table:
GlobalOpts WindowShadeShrinks
-->
Style * WindowShadeShrinks
GlobalOpts WindowShadeScrolls
-->
Style * WindowShadeScrolls
GlobalOpts SmartPlacementIsReallySmart
-->
Style * MinOverlapPlacement
GlobalOpts SmartPlacementIsNormal
-->
Style * TileCascadePlacement
GlobalOpts ClickToFocusDoesntPassClick
-->
Style * ClickToFocusPassesClickOff
GlobalOpts ClickToFocusPassesClick
-->
Style * ClickToFocusPassesClick
GlobalOpts ClickToFocusDoesntRaise
-->
Style * ClickToFocusRaisesOff
GlobalOpts ClickToFocusRaises
-->
Style * ClickToFocusRaises
GlobalOpts MouseFocusClickDoesntRaise
-->
Style * MouseFocusClickRaisesOff
GlobalOpts MouseFocusClickRaises
-->
Style * MouseFocusClickRaises
GlobalOpts NoStipledTitles
-->
Style * !StippledTitle
GlobalOpts StipledTitles
-->
Style * StippledTitle
GlobalOpts CaptureHonorsStartsOnPage
-->
Style * CaptureHonorsStartsOnPage
GlobalOpts CaptureIgnoresStartsOnPage
-->
Style * CaptureIgnoresStartsOnPage
GlobalOpts RecaptureHonorsStartsOnPage
-->
Style * RecaptureHonorsStartsOnPage
GlobalOpts RecaptureIgnoresStartsOnPage
-->
Style * RecaptureIgnoresStartsOnPage
GlobalOpts ActivePlacementHonorsStartsOnPage
-->
Style * ManualPlacementHonorsStartsOnPage
GlobalOpts ActivePlacementIgnoresStartsOnPage
-->
Style * ManualPlacementIgnoresStartsOnPage
GlobalOpts RaiseOverNativeWindows
-->
BugOpts RaiseOverNativeWindows on
GlobalOpts IgnoreNativeWindows
-->
BugOpts RaiseOverNativeWindows off
HilightColor textcolor backgroundcolor
This command is obsoleted by the Style options HilightFore and
HilightBack. Please use
Style * HilightFore textcolor, HilightBack backgroundcolor
instead.
HilightColorset [num]
This command is obsoleted by the Style option HilightColorset.
Please use
Style * HilightColorset num
instead.
IconFont [fontname]
This command is obsoleted by the Style option IconFont. Please
use
Style * IconFont fontname
instead.
IconPath path
This command is obsolete. Please use ImagePath instead.
ImagePath path
Specifies a colon separated list of directories in which to
search for images (both monochrome and pixmap). To find an
image given by a relative pathname, fvwm looks into each
directory listed in turn, and uses the first file found.
If a directory is given in the form "/some/dir;.ext", this means
all images in this directory have the extension ".ext" that
should be forced. The original image name (that may contain
another extension or no extension at all) is not probed, instead
".ext" is added or replaces the original extension. This is
useful, for example, if a user has some image directories with
".xpm" images and other image directories with the same names,
but ".png" images.
The path may contain environment variables such as $HOME (or
${HOME}). Further, a ’+’ in the path is expanded to the
previous value of the path, allowing appending or prepending to
the path easily.
For example:
ImagePath $HOME/icons:+:/usr/include/X11/bitmaps
Note: if the FvwmM4 module is used to parse your config files,
then m4 may want to mangle the word "include" which frequently
shows up in the ImagePath command. To fix this one may add
undefine(‘include’)
prior to the ImagePath command, or better: use the -m4-prefix
option to force all m4 directives to have a prefix of "m4_" (see
the FvwmM4 man page).
LocalePath path
Specifies a colon separated list of "locale path" in which to
search for string translations. A locale path is constituted by
a directory path and a text domain separated by a semicolon
(’;’). As an example the default locale path is:
/install_prefix/share/locale;fvwm
where install_prefix is the fvwm installation directory. With
such a locale path translations are searched for in
/install_prefix/share/locale/lang/LC_MESSAGES/fvwm.mo
where lang depends on the locale. If no directory is given the
default directory path is assumed. If no text domain is given,
fvwm is assumed. Without argument the default locale path is
restored.
As for the ImagePath command, path may contain environment
variables and a ’+’ to append or prepend the locale path easily.
For example, the fvwm-themes package uses
LocalePath ";fvwm-themes:+"
to add locale catalogs.
The default fvwm catalog contains a few strings used by the fvwm
executable itself (Desk and Geometry) and strings used in some
default configuration files and FvwmForm configuration. You can
take a look at the po/ subdirectory of the fvwm source to get
the list of the strings with a possible translation in various
languages. At present, very few languages are supported.
The main use of locale catalogs is via the "$[gt.string]"
parameter:
DestroyMenu MenuFvwmWindowOps
AddToMenu MenuFvwmWindowOps "$[gt.Window Ops]" Title
+ "$[gt.&Move]" Move
+ "$[gt.&Resize]" Resize
+ "$[gt.R&aise]" Raise
+ "$[gt.&Lower]" Lower
+ "$[gt.(De)&Iconify]" Iconify
+ "$[gt.(Un)&Stick]" Stick
+ "$[gt.(Un)Ma&ximize]" Maximize
+ "" Nop
+ "$[gt.&Close]" Close
+ "$[gt.&Destroy]" Destroy
gives a menu in the locale languages if translations are
available.
Note that the FvwmTaskBar module has its own catalog and that
the FvwmScript module has a set of special instructions for
string translation. It is out of the scope of this discussion
to explain how to build locale catalogs. Please refer to the
GNU gettext documentation.
PixmapPath path
This command is obsolete. Please use ImagePath instead.
PrintInfo subject [verbose]
Print information on subject on stderr. An optional integer
argument verbose defines the level of information which is
given. The current valid subjects are:
Colors which prints information about the colors used by fvwm.
This useful on screens which can only display 256 (or less)
colors at once. If verbose is one or greater the palette used
by fvwm is printed. If you have a limited color palette, and
you run out of colors, this command might be helpful.
ImageCache which prints information about the images loaded by
fvwm. If verbose is one or greater all images in the cache will
be listed together with their respective reuse.
Locale which prints information on your locale and the fonts
that fvwm used. verbose can be 1 or 2.
nls which prints information on the locale catalogs that fvwm
used
style which prints information on fvwm styles. verbose can be
1.
bindings which prints information on all the bindings fvwm has:
key, mouse and stroke bindings. verbose has no effect with this
option.
Repeat
When the Repeat command is invoked, the last command that was
executed by fvwm is executed again. This happens regardless of
whether it was triggered by user interaction, a module or by an
X event. Commands that are executed from a function defined
with the Function command, from the Read or PipeRead commands or
by a menu are not repeated. Instead, the function, menu or the
Read or PipeRead command is executed again.
Schedule [Periodic] delay_ms [command_id] command
The command is executed after about delay_ms milliseconds. This
may be useful in some tricky setups. The command is executed in
the same context window as the Schedule command. An optional
integer argument command_id may be given in decimal, hexadecimal
or octal format. This id can be used with the Deschedule
command to remove the scheduled command before it is executed.
If no id is given, fvwm uses negative id numbers, starting with
-1 and decreasing by one with each use of the Schedule command.
Note that the Schedule command and its arguments undergo the
usual command line expansion, and, when command is finally
executed, it is expanded again. It may therefore be necessary
to quote the parts of the command that must not be expanded
twice.
Note: A window’s id as it is returned with $[w.id] can be used
as the command_id. Example:
Current Schedule 1000 $[w.id] WindowShade
The Schedule command also supports the optional keyword Periodic
which indicates that the command should be executed every
delay_ms. Example:
Schedule Periodic 10000 PipeRead ’[ -N "$MAIL" ] && echo \
Echo You have mail’
Use the Deschedule command to stop periodic commands.
State state [bool]
Sets, clears or toggles one of the 32 user defined states which
are associated with each window. The state is a number ranging
from 0 to 31. The states have no meaning in fvwm, but they can
be checked in conditional commands like Next with the State
condition. The optional argument bool is a boolean argument.
"True" sets the given state, while "False" clears it. Using
"toggle" switches to the opposite state. If the bool argument
is not given, the state is toggled.
WindowFont [fontname]
This command is obsoleted by the Style option Font. Please use
Style * Font fontname
instead.
WindowList [(conditions)] [position] [options] [double-click-action]
Generates a pop-up menu (and pops it up) in which the title and
geometry of each of the windows currently on the desktop are
shown.
The format of the geometry part is: desk(layer): x-geometry
sticky, where desk and layer are the corresponding numbers and
sticky is empty or a capital S. The geometry of iconified
windows is shown in parentheses. Selecting an item from the
window list pop-up menu causes the interpreted function
"WindowListFunc" to be run with the window id of that window
passed in as $0. The default "WindowListFunc" looks like this:
AddToFunc WindowListFunc
+ I Iconify off
+ I FlipFocus
+ I Raise
+ I WarpToWindow 5p 5p
You can destroy the built-in "WindowListFunc" and create your
own if these defaults do not suit you.
The window list menu uses the "WindowList" menu style if it is
defined (see MenuStyle command). Otherwise the default menu
style is used. To switch back to the default menu style, issue
the command
DestroyMenuStyle WindowList
Example:
MenuStyle WindowList SelectOnRelease Meta_L
The conditions can be used to exclude certain windows from the
window list. Please refer to the Current command for details.
Only windows that match the given conditions are displayed in
the window list. The options below work vice versa: windows
that would otherwise not be included in the window list can be
selected with them. The conditions always override the options.
The position arguments are the same as for Menu. The command
double-click-action is invoked if the user double-clicks (or
hits the key rapidly twice if the menu is bound to a key) when
bringing the window list. The double-click-action must be
quoted if it consists of more than one word.
The double-click-action is useful to define a default window if
you have bound the window list to a key (or button) like this:
# Here we call an existing function, but
# it may be different. See the default
# WindowListFunc definition earlier in this
# man page.
AddToFunc SwitchToWindow
+ I WindowListFunc
Key Tab A M WindowList "Prev SwitchToWindow"
Hitting Alt-Tab once it brings up the window list, if you hit it
twice the focus is flipped between the current and the last
focused window. With the proper SelectOnRelease menu style (see
example above) a window is selected as soon as you release the
Alt key.
The options passed to WindowList are separated by commas and can
be Geometry / NoGeometry / NoGeometryWithInfo, NoDeskNum,
NoLayer, NoNumInDeskTitle, NoCurrentDeskTitle, MaxLabelWidth
width, TitleForAllDesks, Function funcname, Desk desknum,
CurrentDesk, NoIcons / Icons / OnlyIcons, NoNormal / Normal /
OnlyNormal, NoSticky / Sticky / OnlySticky, NoStickyAcrossPages
/ StickyAcrossPages / OnlyStickyAcrossPages, NoStickyAcrossDesks
/ StickyAcrossDesks / OnlyStickyAcrossDesks, NoOnTop / OnTop /
OnlyOnTop, NoOnBottom / OnBottom / OnlyOnBottom, Layer m [n],
UseSkipList / OnlySkipList, NoDeskSort, ReverseOrder,
CurrentAtEnd, IconifiedAtEnd, UseIconName, Alphabetic /
NotAlphabetic, SortByResource, SortByClass, NoHotkeys,
SelectOnRelease.
(Note - normal means not iconic, sticky, or on top)
With the SortByResource option windows are alphabetically sorted
first by resource class, then by resource name and then by
window name (or icon name if UseIconName is specified).
ReverseOrder also works in the expected manner.
With the SortByClass option windows are sorted just like with
SortByResource, but the resource name is not taken into account,
only the resource class.
The SelectOnRelease option works exactly like the MenuStyle
option with the same name, but overrides the option given in a
menu style. By default, this option is set to the left Alt key.
To switch it off, use SelectOnRelease without a key name.
If you pass in a function via Function funcname, it is called
within a window context of the selected window:
AddToFunc IFunc I Iconify toggle
WindowList Function IFunc, NoSticky, CurrentDesk, NoIcons
If you use the Layer m [n] option, only windows in layers
between m and n are displayed. n defaults to m. With the
ReverseOrder option the order of the windows in the list is
reversed.
With the CurrentAtEnd option the currently focused window (if
any) is shown at the bottom of the list. This is mostly
intended for simulating the Alt-Tab behavior in another GUI.
IconifiedAtEnd makes iconified windows be moved to the end of
the list. This is also from another GUI.
The NoGeometry option causes fvwm to not display the geometries
as well as the separators which indicate the different desktops.
NoGeometryWithInfo removes the geometries, but keep the desktop
information and indicates iconic windows. NoDeskNum causes fvwm
to not display the desktop number in the geometry or before the
window title with the NoGeometryWithInfo option.
NoNumInDeskTitle is only useful if a desktop name is defined
with the DesktopName command. It causes fvwm to not display the
desktop number before the desktop name. By default, the
WindowList menu have a title which indicates the current desk or
the selected desktop if the Desk condition is used. The
NoCurrentDeskTitle option removes this title. TitleForAllDesks
causes fvwm to add a menu title with the desk name and/or number
before each group of windows on the same desk. With NoLayer,
the layer of the window is not diplayed. The options ShowPage,
ShowPageX and ShowPageY enable displaying the page of the window
rounded multiples of the display size. With ShowScreen, the
window’s Xinerama screen number is displayed.
The MaxLabelWidth option takes the number of characters to print
as its argument. No more than that many characters of the
window name are visible.
If you wanted to use the WindowList as an icon manager, you
could invoke the following:
WindowList OnlyIcons, Sticky, OnTop, Geometry
(Note - the Only options essentially wipe out all other ones...
but the OnlyListSkip option which just causes WindowList to only
consider the windows with WindowListSkip style.)
XSync
When XSync is called, the X function with the same name is used
to send all pending X requests to the server. This command is
intended for debugging only.
XSynchronize [bool]
The XSynchronize command controls whether X requests are sent to
the X server immediately or not. Normally, requests are sent in
larger batches to save unnecessary communication. To send
requests immediately, use "True" as the argument, to disable
this use "False" or to toggle between both methods use "Toggle"
or omit the bool argument. Fvwm defaults to synchronized
requests when started with the --debug option. This command is
intended for debugging only.
+
Used to continue adding to the last specified decor, function or
menu. See the discussion for AddToDecor, AddToFunc, and
AddToMenu.
Window Movement and Placement
AnimatedMove x y [Warp]
Move a window in an animated fashion. Similar to Move command.
The options are the same, except they are required, since it
doesn’t make sense to have a user move the window interactively
and animatedly. If the optional argument Warp is specified the
pointer is warped with the window.
HideGeometryWindow [Never | Move | Resize]
Hides the position or size window that is usually shown when a
window is moved or resized interactively. To switch it off only
for move or resize operations the optional parameters Move and
Resize can be used respectively. To switch both on again use
the Never option.
Layer [arg1 arg2] | [default]
Puts the current window in a new layer. If arg1 is non zero
then the next layer is the current layer number plus arg1. If
arg1 is zero then the new layer is arg2.
As a special case, default puts the window in its default layer,
i.e. the layer it was initially in. The same happens if no or
invalid arguments are specified.
Lower
Allows the user to lower a window. Note that this lowers a
window only in its layer. To bring a window to the absolute
bottom, use
AddToFunc lower-to-bottom
+ I Layer 0 0
+ I Lower
Move [[screen screen] [w | m]x[p | w] ... [w | m]y[p | w] ... [Warp]] |
[pointer]
Allows the user to move a window. If called from somewhere in a
window or its border, then that window is moved. If called from
the root window then the user is allowed to select the target
window.
If the literal option screen followed by a screen argument is
specified, the coordinates are interpreted as relative to the
given screen. The width and height of the screen are used for
the calculations instead of the display dimensions. The screen
as interpreted as in the MoveToScreen command. If the optional
argument Warp is specified the pointer is warped with the
window. If the single argument pointer is given, the top left
corner of the window is moved to the pointer position before
starting the operation; this is mainly intended for internal use
by modules like FvwmPager.
The operation can be aborted with Escape or any mouse button not
set to place the window. By default mouse button 2 is set to
cancel the move operation. To change this you may use the Mouse
command with special context ’P’ for Placement.
The window condition PlacedByButton can be used to check if a
specific button was pressed to place the window (see Current
command).
If the optional arguments x and y are provided, then the window
is moved immediately without user interaction. Each argument
can specify an absolute or relative position from either the
left/top or right/bottom of the screen. By default, the numeric
value given is interpreted as a percentage of the screen
width/height, but a trailing ’p’ changes the interpretation to
mean pixels, while a trailing ’w’ means precent of the window
width/height. To move the window relative to its current
position, add the ’w’ (for "window") prefix before the x and/or
y value. To move the window to a position relative to the
current location of the pointer, add the ’m’ (for "mouse")
prefix. To leave either coordinate unchanged, "keep" can be
specified in place of x or y.
For advanced uses, the arguments x and y can be used multiple
times, but without the prefix ’m’ or ’w’. (See complex examples
below).
Simple Examples:
# Interactive move
Mouse 1 T A Move
# Move window to top left is at (10%,10%)
Mouse 2 T A Move 10 10
# Move top left to (10pixels,10pixels)
Mouse 3 T A Move 10p 10p
More complex examples (these can be bound as actions to
keystrokes, etc.; only the command is shown, though):
# Move window so bottom right is at bottom
# right of screen
Move -0 -0
# Move window so top left corner is 10 pixels
# off the top left screen edge
Move +-10 +-10
# Move window 5% to the right, and to the
# middle vertically
Move w+5 50
# Move window up 10 pixels, and so left edge
# is at x=40 pixels
Move 40p w-10p
# Move window to the mouse pointer location
Move m+0 m+0
# Move window to center of screen (50% of screen
# poition minus 50% of widow size).
Move 50-50w 50-50w
See also the AnimatedMove command.
MoveToDesk [prev | arg1 [arg2] [min max]]
Moves the selected window to another desktop. The arguments are
the same as for the GotoDesk command. Without any arguments,
the window is moved to the current desk. MoveToDesk is a
replacement for the obsolete WindowsDesk command, which can no
longer be used.
MoveThreshold [pixels]
When the user presses a mouse button upon an object fvwm waits
to see if the action is a click or a drag. If the mouse moves
by more than pixels pixels it is assumed to be a drag.
Previous versions of fvwm hardwired pixels to 3, which is now
the default value. If pixels is negative or omitted the default
value (which might be increased when 16000x9000 pixel displays
become affordable) is restored.
MoveToPage [options] [x[p | w] y[p | w]] | [prev]
Moves the selected window to another page (x,y). The upper left
page is (0,0), the upper right is (M,0), where M is one less
than the current number of horizontal pages specified in the
DesktopSize command. Similarly the lower left page is (0,N),
and the lower right page is (M,N). Negative page numbers refer
to pages from the rightmost/lowest page. If x and y are not
given, the window is moved to the current page (a window that
has the focus but is off-screen can be retrieved with this).
Moving windows to a page relative to the current page can be
achieved by adding a trailing ’p’ after any or both numerical
arguments. To move the window relative to its current location,
add a trailing ’w’. To move a window to the previous page use
prev as the single argument.
Windows are usually not moved beyond desk boundaries.
Possible options are wrapx and wrapy to wrap around the x or y
coordinate when the window is moved beyond the border of the
desktop. For example, with wrapx, when the window moves past
the right edge of the desktop, it reappears on the left edge.
The options nodesklimitx and nodesklimity allow moving windows
beyond the desk boundaries in x and y direction (disabling the
wrapx and wrapy options).
Examples:
# Move window to page (2,3)
MoveToPage 2 3
# Move window to lowest and rightmost page
MoveToPage -1 -1
# Move window to last page visited
MoveToPage prev
# Move window two pages to the right and one
# page up, wrap at desk boundaries
MoveToPage wrapx wrapy +2p -1p
MoveToScreen [screen]
Moves the selected window to another Xinerama screen. The
screen argument can be ’p’ for the primary screen, ’c’ for the
current screen (containing the mouse pointer), ’w’ for the
screen containing the center of +the the context window, ’g’ for
the global screen or the screen number itself (counting from
zero).
OpaqueMoveSize [percentage]
Tells fvwm the maximum size window with which opaque window
movement should be used. The percentage is percent of the total
screen area (may be greater than 100). With
OpaqueMoveSize 0
all windows are moved using the traditional rubber-band outline.
With
OpaqueMoveSize unlimited
or if a negative percentage is given all windows are moved as
solid windows. The default is
OpaqueMoveSize 5
which allows small windows to be moved in an opaque manner but
large windows are moved as rubber-bands. If percentage is
omitted or invalid the default value is set. To resize windows
in an opaque manner you can use the ResizeOpaque style. See the
Style command.
PlaceAgain [Anim] [Icon]
Causes the current window’s position to be re-computed using the
initial window placement logic. The window is moved to where it
would have been if it were a new window that had just appeared.
Most useful with Smart or Clever (ReallySmart) placement. With
the optional argument Anim an animated move is used to place the
window in its new position. With the additional option Icon,
the icon is placed again instead.
Raise
Allows the user to raise a window. Note that this raises a
window only in its layer. To bring a window to the absolute
top, use
AddToFunc raise-to-top
+ I Layer 0 ontop
+ I Raise
where ontop is the highest layer used in your setup.
RaiseLower
Alternately raises and lowers a window. The window is raised if
it is obscured by any window (except for its own transients when
RaiseTransient style is used; see the Style command) otherwise
it is lowered.
Resize [[frame] [direction dir [warptoborder]] [fixeddirection]
[w]width[p | c] [w]height[p | c]]
Allows for resizing a window. If called from somewhere in a
window or its border, then that window is resized. If called
from the root window then the user is allowed to select the
target window.
The operation can be aborted with Escape or by pressing any
mouse button (except button 1 which confirms it).
If the optional arguments width and height are provided, then
the window is resized so that its dimensions are width by
height. The units of width and height are percent-of-screen,
unless a letter ’p’ is appended to one or both coordinates, in
which case the location is specified in pixels. With a ’c’
suffix the unit defined by the client application (hence the c)
is used. So you can say
Resize 80c 24c
to make a terminal window just big enough for 80x24 characters.
If the width or height is prefixed with the letter ’w’ the size
is not taken as an absolute value but added to the current size
of the window. Example:
# Enlarge window by one line
Resize keep w+1c
Both, width and height can be negative. In this case the new
size is the screen size minus the given value. If either value
is "keep", the corresponding dimension of the window is left
untouched. The new size is the size of the client window, thus
Resize 100 100
may make the window bigger than the screen. To base the new
size on the size of the whole fvwm window, add the frame option
after the command. The options fixeddirection, direction and
warptoborder are only used in interactive move operations. With
fixeddirection the same border is moved even if the pointer
moves past the opposite border. The direction option must be
followed by a direction name such as "NorthWest", "South" or
"East" (you get the idea). Resizing is started immediately,
even if the pointer is not on a border. The warptoborder option
changes the behaviour of the direction option so that the
pointer is automatically warped to the border in the given
direction before starting to resize. Also, if resizing is
started by clicking on the window border, the pointer is warped
to the outer edge of the border.
AddToFunc ResizeSE I Resize Direction SE
Mouse 3 A M ResizeSE
Resize [bottomright | br x y]
An alternate syntax is used if the keyword bottomright or in
short br follows the command name. In this case, the arguments
x and y specify the desired position of the bottom right corner
of the window. They are interpreted exactly like the x and y
arguments of the Move command. Actually, any of the options
accepted by the Move command can be used.
ResizeMaximize [resize-arguments]
Combines the effects of Resize and Maximize in a single command.
When used on a maximized window, the window is resized and is
still in the maximized state afterwards. When used on an
unmaximized window, the window is resized and put into the
maximized state afterwards. This is useful if the user wants to
resize the window temporarily and then return to the original
geometry. The resize-arguments are the same as for the Resize
command.
ResizeMove resize-arguments move-arguments
This command does the same as the Resize and Move commands, but
in a single call which is less visually disturbing. The
resize-arguments are exactly the same arguments as for the
Resize command and the move-arguments are exactly the same
arguments as for the Move command except the pointer option
which is not supported by the ResizeMove command.
Examples:
# Move window to top left corner and cover
# most of the screen
ResizeMove -10p -20p 0 0
# Grow the focused window towards the top of screen
Current Resize keep w+$[w.y]p keep 0
Note: Fvwm may not be able to parse the command properly if the
option bottomright of the Resize command is used.
ResizeMoveMaximize resize-arguments move-arguments
Combines the effects of ResizeMove and Maximize in a single
command. When used on a maximized window, the window is resized
and moved and is still in the maximized state afterwards. When
used on an unmaximized window, the window is resized and put
into the maximized state afterwards. This is useful if the user
wants to resize the window temporarily and then return to the
original geometry. The resize-arguments and move-arguments are
the same as for the ResizeMove command.
RestackTransients
This command regroups the transients of a window close to it in
the stacking order as if the window had just been lowered and
then raised. The position of the window itself is not altered.
Only windows that use either the RaiseTransient or
LowerTransient style are affected at all. When
RestackTransients is used on a transient window with the
StackTransientParent style set, it is redirected to the parent
window.
SetAnimation milliseconds-delay [fractions-to-move-list]
Sets the time between frames and the list of fractional offsets
to customize the animated moves of the AnimatedMove command and
the animation of menus (if the menu style is set to animated;
see MenuStyle command). If the fractions-to-move-list is
omitted, only the time between frames is altered. The
fractions-to-move-list specifies how far the window should be
offset at each successive frame as a fraction of the difference
between the starting location and the ending location. e.g.:
SetAnimation 10 -.01 0 .01 .03 .08 .18 .3 \
.45 .6 .75 .85 .90 .94 .97 .99 1.0
Sets the delay between frames to 10 milliseconds, and sets the
positions of the 16 frames of the animation motion. Negative
values are allowed, and in particular can be used to make the
motion appear more cartoonish, by briefly moving slightly in the
opposite direction of the main motion. The above settings are
the default.
SnapAttraction [proximity [behaviour] [Screen]]
The SnapAttraction command is obsolete. It has been replaced by
the Style command option SnapAttraction.
SnapGrid [x-grid-size y-grid-size]
The SnapGrid command is obsolete. It has been replaced by the
Style command option SnapGrid.
WindowsDesk arg1 [arg2]
Moves the selected window to another desktop.
This command has been removed and must be replaced by
MoveToDesk, the arguments for which are the same as for the
GotoDesk command.
Important
You cannot simply change the name of the command: the syntax has
changed. If you used:
WindowsDesk n
to move a window to desk n, you have to change it to:
MoveToDesk 0 n
XorPixmap [pixmap]
Selects the pixmap with which bits are xor’ed when doing
rubber-band window moving or resizing. This has a better chance
of making the rubber-band visible if XorValue does not give good
results. An example pixmap resize.rainbow.xpm is provided with
the icon distribution. To turn the XorPixmap off again use the
XorValue command or omit the pixmap argument.
XorValue [number]
Changes the value with which bits are xor’ed when doing
rubber-band window moving or resizing. Valid values range from
zero to the maximum value of an unsigned long integer on your
system. Setting this value is a trial-and-error process. The
default value 0 tries to find a value that gives a good contrast
to black and white. The default value is used if the given
number is omitted or invalid.
Focus & Mouse Movement
CursorMove horizontal[p] vertical[p]
Moves the mouse pointer by horizontal pages in the X direction
and vertical pages in the Y direction. Either or both entries
may be negative. Both horizontal and vertical values are
expressed in percent of pages, so
CursorMove 100 100
means to move down and right by one full page.
CursorMove 50 25
means to move right half a page and down a quarter of a page.
Alternatively, the distance can be specified in pixels by
appending a ’p’ to the horizontal and/or vertical specification.
For example
CursorMove -10p -10p
means move ten pixels up and ten pixels left. The CursorMove
function should not be called from pop-up menus.
FlipFocus [NoWarp]
Executes a Focus command as if the user had used the pointer to
select the window. This command alters the order of the
WindowList in the same way as clicking in a window to focus,
i.e. the target window is removed from the WindowList and placed
at the start. This command is recommended for use with the
Direction command and in the function invoked from WindowList.
Focus [NoWarp]
Sets the keyboard focus to the selected window. If the NoWarp
argument is given, this is all it does. Otherwise it also moves
the viewport or window as needed to make the selected window
visible. This command does not automatically raise the window.
Does not warp the pointer into the selected window (see
WarpToWindow function). Does not de-iconify. This command does
not alter the order of the WindowList, it rotates the WindowList
around so that the target window is at the start.
When the NoWarp argument is given, Focus cannot transfer the
keyboard focus to windows on other desks.
To raise and/or warp a pointer to a window together with Focus
or FlipFocus, use a function, like:
AddToFunc SelectWindow
+ I Focus
+ I Iconify false
+ I Raise
+ I WarpToWindow 50 8p
WarpToWindow x[p] y[p]
Warps the cursor to the associated window. The parameters x and
y default to percentage of window down and in from the upper
left hand corner (or number of pixels down and in if ’p’ is
appended to the numbers). If a number is negative the opposite
edge is used and the direction reversed. This command works
also with windows that are not managed by fvwm. In this case
fvwm does not bring the window onto the screen if it is not
visible. For example it is possible to warp the pointer to the
center of the root window on screen 1:
WindowId root 1 WarpToWindow 50 50
Window State
Close
If the window accepts the delete window protocol a message is
sent to the window asking it to gracefully remove itself. If
the window does not understand the delete window protocol then
the window is destroyed as with the Destroy command. Note: if
the window accepts the delete window protocol but does not close
itself in response, the window is not deleted.
Delete
Sends a message to a window asking that it remove itself,
frequently causing the application to exit.
Destroy
Destroys an application window, which usually causes the
application to crash and burn.
Iconify [bool]
Iconifies a window if it is not already iconified or
de-iconifies it if it is already iconified. The optional
argument bool is a boolean argument. "True" means only
iconification is allowed, while "False" forces de-iconification.
Using "toggle" switches between iconified and de-iconified
states.
There are a number of Style options which influence the
appearance and behavior of icons (e.g. StickyIcon, NoIcon).
For backward compatibility, the optional argument may also be a
positive number instead of "True", or a negative number instead
of "False". Note that this syntax is obsolete, and will be
removed in the future.
Maximize [flags] [bool] [horizontal[p]] [vertical[p]]
Without its optional arguments (or if the bool bit has the value
"toggle") Maximize causes the window to alternately switch from
a full-screen size to its normal size. To force a window into
maximized (normal) state you can use a "True" or "False" value
for the bool argument.
With the optional arguments horizontal and vertical, which are
expressed as percentage of a full screen, the user can control
the new size of the window. An optional suffix ’p’ can be used
to indicate pixels instead of percents of the screen size. If
horizontal is greater than 0 then the horizontal dimension of
the window is set to horizontal*screen_width/100. If the value
is smaller than 0 the size is subtracted from the screen width,
i.e. -25 is the same as 75. If horizontal is "grow", it is
maximized to curren available space until finding any obstacle.
The vertical resizing is similar. If both horizontal and
vertical values are "grow", it expands vertically first, then
horizontally to find space. Instead of the horizontal "grow"
argument, "growleft" or "growright" can be used respectively
"growup" and "growdown". The optional flags argument is a space
separated list containing the following key words: ewmhiwa,
growonwindowlayer, growonlayers and screen. ewmhiwa causes fvwm
to ignore the EWMH working area. growonwindowlayer causes the
various grow methods to ignore windows with a layer other than
the current layer of the window which is maximized. The
growonlayers option must have two integer arguments. The first
one is the minimum layer and the second one the maximum layer to
use. Windows that are outside of this range of layers are
ignored by the grow methods. A negative value as the first or
second argument means to assume no minimum or maximum layer.
screen must have an argument which specifies the Xinerama screen
on which to operate. It can be ’p’ for the primary screen, ’c’
for the current screen (containing the mouse pointer), ’g’ for
the global screen or the screen number itself (counting from
zero). This option is only useful with multiple Xinerama
screens.
Here are some examples. The following adds a title-bar button
to switch a window to the full vertical size of the screen:
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize 0 100
The following causes windows to be stretched to the full width:
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize 100 0
This makes a window that is half the screen size in each
direction:
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize 50 50
To expand a window horizontally until any other window is found:
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize 0 grow
To expand a window until any other window on the same or a
higher layer is hit.
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize growonlayers $[w.layer] -1 grow grow
To expand a window but leave the lower 60 pixels of the screen
unoccupied:
Mouse 0 4 A Maximize 100 -60p
Values larger than 100 can be used with caution.
Recapture
This command is obsolete and should not be used anymore. Should
you want to do something specific that you cannot do without it,
please report this to the fvwm-workers mailing list
<fvwm-workers@fvwm.org>. This command may be removed at some
point in the future. Please read the note at the end of the
section Delayed Execution of Commands to learn about how to
avoid the Recapture command.
Causes fvwm to recapture all of its windows. This ensures that
the latest style parameters are used. The recapture operation
is visually disturbing.
Since fvwm version 2.4 only a very few Style options need a
Recapture to take effect (e.g. UseStyle).
RecaptureWindow
This command is obsolete and should not be used anymore. See
Recapture For details.
Causes fvwm to recapture the chosen window.
Refresh
Causes all windows on the screen to redraw themselves. All
pending updates of all windows’ styles and looks are applied
immediately. E.g. if Style or TitleStyle commands were issued
inside a fvwm function.
RefreshWindow
Causes the chosen window to redraw itself. All pending updates
of the window’s style and look are applied immediately. E.g. if
Style or TitleStyle commands were issued inside a fvwm function.
Stick [bool]
If the bool argument is empty or "toggle", the Stick command
makes a window sticky if it is not already sticky, or non-sticky
if it is already sticky. To make a window sticky regardless of
its current state the bool argument must be "True". To make it
non-sticky use "False".
StickAcrossPages [bool]
Works like Stick but only sticks a window across pages, not
across desks.
StickAcrossDesks [bool]
Works like Stick but only sticks a window across desks, not
across pages.
WindowShade [bool] | [[ShadeAgain] direction]
Toggles the window shade feature for titled windows. Windows in
the shaded state only display a title-bar. If bool is not given
or "toggle", the window shade state is toggled. If bool is
"True", the window is forced to the shaded state. If bool is
"False", then the window is forced to the non-shaded state. To
force shading in a certain direction, the direction argument can
be used. Any of the strings "North", "South", "West", "East",
"NorthWest", "NorthEast", "SouthWest", "SouthEast" or "Last" can
be given. The direction can be abbreviated with the usual one
or two letters "N", "NW", etc. Using a direction on a window
that was already shaded unshades the window. To shade it in a
different direction, use the ShadeAgain option. The direction
Last shades the window in the direction it last was shaded. If
the window has never been shaded before it is shaded as if no
direction had been given. Windows without titles can be shaded
too. Please refer also to the options WindowShadeSteps,
WindowShadeShrinks, WindowShadeScrolls, WindowShadeLazy,
WindowShadeAlwaysLazy and WindowShadeBusy options of the Style
command. Examples:
Style * WindowShadeShrinks, WindowShadeSteps 20, \
WindowShadeLazy
Mouse 1 - S WindowShade North
Mouse 1 [ S WindowShade West
Mouse 1 ] S WindowShade E
Mouse 1 _ S WindowShade S
Note: When a window that has been shaded with a direction
argument changes the direction of the window title (see
TitleAtTop Style option), the shading direction does not change.
This may look very strange. Windows that were shaded without a
direction argument stay shaded in the direction of the title
bar.
For backward compatibility, the optional argument may also be 1
to signify "on", and 2 to signify "off". Note that this syntax
is obsolete, and will be removed in the future.
WindowShadeAnimate [steps [p]]
This command is obsolete. Please use the WindowShadeSteps
option of the Style command instead.
Mouse, Key & Stroke Bindings
IgnoreModifiers [Modifiers]
Tells fvwm which modifiers to ignore when matching Mouse or Key
bindings. IgnoreModifiers affects the ClickToFocus style too.
This command belongs into your config. If you issue it when
your fvwm session is already up and running the results are
unpredictable. The should appear before any applications or
modules are started in your config file (e.g. with the Exec
command).
Modifiers has the same syntax as in the Mouse or Key bindings,
with the addition of ’L’ meaning the caps lock key. The default
is "L". Modifiers can be omitted, meaning no modifiers are
ignored. This command comes in handy if the num-lock and
scroll-lock keys interfere with your shortcuts. With XFree86
’2’ usually is the num-lock modifier and ’5’ refers to the
scroll-lock key. To turn all these pesky modifiers off you can
use this command:
IgnoreModifiers L25
If the Modifiers argument is the string "default", fvwm reverts
back to the default value "L".
Important
This command creates a lot of extra network traffic, depending
on your CPU, network connection, the number of Key or Mouse
commands in your configuration file and the number of modifiers
you want to ignore. If you do not have a lightning fast machine
or very few bindings you should not ignore more than two
modifiers. I.e. do not ignore scroll-lock if you have no
problem with it. In the FAQ you can find a better solution of
this problem.
EdgeCommand [direction [Function]]
Binds a specified fvwm command Function to an edge of the
screen. Direction may be one of "North", "Top", "West", "Left",
"South", "Bottom", "Right" and "East". If Function is omitted
the binding for this edge is removed. If EdgeCommand is called
without any arguments all edge bindings are removed.
Function is executed when the mouse pointer enters the invisible
pan frames that surround the visible screen. The binding works
only if EdgeThickness is set to a value greater than 0. If a
function is bound to an edge, scrolling specified by EdgeScroll
is disabled for this edge. It is possible to bind a function
only to some edges and use the other edges for scrolling. This
command is intended to raise or lower certain windows when the
mouse pointer enters an edge. FvwmAuto can be used get a delay
when raising or lowering windows. The following example raises
FvwmButtons if the mouse pointer enters the top edge of the
screen.
# Disable EdgeScrolling but make it possible
# to move windows over the screen edge
EdgeResistance -1
Style * EdgeMoveDelay 250
Style * EdgeMoveResistance 20
# Set thickness of the edge of the screen to 1
EdgeThickness 1
# Give focus to FvwmButtons if the mouse
# hits top edge
EdgeCommand Top Next (FvwmButtons) Focus
# Make sure the Next command matches the window
Style FvwmButtons CirculateHit
Module FvwmButtons
Module FvwmAuto 100 "Silent AutoRaiseFunction" \
"Silent AutoLowerFunction"
# If any window except FvwmButtons has
# focus when calling this function
# FvwmButtons are lowered
DestroyFunc AutoLowerFunction
AddToFunc AutoLowerFunction
+ I Current (!FvwmButtons) All (FvwmButtons) Lower
# If FvwmButtons has focus when calling this function raise it
DestroyFunc AutoRaiseFunction
AddToFunc AutoRaiseFunction
+ I Current (FvwmButtons) Raise
Normally, the invisible pan frames are only on the screen edges
that border virtual pages. If a screen edge has a command bound
to it, the pan frame is always created on that edge.
EdgeLeaveCommand [direction [Function]]
Binds a specified fvwm command Function to an edge of the
screen. Direction may be one of "North", "Top", "West", "Left",
"South", "Bottom", "Right" and "East". If Function is omitted
the binding for this edge is removed. If EdgeLeaveCommand is
called without any arguments all edge bindings are removed.
Function is executed when the mouse pointer leaves the invisible
pan frames that surround the visible screen. The binding works
only if EdgeThickness is set to a value greater than 0. If a
function is bound to an edge, scrolling specified by EdgeScroll
is disabled for this edge. It is possible to bind a function
only to some edges and use the other edges for scrolling. This
command is intended to raise or lower certain windows when the
mouse pointer leaves an edge. FvwmAuto can be used get a delay
when raising or lowering windows. See example for EdgeCommand
Normally, the invisible pan frames are only on the screen edges
that border virtual pages. If a screen edge has a command bound
to it, the pan frame is always created on that edge.
GnomeButton
Used in conjunction with Mouse to pass mouse button presses on
the root window to a GNOME program (such as GMC). The following
example passes presses of mouse buttons 1 and 3 to such a
program.
Mouse 1 R A GnomeButton
Mouse 3 R A GnomeButton
Key [(window)] Keyname Context Modifiers Function
Binds a keyboard key to a specified fvwm command, or removes the
binding if Function is ’-’. The syntax is the same as for a
Mouse binding except that the mouse button number is replaced
with a Keyname. Normally, the key binding is activated when the
key is pressed. Keyname is a standard X11 key name as defined
in /usr/include/X11/keysymdef.h, (without the XK_ prefix), or
the keysym database /usr/X11R6/lib/X11/XKeysymDB. Only key
names that are generated with no modifier keys or with just the
Shift key held are guaranteed to work. The Context and
Modifiers fields are defined as in the Mouse binding. However,
when you press a key the context window is the window that has
the keyboard focus. That is not necessarily the same as the
window the pointer is over (with SloppyFocus or ClickToFocus).
Note that key bindings with the ’R’ (root window) context do not
work properly with SloppyFocus and ClickToFocus. If you
encounter problems, use the PointerKey command instead. If you
want to bind keys to a window with SloppyFocus or ClickToFocus
that are supposed to work when the pointer is not over the
window, fvwm assumes the pointer is over the client window (i.e.
you have to use the ’W’ context).
The special context ’M’ for menus can be used to (re)define the
menu controls. It be used alone or together with ’T’, ’S’, ’I’,
’[’, ’]’, ’-’ and ’_’. See the Menu Bindings section for
details.
The following example binds the built-in window list to pop up
when Alt-Ctrl-Shift-F11 is hit, no matter where the mouse
pointer is:
Key F11 A SCM WindowList
Binding a key to a title-bar button causes that button to
appear. Please refer to the Mouse command for details.
Mouse [(window)] Button Context Modifiers Function
Defines a mouse binding, or removes the binding if Function is
’-’. Button is the mouse button number. If Button is zero then
any button performs the specified function. Note that only
mouse buttons 1 to 5 are fully supported by X11. Any number
above this works only partially. Complex functions can not be
used with these buttons and neither any operation that requires
dragging the pointer with the button held. This is due to
limitations of X11. By default, the highest allowed button
number is 9.
Context describes where the binding applies. Valid contexts are
’R’ for the root window, ’W’ for an application window, ’D’ for
a desktop application (as kdesktop or Nautilus desktop), ’T’ for
a window title-bar, ’S’ for a window side, top, or bottom bar,
’[’, ’]’, ’-’ and ’_’ for the left, right, top or bottom side
only, ’F’ for a window frame (the corners), ’<’, ’^’, ’>’ and
’v’ for the top left, top right, bottom right or bottom left
corner, ’I’ for an icon window, or ’0’ through ’9’ for title-bar
buttons, or any combination of these letters. ’A’ is for any
context. For instance, a context of "FST" applies when the
mouse is anywhere in a window’s border except the title-bar
buttons. Only ’S’ and ’W’ are valid for an undecorated window.
The special context ’M’ for menus can be used to (re)define the
menu controls. It can be used alone or together with ’T’, ’S’,
’I’, ’[’, ’]’, ’-’ and ’_’. See the Menu Bindings section for
details.
The special context ’P’ controls what buttons that can be used
to place a window. When using this context no modifiers are
allowed (Modifiers must be N), no window is allowed, and the
Function must be one of PlaceWindow, PlaceWindowDrag,
PlaceWindowInteractive, CancelPlacement, CancelPlacementDrag,
CancelPlacementInteractive or -.
PlaceWindow makes Button usable for window placement, both for
interactive and drag move. CancelPlacement does the inverse.
That is makes Button to cancel move for both interactive and
drag move. It may however not override how new windows are
resized after being placed. This is controlled by the Emulate
command. Also a window being dragged can always be placed by
releasing the button hold while dragging, regardless of if it is
set to PlaceWindow or not.
PlaceWindowDrag and PlaceWindowInteractive/CancelPlacementDrag
and CancelPlacementInteractive work as
PlaceWindow/CancelPlacement with the exception that they only
affect either windows dragged / placed interactively.
- is equivalent to CancelPlacement.
The following example makes all buttons but button 3 usable for
interactive placement and makes drag moves started by other
buttons than one cancel if button 1 is pressed before finishing
the move:
Mouse 0 P N PlaceWindow
Mouse 3 P N CancelPlacement
Mouse 1 P N CancelPlacementDrag
By default, the binding applies to all windows. You can specify
that a binding only applies to specific windows by specifying
the window name in brackets. The window name is a wildcard
pattern specifying the class, resource or name of the window you
want the binding to apply to.
The following example shows how the same key-binding can be used
to perform different functions depending on the window that is
focused:
Key (rxvt) V A C Echo ctrl-V-in-RXVT
Key (*term) V A C Echo ctrl-V-in-Term
Key (*vim) V A C --
Key V A C Echo ctrl-V-elsewhere
A ’--’ action indicates that the event should be propagated to
the specified window to handle. This is only a valid action for
window-specific bindings.
This example shows how to display the WindowList when Button 3
is pressed on an rxvt window:
Mouse (rxvt) 3 A A WindowList
Note that Fvwm actually intercepts all events for a
window-specific binding and (if the focused window doesn’t match
any of the bindings) sends a synthetic copy of the event to the
window. This should be transparent to most applications,
however (for security reasons) some programs ignore these
synthetic events by default - xterm is one of them. To enable
handling of these events, add the following line to your
~/.Xdefaults file:
XTerm*allowSendEvents: true
Modifiers is any combination of ’N’ for no modifiers, ’C’ for
control, ’S’ for shift, ’M’ for Meta, ’L’ for Caps-Lock or ’A’
for any modifier. For example, a modifier of "SM" applies when
both the Meta and Shift keys are down. X11 modifiers mod1
through mod5 are represented as the digits ’1’ through ’5’. The
modifier ’L’ is ignored by default. To turn it on, use the
IgnoreModifiers command.
Function is one of fvwm’s commands.
The title-bar buttons are numbered with odd numbered buttons on
the left side of the title-bar and even numbers on the right.
Smaller-numbered buttons are displayed toward the outside of the
window while larger-numbered buttons appear toward the middle of
the window (0 is short for 10). In summary, the buttons are
numbered:
1 3 5 7 9 0 8 6 4 2
The highest odd numbered button which has an action bound to it
determines the number of buttons drawn on the left side of the
title bar. The highest even number determines the number of
right side buttons which are drawn. Actions can be bound to
either mouse buttons or keyboard keys.
PointerKey [(window)] Keyname Context Modifiers Function
This command works exactly like the Key command. The only
difference is that the binding operates on the window under the
pointer. Normal key bindings operate on the focused window
instead. The PointerKey command can for example be used to bind
keys to the root window if you are using SloppyFocus or
ClickToFocus. However, some applications (xterm is one example)
are unable to handle this key anymore, even if the pointer is
over the xterm window. It is recommended to use the PointerKey
command only for key combinations that are not needed in any
application window.
Example:
Style * SloppyFocus
PointerKey f1 a m Menu MainMenu
Stroke [(window)] Sequence Button Context Modifiers Function
Binds a mouse stroke sequence to a specified fvwm command, or
removes the binding if Function is ’-’. The syntax is the same
as for a Mouse binding except that Sequence is inserted in front
of the button number and a value of 0 for Button concerns the
StrokeFunc command. The Context and Modifiers fields are
defined as in the Mouse binding. However, only the ’R’ Context
really works (if you want to use other contexts you need to use
the StrokeFunc below).
Strokes sequences are defined in a telephone grid like this:
1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
or in a numeric pad grid like this:
7 8 9
4 5 6
1 2 3
The telephone grid is used by default, to use the numeric pad
grid you should begin the sequence with a ’N’. Note that a
complex motion may produce several different sequences (see the
"netscape" example below to handle such motion). Moreover,
sequences are limited to 20 elements (with the present version
of libstroke), however, in practice it is preferable to use
sequence with less than 12 elements.
Because of the default button menu in fvwm, you may need to
remove a mouse button binding (using an empty action) before
using the stroke
Mouse 3 R N
Also, you can still use the stroke "sequence 0" to simulate a
click:
Stroke 0 3 R N Menu WindowList Nop
The following example starts xterm when the mouse drags an ’I’
on the root window with button 3 pressed down:
Stroke 258 3 R N Exec exec xterm
An example for Netscape:
Stroke 7415963 3 R N Exec exec netscape
Stroke 74148963 3 R N Exec exec netscape
Stroke 74158963 3 R N Exec exec netscape
Stroke 7418963 3 R N Exec exec netscape
Stroke 415963 3 R N Exec exec netscape
You may prefer to use the numeric pad grid since you have such a
grid on your machine. Here an example:
Stroke N78963214 3 R N FvwmForm FvwmForm-QuitVerify
Stroke N789632147 3 R N FvwmForm FvwmForm-QuitVerify
This example starts the "QuitVerify" form if you draw a box that
begins in the top left corner.
Note: You need libstroke installed and fvwm compiled with stroke
support. libstroke can be obtained at
http://www.etla.net/~willey/projects/libstroke/
StrokeFunc [Options]
Causes fvwm to record a mouse stroke sequence and to execute the
corresponding action as defined in a Stroke command. The cursor
is modified to the STROKE context of the CursorStyle command
during recording. When the stroke is finished StrokeFunc looks
for a stroke binding of the form
Stroke sequence 0 Context Modifiers action
and executes the corresponding action (Note the 0). Normal use
of this function is via a Mouse or Key command. Examples:
Mouse 3 A M StrokeFunc
Key x R N StrokeFunc
If you press mouse button 3 and Alt anywhere (respectively,
press the key x when the cursor is on the root window), then
fvwm records the mouse motions until the mouse button 3
(respectively, the x key) is released and then check if the
recorded sequence corresponds to a stroke binding of the form
"Stroke sequence 0 A M action"
"Stroke sequence 0 R N action"
Note that the Context and Modifiers are taken at the beginning
of the execution of the StrokeFunc command (so you can release
the modifiers before the end of the stroke recording in the case
of a mouse binding and if you used, say, a title-bar context the
mouse motion can go through an application window). The keys
Escape and Delete allow you to abort the command.
The StrokeFunc command has five options: NotStayPressed,
EchoSequence, DrawMotion, FeedBack and StrokeWidth. These
options are disabled by default. EchoSequence causes fvwm to
Echo the recorded stroke sequence. DrawMotion causes fvwm to
draw the mouse motion on the screen. FeedBack causes fvwm to
display during a fraction of second the cursor of the WAIT
context of the CursorStyle command if the recorded stroke
sequence corresponds to a stroke binding. StrokeWidth takes an
integer argument, which must be >= 0 and <= 100 and which
defines the width of the line for the DrawMotion option.
NotStayPressed works only if StrokeFunc is used via a Mouse or a
Key command. This option removes the need to have a button or
the key pressed during the stroke, but you have to do a mouse
click or press the Return or Space key to finish the mouse
motion recording (these keys also work without the
NotStayPressed option).
You can use the StrokeFunc "alone". In this case it works as
above with the NotStayPressed option enabled. However,
Modifiers, in general, may not work as expected (i.e., in this
case use ’A’ or ’N’ as Modifiers in the stroke bindings).
Note that some computers do not support key release events. If
that is the case the StrokeFunc used via a Key command works as
if the NotStayPressed option is enabled.
Controlling Window Styles
For readability, the commands in this section are not sorted
alphabetically. The description of the Style command can be found at
the end of this section.
FocusStyle stylename options
works exactly like the Style command, but accepts only the focus
policy related styles beginning with "FP". The prefix can be
removed, but at the cost of a little bit of time. FocusStyle is
meant to make the configuration file more readable. Example:
FocusStyle * EnterToFocus, !LeaveToUnfocus
is equivalent to
Style * FPEnterToFocus, !FPLeaveToUnfocus
DestroyStyle style
deletes the style named style. The changes take effect
immediately. Note that style is not a wild-carded search
string, but rather a case-sensitive string that should exactly
match the original Style command.
Destroying style "*" can be done, but isn’t really to be
recommended. For example:
DestroyStyle Application*
This removes all settings for the style named "Application*",
NOT all styles starting with "Application".
DestroyWindowStyle
deletes the styles set by the WindowStyle command on the
selected window. The changes take effect immediately.
UpdateStyles
All pending updates of all windows’ styles and looks are applied
immediately. E.g. if Style, WindowStyle or TitleStyle commands
were issued inside a fvwm function.
Style stylename options ...
The Style command is used to set attributes of a window to
values other than the default or to set the window manager
default styles.
stylename can be a window’s name, class, visible name, or
resource string. It may contain the wildcards ’*’ and ’?’,
which are matched in the usual Unix filename manner. Multiple
style options in a single Style command are read from left to
right as if they were issued one after each other in separate
commands. A given style always overrides all conflicting styles
that have been issued earlier (or further left on the same style
line).
Note: windows that have no name (WM_NAME) are given a name of
"Untitled", and windows that do not have a class (WM_CLASS,
res_class) are given class "NoClass" and those that do not have
a resource (WM_CLASS, res_name) are given resource "NoResource".
If a window has the resource "fvwmstyle" set, the value of that
resource is used in addition to any window names when selecting
the style.
options is a comma separated list containing one or more of the
following keywords. Each group of style names is separated by
slashes (’/’). The last style in these groups is the default.
BorderWidth, HandleWidth, !Icon / Icon, MiniIcon, IconBox,
IconGrid, IconFill, IconSize, !Title / Title, TitleAtBottom /
TitleAtLeft / TitleAtRight / TitleAtTop, LeftTitleRotatedCW /
LeftTitleRotatedCCW, RightTitleRotatedCCW / RightTitleRotatedCW,
TopTitleRotated / TopTitleNotRotated, BottomTitleRotated /
BottomTitleNotRotated, !UseTitleDecorRotation /
UseTitleDecorRotation, StippledTitle / !StippledTitle,
StippledIconTitle / !StippledIconTitle, IndexedWindowName /
ExactWindowName, IndexedIconName / ExactIconName, !Borders /
Borders, !Handles / Handles, WindowListSkip / WindowListHit,
CirculateSkip / CirculateHit, CirculateSkipShaded /
CirculateHitShaded, CirculateSkipIcon / CirculateHitIcon, Layer,
StaysOnTop / StaysOnBottom / StaysPut, Sticky / Slippery,
StickyAcrossPages / !StickyAcrossPages, StickyAcrossDesks /
!StickyAcrossDesks, !StickyStippledTitle / StickyStippledTitle,
!StickyStippledIconTitle / StickyStippledIconTitle, StartIconic
/ StartNormal, Color, ForeColor, BackColor, Colorset,
HilightFore, HilightBack, HilightColorset, BorderColorset,
HilightBorderColorset, IconTitleColorset,
HilightIconTitleColorset, IconBackgroundColorset,
IconTitleRelief, IconBackgroundRelief, IconBackgroundPadding,
Font, IconFont, StartsOnDesk / StartsOnPage / StartsAnyWhere,
StartsOnScreen, StartShaded / !StartShaded,
ManualPlacementHonorsStartsOnPage /
ManualPlacementIgnoresStartsOnPage, CaptureHonorsStartsOnPage /
CaptureIgnoresStartsOnPage, RecaptureHonorsStartsOnPage /
RecaptureIgnoresStartsOnPage, StartsOnPageIncludesTransients /
StartsOnPageIgnoresTransients, IconTitle / !IconTitle,
MwmButtons / FvwmButtons, MwmBorder / FvwmBorder, MwmDecor /
!MwmDecor, MwmFunctions / !MwmFunctions, HintOverride /
!HintOverride, !Button / Button, ResizeHintOverride /
!ResizeHintOverride, OLDecor / !OLDecor, GNOMEUseHints /
GNOMEIgnoreHints, StickyIcon / SlipperyIcon,
StickyAcrossPagesIcon / !StickyAcrossPagesIcon,
StickyAcrossDesksIcon / !StickyAcrossDesksIcon, ManualPlacement
/ CascadePlacement / MinOverlapPlacement /
MinOverlapPercentPlacement / TileManualPlacement /
TileCascadePlacement / PositionPlacement,
MinOverlapPlacementPenalties,
MinOverlapPercentPlacementPenalties, DecorateTransient /
NakedTransient, DontRaiseTransient / RaiseTransient,
DontLowerTransient / LowerTransient, DontStackTransientParent /
StackTransientParent, SkipMapping / ShowMapping,
ScatterWindowGroups / KeepWindowGroupsOnDesk, UseDecor,
UseStyle, !UsePPosition / NoPPosition / UsePPosition,
!UseUSPosition, NoUSPosition / UseUSPosition,
!UseTransientPPosition, NoTransientPPosition /
UseTransientPPosition, !UseTransientUSPosition /
NoTransientUSPosition / UseTransientUSPosition, !UseIconPosition
/ NoIconPosition / UseIconPosition, Lenience / !Lenience,
ClickToFocus / SloppyFocus / MouseFocus|FocusFollowsMouse /
NeverFocus, ClickToFocusPassesClickOff /
ClickToFocusPassesClick, ClickToFocusRaisesOff /
ClickToFocusRaises, MouseFocusClickRaises /
MouseFocusClickRaisesOff, GrabFocus / GrabFocusOff,
GrabFocusTransientOff / GrabFocusTransient, FPFocusClickButtons,
FPFocusClickModifiers, !FPSortWindowlistByFocus /
FPSortWindowlistByFocus, FPClickRaisesFocused /
!FPClickRaisesFocused, FPClickDecorRaisesFocused /
!FPClickDecorRaisesFocused, FPClickIconRaisesFocused /
!FPClickIconRaisesFocused, !FPClickRaisesUnfocused /
FPClickRaisesUnfocused, FPClickDecorRaisesUnfocused /
!FPClickDecorRaisesUnfocused, FPClickIconRaisesUnfocused /
!FPClickIconRaisesUnfocused, FPClickToFocus / !FPClickToFocus,
FPClickDecorToFocus / !FPClickDecorToFocus, FPClickIconToFocus /
!FPClickIconToFocus, !FPEnterToFocus / FPEnterToFocus,
!FPLeaveToUnfocus / FPLeaveToUnfocus, !FPFocusByProgram /
FPFocusByProgram, !FPFocusByFunction / FPFocusByFunction,
FPFocusByFunctionWarpPointer / !FPFocusByFunctionWarpPointer,
FPLenient / !FPLenient, !FPPassFocusClick / FPPassFocusClick,
!FPPassRaiseClick / FPPassRaiseClick, FPIgnoreFocusClickMotion /
!FPIgnoreFocusClickMotion, FPIgnoreRaiseClickMotion /
!FPIgnoreRaiseClickMotion, !FPAllowFocusClickFunction /
FPAllowFocusClickFunction, !FPAllowRaiseClickFunction /
FPAllowRaiseClickFunction, FPGrabFocus / !FPGrabFocus,
!FPGrabFocusTransient / FPGrabFocusTransient,
FPOverrideGrabFocus / !FPOverrideGrabFocus, FPReleaseFocus /
!FPReleaseFocus, !FPReleaseFocusTransient /
FPReleaseFocusTransient, FPOverrideReleaseFocus /
!FPOverrideReleaseFocus, StartsLowered / StartsRaised,
IgnoreRestack / AllowRestack, FixedPosition / VariablePosition,
FixedUSPosition / VariableUSPosition, FixedPPosition /
VariablePPosition, FixedSize / VariableSize, FixedUSSize /
VariableUSSize, FixedPSize / VariablePSize, !Closable /
Closable, !Iconifiable / Iconifiable, !Maximizable /
Maximizable, !AllowMaximizeFixedSize / AllowMaximizeFixedSize,
IconOverride / NoIconOverride / NoActiveIconOverride,
DepressableBorder / FirmBorder, MinWindowSize, MaxWindowSize,
IconifyWindowGroups / IconifyWindowGroupsOff, ResizeOpaque /
ResizeOutline, BackingStore / BackingStoreOff /
BackingStoreWindowDefault, Opacity / ParentalRelativity,
SaveUnder / SaveUnderOff, WindowShadeShrinks /
WindowShadeScrolls, WindowShadeSteps, WindowShadeAlwaysLazy /
WindowShadeBusy / WindowShadeLazy, EWMHDonateIcon /
EWMHDontDonateIcon, EWMHDonateMiniIcon / EWMHDontDonateMiniIcon,
EWMHMiniIconOverride / EWMHNoMiniIconOverride,
EWMHUseStackingOrderHints / EWMHIgnoreStackingOrderHints,
EWMHIgnoreStateHints / EWMHUseStateHints, EWMHIgnoreStrutHints /
EWMHUseStrutHints, EWMHIgnoreWindowType / !EWMHIgnoreWindowType,
EWMHMaximizeIgnoreWorkingArea / EWMHMaximizeUseWorkingArea /
EWMHMaximizeUseDynamicWorkingArea,
EWMHPlacementIgnoreWorkingArea / EWMHPlacementUseWorkingArea /
EWMHPlacementUseDynamicWorkingArea, MoveByProgramMethod,
Unmanaged, State, SnapGrid, SnapAttraction, EdgeMoveDelay,
EdgeResizeDelay. EdgeMoveResistance, InitialMapCommand
In the above list some options are listed as
style-option/opposite-style-option. The opposite-style-option
for entries that have them describes the fvwm default behavior
and can be used if you want to change the fvwm default behavior.
Focus policy
ClickToFocus instructs fvwm to give the focus to a window
when it is clicked in. The default MouseFocus (or its
alias FocusFollowsMouse) tells fvwm to give a window the
focus as soon as the pointer enters the window, and take
it away when the pointer leaves the window. SloppyFocus
is similar, but doesn’t give up the focus if the pointer
leaves the window to pass over the root window or a
ClickToFocus window (unless you click on it, that is),
which makes it possible to move the mouse out of the way
without losing focus. A window with the style NeverFocus
never receives the focus. This is useful for modules
like FvwmButtons. for example. Note: Once any of the
"FP..." styles has been used, the defaults that come with
the basic focus policies are not restored when the latter
are used again. For example, once !FPGrabFocus has been
used, using ClickToFocus does not restore FPGrabFocus.
The focus model can be augmented with several additional
options. In fvwm-2.5.3 and later, there are a large
number of advanced options beginning with "FP" or "!FP".
These options shall replace the older options one day and
are described first. Using any of these new options may
limit compatibility with older releases. In general,
options beginning with "FP" turn a feature on, while
those beginning with "!FP" turn it off.
Focusing the window
With FPEnterToFocus, when the pointer enters a window it
receives focus.
With FPLeaveToUnfocus a window loses focus when the
pointer leaves it.
With FPClickToFocus, FPClickDecorToFocus or
FPClickIconToFocus, a window receives focus when the
inside of the window or the decorations or its icon is
clicked.
The FPFocusByProgram style allows windows to take the
focus themselves.
The !FPFocusByFunction style forbids that a window
receives the focus via the Focus and FlipFocus commands.
The FPFocusByFunctionWarpPointer style controls if the
pointer is warped to a selected window when the Focus
command is used.
FPLenient allows focus on windows that do not want it,
like FvwmPager or xclock.
The FPFocusClickButtons style takes a list of mouse
buttons that can be clicked to focus or raise a window
when the appropriate style is used. The default is to
use the first three buttons ("123").
The FPFocusClickModifiers style takes a list of modifier
keys just like the Key command. The exact combination of
modifier keys must be pressed for the click to focus or
raise a window to work. The default is to use no
modifiers ("N").
With the FPPassFocusClick style, the click that was used
to focus a window is passed to the application.
With the FPAllowFocusClickFunction style, the click that
was used to focus a window can also trigger a normal
action that was bound to the window with the Mouse
command).
If the FPIgnoreFocusClickMotion style is used, clicking
in a window and then dragging the pointer with the button
held down does not count as the click to focus the
window. Instead, the application processes these events
normally. This is useful to select text in a terminal
window with the mouse without raising the window.
However, mouse bindings on the client window are not
guaranteed to work anymore (see Mouse command). This
style forces the initial click to be passed to the
application. The distance that the pointer must be moved
to trigger this is controlled by the MoveThreshold
command.
The FPSortWindowlistByFocus and !FPSortWindowlistByFocus
styles control whether the internal window list is sorted
in the order the windows were focused or in the order
they were created. The latter is the default for
ClickToFocus and SloppyFocus.
Clicking the window to raise
The styles FPClickRaisesFocused,
FPClickDecorRaisesFocused and FPClickIconRaisesFocused
allow to raise the window when the interior or the
decorations or the icon of the window is clicked while
the window is already focused.
The styles FPClickRaisesUnfocused,
FPClickDecorRaisesUnfocused and
FPClickIconRaisesUnfocused allow to raise the window when
the interior or the decorations or the icon of the window
is clicked while the window is not yet focused.
With the FPPassRaiseClick style, the click that was used
to raise the window is passed to the application.
With the FPAllowRaiseClickFunction style, the click that
was used to raise the window can also trigger a normal
action that was bound to the window with the Mouse
command.
If the FPIgnoreRaiseClickMotion style is used, clicking
in a window and then dragging the pointer with the button
held down does not count as the click to raise the
window. Instead, the application processes these events
normally. This is useful to select text in a terminal
window with the mouse without raising the window.
However, mouse bindings on the client window are not
guaranteed to work anymore (see Mouse command. Note that
this style forces that the initial click is passed to the
application. The distance that the pointer must be moved
to trigger this is controlled by the MoveThreshold
command.
Grabbing the focus when a new window is created
New normal or transient windows with the FPGrabFocus or
FPGrabFocusTransient style automatically receive the
focus when they are created. FPGrabFocus is the default
for windows with the ClickToFocus style. Note that even
if these styles are disabled, the application may take
the focus itself. Fvwm can not prevent this.
The OverrideGrabFocus style instructs fvwm to never take
away the focus from such a window via the GrabFocus or
GrabFocusTransient styles. This can be useful if you
like to have transient windows receive the focus
immediately, for example in a web browser, but not while
you are working in a terminal window or a text processor.
The above three styles are accompanied by FPReleaseFocus,
FPReleaseFocusTransient and FPOverrideReleaseFocus.
These control if the focus is returned to another window
when the window is closed. Otherwise no window or the
window under the pointer receives the focus.
ClickToFocusPassesClickOff and ClickToFocusPassesClick
controls whether a mouse click to focus a window is sent
to the application or not. Similarly,
ClickToFocusRaisesOff/MouseFocusClickRaisesOff and
ClickToFocusRaises/MouseFocusClickRaises control if the
window is raised (but depending on the focus model).
Note: in fvwm versions prior to 2.5.3, the "Click..."
options applied only to windows with ClickToFocus while
the "Mouse..." options applied to windows with a
different focus policy. This is no longer the case.
The old GrabFocus style is equivalent to using
FPGrabFocus + FPReleaseFocus.
The old GrabFocusTransient style is equivalent to using
FPGrabFocusTransient + FPReleaseFocusTransient.
Lenience is equivalent to the new style FPLenient.
Window title
The Title and !Title options determine if the window has
a title-bar or not. By default all windows have a
title-bar. NoTitle is equivalent to !Title but is
deprecated.
Windows with the TitleAtBottom, TitleAtLeft or
TitleAtRight style have a title-bar below, to the left or
to the right of the window instead of above as usual.
The TitleAtTop style restores the default placement.
Even if the window has the !Title style set, this affects
the WindowShade command. Please check the WindowShade
command for interactions between that command and these
styles. Titles on the left or right side of the windows
are augmented by the following styles:
Normally, the text in titles on the left side of a window
is rotated counterclockwise by 90 degrees from the normal
upright position and 90 degrees clockwise for titles on
the right side. It can also be rotated in the opposite
directions with LeftTitleRotatedCW if TitleAtLeft is
used, and with RightTitleRotatedCCW if TitleAtRight is
used. The defaults can be restored with
LeftTitleRotatedCCW and RightTitleRotatedCW. A normal
horizontal text may be rotated as well with
TopTitleRotated if TitleAtTop is used, and with
BottomTitleRotated if TitleAtBottom is used. The
defaults can be restored with TopTitleNotRotated and
BottomTitleNotRotated.
By default the title bar decoration defined using the
TitleStyle command is rotated following the title text
rotation (see the previous paragraph). This can be
disabled by using the !UseTitleDecorRotation style.
UseTitleDecorRotation reverts back to the default.
With the StippledTitle style, titles are drawn with the
same effect that is usually reserved for windows with the
Sticky, StickyAcrossPages or StickyAcrossDesks style.
!StippledTitle reverts back to normal titles.
StippledTitleOff is equivalent to !StippledTitle but is
deprecated.
Color takes two arguments. The first is the window-label
text color and the second is the window decorations
normal background color. The two colors are separated
with a slash. If the use of a slash causes problems then
the separate ForeColor and BackColor options can be used.
Colorset takes the colorset number as its sole argument
and overrides the colors set by Color. Instead, the
corresponding colors from the given colorset are used.
Note that all other features of a colorset are not used.
Use the Colorset decoration style in the TitleStyle and
ButtonStyle command for that. To stop using the
colorset, the colorset number is omitted.
The HilightFore, HilightBack and HilightColorset style
options work exactly like ForeColor, BackColor and
Colorset but are used only if the window has the focus.
These styles replace the old commands HilightColor and
HilightColorset.
BorderColorset takes the colorset number as its sole
argument and overrides the colors set by Color or
Colorset. for the window border. To stop using a
colorset, the argument is omitted.
The HilightBorderColorset style option works similarly to
BorderColorset but is used when the window has the focus.
!IconTitle disables displaying icon labels while the
opposite style IconTitle enables icon labels (default
behaviour). NoIconTitle is equivalent to !IconTitle but
is deprecated.
IconTitleColorset takes the colorset number as its sole
argument and overrides the colors set by Color or
Colorset. To stop using this colorset, the argument is
omitted.
HilightIconTitleColorset takes the colorset number as its
sole argument and overrides the colors set by
HilightColor or HilightColorset. To stop using this
colorset, the argument is omitted.
IconBackgroundColorset takes the colorset number as its
sole argument and uses it to set a background for the
icon picture. By default the icon picture is not drawn
onto a background image. To restore the default, the
argument is omitted.
IconTitleRelief takes one numeric argument that may be
between -50 and +50 pixels and defines the thickness of
the 3D relief drawn around the icon title. With negative
values the icon title gets a pressed in look. The
default is 2 and it is restored if the argument is
omitted.
IconBackgroundRelief takes one numeric argument that may
be between -50 and +50 pixels and defines the thickness
of the 3D relief drawn around the icon picture background
(if any). With negative values the icon background gets
a pressed in look. The default is 2 and it is restored
if the argument is omitted.
IconBackgroundPadding takes one numeric argument that may
be between 0 and 50 pixels and defines the amount of free
space between the relief of the icon background picture
(if any) and the icon picture. The default is 2 and it
is restored if the argument is omitted.
The Font and IconFont options take the name of a font as
their sole argument. This font is used in the window or
icon title. By default the font given in the DefaultFont
command is used. To revert back to the default, use the
style without the name argument. These styles replace
the older WindowFont and IconFont commands.
The IndexedWindowName style causes fvwm to use window
titles in the form
name (i)
where name is the exact window name and i is an integer
which represents the i th window with name as window
name. ExactWindowName restores the default which is to
use the exact window name. IndexedIconName and
ExactIconName work the same as IndexedWindowName and
ExactWindowName styles but for the icon titles.
Title buttons
Button and !Button take a numeric argument which is the
number of the title-bar button which is to be shown or
omitted. NoButton is equivalent to !Button but is
deprecated.
MwmButtons makes the Maximize button look pressed-in when
the window is maximized. See the MwmDecorMax flag in
ButtonStyle for more information. To switch this style
off again, use the FvwmButtons style.
Borders
!Borders suppresses the window border (but not the title)
completely. The Borders style enables them again.
Without borders, all other styles affecting window
borders are meaningless.
MwmBorder makes the 3D bevel more closely match Mwm’s.
FvwmBorder turns off the previous option.
With the !Handles style, the window does not get the
handles in the window corners that are commonly used to
resize it. With !Handles, the width from the BorderWidth
style is used. By default, or if Handles is specified,
the width from the HandleWidth style is used. NoHandles
is equivalent to !Handles but is deprecated.
HandleWidth takes a numeric argument which is the width
of the border to place the window if it does have
resize-handles. Using HandleWidth without an argument
restores the default.
BorderWidth takes a numeric argument which is the width
of the border to place the window if it does not have
resize-handles. It is used only if the !Handles style is
specified too. Using BorderWidth without an argument
restores the default.
DepressableBorder makes the border parts of the window
decoration look sunken in when a button is pressed over
them. This can be disabled again with the FirmBorder
style.
Icons, shading, maximizing, movement, resizing
Icon takes an (optional) unquoted string argument which
is the icon bitmap or pixmap to use. Icons specified
this way override pixmap icons, but not icon windows or
the ewmh icon, provided by the client in the application
(with the WM_HINTS property or with the ewmh _NET_WM_ICON
property). The IconOverride style changes the behavior
to override any client-provided icons; the NoIconOverride
style changes the behavior to not override any
client-provided icons; the default overriding behavior
can be activated with the NoActiveIconOverride style.
With this style, fvwm uses application provided icons if
the icon is changed but uses the icon provided in the
configuration file until then.
There is one exception to these rules, namely
Style * Icon unknown.xpm
doesn’t force the unknown.xpm icon on every window, it
just sets the default icon like the DefaultIcon command.
If you really want all windows to have the same icon, you
can use
Style ** Icon unknown.xpm
If the NoIcon attribute is set then the specified window
simply disappears when it is iconified. The window can
be recovered through the window-list. If Icon is set
without an argument then the NoIcon attribute is cleared
but no icon is specified. An example which allows only
the FvwmPager module icon to exist:
Style * NoIcon
Style FvwmPager Icon
IconBox takes no argument, four numeric arguments (plus
optionally a screen specification), an X11 geometry
string or the string "none":
IconBox [screen scr-spec] l t r b
or
IconBox geometry
Where l is the left coordinate, t is the top, r is right
and b is bottom. Negative coordinates indicate distance
from the right or bottom of the screen. If the first
argument is the word screen, the scr-spec argument
specifies the Xinerama screen on which the IconBox is
defined. It can be the usual screen Xinerama
specification, ’p’, ´c’, ’g’, a screen number or the
additional ’w’ for the screen where the window center is
located. This is only useful with multiple Xinerama
screens. The "l t r b" specification is more flexible
than an X11 geometry. For example:
IconBox -80 240 -1 -1
defines a box that is 80 pixels wide from the right edge,
240 pixels down from the top, and continues to the bottom
of the screen.
Perhaps it is easier to use is an X11 geometry string
though:
IconBox 1000x70-1-1
places an 1000 by 70 pixel icon box on the bottom of the
screen starting in the lower right hand corner of the
screen. One way to figure out a geometry like this is to
use a window that resizes in pixel increments, for
example, xv. Then resize and place the xv window where
you want the iconbox. Then use FvwmIdent to read the
windows geometry. The icon box is a region of the screen
where fvwm attempts to put icons for any matching window,
as long as they do not overlap other icons. Multiple
icon boxes can be defined as overflow areas. When the
first icon box is full, the second one is filled. All
the icon boxes for one style must be defined in one Style
command. For example:
Style * IconBox -80 240 -1 -1, \
IconBox 1000x70-1-1
A Style command with the IconBox option replaces any icon
box defined previously by another Style command for the
same style. Thats why the backslash in the previous
example is required.
Note: The geometry for the icon box command takes the
additional screen specifier "@w" in case a Xinerama setup
is used. This designates the screen where the window
center is located. The additional screen specifier is
not allowed anywhere else.
If you never define an icon box, or you fill all the icon
boxes, fvwm has a default icon box that covers the
screen, it fills top to bottom, then left to right, and
has an 80x80 pixel grid. To disable all but the default
icon box you can use IconBox without arguments in a
separate Style command. To disable all icon boxes
including the default icon box, the argument "none" can
be specified.
Hint: You can auto arrange your icons in the icon box
with a simple fvwm function. Put the
"DeiconifyAndRearrange" function below in your
configuration file:
AddToFunc DeiconifyAndRearrange
+ C Iconify off
+ C All (CurrentPage, Iconic) PlaceAgain Icon
And then replace all places where you call the Iconify
command to de-iconify an icon with a call to the new
function. For example replace
AddToFunc IconFunc
+ C Iconify off
+ M Raise
+ M Move
+ D Iconify off
Mouse 1 I A Iconify off
with
AddToFunc IconFunc
+ C DeiconifyAndRearrange
+ M Raise
+ M Move
+ D DeiconifyAndRearrange
Mouse 1 I A DeiconifyAndRearrange
IconGrid takes 2 numeric arguments greater than zero.
IconGrid x y
Icons are placed in an icon box by stepping through the
icon box using the x and y values for the icon grid,
looking for a free space. The default grid is 3 by 3
pixels which gives a tightly packed appearance. To get a
more regular appearance use a grid larger than your
largest icon. Use the IconSize definition to clip an
icon to a maximum size. An IconGrid definition must
follow the IconBox definition that it applies to:
Style * IconBox -80x240-1-1, IconGrid 90 90
IconFill takes 2 arguments.
IconFill Bottom Right
Icons are placed in an icon box by stepping through the
icon box using these arguments to control the direction
the box is filled in. By default the direction is left
to right, then top to bottom. This would be expressed
as:
IconFill left top
To fill an icon box in columns instead of rows, specify
the vertical direction (top or bottom) first. The
directions can be abbreviated or spelled out as follows:
"t", "top", "b", "bot", "bottom", "l", "lft", "left",
"r", "rgt", "right". An IconFill definition must follow
the IconBox definition that it applies to:
Style * IconBox -80x240-1-1, IconFill b r
IconSize sets limits on the size of an icon image. Both
user-provided and application-provided icon images are
affected.
IconSize [ width height [ maxwidth maxheight ] ]
All arguments are measured in pixels. When all four
arguments are passed to IconSize, width and height
represent the minimum size of an icon, and maxwidth and
maxheight represent the maximum size of an icon. Icon
images that are smaller than the minimum size are padded.
Icon images that are bigger than the maximum size are
clipped.
If only two arguments are passed to IconSize, width and
height represent the absolute size of an icon. Icons
covered by this style are padded or clipped to achieve
the given size.
If no arguments are specified, the default values are
used for each dimension. This effectively places no
limits on the size of an icon.
The value of "-1" can be used in place of any of the
arguments to specify the default value for that
dimension.
Note that application-provided icon windows are not
affected.
MiniIcon specifies a pixmap to use as the miniature icon
for the window. This miniature icon can be drawn in a
title-bar button (see ButtonStyle), and can be used by
various fvwm modules (FvwmWinList, FvwmIconMan and
FvwmTaskBar). It takes the name of a pixmap as an
argument.
WindowShadeShrinks and WindowShadeScrolls control if the
contents of a window that is being shaded with the
WindowShade command are scrolled (default) or if they
stay in place. The shrinking mode is a bit faster
The WindowShadeSteps option selects the number of steps
for animation when shading a window with WindowShade. It
takes one number as its argument. If the number has a
trailing ’p’ it sets the number of pixels to use as the
step size instead of a fixed number of steps. 0 disables
the animation. This happens too if the argument is
omitted or invalid.
The WindowShade command has two modes of operation: busy
and lazy shading. Busy shading can be 50% slower than
lazy shading, but the latter can look strange under some
conditions, for example, if the window borders, buttons
or the title are filled with a tiled pixmap. Also, the
window handles are not drawn in lazy mode and the border
relief may only be drawn partially right before the
window reaches the shaded state or tight after leaves the
unshaded state. By default, fvwm uses lazy mode if there
are no bad visual effects (not counting the window
handles) and busy mode otherwise. Use the
WindowShadeAlwaysLazy or WindowShadeBusy to force using
the lazy or busy mode. The default setting is restored
with WindowShadeLazy.
ResizeOpaque instructs fvwm to resize the corresponding
windows with their contents visible instead of using an
outline. Since this causes the application to redraw
frequently it can be quite slow and make the window
flicker excessively, depending on the amount of graphics
the application redraws. The ResizeOutline style
(default) negates the ResizeOpaque style. Many
applications do not like their windows being resized
opaque, e.g. XEmacs, Netscape or terminals with a pixmap
background. If you do not like the result, do not use
the ResizeOpaque style for these windows. To exempt
certain windows from opaque resizing you could use these
lines in your configuration file:
Style * ResizeOpaque
Style rxvt ResizeOutline
Style emacs ResizeOutline
Sticky makes the window sticky, i.e. it is always visible
on each page and each desk. The opposite style, Slippery
reverts back to the default.
StickyIcon makes the window sticky when its iconified.
It de-iconifies on top the active desktop. SlipperyIcon
reverts back to the default.
StickyAcrossPages and StickyAcrossPagesIcon work like
Sticky and StickyIcon, but stick the window only across
pages, not desks while StickyAcrossDesks and
StickyAcrossDesksIcon works the other way round.
Windows that have been marked as Sticky or
StickyAcrossDesks or StickyAcrossPages will have stipples
drawn on the titlebar. This can be negated with the
!StickyStippledTitle style. The style
StickyStippledTitle puts back the stipples where that
window has also been marked as Sticky. Note that this is
the default style for Sticky windows. Sticky icons will
have stipples drawn on the icon title. This can be
disabled in the same way with the
!StickyStippledIconTitle style.
Windows with the StartIconic style are shown as icons
initially. Note that some applications counteract that
by deiconifying themselves. The default is to not
iconify windows and can be set with the StartNormal
style.
StickyIcon makes the window sticky when its iconified.
It de-iconifies on top the active desktop. SlipperyIcon
reverts back to the default.
StickyIconPage works like StickyIcon, but sticks the icon
only across pages, not desks while StickyIconDesk works
the other way round.
StippledIconTitle works like StippledTitle in that it
draws stipples on the titles of icons but doesn’t make
the icon sticky.
IgnoreRestack makes fvwm ignore attempts of clients to
raise or lower their own windows. By default, the
opposite style, AllowRestack is active.
FixedPosition and FixedUSPosition make fvwm ignore
attempts of the user to move the window. It is still
possible to move the window by resizing it. To allow the
user to move windows, use the VariablePosition or
VariableUSPosition style.
FixedSize and FixedUSSize make fvwm ignore attempts of
the user to resize the window. To allow the user to
resize windows, use the VariableSize or VariableUSSize
style.
FixedPPosition and FixedPSize make fvwm ignore attempts
of the program to move or resize its windows. To allow
this kind of actions, use the VariablePPosition or
VariablePSize style. These styles may sometimes affect
the initial placement and dimensions of new windows
(depending on the application). If windows are created
at strange places, try either the VariablePPosition or
NoPPosition styles. The FixedPSize style may screw up
window dimensions for some applications. Do Not use this
style in this case.
MoveByProgramMethod affects how fvwm reacts to requests
by the application to move its windows. By default, fvwm
tries to detect which method to use, but it sometimes
detects the wrong method. You may come across a window
that travels across the screen by a few pixels when the
application resizes it, moves to a screen border with the
frame decorations off screen, that remembers its position
for the next time it starts but appears in a slighly
shifted position, or that attepmts to become full screen
but has the. Try out both options, UseGravity and
IgnoreGravity on the window (and that window only) and
see if that helps. By default, fvwm uses the AutoDetect
method. Once the method was detected, it is never
changed again. As long as fvwm can not detect the proper
method, it uses IgnoreGravity. To force fvwm to retry
the detection, use one of the other two options first and
then use AutoDetect again.
Note: This option was introduced to alleviate a problem
with the ICCCM specification. The ICCCM clearly states
that the UseGravity option should be used, but
traditionally applications ignored this rule.
Closable enables the functions Close, Delete and Destroy
to be performed on the windows. This is on by default.
The opposite, !Closable, inhibits the window to be
closed.
Iconifiable enables the function Iconify to be performed
on the windows. This is on by default. The opposite,
!Iconifiable, inhibits the window from being iconified.
Maximizable enables the function Maximize to be performed
on the windows. This is on by default. The opposite,
!Maximizable, inhibits the window from being maximized.
AllowMaximizeFixedSize enables the function Maximize to
be performed on windows that are not resizable, unless
maximization has been disabled either using the style
!Maximizable or through WM hints. This is on by default.
The opposite, !AllowMaximizeFixedSize, inhibits all
windows that are not resizable from being maximized.
ResizeHintOverride instructs fvwm to ignore the program
supplied minimum and maximum size as well as the resize
step size (the character size in many applications).
This can be handy for broken applications that refuse to
be resized. Do not use it if you do not need it. The
default (opposite) style is NoResizeOverride.
MinWindowSize [ width [ p ] height [ p ] ] Tells fvwm the
minimum width and height of a window. The values are the
percentage of the total screen area. If the letter ’p’
is appended to either of the values, the numbers are
interpreted as pixels. This command is useful for
certain versions of xemacs which freak out if their
windows become too small. If you omit he parameters or
their values are invalid, both limits are set to 0 pixels
(which is the default value).
MaxWindowSize [ width [ p ] height [ p ] ] Tells fvwm the
maximum width and height of a window. The values are the
percentage of the total screen area. If the letter ’p’
is appended to either of the values, the numbers are
interpreted as pixels. This command is useful to force
large application windows to be fully visible. Neither
height nor width may be less than 100 pixels. If you
omit the parameters or their values are invalid, both
limits are set to 32767 pixels (which is the default).
With IconifyWindowGroups all windows in the same window
group are iconified and deiconified at once when any
window in the group is (de)iconified. The default is
IconifyWindowGroupsOff, which disables this behavior.
Although a number of applications use the window group
hint, it is rarely used in a proper way, so it is
probably best to use IconifyWindowGroups only for
selected applications.
The option SnapAttraction affects interactive window
movement: If during an interactive move the window or
icon comes within proximity pixels of another the window
or icon, it is moved to make the borders adjoin. The
default of 0 means that no snapping happens. Calling
this command without arguments turns off snap attraction
and restores the default behavior. Please refer also to
the SnapGrid command.
The second argument determined is optional and may be set
to one of the five following values: With All both icons
and windows snap to other windows and other icons.
SameType lets windows snap only to windows, and icons
snap only to icons. With Windows windows snap only to
other windows. Similarly with Icons icons snap only to
other icons. With None no snapping takes place. This
option can be useful in conjunction with the following
argument if you only want to snap against the screen
edges. The default behavior is All.
The third and last optional argument may be set to one of
the four following values:
· With Screen the already snapping icons or windows,
which is controlled by the second argument, will snap
now also to the screen edges.
· ScreenWindows snaps only windows to the screen edges.
· ScreenIcons snaps only icons to the screen edges.
· ScreenAll snaps windows and icons to the screen
edges.
The option SnapGrid defines an invisible grid on the
screen. During an interactive move a window or icon is
positioned such that its location (top left corner) is
coincident with the nearest grid point. The default
x-grid-size and y-grid-size setting are both 1, which is
effectively no grid all.
An interactive move with both SnapGrid and SnapAttraction
results in the window being moved to be adjacent to the
nearest window border (if within snap proximity) or grid
position. The window moves the shortest distance
possible to satisfy both SnapGrid and SnapAttraction.
Note that the x and y coordinates are not coupled. For
example, a window may snap to another window on the x
axis while snapping to a grid point on the y axis. Using
this style without arguments reinstates the default
settings.
The styles EdgeMoveDelay and EdgeResizeDelay tells how
hard it should be to change the desktop viewport by
moving or resizing a window over the edge of the screen.
The parameter tells how many milliseconds the pointer
must spend on the screen edge before fvwm moves the
viewport. The command EdgeScroll determines how far the
viewport is scrolled. If -1 is given as the delay, page
flipping is disabled completely. The defaults are no
delay for moving (0) and no flipping for resizing (-1).
Using these styles without any argument restores the
default settings. Note that, with
EdgeScroll 0 0
it is still possible to move or resize windows across the
edge of the current screen. See also EdgeThickness.
The option EdgeMoveResistance makes it easier to place a
window directly adjacent to the screen’s or xinerama
screen’s border. It takes one or two parameters. The
first parameter tells how many pixels over the edge of
the screen a window’s edge must move before it actually
moves partially off the screen. The optional second
parameter does the same as the first, but for individual
Xinerama screens. If omitted, the value of the first
parameter is assumed for this type of movement. Set the
second parameter to 0 to zero to ignore individual
xinerama screen edges. Note that the center of the
window being moved determines the xinerama screen on
which the window should be kept. Both values are 0 by
default. To restore the defaults, the option
EdgeMoveResistance can be used without any parameters.
The option InitialMapCommand allows for any valid fvwm
command or function to run when the window is initially
mapped by fvwm. Example:
Style MyWindow StartsOnPage 0 0, InitialMapCommand Iconify
This would hence place the window called MyWindow on page 0 0
for the current desk, and immediately run the Iconify command on
that window.
Window Manager placement
Applications can place windows at a particular spot on
the screen either by window manager hints or a geometry
specification. When they do neither, then the window
manager steps in to find a place for the window. Fvwm
knows several ways to deal with this situation. The
default is TileCascadePlacement.
PositionPlacement [Center|UnderMouse|move-arguments] When
used without an argument, new windows are placed in the
top left corner of the display. With the argument
Center, all new window appear at the center of the
screen, and with UnderMouse, windows are centered under
the mouse pointer where possible. If the window is
unable to fit on the screen because the pointer is at the
edge of the screen, then the window is forced on-screen
using this option. If any other move-arguments are
given, they are interpreted exactly as the Move command
does (with the exception that references to the current
window position do not work as the window has not been
placed yet).
CascadePlacement automatically place new windows in a
cascading fashion.
TileCascadePlacement automatically places new windows in
a smart location - a location in which they do not
overlap any other windows on the screen. If no such
position can be found CascadePlacement is used as a
fall-back method.
TileManualPlacement This is the same as
TileCascadePlacement, but uses ManualPlacement as the
fall-back method.
MinOverlapPlacement automatically places new windows in a
location in which the overlapping area in pixels of other
windows is minimized. By default this placement policy
tries to avoid overlapping icons and windows on higher
layers. This can be configured with the
MinOverlapPlacementPenalties style.
MinOverlapPercentPlacement is similar to
MinOverlapPlacement but tries to minimize the overlapped
percentages of other windows instead of the overlapped
area in pixels. This placement policy tries to avoid
covering other windows completely and tries even harder
not to cover small windows. This can be configured with
the MinOverlapPlacementPenalties and
MinOverlapPercentPlacementPenalties styles.
MinOverlapPlacementPenalties takes at most 6 positive or
null decimal arguments:
normal ontop icon sticky below strut
if trailing arguments are missing the default is used
which is:
1 5 10 1 0.05 50
To reset this style to the default values, prefix it with
a ’!’. This style configures the MinOverlapPlacement and
MinOverlapPercentPlacement placement policy. The normal
factor affects normal windows, the ontop factor affects
windows with a greater layer than the window being
placed, the icon factor affects icons, the sticky factor
affects sticky windows, the below factor affects windows
with a smaller layer than the window being placed, the
strut factor affects the complement of the EWMH working
area if the window being placed has the
EWMHPlacementUseWorkingArea style and windows with an
EWMH strut hint (i.e., a "please do not cover me" hint)
if the window being placed has the
EWMHPlacementUseDynamicWorkingArea style. These factors
represent the amount of area that these types of windows
(or area) are counted as, when a new window is placed.
For example, by default the area of ontop windows is
counted 5 times as much as normal windows. So
MinOverlapPlacement and MinOverlapPercentPlacement covers
5 times as much area of another window before it will
cover an ontop window. To treat ontop windows the same
as other windows, set this to 1. To really, really avoid
putting windows under ontop windows, set this to a high
value, say 1000. This style affects the window already
mapped and not the window which is currently placed.
There is one exception to this rule: in the case of the
window being placed has the EWMHPlacementUseWorkingArea
style the strut factor affects the placed window.
MinOverlapPercentPlacementPenalties takes at most 4
positive or null integer arguments:
cover_100 cover_95 cover_85 cover_75
if trailing arguments are missing the defaults are used
which are:
12 6 4 1
To reset this style to the default values, prefix it with
a ’!’. This style affects the MinOverlapPercentPlacement
placement policy and is similar to the
MinOverlapPlacementPenalties style. The cover_xx factor
is used when the window being placed covers at least xx
percent of the window. This factor is added to the
factor determined by the MinOverlapPlacementPenalties
style.
ManualPlacement (aka active placement). The user is
required to place every new window manually. The window
only shows as a rubber band until a place is selected
manually. The window is placed when a mouse button or
any key except Escape is pressed. Escape aborts manual
placement which places the window in the top left corner
of the screen. If mouse button 2 is pressed during the
initial placement of a window (respectively Shift and
mouse button 1 in case Mwm emulation has been enabled
with the Emulate command), the user is asked to resize
the window too.
It is possible to define buttons usable to place windows
with the Move command and the special context ’P’ for
placement (see Move command). However, you can’t
redefine the way to also resize the window other than the
way it is affected by the Emulate command. The button
used for placing the window can be checked with the
PlacedByButton condition (see Current command).
Example:
Style * ManualPlacement
*FvwmEvent: PassID
*FvwmEvent: add_window GrowDownFunc
AddToFunc StartFunction
+ I FvwmEvent
AddToFunc GrowDownFunc
+ I windowid $0 (PlacedByButton 3) \
Resize bottomright keep -0p
Now, whenever a window is created and the user presses
button 3 to finish initial placement, the window is
automatically enlarged until it hits the bottom screen
border.
Old placement styles DumbPlacement / SmartPlacement /
SmartPlacementOff, CleverPlacement / CleverPlacementOff,
ActivePlacement / RandomPlacement,
ActivePlacementsHonorsStartsOnPage /
ActivePlacementsHonorsStartsOnPageOff, GlobalOpts
SmartPlacementIsReallySmart / GlobalOpts
SmartPlacementIsNormal are still supported but will be
removed in the future. The old and new styles can be
translated according to the following table:
GlobalOpts SmartPlacementIsReallySmart
Style * SmartPlacement
-->
Style * SmartPlacement, CleverPlacement
GlobalOpts SmartPlacementIsNormal
Style * SmartPlacement
-->
Style * SmartPlacement, CleverPlacementOff
Style * DumbPlacement, RandomPlacement
-->
Style * CascadePlacement
Style * DumbPlacement, ActivePlacement
-->
Style * ManualPlacement
Style * SmartPlacement, \
RandomPlacement, CleverPlacementOff
-->
Style * TileCascadePlacement
Style * SmartPlacement, \
ActivePlacement, CleverPlacementOff
-->
Style * TileManualPlacement
Style * SmartPlacement, CleverPlacement
-->
Style * MinOverlapPlacement
Style * SmartPlacement, \
ActivePlacement, CleverPlacement
-->
Style * MinOverlapPercentPlacement
Style * ActivePlacementsHonorsStartsOnPage
-->
Style * ManualPlacementsHonorsStartsOnPage
Style * ActivePlacementsHonorsStartsOnPageOff
-->
Style * ManualPlacementsHonorsStartsOnPageOff
Placement policy options and window stacking
NoUsePPosition instructs fvwm to ignore the program
specified position (PPosition hint) when adding new
windows. Using PPosition is required for some
applications, but if you do not have one of those its a
real headache. Many programs set PPosition to something
obnoxious like 0,0 (upper left corner). Note:
!UsePPosition is equivalent to the deprecated option
NoPPosition
NoUseUSPosition works like !UsePPosition but applies
suppresses using the user specified position indicated by
the program (USPosition hint). It is generally a bad
thing to override the user’s choice, but some
applications misuse the USPosition hint to force their
windows to a certain spot on the screen without the
user’s consent. Note: !UseUSPosition is equivalent to
the deprecated option !USPosition
NoUseTransientPPosition and UseTransientPPosition work
like !UsePPosition and UsePPosition but apply only to
transient windows. Note: !UseTransientPPosition is
equivalent to the deprecated option !TransientPPosition
NoUseIconPosition instructs fvwm to ignore the program
specified icon position (IconPosition hint) when
iconifying the window. Note: !UseIconPosition is
equivalent to the deprecated option !IconPosition
StartsOnDesk takes a numeric argument which is the
desktop number on which the window should be initially
placed. Note that standard Xt programs can also specify
this via a resource (e.g. "-xrm ’*Desk: 1’").
StartsOnPage takes 1, 2, or 3 numeric arguments. If one
or three arguments are given, the first (or only)
argument is the desktop number. If three arguments are
given, the 2nd and 3rd arguments identify the x,y page
position on the virtual window. If two arguments are
given, they specify the page position, and indicate no
desk preference. If only one argument is given,
StartsOnPage functions exactly like StartsOnDesk. For
those standard Xt programs which understand this usage,
the starting desk/page can also be specified via a
resource (e.g., "-xrm ’*page: 1 0 2’"). StartsOnPage in
conjunction with SkipMapping is a useful technique when
you want to start an app on some other page and continue
with what you were doing, rather than waiting for it to
appear.
StartsOnScreen takes one argument. It can be ’p’ for the
primary screen, ’c’ for the current screen (containing
the mouse pointer), ’g’ for the global screen or the
screen number itself (counting from zero). A new window
is placed on the specified Xinerama screen. The default
is to place windows on the screen that contains the mouse
pointer at the time the window is created. However,
those windows which are not placed by fvwm (i.e., those
with a USPosition hint from a user specified geometry)
are normally placed in a position relative to the global
screen. The StartsOnScreen style is also useful to cause
these windows to be placed relative to a specific
Xinerama screen. For example:
Style * StartsOnScreen c
Would cause all windows, including those with their own
geometry to be placed relative to the current Xinerama
screen rather than the global screen. For those standard
Xt programs which understand this usage, the starting
desk/page can also be specified via a resource (e.g.,
"-xrm ’*fvwmscreen: c’"). (’fvwmscreen’ was chosen
because some applications already use ´.screen’ for other
purposes.)
StartsOnPageIncludesTransients causes the StartsOnPage
style to be applied even for transient windows. This is
not usually useful, since transients are usually pop ups
that you want to appear in your visible viewport; but
occasionally an application uses a transient for
something like a startup window that needs to be coerced
into place.
ManualPlacementIgnoresStartsOnPage suppresses
StartsOnPage or StartsOnDesk placement in the event that
both ManualPlacement and SkipMapping are in effect when a
window is created. This prevents you from interactively
placing a window and then wondering where it disappeared
to, because it got placed on a different desk or page.
ManualPlacementHonorsStartsOnPage allows this to happen
anyway. The option has no effect if SkipMapping is not
in effect, because fvwm switches to the proper desk/page
to perform interactive placement. The default is
ManualPlacementIgnoresStartsOnPage;
ManualPlacementHonorsStartsOnPage matches the way the old
StartsOnDesk style used to handle the situation.
CaptureHonorsStartsOnPage causes the initial capture (of
an already existing window) at startup to place the
window according to the StartsOnPage and StartsOnScreen
desk, page and Xinerama screen specification.
CaptureIgnoresStartsOnPage causes fvwm to ignore these
settings (including StartsOnDesk) on initial capture.
The default is CaptureIgnoresStartsOnPage.
RecaptureHonorsStartsOnPage causes a window to be placed
according to, or revert to, the StartsOnPage and
StartsOnScreen desk, page and Xinerama screen
specification on Restart or Recapture.
RecaptureIgnoresStartsOnPage causes fvwm to respect the
current window position on Restart or Recapture. The
default is RecaptureIgnoresStartsOnPage.
Layer accepts one optional argument: a non-negative
integer. This is the layer the window is put in. If no
argument is given, any previously set value is deleted
and the default layer is implied.
StaysOnTop puts the window in the top layer. This layer
can be changed by the command DefaultLayers; the default
is 6.
StaysPut puts the window in the put layer. This layer
can be changed by the command DefaultLayers; the default
is 4.
StaysOnBottom puts the window in the bottom layer. This
layer can be changed by the command DefaultLayers; the
default is 2.
StartsLowered instructs fvwm to put the window initially
at the bottom of its layer rather than the default
StartsRaised.
StartShaded tells fvwm to shade the window. An optional
direction argument may be given, which can be one of
"North", "South", "West", "East", "NorthWest",
"NorthEast", "SouthWest", "SouthEast" or if no direction
is given, the default is to shade north.
SkipMapping tells fvwm not to switch to the desk the
window is on when it gets mapped initially (useful with
StartsOnDesk or StartsOnPage).
KeepWindowGroupsOnDesk makes new windows that have the
window group hint set appear on the same desk as the
other windows of the same group. Since this behavior may
be confusing, the default setting is ScatterWindowGroups.
The window group hint is ignored when placing windows in
this case.
Transient windows
DecorateTransient causes transient windows, which are
normally left undecorated, to be given the usual fvwm
decorations (title bar, buttons, etc.). Note that some
pop-up windows, such as the xterm menus, are not managed
by the window manager and still do not receive
decorations. NakedTransient (the default) causes
transient windows not to be given the standard
decorations. You can only bind keys or mouse buttons to
the sides and the client part of an undecorated window
(’S’ and ´W’ contexts in bindings, see Mouse and Key
commands).
A window with the RaiseTransient style that has transient
windows raises all its transients when it is raised. The
DontRaiseTransient style disables this behavior. All
windows are then treated as if they had no transients.
A window with the LowerTransient style that has transient
windows lowers all its transients when it is lowered.
The DontLowerTransient style disables this behavior. All
windows are then treated as if they had no transients.
The StackTransientParent style augments RaiseTransient
and LowerTransient styles. Raising a window with
StackTransientParent style transfers the raise action to
the main window if the window being raised is a transient
and its main window has RaiseTransient style; this effect
makes raise on a transient act just like raise on its
main - the whole group is raised. Similar behavior holds
for lowering a whole group of transients when the main
has LowerTransient style. DontStackTransientParent turns
this behavior off. (Dont)StackTransientParent has no
effect if RaiseTransient and LowerTransient are not used.
A reasonable emulation of Motif raise/lower on transients
is possible like this
Style * RaiseTransient
Style * LowerTransient
Style * StackTransientParent
Extended Window Manager Hints styles
To understand the used terminology in this sub section,
please read the Extended Window Manager Hints section.
EWMHDonateIcon instructs fvwm to set the application ewmh
icon hint with the icon that is used by fvwm if the
application does not provide such hint (and if the icon
used by fvwm is not an icon window). EWMHDonateMiniIcon
does the same thing for mini icons. This allows
compliant pager, taskbar, iconbox ...etc to display the
same (mini) icons as fvwm. Note that on some hardware
(e.g., 8-bit displays) these styles can slow down window
mapping and that in general only one of these styles is
needed by a compliant application. EWMHDontDonateIcon
and EWMHDontDonateMiniIcon restore the defaults which are
to not set any ewmh (mini) icons hints.
By default, if an application provides an ewmh icon hint
of small size (i.e., height and width less than or equal
to 22), then fvwm uses this icon as its mini icon.
EWMHMiniIconOverride instructs fvwm to ignore ewmh icons
and to use the mini icon provided by the MiniIcon style.
EWMHNoMiniIconOverride restores the default.
EWMHUseStackingOrderHints causes fvwm to use EWMH hints
and respect EWMH hints which change the window layer.
EWMHIgnoreStackingOrderHints causes fvwm to ignore EWMH
layer hints.
An application can ask for some reserved space on the
desktop by a hint. In the EWMH terminology such a hint
is called a strut and it is used to compute the working
area and may be used for window placement and in the
maximize command. EWMHIgnoreStrutHints causes fvwm to
ignore such hints, as EWMHUseStrutHints, causes fvwm to
use it which is the default.
EWMHIgnoreStateHints causes fvwm to ignore initial EWMH
state hints when a new window is mapped. The default
EWMHUseStateHints causes fvwm to accept such hints.
EWMHIgnoreWindowType causes fvwm to ignore EWMH window
type specification. The default !EWMHIgnoreWindowType
causes fvwm to style windows of specified types as such.
EWMHMaximizeIgnoreWorkingArea causes fvwm to ignore the
EWMH working area when it executes a Maximize command.
With EWMHMaximizeUseWorkingArea the EWMH working area is
used as with EWMHMaximizeUseDynamicWorkingArea the EWMH
dynamic working area is used (the default).
EWMHPlacementIgnoreWorkingArea causes fvwm to ignore the
EWMH working area when it places (or places again) a
window. With EWMHPlacementUseWorkingArea the EWMH
working area is taken in account as with
EWMHPlacementUseDynamicWorkingArea the EWMH dynamic
working area is taken in account (the default). Note
that with the MinOverlapPlacement and
MinOverlapPercentPlacement placement policy, the way the
EWMH (dynamic) working area is taken in account is
configurable with the MinOverlapPlacementPenalties style.
Miscellaneous
The BackingStore, BackingStoreOff and
BackingStoreWindowDefault determine if the X server uses
backing store for the window or not. BackingStore means
that the X server tries to keep the obscured parts of a
window in memory. This is usually slower if the client
runs on the same machine as the X server, but can be much
faster if the connection is slow (see also SaveUnder
below). BackingStoreOff disables backing store for the
window. By default, fvwm does not enable or disable
backing store itself but leaves is as the window
requested it. To revert back to the application’s
choice, use the BackingStoreWindowDefault style.
Note: This style is useless if the X server does not
allow backing store.
SaveUnder enables the corresponding window attribute in
the X server. For a window using this style, the X
server tries to store the graphics below it in memory
which is usually slower if the client runs on the same
machine as the X server. SaveUnder may speed up fvwm if
the connection to the X server is slow (e.g. over a modem
link). To disable save under, use the SaveUnderOff
style. This is the default. See also BackingStore
above.
Note: This style is useless if the X server does not
allow save under.
ParentalRelativity enables clients that use a background
pixmap of type ParentRelative to achieve transparency.
Fvwm modules that support transparent colorsets require
this setting. Opacity is the default and should be used
for all non-transparent clients for better performance.
MwmDecor makes fvwm attempt to recognize and respect the
mwm decoration hints that applications occasionally use.
To switch this style off, use the NoDecorHint style.
MwmFunctions makes fvwm attempt to recognize and respect
the mwm prohibited operations hints that applications
occasionally use. HintOverride makes fvwm shade out
operations that mwm would prohibit, but it lets you
perform the operation anyway. NoFuncHint allows turns
off the mwm hints completely.
OLDecor makes fvwm attempt to recognize and respect the
olwm and olvwm hints that many older XView and OLIT
applications use. Switch this option off with NoOLDecor.
With GNOMEIgnoreHints fvwm ignores all GNOME hints for
the window, even if GNOME compliance is compiled in.
This is useful for those pesky applications that try to
be more clever than the user and use GNOME hints to force
the window manager to ignore the user’s preferences. The
GNOMEUseHints style switches back to the default
behavior.
UseDecor This style is deprecated and will be removed in
the future. There are plans to replace it with a more
flexible solution in fvwm-3.0.
UseDecor accepts one argument: the name of a decor
created with AddToDecor. If no decor name is specified,
the "Default" decor is used. Windows do not actually
contain decors, but are always assigned to one. If the
decor is later modified with AddToDecor, the changes are
visible for all windows which are assigned to it. The
decor for a window can be reassigned with ChangeDecor.
UseStyle This style is deprecated and will be removed in
the future. There are plans to replace it with a more
flexible solution in fvwm-3.0.
UseStyle takes one arg, which is the name of another
style. That way you can have unrelated window names
easily inherit similar traits without retyping. For
example:
Style rxvt UseStyle XTerm
Warning: If a style is built from one or more parent
styles and the parent styles are changed, the derived
style is not modified. To achieve this you have to issue
the UseStyle line again.
Unmanaged Windows with the Unmanaged style option are
ignored by fvwm. They are not decorated, can not be
moved or resized, etc. You probably want to use Bugopts
RaiseOverUnmanaged too. This option can be turned off
with the !Unmanaged style. However, windows that are
already ignored at the time when the option is set must
be recaptured with the Recapture command in order to
become managed.
State sets the initial value of one of the 32 user
defined states which are associated with each window.
The state number ranges from 0 to 31 and must be given as
an argument. The states have no meaning in fvwm, but
they can be checked in conditional commands like Next
with the State condition and manipulated with the State
command.
# turn on state 11 for xterms ...
Style xterm State 11
# ... but not for rxvts.
Style rxvt !State 11
Windows with the WindowListSkip styles do not appear in
the menu that is created with the WindowList command or
the lists shown in several modules like FvwmIconMan or
FvwmWinList. In the modules, the style can usually be
ignored with an option. Please refer to the man page of
the module in question for further information. To
disable this feature, use the default style
WindowListHit.
The styles CirculateSkip and CirculateHit control whether
the window is considered by conditional commands, for
example Next, Prev or All. Windows with CirculateSkip,
are never selected by conditional commands. However, the
styles can be overridden explicitly in the condition with
the CirculateHit, CirculateHitIcon or CirculateHitShaded
conditions, and some conditional commands, e.g. Current
and All, do this by default. The styles
CirculateSkipIcon, CirculateHitIcon, CirculateSkipShaded
and CirculateHitShaded work like CirculateSkip and
CirculateHit but apply only to iconic or shaded windows.
Note: if multiple ...Skip... options are combined,
windows are only selected if they match none of the given
conditions. So, with
Style * CirculateSkipIcon, CirculateSkipShaded
only windows that are neither iconic nor shaded are
selected. Note: For historical reasons, the conditional
commands understand the names of these styles as
condition names. Take care not to confuse them.
Examples
# Change default fvwm behavior to no title-
# bars on windows! Also define a default icon.
Style * !Title, \
Icon unknown1.xpm, \
BorderWidth 4, \
HandleWidth 5
# now, window specific changes:
Style Fvwm* !Handles, Sticky, \
WindowListSkip, \
BorderWidth 0
Style FvwmPager StaysOnTop, BorderWidth 0
Style *lock !Handles, Sticky, \
StaysOnTop, WindowListSkip
Style xbiff Sticky, WindowListSkip
Style FvwmButtons !Handles, Sticky, \
WindowListSkip
Style sxpm !Handles
# Put title-bars back on xterms only!
Style xterm Title, Color black/grey
Style rxvt Icon term.xpm
Style xterm Icon rterm.xpm
Style xcalc Icon xcalc.xpm
Style xbiff Icon mail1.xpm
Style xmh Icon mail1.xpm, \
StartsOnDesk 2
Style xman Icon xman.xpm
Style matlab Icon math4.xpm, \
StartsOnDesk 3
Style xmag Icon magnifying_glass2.xpm
Style xgraph Icon graphs.xpm
Style FvwmButtons Icon toolbox.xpm
Style Maker StartsOnDesk 1
Style signal StartsOnDesk 3
# Fire up Netscape on the second desk, in the
# middle of my 3x3 virtual desktop, and do not
# bother me with it...
Style Netscape* SkipMapping, \
StartsOnPage 1 1 1
Note that all properties for a window are or’ed together.
In the above example "FvwmPager" gets the property
StaysOnTop via an exact window name match but also gets
!Handles, Sticky and WindowListSkip by a match to
"Fvwm*". It gets !Title by virtue of a match to "*". If
conflicting styles are specified for a window, then the
last style specified is used.
WindowStyle options
sets attributes (styles) on the selected window. The options
are exactly the same as for the Style command.
Window Styles
AddButtonStyle button [state] [style] [-- [!]flag ...]
Adds a button style to button. button can be a button number,
or one of "All", "Left" or "Right". state can be "ActiveUp",
"ActiveDown", "InactiveUp" or "InactiveDown", or "Active" (the
same as both "ActiveUp" and "ActiveDown") or "Inactive" (the
same as both "InactiveUp" and "InactiveDown") or any of these 6
with "Toggled" prepended. The "Active" states apply to the
focused window, the "Inactive" ones apply to all other windows.
The "Up" states apply to the non pressed buttons, the "Down"
ones apply to pressed buttons. The "Toggled" prefix refers to
maximized, shaded or sticky windows that have the corresponding
MwmDecor... button style set. Additionally, the following
shortcuts may be used: "AllNormal", "AllToggled", "AllActive",
"AllInactive", "AllUp", "AllDown". They are actually different
masks for 4 individual states from 8 total. These are supported
too: "AllActiveUp", "AllActiveDown", "AllInactiveUp",
"AllInactiveDown".
If state is omitted, then the style is added to every state. If
the style and flags are enclosed in parentheses, then multiple
state definitions can be placed on a single line. Flags for
additional button styles cannot be changed after definition.
Buttons are drawn in the order of definition, beginning with the
most recent button style, followed by those added with
AddButtonStyle. To clear the button style stack, change style
flags, or for descriptions of available styles and flags, see
the ButtonStyle command. Examples:
ButtonStyle 1 Pixmap led.xpm -- Top Left
ButtonStyle 1 ActiveDown HGradient 8 grey black
ButtonStyle All -- UseTitleStyle
AddButtonStyle 1 \
ActiveUp (Pixmap a.xpm) \
ActiveDown (Pixmap b.xpm -- Top)
AddButtonStyle 1 Vector 4 50x30@1 70x70@0 30x70@0 50x30@1
Initially for this example all button states are set to a
pixmap. The second line replaces the "ActiveDown" state with a
gradient (it overrides the pixmap assigned to it in the line
before, which assigned the same style to every state). Then,
the UseTitleStyle flag is set for all buttons, which causes fvwm
to draw any styles set with TitleStyle before drawing the
buttons. Finally, AddButtonStyle is used to place additional
pixmaps for both "ActiveUp" and "ActiveDown" states and a vector
button style is drawn on top of all states.
AddTitleStyle [state] [style] [-- [!]flag ...]
Adds a title style to the title-bar. state can be "ActiveUp",
"ActiveDown", "InactiveUp" or "InactiveDown", or "Active" (the
same as both "ActiveUp" and "ActiveDown") or "Inactive" (the
same as both "InactiveUp" and "InactiveDown") or any of these 6
with "Toggled" prepended. If state is omitted, then the style
is added to every state. If the style and flags are enclosed in
parentheses, then multiple state definitions can be placed on a
single line. This command is quite similar to the
AddButtonStyle command.
Title-bars are drawn in the order of definition, beginning with
the most recent TitleStyle, followed by those added with
AddTitleStyle. To clear the title style stack, change style
flags, or for the descriptions of available styles and flags,
see the TitleStyle and ButtonStyle commands.
AddToDecor decor
This command is deprecated and will be removed in the future.
There are plans to replace it with a more flexible solution in
fvwm-3.0.
Add or divert commands to the decor named decor. A decor is a
name given to the set of commands which affect button styles,
title-bar styles and border styles. If decor does not exist it
is created; otherwise the existing decor is modified. Note:
Earlier versions allowed to use the HilightColor,
HilightColorset and WindowFont commands in decors. This is no
longer possible. Please use the Style command with the
Hilight... and Font options.
New decors start out exactly like the "default" decor without
any style definitions. A given decor may be applied to a set of
windows with the UseDecor option of the Style command.
Modifying an existing decor affects all windows which are
currently assigned to it.
AddToDecor is similar in usage to the AddToMenu and AddToFunc
commands, except that menus and functions are replaced by
ButtonStyle, AddButtonStyle, TitleStyle, AddTitleStyle and
BorderStyle commands. Decors created with AddToDecor can be
manipulated with ChangeDecor, DestroyDecor, UpdateDecor and the
Style option.
The following example creates a decor "FlatDecor" and style
"FlatStyle". They are distinct entities:
AddToDecor FlatDecor
+ ButtonStyle All Active (-- flat) Inactive (-- flat)
+ TitleStyle -- flat
+ BorderStyle -- HiddenHandles NoInset
Style FlatStyle \
UseDecor FlatDecor, HandleWidth 4, ForeColor white, \
BackColor grey40, HilightFore black, HilightBack grey70
Style xterm UseStyle FlatStyle
An existing window’s decor may be reassigned with ChangeDecor.
A decor can be destroyed with DestroyDecor.
DestroyDecor FlatDecor
AddToDecor FlatDecor ...
Style FlatStyle UseDecor FlatDecor
and now apply the style again:
Style xterm UseStyle FlatStyle
BorderStyle state [style] [-- [!]flag ...]
Defines a border style for windows. state can be either
"Active" or "Inactive". If state is omitted, then the style is
set for both states. If the style and flags are enclosed in
parentheses, then multiple state definitions can be specified
per line.
style is a subset of the available button styles, and can only
be TiledPixmap (uniform pixmaps which match the bevel colors
work best this way) or Colorset. If a ’!’ is prefixed to any
flag, the behavior is negated. If style is not specified, then
one can change flags without resetting the style.
The HiddenHandles flag hides the corner handle dividing lines on
windows with handles (this option has no effect for !Handles
windows). By default, HiddenHandles is disabled.
The NoInset flag supplements HiddenHandles. If given, the inner
bevel around the window frame is not drawn. If HiddenHandles is
not specified, the frame looks a little strange.
Raised causes a raised relief pattern to be drawn (default).
Sunk causes a sunken relief pattern to be drawn. Flat inhibits
the relief pattern from being drawn.
To decorate the active and inactive window borders with a
textured pixmap, one might specify:
BorderStyle Active TiledPixmap marble.xpm
BorderStyle Inactive TiledPixmap granite.xpm
BorderStyle Active -- HiddenHandles NoInset
To clear the style for both states:
BorderStyle Simple
To clear for a single state:
BorderStyle Active Simple
To unset a flag for a given state:
BorderStyle Inactive -- !NoInset
title-bar buttons can inherit the border style with the
UseBorderStyle flag (see ButtonStyle).
ButtonState [ActiveDown bool] [Inactive bool] [InactiveDown bool]
The ButtonState command controls which states of the window
titles and title buttons are used. The default is to use all
four states: "ActiveUp>", "ActiveDown>", "InactiveUp>" and
"InactiveDown>" (see ButtonStyle and TitleStyle commands). The
bool argument after the key word controls if the designated
state is used ("True") or not ("False"). The "ActiveUp" state
cannot be deactivated. If no arguments are provided or the
given arguments are illegal, the default is restored.
If ActiveDown argument is "False", no different button style for
the pressed down buttons used, instead "ActiveUp" state is used
even when button is pressed.
If Inactive argument is "False", focused and unfocused windows
look similarly, the corresponding "Active" states are always
used.
If InactiveDown argument is "False" (only applied when Inactive
is "True"), the pressed titles and title buttons in non-focused
windows are drawn using "InactiveUp" or "ActiveUp" states
depending on the values of the other key words.
ButtonStyle button [state] [style] [-- [!]flag ...]
Sets the button style for a title-bar button. button is the
title-bar button number between 0 and 9, or one of "All",
"Left", "Right", or "Reset". Button numbering is described in
the Mouse command section. If the style and flags are enclosed
in parentheses, then multiple state definitions can be specified
per line.
state refers to which button state should be set. Button states
are defined as follows: "ActiveUp" and "ActiveDown" refer to the
un-pressed and pressed states for buttons on active windows;
while the "InactiveUp" and "InactiveDown" states denote buttons
on inactive windows. The shortcut "Active" denotes both
"ActiveUp" and "ActiveDown" states. Shortcut "Inactive" denotes
both "InactiveUp" and "InactiveDown" states. The similar state
names like just described, but with the "Toggled" prefix are
used instead for title buttons which have one of the
MwmDecorMax, MwmDecorShade, MwmDecorStick or MwmDecorLayer
hints, if the window is maximized, shaded, sticky or placed on
specific layer, respectively.
AddToDecor Default
+ ButtonStyle 6 \
Vector 4 50x25@1 85x75@0 15x75@0 50x25@1
+ ButtonStyle 6 ToggledActiveUp \
Vector 4 50x75@0 85x25@1 15x25@0 50x75@0
+ ButtonStyle 6 ToggledActiveDown \
Vector 4 50x75@0 85x25@1 15x25@0 50x75@0
+ ButtonStyle 6 ToggledInactive \
Vector 4 50x75@0 85x25@1 15x25@0 50x75@0
+ ButtonStyle 6 - MwmDecorShade
Mouse 0 6 N WindowShade
Additionally, the following shortcuts may be used: "AllNormal",
"AllToggled", "AllActive", "AllInactive", "AllUp", "AllDown".
They are actually different masks for 4 individual states from 8
total. These are supported too: "AllActiveUp", "AllActiveDown",
"AllInactiveUp", "AllInactiveDown".
If state is specified, that particular button state is set. If
state is omitted, every state is set. Specifying a style
destroys the current style (use AddButtonStyle to avoid this).
If style is omitted, then state-dependent flags can be set for
the primary button style without destroying the current style.
Examples (each line should be considered independent):
ButtonStyle Left -- flat
ButtonStyle All ActiveUp (-- flat) Inactive (-- flat)
The first line sets every state of the left buttons to flat,
while the second sets only the "ActiveUp" and "Inactive" states
of every button to flat (only flags are changed; the buttons’
individual styles are not changed).
If you want to reset all buttons to their defaults:
ButtonStyle Reset
To reset the "ActiveUp" button state of button 1 to the default:
ButtonStyle 1 ActiveUp Default
To reset all button states of button 1 to the default of button
number 2:
ButtonStyle 1 Default 2
For any button, multiple state definitions can be given on one
line by enclosing the style and flags in parentheses. If only
one definition per line is given the parentheses can be omitted.
flags affect the specified state. If a ’!’ is prefixed to any
flag, its behavior is negated. The available state-dependent
flags for all styles are described here (the ButtonStyle entry
deals with state-independent flags).
Raised causes a raised relief pattern to be drawn.
Sunk causes a sunken relief pattern to be drawn.
Flat inhibits the relief pattern from being drawn.
UseTitleStyle causes the given button state to render the
current title style before rendering the buttons’ own styles.
The Raised, Flat and Sunk TitleStyle flags are ignored since
they are redundant in this context.
UseBorderStyle causes the button to inherit the decorated
BorderStyle options.
Raised, Sunk and Flat are mutually exclusive, and can be
specified for the initial ButtonStyle only. UseTitleStyle and
UseBorderStyle are also mutually exclusive (both can be off
however). The default is Raised with both UseBorderStyle and
UseTitleStyle left unset.
Important
for the "ActiveDown" and "InactiveDown" states: When a button
is pressed, the relief is inverted. Because of this, to obtain
the raised look in "ActiveDown" or "InactiveDown" states you
must specify the opposite of the desired relief (i.e. Sunk for
"ActiveDown" or "InactiveDown"). This behavior is consistent,
but may seem confusing at first. The same applies to the
"Toggled" states.
Button styles are classified as non-destructive, partially
destructive, or fully destructive. Non-destructive styles do
not affect the image. Partially destructive styles can obscure
some or all parts of the underlying image (i.e. Pixmap). Fully
destructive styles obscure the entire underlying image (i.e.
Solid or one of the gradient styles). Thus, if stacking styles
with AddButtonStyle (or AddTitleStyle for title-bars), use care
in sequencing styles to minimize redraw.
The available styles are:
Simple, Default, Solid, Colorset, Vector, ?Gradient, Pixmap,
AdjustedPixmap, ShrunkPixmap, StretchedPixmap, TiledPixmap,
MiniIcon
The description of these styles and their arguments follow:
The Simple style does nothing. There are no arguments, and this
style is an example of a non-destructive button style.
The Default style conditionally accepts one argument: a number
which specifies the default button number to load. If the style
command given is ButtonStyle or AddButtonStyle, the argument is
optional (if given, it overrides the current button). If a
command other than ButtonStyle or AddButtonStyle is used, the
number must be specified.
The Solid style fills the button with a solid color. The relief
border color is not affected. The color is specified as a
single argument. This style is fully destructive.
The Colorset cs [alpha] style fills the button with the Colorset
cs. The optional alpha argument is a percentage between 0 and
100. It causes fvwm to merge the colorset background onto the
button using this percentage. If the percentage is 0 the
colorset background is hidden and if it is 100 the colorset
background is fully applied. The default is 100. So, the
destructiveness depends on the alpha argument.
The Vector num X[offsetp]xY[offsetp]@C ... style draws a line
pattern. Since this is a standard button style, the keyword
Vector is optional, num is a number of point specifications of
the form X[offsetp]xY[offsetp]@C ... X and Y are point
coordinates inside the button, given in percents (from 0 to
100). An optional absolute offset in pixels, can be given as
"+<offset>p" for a positive or "-<offset>p" for a negative
offset.
C specifies a line color (0 - the shadow color, 1 - the
highlight color, 2 - the background color, 3 - the foreground
color, 4 - only move the point, do not draw). The first point
color is not used. You can use up to 10000 points in a line
pattern. This style is partially destructive.
The specification is a little cumbersome:
ButtonStyle 2 Vector 4 50x30@1 70x70@0 30x70@0 50x30@1
then the button 2 decoration uses a 4-point pattern consisting
of a line from (x=50,y=30) to (70,70) in the shadow color (@0),
and then to (30,70) in the shadow color, and finally to (50,30)
in the highlight color (@1). Is that too confusing? See the
fvwm web pages for some examples with screenshots.
A more complex example of Vector:
ButtonStyle 8 Vector 10 45x65@2 45x75@3 \
20x75@3 20x50@3 35x50@3 35x65@1 35x25@1 \
75x25@1 75x65@0 35x65@0
ButtonStyle 0 Vector 10 45x65@2 45x75@0 \
20x75@0 20x50@1 45x50@1 45x65@0 75x65@3 \
75x25@3 35x25@3 35x47@3
The ?Gradient styles denote color gradients. Fill in the
question mark with any one of the defined gradient types.
Please refer to the Color Gradients section for a description of
the gradient syntax. The gradient styles are fully destructive.
The Pixmap style displays a pixmap. A pixmap should be
specified as an argument. For example, the following would give
button number 2 the same pixmap for all 4 states (2 active and 2
inactive), and button number 4 all different pixmaps.
ButtonStyle 2 Pixmap my_pixmap.xpm
ButtonStyle 4 \
ActiveUp (Pixmap activeup.xpm) \
ActiveDown (Pixmap activedown.xpm) \
Inactive (Pixmap inactiveup.xpm)
ButtonStyle 4 \
InactiveDown Pixmap inactivedown.xpm
The pixmap specification can be given as an absolute or relative
pathname (see ImagePath). If the pixmap cannot be found, the
button style reverts to Simple. Flags specific to the Pixmap
style are Left, Right, Top, and Bottom. These can be used to
justify the pixmap (default is centered for both directions).
Pixmap transparency is used for the color "None." This style is
partially destructive.
The AdjustedPixmap style is similar to the Pixmap style. But
the image is resized to exactly fit the button.
The ShrunkPixmap style is similar to the Pixmap style. But if
the image is bigger than the button the image is resized to fit
into the button.
The StretchedPixmap style is similar to the Pixmap style. But
if the image is smaller than the button the image is resized to
cover the button.
The TiledPixmap style accepts a pixmap to be tiled as the button
background. One pixmap is specified as an argument. Pixmap
transparency is not used. This style is fully destructive.
The MiniIcon style draws the window’s miniature icon in the
button, which is specified with the MiniIcon option of the Style
command. This button style accepts no arguments. Example:
Style * MiniIcon mini-bx2.xpm
Style xterm MiniIcon mini-term.xpm
Style Emacs MiniIcon mini-doc.xpm
ButtonStyle 1 MiniIcon
ButtonStyle button - [!]flag ...
Sets state-independent flags for the specified button.
State-independent flags affect button behavior. Each flag is
separated by a space. If a ’!’ is prefixed to the flag then
the behavior is negated. The special flag Clear clears any
existing flags.
The following flags are usually used to tell fvwm which buttons
should be affected by mwm function hints (see MwmFunctions
option of the Style command. This is not done automatically
since you might have buttons bound to complex functions, for
instance.
MwmDecorMenu should be assigned to title-bar buttons which
display a menu. The default assignment is the leftmost button.
When a window with the MwmFunctions Style option requests not to
show this button, it is hidden.
MwmDecorMin should be assigned to title-bar buttons which
minimize or iconify the window. The default assignment is the
second button over from the rightmost button. When a window
with the MwmFunctions Style option requests not to show this
button, it is hidden.
MwmDecorMax should be assigned to title-bar buttons which
maximize the window. The default assignment is the rightmost
button. When a window with the MwmFunctions Style option
requests not to show this button, it is hidden. When the window
is maximized, the vector pattern on the button looks pressed in.
MwmDecorShade should be assigned to title-bar buttons which
shade the window (see WindowShade command). When the window is
shaded, the vector pattern on the button looks pressed in.
MwmDecorStick should be assigned to title-bar buttons which make
the window sticky. When the window is sticky, the vector
pattern on the button looks pressed in.
The flag MwmDecorLayer layer should be assigned to title-bar
buttons which place the window in the layer numbered layer.
When the window is on that specific layer, the vector pattern on
the button looks pressed in.
ChangeDecor decor
This command is deprecated and will be removed in the future.
There are plans to replace it with a more flexible solution in
fvwm-3.0.
Changes the decor of a window to decor. decor is "Default" or
the name of a decor defined with AddToDecor. If decor is
invalid, nothing occurs. If called from somewhere in a window
or its border, then that window is affected. If called from the
root window the user is allowed to select the target window.
ChangeDecor only affects attributes which can be set using the
AddToDecor command.
ChangeDecor CustomDecor1
DestroyDecor [recreate] decor
This command is deprecated and will be removed in the future.
There are plans to replace it with a more flexible solution in
fvwm-3.0.
Deletes the decor defined with AddToDecor, so that subsequent
references to it are no longer valid. Windows using this decor
revert to the "Default" decor. The optional parameter recreate
tells fvwm not to throw away the decor completely but to throw
away only its contents. If the decor is created again later,
windows do not use it before the UseDecor style is applied again
unless the decor was destroyed with the recreate option. The
decor named "Default" cannot be destroyed.
DestroyDecor CustomDecor1
TitleStyle [justification] [Height [num]] [MinHeight [num]]
Sets attributes for the title-bar. Justifications can be
Centered, RightJustified or LeftJustified. Height sets the
title bar’s height to an amount in pixels. MinHeight sets the
minimal height in pixels of the title bar. Defaults are
Centered, the window’s font height and no minimal height. To
reset the font height to the default value, omit the num
argument after the Height keyword. The MinHeight height is
reseted by Height or if given with no argument. Example:
TitleStyle LeftJustified Height 24
TitleStyle [state] [style] [-- [!]flag ...]
Sets the style for the title-bar. See also AddTitleStyle and
ButtonStyle state can be one of "ActiveUp", "ActiveDown",
"InactiveUp", or "InactiveDown". Shortcuts like "Active" and
"Inactive" are allowed. The states with the "Toggled" prefix
are allowed too, the title itself does not use "Toggled" states,
but these states are used for the buttons with ButtonStyle
UseTitleStyle. If state is omitted, then the style is added to
every state. If parentheses are placed around the style and
flags, then multiple state definitions can be given per line.
style can be omitted so that flags can be set while not
destroying the current style.
If a ’!’ is prefixed to any flag, its behavior is negated.
Valid flags for each state include Raised, Flat and Sunk (these
are mutually exclusive). The default is Raised. See the note
in ButtonStyle regarding the "ActiveDown" state. Examples:
TitleStyle ActiveUp HGradient 16 navy black
TitleStyle \
ActiveDown (Solid red -- flat) \
Inactive (TiledPixmap wood.xpm)
TitleStyle \
ActiveUp (-- Flat) \
ActiveDown (-- Raised) \
InactiveUp (-- Flat) \
InactiveDown (-- Sunk)
This sets the "ActiveUp" state to a horizontal gradient, the
"ActiveDown" state to solid red, and the "Inactive" states to a
tiled wood pixmap. Finally, "ActiveUp" and "InactiveUp" are set
to look flat, while "ActiveDown" set to be sunk (the Raised flag
for the "ActiveDown" state causes it to appear sunk due to
relief inversion), and "InactiveDown" is set to look raised. An
example which sets flags for all states:
TitleStyle -- flat
For a flattened look:
TitleStyle -- flat
ButtonStyle All Active (-- flat) Inactive (-- flat)
TitleStyle accepts all the ButtonStyle styles and arguments:
Simple, Default, Solid, Colorset, Vector, ?Gradient, Pixmap,
AdjustedPixmap, ShrunkPixmap, StretchedPixmap, TiledPixmap,
MiniIcon.
See the ButtonStyle command for a description of all these
styles and their arguments.
In addition to these styles TitleStyle accepts a powerful
MultiPixmap option. This allows you to specify different
pixmaps, colorsets or colors for different parts of the
titlebar. Some of them are tiled or stretched to fit a
particular space; others are discrete "transition" images. The
definable sections are:
Main
The full titlebar
LeftMain
Left of title text
RightMain
Right of title text
UnderText
Underneath title text
LeftOfText
just to the left of the title text
RightOfText
just to the right of the title text
LeftEnd
at the far left end of the titlebar (just after left buttons
if any)
RightEnd
at the far right end of the titlebar (just before right
buttons if any)
Buttons
under buttons in case of UseTitleStyle
LeftButtons
under left buttons in case of UseTitleStyle
RightButtons
under right buttons in case of UseTitleStyle
None of these are mandatory except for Main (or, if you do not
define Main you must define both LeftMain and RightMain). If no
Buttons pixmaps are defined and UseTitleStyle is specified for
one or more buttons, Main, LeftMain or RightMain are used as
appropriate.
The syntax for this style type is:
MultiPixmap section style arg, ...
continuing for whatever you want to define. The style can be
either TiledPixmap, AdjustedPixmap, Colorset or Solid. See the
ButtonStyle command for the description of these styles. In the
case of a transition section, LeftEnd, LeftOfText, RightOfText
or RightEnd, AdjustedPixmap only resize the pixmap in the "y"
direction. For the Colorset and Solid styles a width of the
half of the title bar height is assumed for the transition
sections.
An example:
MultiPixmap Main AdjustedPixmap foo.xpm, \
UnderText TiledPixmap bar.xpm, \
Buttons Colorset 2
Note that the old syntax is still supported: if the style is
omitted, TiledPixmap is assumed and adding "(stretched)" between
the section and the file name implies AdjustedPixmap.
UpdateDecor [decor]
This command is deprecated and will be removed in the future.
There are plans to replace it with a more flexible solution in
fvwm-3.0.
This command is kept mainly for backward compatibility. Since
all elements of a decor are updated immediately when they are
changed, this command is mostly useless.
Updates window decorations. decor is an optional argument which
specifies the decor to update. If given, only windows which are
assigned to that particular decor are updated. This command is
useful, for instance, after a ButtonStyle, TitleStyle or
BorderStyle (possibly used in conjunction with AddToDecor).
Specifying an invalid decor results in all windows being
updated. This command is less disturbing than Recapture, but
does not affect window style options as Recapture does.
Controlling the Virtual Desktop
Desk arg1 [arg2] [min max]
This command has been renamed. Please see GotoDesk command.
DesktopName desk name
Defines the name of the desktop number desk to name. This name
is used in the WindowList command and in the FvwmPager where it
override the Label configuration option. Moreover, if
consecutive names starting from desktop 0 are defined, then
these names can be used by any EWMH compliant application (as a
pager).
DesktopSize HorizontalxVertical
Defines the virtual desktop size in units of the physical screen
size.
EdgeResistance delayEdgeResistance scrolling moving
[xinerama-scrolling]
Tells how hard it should be to change the desktop viewport by
moving the mouse over the edge of the screen. The parameter
tells how many milliseconds the pointer must spend on the screen
edge before fvwm moves the viewport. This is intended for
people who use
EdgeScroll 100 100
but find themselves accidentally flipping pages when they do not
want to. If -1 is given as the delay, scrolling is disabled
completely.
The second form of invocation with two or three arguments is
obsolete and should be replaced with the following three
commands as needed:
EdgeResistance scrolling
Style * EdgeMoveDelay scrolling
Style * EdgeMoveResistance moving
or
Style * EdgeMoveResistance moving xinerama-scrolling
Fvwm does this substitution automatically and prints a warning.
EdgeScroll horizontal[p] vertical[p] [wrap | wrapx | wrapy]
Specifies the percentage of a page to scroll when the cursor
hits the edge of a page. A trailing ’p’ changes the
interpretation to mean pixels. If you do not want any paging or
scrolling when you hit the edge of a page include
EdgeScroll 0 0
in your config file, or possibly better, set the EdgeThickness
to zero. See the EdgeThickness command. If you want whole
pages, use
EdgeScroll 100 100
Both horizontal and vertical should be positive numbers.
If the horizontal and vertical percentages are multiplied by
1000 or one of the keywords wrap, wrapx and wrapy is given then
scrolling wraps around at the edge of the desktop. If
EdgeScroll 100000 100000
is used fvwm scrolls by whole pages, wrapping around at the edge
of the desktop.
EdgeThickness 0 | 1 | 2
This is the width or height of the invisible window that fvwm
creates on the edges of the screen that are used for the edge
scrolling feature.
In order to enable page scrolling via the mouse, four windows
called the "pan frames" are placed at the very edge of the
screen. This is how fvwm detects the mouse’s presence at the
window edge. Because of the way this works, they need to be at
the top of the stack and eat mouse events, so if you have any
kind of error along the lines of: "mouse clicks at the edge of
the screen do the wrong thing" you’re having trouble with the
pan frames and (assuming you do not use the mouse to flip
between pages) should set the EdgeThickness to 0.
A value of 0 completely disables mouse edge scrolling, even
while dragging a window. 1 gives the smallest pan frames, which
seem to work best except on some servers.
2 is the default.
Pan frames of 1 or 2 pixels can sometimes be confusing, for
example, if you drag a window over the edge of the screen, so
that it straddles a pan frame, clicks on the window, near the
edge of the screen are treated as clicks on the root window.
EwmhBaseStruts left right top bottom
Where left, right, top and bottom are positive or null integers
which define bands at the edge of the screen. left defines a
band on the left of your screen of width left, right defines a
band on the right of your screen of width right, top defines a
band on the top of your screen of height top and bottom defines
a band on the bottom of your screen of height bottom. The unit
is the pixel and the default is 0 0 0 0. These areas define
additional reserved space to the reserved space defined by some
ewmh compliant applications. This is used to compute the
Working Area. See the Extended Window Manager Hints section for
a definition of the Working Area.
EwmhNumberOfDesktops num [max]
This command is useful only for an ewmh compliant pager or
taskbar (as kpager or kicker taskbar) and not for fvwm modules (
FvwmPager or FvwmIconMan). It causes a compliant application to
consider at least num desktops (desktop 0 to desktop num-1).
The optional argument max causes a compliant application to
never consider more than max desktops. If max is 0 (the
default) there is no limitation. The actual number of desktops
is determined dynamically. It is at least num, but it can be d
if there is a window on desktop d-1 (or if the current desktop
is desktop d-1) and d is less or equal to max or max is null.
Moreover, a compliant pager can ask to change num itself. This
is accepted by fvwm only if this number is less than or equal to
max or if max is null. Note that negative desktops are not
supported by the ewmh specification. The default is 4 0.
GotoDesk [prev | arg1 [arg2] [min max]]
Switches the current viewport to another desktop (workspace,
room).
The command takes 1, 2, 3, or 4 arguments. A single argument is
interpreted as a relative desk number. Two arguments are
understood as a relative and an absolute desk number. Three
arguments specify a relative desk and the minimum and maximum of
the allowable range. Four arguments specify the relative,
absolute, minimum and maximum values. (Desktop numbers can be
negative). If a literal prev is given as the single argument,
the last visited desk number is used.
If arg1 is non zero then the next desktop number is the current
desktop number plus arg1.
If arg1 is zero then the new desktop number is arg2. (If arg2
is not present, then the command has no effect.)
If min and max are given, the new desktop number is no smaller
than min and no bigger than max. Values out of this range are
truncated (if you gave an absolute desk number) or wrapped
around (if you gave a relative desk number).
The syntax is the same as for MoveToDesk, which moves a window
to a different desktop.
The number of active desktops is determined dynamically. Only
desktops which contain windows or are currently being displayed
are active. Desktop numbers must be between 2147483647 and
-2147483648 (is that enough?).
GotoDeskAndPage prev | desk xpage ypage
Switches the current viewport to another desktop and page,
similar to the GotoDesk and GotoPage commands. The new desk is
desk and the new page is (xpage,ypage).
GotoPage prev | [options] x[p] y[p]
Moves the desktop viewport to page (x,y). The upper left page
is (0,0), the upper right is (M,0), where M is one less than the
current number of horizontal pages specified in the DesktopSize
command. The lower left page is (0,N), and the lower right page
is (M,N), where N is the desktop’s vertical size as specified in
the DesktopSize command. To switch to a page relative to the
current one add a trailing ’p’ after any or both numerical
arguments.
Possible options are wrapx and wrapy to wrap around the x or y
coordinate when the viewport is moved beyond the border of the
desktop.
To go to the last visited page use prev as the first argument.
The GotoPage function should not be used in a pop-up menu.
Examples:
# Go to page (2,3)
GotoPage 2 3
# Go to lowest and rightmost page
GotoPage -1 -1
# Go to last page visited
GotoPage prev
# Go two pages to the right and one page up
GotoPage +2p -1p
Scroll [horizonal[p] vertical[p] | reverse]
Scrolls the virtual desktop’s viewport by horizontal pages in
the x-direction and vertical pages in the y-direction or starts
interactive scrolling of the viewport. Either or both entries
may be negative. Both horizontal and vertical values are
expressed in percent of pages, so
Scroll 100 100
means to scroll down and right by one full page.
Scroll 50 25
means to scroll right half a page and down a quarter of a page.
The Scroll function should not be called from pop-up menus.
Normally, scrolling stops at the edge of the desktop.
If the horizontal and vertical percentages are 100 or more and
are multiplied by 1000 then scrolling wraps around at the edge
of the desktop. If
Scroll 100000 0
is executed over and over fvwm moves to the next desktop page on
each execution and wraps around at the edge of the desktop, so
that every page is hit in turn.
If the letter ’p’ is appended to each coordinate (horizontal
and/or vertical), then the scroll amount is measured in pixels.
Without arguments or if the option reverse is given interactive
scrolling takes place. The viewport scrolls as the mouse is
moved. With the reverse option scrolling is done in opposite
direction of the mouse movement, and without it scrolling in the
same direction as the mouse.
The binding
Mouse 1 A CM Scroll reverse
gives an effect of grabbing and dragging the viewport with
button 1 if Control and Meta is pressed.
Xinerama [bool]
Enables Xinerama support if the boolean argument is true and
disables it if the argument is false. Calling this command
without arguments turns on Xinerama support if it was disabled
before and turns it off if it was enabled. For example:
# Turn Xinerama support on, use primary screen 2
XineramaPrimaryScreen 2
Xinerama on
# Turn it off again
Xinerama off
XineramaPrimaryScreen [primary-screen]
Takes an integer number or ’g’ or ’c’ as its argument. A number
is taken as the number of the Xinerama screen that is to be used
as the primary screen. The primary screen can be used as the
preferred screen to place windows with
XineramaPrimaryScreen <screen number>
Style * StartsOnScreen p
The primary screen is used in some of the modules and for the
default icon box too. Any number that is zero or more is taken
as the primary screen’s number. Instead, the letter ’c’
indicates to use the current screen (containing the pointer)
whenever the primary screen is used. This may be very confusing
under some circumstances. With ’g’, the global screen is used
as the primary screen, effectively disabling the primary screen.
Calling this function with any other argument (including none)
resets the primary screen to 0.
XineramaSls [bool]
For multi-screen implementations other than Xinerama, such as
Single Logical Screen, it is possible to simulate a Xinerama
configuration if the total screen seen by fvwm is made up of
equal sized monitors in a rectangular grid. The XineramaSls
command turns SLS support on or off or toggles it to the
opposite state, depending on if the boolean argument is "True",
"False" or "toggle". If no argument is given, this is treated
like "toggle". The default layout uses one by one screens. To
configure the layout, use the XineramaSlsSize or
XineramaSlsScreens command.
XineramaSlsSize Horizontal Vertical
This command configures the layout of the Single Logical screen
feature. It takes two arguments, Horizontal and Vertical which
must be an integer value dividing evenly into the total desktop
width, and height. For an example with two monitors side by
side which appear as one screen through the X-Server with the
right screen as the primary screen, use:
XineramaSlsSize 2x1
XineramaSls On
XineramaPrimaryScreen 1
Xinerama On
XineramaSlsScreens number-of-screens [screen-spec ...]
This command configures the layout of the Single Logical screen
feature. Its first argument is the number of screens to use.
It must be followed by exactly this number of screen-spec
arguments. Each of these can be written either in standard X
geometry format: "<width>x<height>+<x>+<y>" or as a space
separated list of numbers: "x y width height". Both ways of
describing screens can be mixed in a single command. All four
numbers must be supplied. The x and y values specify the origin
of the screen in relation to the global screen’s origin while
width and height specify the size of the screen in pixels. No
checks are done if the geometries make sense, so it is possible
to define overlapping screens (with random results) or screens
that are not visible at all.
XineramaSlsScreens 3 \
512x768+0+0 512x300+512+0 512 300 512 468
XineramaSls On
XineramaPrimaryScreen 1
Xinerama On
User Functions and Shell Commands
AddToFunc [name [I | M | C | H | D action]]
Begins or adds to a function definition. Here is an example:
AddToFunc Move-or-Raise I Raise
+ M Move
+ D Lower
The function name is "Move-or-Raise", and it could be invoked
from a menu or a mouse binding or key binding:
Mouse 1 TS A Move-or-Raise
The name must not contain embedded whitespace. No guarantees
are made whether function names with embedded whitespace work or
not. This behavior may also change in the future without
further notice. The letter before the action tells what kind of
action triggers the command which follows it. ’I’ stands for
"Immediate", and is executed as soon as the function is invoked.
’M’ stands for "Motion", i.e. if the user starts moving the
mouse. ’C’ stands for "Click", i.e., if the user presses and
releases the mouse button. ’H’ stands for "Hold", i.e. if the
user presses a mouse button and holds it down for more than
ClickTime milliseconds. ’D’ stands for "Double-click". The
action ’I’ causes an action to be performed on the button-press,
if the function is invoked with prior knowledge of which window
to act on.
There is a number of predefined symbols that are replaced by
certain values if they appear on the command line. Please refer
to the Command Expansion section for details.
Warning
Please read the comments on executing complex functions in the
section Scripting and Complex Functions.
Examples:
If you call
Key F10 R A Function MailFunction xmh "-font fixed"
and "MailFunction" is
AddToFunc MailFunction
+ I Next ($0) Iconify off
+ I Next (AcceptsFocus, $0) Focus
+ I None ($0) Exec exec $0 $1
Then the last line of the function becomes
+ I None (xmh) Exec exec xmh -font fixed
The expansion is performed as the function is executed, so you
can use the same function with all sorts of different arguments.
You could use
Key F11 R A Function MailFunction zmail "-bg pink"
in the same config, if you wanted. An example of using
"$[w.id]" is:
AddToFunc PrintFunction
+ I Raise
+ I Exec xdpr -id $[w.id]
Note that "$$" is expanded to ’$’.
Another example: bind right mouse button within the window
button number 6 (this is a minimize button for the win95 theme)
to iconify all windows of the same resource:
AddToFunc FuncIconifySameResource "I" All ($0) Iconify on
Mouse 3 6 A FuncIconifySameResource $[w.resource]
Beep
As might be expected, this makes the terminal beep.
DestroyFunc function
Deletes a function, so that subsequent references to it are no
longer valid. You can use this to change the contents of a
function during a fvwm session. The function can be rebuilt
using AddToFunc.
DestroyFunc PrintFunction
Echo string
Prints a message to stderr. Potentially useful for debugging
things in your config.
Echo Beginning style definitions...
EchoFuncDefinition function
The EchoFuncDefinition is similar to the Echo command but prints
the definition for the given function to stderr. It is useful
to find out how fvwm handles quoting and for debugging functions
Exec command
Executes command. You should not use an ampersand ’&’ at the
end of the command. You probably want to use an additional
"exec" at the beginning of command. Without that, the shell
that fvwm invokes to run your command stays until the command
exits. In effect, you’ll have twice as many processes running
as you need. Note that some shells are smart enough to avoid
this, but it never hurts to include the "exec" anyway.
The following example binds function key F1 in the root window,
with no modifiers, to the exec function. The program rxvt is
started with an assortment of options.
Key F1 R N Exec exec rxvt -fg yellow -bg blue \
-e /bin/tcsh
Note that this function doesn’t wait for command to complete, so
things like:
Exec "echo AddToMenu ... > /tmp/file"
Read /tmp/file
do not work reliably (see the PipeRead command).
ExecUseShell [shell]
Makes the Exec command use the specified shell, or the value of
the $SHELL environment variable if no shell is specified,
instead of the default Bourne shell (/bin/sh).
ExecUseShell
ExecUseShell /usr/local/bin/tcsh
Function FunctionName
Used to bind a previously defined function to a key or mouse
button. The following example binds mouse button 1 to a
function called "Move-or-Raise", whose definition was provided
as an example earlier in this man page. After performing this
binding fvwm executes the "move-or-raise" function whenever
button 1 is pressed in a window’s title-bar.
Mouse 1 T A Function Move-or-Raise
The keyword Function may be omitted if FunctionName does not
coincide with an fvwm command.
Warning: Please read the comments on executing complex functions
in the section Scripting and Complex Functions.
Nop
Does nothing. This is used to insert a blank line or separator
in a menu. If the menu item specification is
AddToMenu MyMenu " " Nop
then a blank line is inserted. If it looks like
+ "" Nop
then a separator line is inserted. Can also be used as the
double-click action for Menu or Popup.
PipeRead command [quiet]
Causes fvwm to read commands from the output of the command.
This command is executed by /bin/sh as if you typed it on the
command line. If the command consists of more than one word it
must be quoted. Useful for building up dynamic menu entries
based on a directories contents, for example. If the keyword
Quiet follows the command no message is produced if the command
is not found.
Example:
AddToMenu HomeDirMenu
PipeRead ’for i in $HOME/*; \
do echo "+ $i Exec xterm -e vi $i"; done’
Note: The PipeRead changes the pointer to a watch cursor by
default during execution. However, some commands, for example
xwd, need to take control of the pointer themselves and do not
work. To disable the watch cursor, use the command prior to
PipeRead
BusyCursor Read off
The PipeRead command executes synchronously. If you want to
Exec something, but need the command to run synchronously, you
might do something like:
PipeRead ’command 1>&2’
The redirection causes any output from the program to go to
stderr instead of being read as a sequence of commands by fvwm.
PipeRead returns 1 if the given command could be executed or -1
if not (see the section Conditional Commands for the meaning of
return codes).
Read filename [quiet]
Causes fvwm to read commands from the file named filename. If
the keyword Quiet follows the command no message is produced if
the file is not found. If the file name does not begin with a
slash (’/’), fvwm looks in the user’s data directory, then the
system data directory. The user’s data directory is by default
$HOME/.fvwm. It can be overridden by exporting FVWM_USERDIR set
to any other directory. The Read command returns 1 if the given
file could be read or -1 if not (see the section Conditional
Commands for the meaning of return codes).
SetEnv variable value
Set an environment variable to a new value, similar to the
shell’s export or setenv command. The variable and its value
are inherited by processes started directly by fvwm. This can
be especially useful in conjunction with the FvwmM4 module. For
example:
SetEnv height HEIGHT
makes the FvwmM4 set variable HEIGHT usable by processes started
by fvwm as the environment variable $height. If value includes
whitespace, you should enclose it in quotes. If no value is
given, the variable is deleted.
Silent command
A number of commands require a window to operate on. If no
window was selected when such a function is invoked the user is
asked to select a window. Sometimes this behavior is unwanted,
for example if the function was called by a module and the
window that was selected at first does not exist anymore. You
can prevent this by putting Silent in front of the fvwm command.
If a function that needs a window is called with Silent without
a window selected, it simply returns without doing anything. If
Silent is used on a user defined function it affects all
function and sub function calls until the original function
exits.
Another usage of Silent is with binding commands Key, PointerKey
and Mouse, this disables error messages.
Silent also disables the error message for non-existent
commands. Note: This command is treated as a prefix to its
command. Expansion of the command line is done as if Silent was
not there.
Examples:
Silent Move 0 0
Silent User_defined_function
# do not complain on keyboards without "Help" key
Silent Key Help R A Popup HelpMenu
UnsetEnv [variable]
Unset an environment variable, similar to shell’s export or
unsetenv command. The variable then is removed from the
environment array inherited by processes started directly by
fvwm.
Wait window
This command is intended to be used in fvwm functions only. It
causes execution of a function to pause until a new window
matching window appears. This can be a window’s name, class, or
resource string. It may contain the wildcards ’*’ and ’?’,
which are matched in the usual Unix filename manner. This is
particularly useful in the "InitFunction" if you are trying to
start windows on specific desktops:
AddToFunc InitFunction
+ I Exec exec xterm -geometry 80x64+0+0
+ I Wait xterm
+ I GotoDesk 0 2
+ I Exec exec xmh -font fixed -geometry \
507x750+0+0
+ I Wait xmh
+ I GotoDesk 0 0
The above function starts an xterm on the current desk, waits
for it to map itself, then switches to desk 2 and starts an xmh.
After the xmh window appears control moves to desk 0.
Fvwm remains partially functional during a wait, but any input
from the modules is queued up and processed only after the
window appears or the command is aborted. For example, windows
can not be focused with FvwmTaskBar or FvwmWinList during a
wait.
You can escape from a Wait pause by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Escape
(where Alt is the first modifier). To redefine this key
sequence see the EscapeFunc command.
Conditional Commands
Conditional commands are commands that are only executed if certain
conditions are met. Most conditional commands work on windows, like
Next, ThisWindow or All. There is one conditional command, Test, that
works on global conditions unrelated to windows. The syntax of the
conditions is described below. For readability, the list of conditions
is located at the end of this section.
Return Codes
All commands in this section (unless specifically stated for the
command) also have a return code that can be 1 (if the condition
was met) or 0 (if the condition was not met). Some commands may
return -1 which means that an error occurred and the return code
is useless. The Break command returns -2. Additionally, the
return codes of commands run in a complex functions are passed
to the invoking complex function. The return code is used by
the TestRc command. Please refer to the commands’ description
for examples. The return code can also be accessed through the
variable $[cond.rc]. Non conditional commands do not modify the
return code of the last conditional command. Important note:
return codes are only defined inside functions created with the
AddToFunc command and are not inherited by sub functions. To
run a command without altering the return code, the KeepRc
command can be used.
The Ring of Windows
Fvwm stores windows in a ring internally. Think of the focused
window as a cursor on the current position in the ring. The
Next command and many other commands search forwards through the
ring for a matching window, and Prev searches backwards. The
windows in the ring are either ordered by creation time (if the
!FPSortWindowlistByFocus, NeverFocus or MouseFocus styles are
used) or by the last time they had the focus.
List of Conditional Commands
All [options] [(conditions)] command
Execute command on all windows meeting the conditions.
It returns 1 if any window matches the condition and 0
otherwise. The execution starts at the top of the window
ring and continues towards the bottom. The options can
be any combination of Reverse and UseStack. If the
option Reverse is given the execution order is reversed.
The option UseStack makes All use the stacking order
instead of the window ring when walking through windows.
See the Conditions section for a list of conditions.
This command implies the conditions CirculateHit,
CirculateHitIcon and CirculateHitShaded. They can be
turned off by specifying !CirculateHit etc. explicitly.
Any [(conditions)] command
Performs command if any window which satisfies all
conditions exists. The command is run in the context of
the root window. See the Conditions section for a list
of conditions.
Break [levels]
If the break command is used in a function, function
execution is terminated immediately. Further commands of
the function are not processed. Normally, all nested
invocations of complex functions are left. An optional
integer number levels may be given to break out of the
given number of nested functions and continue execution
of a higher level function. The Break command always has
the return code -2. Example:
AddToFunc PickWindowRaiseAndDeiconify
+ I Pick
+ I TestRc (Error) Break
+ I Raise
+ I Iconify off
Current [(conditions)] command
Performs command on the currently focused window if it
satisfies all conditions. See the Conditions section for
a list of conditions.
This command implies the conditions CirculateHit,
CirculateHitIcon and CirculateHitShaded. They can be
turned off by specifying !CirculateHit etc. explicitly.
Direction [FromPointer] direction [(conditions)] command
Performs command (typically Focus) on a window in the
given direction which satisfies all conditions.
Normally, the center of the currently focused window or
the context window in which the command was invoked is
taken as the starting point. Lacking such a window, or
when the FromPointer option is given, the current
position of the pointer is taken as the starting point.
The direction may be one of "North", "Northeast", "East",
"Southeast", "South", "Southwest", "West", "Northwest"
and "Center". Which window Direction selects depends on
angle and distance between the center points of the
windows. Closer windows are considered a better match
than those farther away. The Center direction simply
selects the window closest to the starting point.
Returns -1 if an invalid direction was given. See the
Conditions section for a list of conditions.
KeepRc command
Runs the command but does not alter the return code of
the previous command. Note: KeepRc is treated as a
prefix to its command. Expansion of the command line is
done as if KeepRc was not there.
Next [(conditions)] command
Performs command (typically Focus) on the next window
which satisfies all conditions. If the command is
running in a window context, it starts looking for a
matching window from there. Otherwise it starts at the
focused window. See Conditions section for a list of
conditions.
None [(conditions)] command
Performs command if no window which satisfies all
conditions exists. The command is run in the context of
the root window. Returns 1 if no window matches the
conditions and 0 otherwise. See Conditions section for a
list of conditions.
This command implies the conditions CirculateHit,
CirculateHitIcon and CirculateHitShaded. They can be
turned off by specifying !CirculateHit etc. explicitly.
NoWindow command
Performs command, but removes the window context if any.
This is not really a conditional command, but a prefix
that may be useful in menu items that should operate
without a window even if such menu is bound to window
decorations.
Pick [(conditions)] command
Pick works like Function if invoked in the context of a
window. If invoked in the root window, it first asks the
user to pick a window and then executes the command in
the context of that window. This avoids annoying
multiple selections with complex functions. The command
is executed only if the given conditions are met.
Returns -1 if no window was selected. See Conditions
section for a list of conditions.
This command implies the conditions CirculateHit,
CirculateHitIcon and CirculateHitShaded. They can be
turned off by specifying !CirculateHit etc. explicitly.
PointerWindow [(conditions)] command
Performs command if the window under the pointer
satisfies all conditions. Returns -1 if there is no
window under the pointer. See Conditions section for a
list of conditions.
This command implies the conditions CirculateHit,
CirculateHitIcon and CirculateHitShaded. They can be
turned off by specifying !CirculateHit etc. explicitly.
Prev [(conditions)] command
Performs command (typically Focus) on the previous window
which satisfies all conditions. If the command is
running in a window context, it starts looking for a
matching window from there. Otherwise it starts at the
focused window. See Conditions section for a list of
conditions.
ScanForWindow [FromPointer] dir1 dir2 [(conditions)] command
Performs command (typically Focus) on a window in the
given direction which satisfies all conditions.
Normally, the center of the currently focused window or
the context window in which the command was invoked is
taken as the starting point. Lacking such a window, or
when the FromPointer option is given, the current
position of the pointer is taken as the starting point.
The direction dir1 may be one of "North", "NorthEast",
"East", "SouthEast", "South", "SouthWest", "West", and
"NorthWest". Which window ScanForWindow selects depends
first on the position along the primary axis given by
dir1. If any windows have the exact same coordinate
along the primary axis, the secondary direction is used
to order the windows. The direction dir2 may be one of
the same set of values as dir1. If dir2 is not perfectly
perpendicular to dir1, ScanForWindow returns a failure.
When using ScanForWindow repeatedly with the same
arguments, it is guaranteed that all windows matching the
conditions will eventually be found. If the focus
reaches a limit along the primary axis, it will wrap
around to the opposite side. Returns -1 if an invalid
direction was given. See Conditions section for a list
of conditions.
Test [(test-conditions)] command
Performs command if all test-conditions are satisfied.
The test-conditions are keywords with possible arguments
from the list below and are separated by commas or
whitespace. They include: Version operator x.y.z,
EnvIsSet varname, EnvMatch varname pattern,
EdgeHasPointer direction, EdgeIsActive direction, Start,
Init, Restart, Exit, Quit, ToRestart, True, False, F, R,
W, X and I. A test-condition prefixed with "!" is
negated.
The Version operator x.y.z test-condition is fulfilled if
the logical condition of the expression is true. Valid
operator values are: >=, >, <=, <, == and !=.
Example:
Test (Version >= 2.5.11) Echo 2.5.11 or later.
The EnvIsSet varname test-condition is true if the given
environment variable is set. The EnvMatch varname
pattern test-condition is true if pattern matches the
given environment variable value. The pattern may
contain special "*" and "?" chars.
The EdgeHasPointer [direction] test-condition is true if
the edge in the given direction currently contains the
pointer. The EdgeIsActive [direction] test-condition is
true if the edge in the given direction currently is
active. An edge is active, and can contain a pointer if
either a command is bound to it or edge scroll is
available in that direction. The direction may be one of
Any, North, Top, Up, West, Left, South, Bottom,
Down, Right and East. If no direction is specified Any
is assumed.
The Start test-condition is the same as either Init or
Restart. It is only true on startup or restart prior and
during StartFunction execution. The Exit test-condition
is the same as either Quit or ToRestart. It is only
valid on shutdown during ExitFunction function execution.
The True and False test-conditions are unconditionally
true and false.
Additionally, if a test-condition name is not recognized,
the Error return code is set and the command is not
executed.
The F file, R file, W file, X file and I file
test-conditions test for existence of the given [F]ile
(possibly with [R]ead/[W]rite permissions), e[X]ecutable
(in $PATH), or the [I]mage (in ImagePath).
Example:
AddToFunc StartFunction I Test (Init) Exec exec xterm
AddToFunc VerifyVersion
+ I Test (Version 2.5.*) Echo 2.5.x detected
+ I TestRc (NoMatch) \
Test (!Version 2.6.*) Echo Future version
+ I TestRc (NoMatch) \
Echo 2.6.x is detected
Test (F $[FVWM_USERDIR]/local-config) Read local-config
Test (X xterm-utf16) Exec exec xterm-utf16
TestRc [([!]returncode)] command
Performs command if the last conditional command returned
the value returncode. Instead of the numeric values 0
(no match), 1 (match), -1 (error), and -2 (break) the
symbolic names "NoMatch", "Match", "Error" and "Break"
can be used. If no returncode is given, the default 0 is
assumed. If the return code is prefixed with ’!’, the
command is executed if returncode does not match the
value returned by the conditional command. The TestRc
command can only be used inside functions. If the
command is another conditional command, the previous
return code is replaced by the new one. Example:
AddToFunc ToggleXterm
+ I All (my_xtermwindow) Close
+ I TestRc (NoMatch) Exec xterm -T my_xtermwindow
ThisWindow [(conditions)] command
ThisWindow executes the specified command in the context
of the current operand window. If there is no operand
window (it is invoked in the root window), the command is
ignored. ThisWindow is never interactive. The command
is executed only if the given conditions are met. It
returns -1 if used outside a window context. See
Conditions section for a list of conditions.
This command implies the conditions CirculateHit,
CirculateHitIcon and CirculateHitShaded. They can be
turned off by specifying "!CirculateHit" etc.
explicitly.
WindowId [id] [(conditions)] | [root [screen]] command
The WindowId command looks for a specific window id and
runs the specified command on it. The second form of
syntax retrieves the window id of the root window of the
given screen. If no screen is given, the current screen
is assumed. The window indicated by id may belong to a
window not managed by fvwm or even a window on a
different screen. Although most commands can not operate
on such windows, there are some exceptions, for example
the WarpToWindow command. Returns -1 if no window with
the given id exists. See Conditions section for a list
of conditions.
This command implies the conditions CirculateHit,
CirculateHitIcon and CirculateHitShaded. They can be
turned off by specifying !CirculateHit etc. explicitly.
Examples:
WindowId 0x34567890 Raise
WindowId root 1 WarpToWindow 50 50
WindowId $0 (Silly_Popup) Delete
In the past this command was mostly useful for functions
used with the WindowList command, or for selective
processing of FvwmEvent calls (as in the last example),
but currently these handler functions are called within a
window context, so this command is not really needed in
these cases. Still it may be useful if, for example, the
window id should be stored in the environment variable
for a further proceeding.
Pick SetEnv BOOKMARKED_WINDOW $[w.id]
WindowId $[BOOKMARKED_WINDOW] WarpToWindow
Conditions
The conditions that may be given as an argument to any
conditional command are a list of keywords separated by commas,
enclosed in parentheses. Unless stated otherwise, conditional
commands accept all the conditions listed below. Note that
earlier versions of fvwm required the conditions to be separated
by whitespace instead of commas and enclosed in brackets instead
of parentheses (this is still supported for backward
compatibility).
In addition, the conditions may include one or more window names
to match to. If more than one window name is given, all of them
must match. The window name, icon name, class, and resource are
considered when attempting to find a match. Each name may
include the wildcards ’*’ and ’?’, and may consist of two or
more alternatives, separated by the character ’|’, which acts as
an OR operator. (If OR operators are used, they must not be
separated by spaces from the names.) Each window name can begin
with ’!’, which prevents command if any of the window name, icon
name, class or resource match. However, ’!’ must not be applied
to individual names in a group separated by OR operators; it may
only be applied to the beginning of the group, and then it
operates on the whole group.
Examples:
Next ("Netscape|konqueror|Mozilla*") WarpToWindow 99 90
This goes to the next web browser window, no matter which of the
three named web browsers is being used.
Next ("Mozilla*", "Bookmark*") WarpToWindow 99 90
This goes to Mozilla’s bookmark manager window, ignoring other
Mozilla windows and other browsers’ bookmark windows.
All ("XTerm|rxvt", !console) Iconify
This iconifies all the xterm and rxvt windows on the current
page, except that the one named "console" (with the -name option
to xterm) is excluded.
Next (!"FvwmPager|FvwmForm*|FvwmButtons") Raise
Next (!FvwmPager, !FvwmForm*, !FvwmButtons) Raise
These two commands are equivalent; either one raises the next
window which is not one of the named fvwm modules.
Any condition can be negated by using a an exclamation mark
(’!’) directly in front of its name.
AcceptsFocus, AnyScreen, CirculateHit, CirculateHitIcon,
CirculateHitShaded, Closable, CurrentDesk, CurrentGlobalPage,
CurrentGlobalPageAnyDesk, CurrentPage, CurrentPageAnyDesk,
CurrentScreen, FixedPosition, FixedSize, Focused, HasHandles,
HasPointer, Iconic, Iconifiable, Layer [n], Maximizable,
Maximized, Overlapped, PlacedByButton n, PlacedByButton3,
PlacedByFvwm, Raised, Shaded, State n, Sticky,
StickyAcrossDesks, StickyAcrossPages, StickyIcon,
StickyAcrossDesksIcon, StickyAcrossPagesIcon, Transient,
Visible.
The AcceptsFocus condition excludes all windows that do not want
the input focus (the application has set the "Input hints" for
the window to False) and do not use the Lenience option of the
Style command. Also, all windows using the NeverFocus style are
ignored. Note: !Lenience is equivalent to the deprecated option
NoLenience.
With the AnyScreen condition used together with any of the
Current... conditions, windows that do not intersect the
Xinerama screen containing the mouse pointer are considered for
a match too. For example:
# Focus next window on current page,
# regardless of Xinerama screen
Next (CurrentPage, AnyScreen) Focus
The CirculateHit and CirculateHitIcon options override the
CirculateSkip and CirculateSkipIcon Style attributes for normal
or iconic windows. The CirculateHitShaded option overrides the
CirculateSkipShaded Style. All three options are turned on by
default for the Current command. They can be turned off by
specifying !CirculateHit etc. explicitly. Note: Do not confuse
these conditions with the style options of the same name.
Specifically,
Style foo CirculateSkip
Next (foo, CirculateHit) ...
is not the same as
Style foo CirculateHit ...
Next (foo)
The prior selects windows with the name foo only in the Next
command. In the second example, these windows are always
matched in all conditional commands.
The Closable condition matches only windows that are allowed to
be closed.
The CurrentDesk condition matches only windows that are on the
current desk.
The CurrentGlobalPage condition matches only windows that are on
the current page of the current desk, regardless of whether
Xinerama support is enabled or not. This condition implicitly
activates the CurrentDesk condition.
The CurrentGlobalPageAnyDesk condition matches only windows that
are on the current page of any desk, regardless of whether
Xinerama support is enabled or not.
The CurrentPage condition matches only windows that are on the
current page of the current desk. If Xinerama support is
enabled, it only matches windows that are at least partially on
the Xinerama screen containing the mouse pointer. This
condition implicitly activates the CurrentDesk condition.
The CurrentPageAnyDesk and CurrentScreen conditions matches only
windows that are on the current page of any desk. If Xinerama
support is enabled, they only match windows that are at least
partially on the Xinerama screen containing the mouse pointer.
The FixedPosition condition excludes all windows that do not
have a fixed position, either set through WM hints or the Style
option FixedPosition. Example:
DestroyFunc ToggleFixedGeometry
AddToFunc ToggleFixedGeometry
+ I Pick (FixedPosition) \
WindowStyle VariablePosition, VariableSize
+ I TestRc (NoMatch) WindowStyle FixedPosition, FixedSize
The FixedSize condition excludes all windows that do not have a
fixed size, either set through WM hints or the Style option
FixedSize.
The Focused matches on the window that currently has the
keyboard focus. This is not useful for the Current command but
can be used with the other conditional commands.
The HasHandles condition excludes all windows that do not have
resize handles.
The HasPointer condition excludes all windows that do not
contain the pointer.
The Iconic condition matches only iconic windows.
The Iconifiable condition matches only windows that are allowed
to be iconified.
The Layer [n] condition matches only windows on the specified
layer. The optional argument of the Layer condition defaults to
the layer of the focused window. The negation !Layer switches
off the Layer condition.
The Maximizable condition matches only windows that are allowed
to be maximized.
The Maximized condition matches only maximized windows.
The Overlapped condition matches only windows that are
overlapped by other windows on the same layer (or unmanaged
windows if the option RaiseOverUnmanaged of the BugOpts command
is used). Note that this condition can be slow if you have many
windows or if RaiseOverUnmanaged is used and the connection to
the X server is slow.
The PlacedByButton n condition is fulfilled if the last
interactive motion of the window (with the Move command or as
ManualPlacement) was ended by pressing mouse button n. Example:
Mouse 1 T A Function MoveWindow
DestroyFunc MoveWindow
AddToFunc MoveWindow
+ C Move
+ C ThisWindow (PlacedByButton 5) WindowShade off
+ C TestRc (Match) Maximize on 0 100
+ C ThisWindow (PlacedByButton 4) WindowShade on
The PlacedByButton3 condition has the same meaning as
PlacedByButton 3. It remains only for backward compatibility.
The PlacedByFvwm condition excludes all windows that have been
placed manually or by using the user or program position hint.
The Raised conditions matches only windows that are fully
visible on the current viewport and not overlapped by any other
window.
The Shaded conditions matches only shaded windows (see
WindowShade command).
The State n or !State n conditions match only windows with the
specified integer state set (or unset). See the State command
for details. The argument may range from 0 to 31.
The Sticky, StickyAcrossDesks and StickyAcrossPages match only
windows that are currently sticky, sticky across all desks or
sticky across all pages. Please refer to the Style options with
the same name and the commands Stick, StickAcrossDesks and
StickAcrossPages for details.
The StickyIcon, StickyAcrossDesksIcon and StickyAcrossPagesIcon
match only windows that become sticky, sticky across all desks
or sticky across all pages when they are in iconified state.
The Transient condition matches only windows that have the
"transient" property set by the application. This it usually
the case for application popup menus and dialogs. The FvwmIdent
module can be used to find out whether a specific window is
transient.
The Visible condition matches only windows that are at least
partially visible on the current viewport and not completely
overlapped by other windows.
Module Commands
Fvwm maintains a database of module configuration lines in a form
*<ModuleName>: <Config-Resource>
where <ModuleName> is either a real module name or an alias.
This database is initially filled from config file (or from output of
-cmd config command), and can be later modified either by user (via
FvwmCommand) or by modules.
When modules are run, they read appropriate portion of database. (The
concept of this database is similar to one used in X resource
database).
Commands for manipulating module configuration database are described
below.
* module_config_line
Defines a module configuration. module_config_line consists of
a module name (or a module alias) and a module resource line.
The new syntax allows a delimiter, a colon and optional spaces,
between the module name and the rest of the line, this is
recommended to avoid conflicts.
*FvwmIconBox: MaxIconSize 48x48
*FvwmPager: WindowBorderWidth 1
*FvwmButtons-TopRight: Geometry 100x100-0+0
*FvwmButtons-Bottom: Geometry +0-0
DestroyModuleConfig module_config
Deletes module configuration entries, so that new configuration
lines may be entered instead. This also sometimes the only way
to turn back some module settings, previously defined. This
changes the way a module runs during a fvwm session without
restarting. Wildcards can be used for portions of the name as
well.
The new non-conflicting syntax allows a delimiter, a colon and
optional spaces between the module name and the rest of the
line. In this case a module name (or alias) can’t have
wildcards.
DestroyModuleConfig FvwmButtons*
DestroyModuleConfig FvwmForm: Fore
DestroyModuleConfig FvwmIconBox: Max*
KillModule modulename [modulealias]
Causes the module which was invoked with name modulename to be
killed. The name may include wildcards. If modulealias is
given, only modules started with the given alias are killed.
# kill all pagers
KillModule FvwmPager
Module FvwmEvent SoundEvent
KillModule FvwmEvent SoundEvent
Module modulename [moduleparams]
Specifies a module with its optional parameters which should be
spawned. Currently several modules, including FvwmButtons,
FvwmEvent, FvwmForm, FvwmGtk, FvwmPager, FvwmScript support
aliases. Aliases are useful if more than one instance of the
module should be spawned. Aliases may be configured separately
using * syntax. To start a module FvwmForm using an alias
MyForm, the following syntax may be used:
Module FvwmForm MyForm
At the current time the available modules (included with fvwm)
are FvwmAnimate (produces animation effects when a window is
iconified or de-iconified), FvwmAuto (an auto raise module),
FvwmBacker (to change the background when you change desktops),
FvwmBanner (to display a spiffy XBM, XPM, PNG or SVG),
FvwmButtons (brings up a customizable tool bar), FvwmCommandS (a
command server to use with shell’s FvwmCommand client),
FvwmConsole (to execute fvwm commands directly), FvwmCpp (to
preprocess your config with cpp), FvwmDebug (to help debug
fvwm), FvwmDragWell (the place to drag&drop to), FvwmEvent
(trigger various actions by events), FvwmForm (to bring up
dialogs), FvwmGtk (to bring up GTK menus and dialogs),
FvwmIconBox (like the mwm IconBox), FvwmIconMan (a flexible icon
manager), FvwmIdent (to get window info), FvwmM4 (to preprocess
your config with m4), FvwmPager (a mini version of the desktop),
FvwmPerl (a Perl manipulator and preprocessor), FvwmProxy (to
locate and control obscured windows by using small proxy
windows), FvwmRearrange (to rearrange windows), FvwmSave (saves
the desktop state in .xinitrc style), FvwmSaveDesk (saves the
desktop state in fvwm commands), FvwmScript (another powerful
dialog toolkit), FvwmScroll (puts scrollbars on any window),
FvwmTabs (a generic tabbing module), FvwmTaskBar (a Windows like
task bar), FvwmTheme (managed colorsets, obsolete), FvwmWharf
(an AfterStep like button bar), FvwmWindowMenu (a configurable
fvwm menu listing current windows), FvwmWinList (a window list).
These modules have their own man pages. There may be other
modules out on there as well.
Modules can be short lived transient programs or, like
FvwmButtons , can remain for the duration of the X session.
Modules are terminated by the window manager prior to restarts
and quits, if possible. See the introductory section on
modules. The keyword Module may be omitted if modulename is
distinct from all fvwm commands.
ModuleListenOnly modulename [moduleparams]
This command works like the Module command, but fvwm never sends
any messages to the module. This may be handy to write a module
as a shell script that is triggered by external events without
the burden to answer packets sent by fvwm. For example, a
module written as a shell script may change labels of the
FvwmButtons module to implement a simple clock.
ModulePath path
Specifies a colon separated list of directories in which to
search for modules. To find a module, fvwm searches each
directory in turn and uses the first file found. Directory
names on the list do not need trailing slashes.
The ModulePath may contain environment variables such as $HOME
(or ${HOME}). Further, a ’+’ in the path is expanded to the
previous value of the path, allowing easy appending or
prepending to the path.
For example:
ModulePath ${HOME}/lib/fvwm/modules:+
The directory containing the standard modules is available via
the environment variable $FVWM_MODULEDIR.
ModuleSynchronous [Expect string] [Timeout secs] modulename
The ModuleSynchronous command is very similar to Module. Fvwm
stops processing any commands and user input until the module
sends a string beginning with "NOP FINISHED STARTUP" back to
fvwm. If the optional Timeout is given fvwm gives up if the
module sent no input back to fvwm for secs seconds. If the
Expect option is given, fvwm waits for the given string instead.
ModuleSynchronous should only be used during fvwm startup to
enforce the order in which modules are started. This command is
intended for use with the (currently hypothetical) module that
should be in place before other modules are started.
Warning: It is quite easy to hang fvwm with this command, even
if a timeout is given. Be extra careful choosing the string to
wait for. Although all modules in the fvwm distribution send
back the "NOP FINISHED STARTUP" string once they have properly
started up, this may not be the case for third party modules.
Moreover, you can try to escape from a locked ModuleSynchronous
command by using the key sequence Ctrl-Alt-Escape (see the
EscapeFunc).
ModuleTimeout timeout
Specifies how many seconds fvwm waits for a module to respond.
If the module does not respond within the time limit then fvwm
kills it. timeout must be greater than zero, or it is reset to
the default value of 30 seconds.
SendToModule modulename string
Sends an arbitrary string (no quotes required) to all modules,
whose alias or name matching modulename, which may contain
wildcards. This only makes sense if the module is set up to
understand and deal with these strings though. Can be used for
module to module communication, or implementation of more
complex commands in modules.
Session Management Commands
Quit
Exits fvwm, generally causing X to exit too.
QuitScreen
Causes fvwm to stop managing the screen on which the command was
issued.
Restart [window_manager [params]]
Causes fvwm to restart itself if window_manager is left blank,
or to switch to an alternate window manager (or other fvwm
version) if window_manager is specified. If the window manager
is not in your default search path, then you should use the full
path name for window_manager.
This command should not have a trailing ampersand. The command
can have optional parameters with simple shell-like syntax. You
can use ~ (is expanded to the user’s home directory) and
environmental variables $VAR or ${VAR}. Here are several
examples:
Key F1 R N Restart
Key F1 R N Restart fvwm -s
Key F1 R N Restart ~/bin/fvwm -f $HOME/.fvwm/main
Key F1 R N Restart fvwm1 -s -f .fvwmrc
Key F1 R N Restart xterm -n ’"X console"’ \
-T \"X\ console\" -e fvwm1 -s
If you need a native restart, we suggest only to use Restart
command without parameters unless there is a reason not to. If
you still use an old command ’Restart fvwm2’ that was correct in
2.2.x, all current command line arguments are lost. On a
restart without parameters or with --pass-args, they are
preserved. Here are some cases when ’Restart fvwm2’ or ’Restart
fvwm’ cause troubles:
* running fvwm under a session manager
* running fvwm with multi headed displays
* having command line arguments, like
-f themes-rc or -cmd
* if the first fvwm2 in the $PATH is a
different one
This is why we are issuing a warning on an old usage. If you
really want to restart to fvwm with no additional arguments, you
may get rid of this warning by using "Restart fvwm -s" or
"Restart /full/path/fvwm".
Note, currently with multi headed displays, restart of fvwms on
different screens works independently.
Restart --pass-args window_manager
The same as Restart without parameters but the name for the
current window manager is replaced with the specified
window_manager and original arguments are preserved.
This command is useful if you use initial arguments like
-cmd FvwmCpp
and want to switch to another fvwm version without losing the
initial arguments.
Restart --dont-preserve-state [other-params]
The same as
Restart [other-params]
but it does not save any window states over the restart.
Without this option, Restart preserves most per-window state by
writing it to a file named .fs-restart-$HOSTDISPLAY in the
user’s home directory.
SaveSession
Causes a session manager (if any) to save the session. This
command does not work for xsm, it seems that xsm does not
implement this functionality. Use Unix signals to manage xsm
remotely.
SaveQuitSession
Causes a session manager (if any) to save and then shutdown the
session. This command does not work for xsm, it seems that xsm
does not implement this functionality. Use Unix signals to
manage xsm remotely.
Colorsets
Colorsets are a powerful method to control colors. Colorsets create
appearance resources that are shared by fvwm and its modules. When a
colorset is modified all parts of fvwm react to that change. A
colorset includes a foreground color, background color, shadow and
highlight color (often based on the background color), background face
(this includes images and all kinds of gradients). There is a way to
render background face and specify other color operations.
In the 2.4.x versions a special module FvwmTheme was introduced to
manage colorsets. Starting with the 2.5.x beta version, the FvwmTheme
functionality was moved to the core fvwm, so this module became
obsolete.
The old syntax:
DestroyModuleConfig FvwmTheme: *
*FvwmTheme: Colorset 0 fg black, bg rgb:b4/aa/94
*FvwmTheme: Colorset 1 fg black, bg rgb:a1/b2/c8
corresponds to the new syntax:
CleanupColorsets
Colorset 0 fg black, bg rgb:b4/aa/94
Colorset 1 fg black, bg rgb:a1/b2/c8
Colorset num [options]
Creates or modifies colorset num. Colorsets are identified by
this number. The number can start at zero and can be a very
large number.
Warning: The highest colorset number used determines memory
consumption. Thus, if you define ’Colorset 100000’, the memory
for 100001 colorsets is used. Keep your colorset numbers as
small as possible.
By convention, colorsets are numbered like this:
# 0 = Default colors
# 1 = Inactive windows
# 2 = Active windows
# 3 = Inactive menu entry and menu background
# 4 = Active menu entry
# 5 = greyed out menu entry (only bg used)
# 6 = module foreground and background
# 7 = hilight colors
If you need to have more colors and do not want to reinvent the
wheel, you may use the convention used in fvwm-themes, it
defines the meaning of the first 40 colorsets for nearly all
purposes:
http://fvwm-themes.sourceforge.net/doc/colorsets
Each colorset has four colors, an optional pixmap and an
optional shape mask. The four colors are used by modules as the
foreground, background, highlight and shadow colors. When a
colorset is created it defaults to a foreground of black and
background of gray. The background and foreground are marked as
"average" and "contrast" (see later) so that just specifying a
pixmap or gradient gives sensible results.
options is a comma separated list containing some of the
keywords: fg, Fore, Foreground, bg, Back, Background, hi,
Hilite, Hilight, sh, Shade, Shadow, fgsh, Pixmap, TiledPixmap,
AspectPixmap, Transparent, RootTransparent, Shape, TiledShape,
AspectShape, NoShape, ?Gradient, Tint, fgTint, bgTint, Alpha,
fgAlpha, Dither, NoDither, IconTint, IconAlpha, Plain.
fg, Fore and Foreground take a color name as an argument and set
the foreground color. The special name Contrast may be used to
select a color that contrasts well with the background color.
To reset the foreground color to the default value you can
simply omit the color name.
bg, Back and Background take a color name as an argument and set
the background color. It also sets the highlight and shadow
colors to values that give a 3d effect unless these have been
explicitly set with the options below. The special name Average
may be used to select a color that is the average color of the
pixmap. If the pixmap is tinted with the Tint option, the tint
is not taken in account in the computation of the average color.
You should use the bgTint option to get the "real" average
color. The background color is reset to the default value if
the color name is omitted.
hi, Hilite and Hilight take a color name as an argument and set
the highlight color. If the highlight color is not explicitly
set, the default is to calculate it from the background color.
To switch back to the default behavior the color name can be
omitted.
sh, Shade and Shadow take a color name as an argument and set
the shadow color. If the shadow color is not explicitly set,
the default is to calculate it from the background color. To
switch back to the default behavior the color name can be
omitted.
fgsh takes a color name as an argument and sets the color used
by the shadowing font effect. See the Font Shadow Effects
section of the fvwm man page. By default this color is computed
from the foreground and background colors. To switch back to
the default the color name can be omitted.
Pixmap, TiledPixmap and AspectPixmap take a file name as an
argument, search the ImagePath and use it as the background
pixmap. Any transparent parts are filled with the background
color. Not specifying a file name removes any existing image
from the colorset. TiledPixmap produces repeated copies of the
image with no scaling, Pixmap causes the image to be stretched
to fit whatever object the colorset is applied to and
AspectPixmap stretches to fit but retains the image aspect
ratio.
Transparent creates a transparent background pixmap. The pixmap
is used as a window background to achieve root transparency.
For this you should use the ParentalRelativity option to the
Style command. A subsequent root background change may be
detected or not, this depends on the program used to set the
background. If you use fvwm-root, xsetbg (xli), FvwmBacker with
solid or colorset colors or a recent version of Esetroot (>=
9.2) a background change is detected. If background changes are
not detected (e.g., if you use xv or xsetroot) you can force
detection by using the -d option of fvwm-root:
xv -root -quit mybg.png; fvwm-root -d
Due to the way X implements transparency no guarantees can be
made that the desired effect can be achieved. The application
may even crash. If you experience any problems with this
option, do not use it.
Using outline move and resize (see the OpaqueMoveSize command
and the ResizeOpaque Style option) as well as setting the
WindowShadeShrinks style may help. The transparency achieved
with Transparent depends on whether the colorset is applied to
the foreground or the background of a window. In the second
case the transparency is relative to the parent window of the
window on which the colorset is defined. For example:
Colorset 12 VGradient 200 grey30 grey60
Colorset 17 Transparent
*FvwmIconMan: Colorset 12
*FvwmIconMan: PlainColorset 17
gives an IconMan with a vertical grey gradient background and
the buttons use the background (by transparency). To obtain a
(root) transparent IconMan:
Colorset 12 Transparent
Colorset 17 Transparent
Colorset 18 Transparent
Colorset 19 Transparent
*FvwmIconMan: Colorset 12
*FvwmIconMan: PlainColorset 17
*FvwmIconMan: FocusColorset 18
*FvwmIconMan: IconColorset 19
The Colorset IconMan option defines the IconMan window
background, but the PlainColorset and the FocusColorset are
drawn on the foreground. So, the transparency of the IconMan
buttons is achieved by drawing nothing. Now if this IconMan is
swallowed in an FvwmButtons as:
FvwmButtons:(Colorset 10, Swallow "FvwmIconMan" ’FvwmIconMan’)
then, FvwmIconMan becomes a child of FvwmButtons and it is
transparent relative to FvwmButtons. So, in this case
FvwmIconMan uses Colorset 10 as background. If you want root
transparency use the RootTransparent option. FvwmButtons,
FvwmIconMan, FvwmIdent, FvwmScroll and FvwmTaskBar are
relatively simple. There is one main colorset option which
defines the background of the window and the other colorsets (if
any) are drawn on the foreground. The case of FvwmWinList and
FvwmProxy are simpler. With FvwmWinList all the colorsets are
drawn on the foreground and with FvwmProxy the two colorsets
refer to the window backgrounds. FvwmPager is more complicated
as almost everything in the pager are windows with some parental
relations (the mini windows are the child and the desktops are
the parents and all this is complicated by the hilighted page).
So, the colorsets apply to the background of these windows. You
should experiment. For FvwmForm and FvwmScript the situation is
similar. There is a main window (a child of the root window)
which corresponds to the main colorset and most of the widgets
are windows which are children of the main window. Tint may
work or not with the Transparent option. When the colorset is
drawn on the foreground Tint should work. In some cases,
tinting may be very slow. Tinting may work with fvwm menu
(without animation). Tinting may work better if your X server
has backing store enabled (try xdpyinfo to see if this the
case). There is a chance that the backing store support of your
X server does not work well with the terrible hack used to Tint
the ParentRelative Pixmap. So, to get tinted root transparency
it is more safe to use the RootTransparent option.
RootTransparent [ buffer ] creates a root transparent
background. To make this option work, you must use an Esetroot
compatible program, fvwm-root with the --retain-pixmap option or
FvwmBacker with the RetainPixmap option (and colorset or solid
backgrounds). The buffer keyword is useful only when the Tint
option is used too. This speeds up creation of windows which
use the colorset (useful for fvwm menus) at the cost of memory
usage. It also speeds up opaque move and resize which can be
unacceptably slow without buffer. However, this option may add
a lot of memory to your X server (depending on the size of the
image used to set the background). In summary, using outline
move and resize for modules which use such a colorset may be a
good idea.
Shape, TiledShape and AspectShape take a file name as an
argument, search the ImagePath and use it as the shape bitmap.
TiledShape produces repeated copies of the bitmap with no
scaling, Shape causes the bitmap to be stretched to fit whatever
object the colorset is applied to and AspectShape stretches to
fit but retains the bitmap aspect ratio. If the file is a
pixmap in xpm format the shape mask (all opaque pixels) of the
pixmap is used. For png and svg images, the shape mask is
equivalent to all not completely transparent pixels (alpha > 0).
Warning
Due to the way X11 implements shapes you cannot take back making
windows shaped. You may have to restart fvwm or the shaped
application.
?Gradient ... creates a pixmap and stretches it to fit the
window. ?Gradient may be one of HGradient, VGradient,
DGradient, BGradient, SGradient, CGradient, RGradient or
YGradient. The gradient types are as follows: H is horizontal;
V is vertical; D is diagonal from top left to bottom right; B is
a backwards diagonal from bottom left to top right; S is
concentric squares; C is concentric circles; R is a radar like
pattern and Y is a Yin Yang style (but without the dots).
Please refer to the Color Gradients section for the syntax of
gradients.
Tint takes 2 arguments, a color and a percentage between 0 and
100. It causes the image defined using ?Pixmap or ?Gradient to
be tinted with the specified color using the percentage. If the
image is transparent Tint tints only the image part.
Unfortunately, a colorset background specified using the
Transparent option can give strange results. See the
Transparent option for details. With no arguments this option
removes the tint.
fgTint takes 2 arguments, a color and a percentage between 0 and
100. It causes the color defined using fg to be tinted with the
specified color using the percentage. With no arguments this
option removes the tint.
bgTint takes 2 arguments, a color and a percentage between 0 and
100. It causes the color defined using bg to be tinted with the
specified color using the percentage. If the sh and hi colors
are not specified, they are recomputed from the tinted bg color.
With no arguments this option removes the tint.
Alpha takes a percentage between 0 and 100 as an argument. It
causes fvwm to merge the image defined using ?Pixmap or
?Gradient with the bg color using the percentage. If the
percentage is 0 the image is hidden and if it is 100 the image
is displayed as usual (no merge). The default is 100 and it is
restored if no argument is given.
fgAlpha takes a percentage between 0 and 100 as an argument. It
causes fvwm to merge the text and the colorset background using
the percentage. If the percentage is 0 the text is hidden and
if it is 100 the text is displayed as usual (no merge). This
option has an effect only with fonts loaded by Xft, see the Font
Names and Font Loading section. The default is 100 and it is
restored if no argument is given.
Dither causes fvwm to dither the image defined using ?Pixmap or
?Gradient. This is useful only with displays with depth less
than or equal to 16 (i.e., on displays which can only display
less than 65537 colors at once). The dithering effect lets you
simulate having more colors available that you actually have.
NoDither causes fvwm to do not dither the images. Dither is the
default if the depth is less than or equal to 8 (a screen with
256 colors or less). In depth 15 (32768 colors) and 16 (65536
colors), the default is NoDither, however this effect can be
useful with images which contain a lot of close colors. For
example a fine gradient looks more smooth.
IconTint takes 2 arguments, a color and a percentage between 0
and 100. It causes fvwm or a module to tint the "icons" which
are rendered into the colorset background with the specified
color using a percentage. Here "icons" means, fvwm Icons, fvwm
menu icons, MiniIcons which represent applications in various
modules, images loaded by modules (e.g., images specified by the
Icon FvwmButtons button option) ...etc. With no arguments this
option removes the icon tint.
IconAlpha takes a percentage between 0 and 100 as an argument.
It causes fvwm to merge the "icons" which are rendered into the
colorset background using this percentage. The default is 100
and it is restored if no argument is given.
Note: It is equivalent to use "Tint a_color rate" and "Alpha a"
if a = 100 and the bg color is a_color. This equivalence does
not hold for IconAlpha and IconTint as the background can be an
image or a gradient (and not a uniform color background).
However, in some cases you can achieve (almost) the same effect
by using IconTint in the place of IconAlpha. This is preferable
as, in general, IconAlpha generates more redrawing than
IconTint.
NoShape removes the shape mask from the colorset while Plain
removes the background pixmap or gradient.
Examples
Colorset 3 fg tan, bg navy
If necessary this creates colorsets 0, 1, 2 and 3 and then
changes colorset 3 to have a foreground of tan, a background of
navy.
Colorset 3 bg "navy blue"
changes the background color of colorset 3 to navy blue. The
foreground and pixmap are unchanged.
Colorset 3 AspectPixmap large_murky_dungeon.xpm
causes depression.
Colorset 3 bg Average
Sets the background color and the relief colors to match the
background pixmap. This is the default setting but it must be
used if a background color was specified and is now not
required.
Colorset 3 YGradient 200 3 blue 1000 navy 1 blue 1000 navy
Adds a Yin Yang gradient background pixmap to colorset 3. If
the background is set to average it is recomputed along with the
foreground if that is set to contrast.
#!/bin/sh
FvwmCommand "Colorset 7 fg navy, bg gray"
while true
do
FvwmCommand "Colorset 7 fg gray"
sleep 1
FvwmCommand "Colorset 7 fg navy"
sleep 1
done
Makes colorset 7 blink.
The color names used in colorsets are saved as fvwm variables
which can be substituted in any fvwm command. For example:
AddToFunc InitFunction
+ I Exec exec xterm -fg $[fg.cs0] -bg $[bg.cs0]
Where $[fg.cs0] is the foreground color of colorset zero.
Please refer to the Command Expansion section for more
information.
CleanupColorsets
Resets a definition of all colorsets.
Color Gradients
A color gradient is a background that changes its color
gradually from one hue to a different one. Color gradients can
be used by various commands and modules of fvwm. There are
eight types of gradients: HGradient is a horizontal gradient,
VGradient is vertical, DGradient is diagonal from top left to
bottom right, BGradient is backwards diagonal from bottom left
to top right, SGradient is concentric squares, CGradient is
concentric circles, RGradient is a radar like pattern and
YGradient is a Yin Yang style (but without the dots).
The color gradient syntax has two forms:
?Gradient colors start-color end-color
This form specifies a linear gradient. The arguments denote the
total number of colors to allocate (between 2 and 1000), the
initial color and the final color.
Example:
TitleStyle VGradient 20 rgb:b8/ce/bc rgb:5b/85/d0
?Gradient colors segments color length color [length color] ...
The second form specifies a nonlinear gradient. The arguments
are: the total number of colors to allocate (between 2 and
1000), then the number of segments. For each segment, specify
the starting color, a relative length, then the ending color.
Each subsequent segment begins with the second color of the last
segment. The lengths may be any non-negative integers. The
length of one segment divided by the sum of all segments lengths
is the fraction of the colors that are used for the segment.
Examples:
MenuStyle * \
MenuFace DGradient 128 2 lightgrey 50 blue 50 white
# 20% gradient from red to blue,
# 30% from blue to black,
# 50% from black to grey
MenuStyle * \
MenuFace DGradient 100 3 Red 20 Blue 30 Black 50 Grey
# 50% from blue to green, then
# 50% from yellow to red
Colorset 0 HGradient 128 3 Blue 1000 Green 1 Yellow 1000 Red
ENVIRONMENT
The environment variables that have an effect on how fvwm operates are
the following:
DISPLAY
Fvwm starts on this display unless the -display option is given.
FVWM_MODULEDIR
Set by fvwm to the directory containing the standard fvwm modules.
FVWM_USERDIR
Used to determine the user’s data directory for reading and
sometimes writing personal files. If this variable is not already
set, it is set by fvwm to $HOME/.fvwm, which is the default user’s
data directory.
SESSION_MANAGER
Fvwm tries to contact this session manager.
SESSION_MANAGER_NAME
This is used mainly to determine xsm running to work around its
bug. If this variable is set to "xsm", DiscardCommand is set as
xsm expects it and not as XSMP requires. If you run fvwm under
xsm, you should set this variable to "xsm", otherwise old state
files are not removed.
SM_SAVE_DIR
If this is set, fvwm saves its session data in this directory.
Otherwise it uses $HOME. Note, the state files are named
.fs-?????? and normally are removed automatically when not used
anymore.
AUTHORS
Robert Nation with help from many people, based on twm code, which was
written by Tom LaStrange. After Robert Nation came Charles Hines,
followed by Brady Montz. Currently fvwm is developed by a number of
people on the fvwm-workers mailing list.
COPYRIGHT
Fvwm and all the modules, scripts and other files coming with the
distribution are subject to the GNU General Public License (GPL).
Please refer to the COPYING file that came with fvwm for details.
BUGS
Known bugs can be found in the fvwm bug tracking system (accessible
from the fvwm home page).
Bug reports can be sent to the fvwm-workers mailing list at
<fvwm-workers@fvwm.org> (see the FAQ) or reported through the bug
tracking system.
The official fvwm homepage is http://fvwm.org/.
20-Sep-2009 FVWM(1)