FvwmEvent

Section: Fvwm Modules (1)
Updated: 20 April 2012 (2.6.5)
Page Index

NAME

FvwmEvent - the fvwm event module

SYNOPSIS

FvwmEvent is a more versatile replacement for FvwmAudio. It can in general be used to hook any fvwm function or program to any window manager event. E.g: Delete unwanted Netscape Pop ups or application error pop ups as they appear, play sounds, log events to a file and the like. Be creative, you'll find a use for it.

FvwmEvent is spawned by fvwm, so no command line invocation will work. From within the .fvwm2rc file, FvwmEvent is spawned as follows:


Module FvwmEvent

or from within an fvwm pop-up menu:


DestroyMenu Module-Popup
AddToMenu Module-Popup "Modules" Title
+ "Event"        Module FvwmEvent
+ "Auto"         Module FvwmAuto 200
+ "Buttons"      Module FvwmButtons
+ "Console"      Module FvwmConsole
+ "Ident"        Module FvwmIdent
+ "Banner"       Module FvwmBanner
+ "Pager"        Module FvwmPager 0 3

DESCRIPTION

The FvwmEvent module communicates with the fvwm window manager to bind actions to window manager events. Different actions may be assigned to distinct window manager events.

FvwmEvent can be used to bind sound files to events like FvwmAudio (RiP) did. It can be used for logging event traces to a log file, while debugging fvwm.

FvwmEvent can also have builtin support for the rplay library. (heritage of FvwmAudio)

INVOCATION

The invocation method was shown in the synopsis section. No command line invocation is possible. FvwmEvent must be invoked by the fvwm window manager. FvwmEvent accepts a single argument:

-audio

Enables FvwmAudio compatibility mode.

alias

Makes FvwmEvent use alias as its name. This affects which lines from the user's configuration file are used.

Invoking FvwmEvent as FvwmAudio (either by using an alias or creating a symlink) enables FvwmAudio compatibility mode.

CONFIGURATION OPTIONS

FvwmEvent gets config info from fvwm's module configuration database (see fvwm(1), section MODULE COMMANDS), and looks for certain configuration options:

*FvwmEvent: Cmd command

This determines the fvwm function that is to be called with the event parameters. You might want to do one of the following (details below):


        # play sounds
        *FvwmEvent: Cmd builtin-rplay

        # execute distinct fvwm functions
        *FvwmEvent: Cmd

        # execute distinct external programs
        *FvwmEvent: Cmd exec

This version of FvwmEvent has builtin rplay support which does not need to invoke an external audio player to play sounds. The rplay support is enabled when FvwmEvent is compiled with HAVE_RPLAY defined and when FvwmEvent: Cmd is set to builtin-rplay. See remarks below if FvwmEvent is invoked in FvwmAudio compatibility mode.

For example:


        *FvwmEvent: Cmd builtin-rplay
        *FvwmEvent: add_window drip.au

rplay can be obtained via anonymous ftp at


        <URL:ftp://ftp.sdsu.edu/pub/rplay> or
        <URL:ftp://ftp.x.org/contrib/Event/audio/rplay>

FvwmEvent also has support for any other external program. e.g: the rsynth 'say' command:


        *FvwmEvent: Cmd "Exec /rsynth/say"
        *FvwmEvent: destroy_window "window closed"

You can also use fvwm's builtin Echo command as FvwmEvent: Cmd to obtain debug output for fvwm events quietly. I used this setup to debug FvwmAuto:


        *FvwmEvent: Cmd Echo
        *FvwmEvent: focus_change "focus change"
        *FvwmEvent: raise_window "raise window"

You can even call different shell commands for each event just by setting


        *FvwmEvent: Cmd exec
        *FvwmEvent: add_window 'killname "APPL ERROR"'

*FvwmEvent: PassId

Specifies that the event action will have an ID parameter added to the end of the command line. Most events will have the windowID of the window that the event refers to, new_desk will have the new desk number. The windowID is a hexadecimal string preceded by 0x, desk numbers are decimal.

*FvwmEvent: window-manager-event action-or-filename

Binds particular actions to window manager events.

e.g. for audio-events:


        *FvwmEvent: startup TaDa.au
        *FvwmEvent: shutdown Elvis_Left.au
        *FvwmEvent: unknown doh.au

        *FvwmEvent: new_page beam_trek.au
        *FvwmEvent: new_desk beam_trek.au
        *FvwmEvent: old_add_window drip.au
        *FvwmEvent: raise_window swoosh.au
        *FvwmEvent: lower_window swoosh.au
        *FvwmEvent: old_configure_window hammer.au
        *FvwmEvent: focus_change boing.au
        *FvwmEvent: enter_window boing.au
        *FvwmEvent: leave_window boing.au
        *FvwmEvent: destroy_window explosion.au
        *FvwmEvent: iconify ploop.au
        *FvwmEvent: deiconify ploop.au
        *FvwmEvent: window_name huh.au
        *FvwmEvent: icon_name beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: visible_icon_name beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: res_class beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: res_name beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: end_windowlist twang.au

        *FvwmEvent: icon_location beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: map beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: error beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: config_info beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: end_config_info beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: icon_file beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: default_icon beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: string plapper.au
        *FvwmEvent: mini_icon beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: windowshade beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: dewindowshade beep.au

        *FvwmEvent: visible_name beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: sendconfig beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: restack beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: add_window beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: configure_window beep.au

        *FvwmEvent: visible_icon_name beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: enter_window beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: leave_window beep.au
        *FvwmEvent: property_change beep.au

The window related event handlers are executed within a window context. Previously PassId was used for this purpose, but now using PassId is not needed.

Note: The enter_window event is generated when the pointer enters a window. With the -passid option, that window's id is passed to fvwm. An enter_window event is generated too when the pointer leaves a window and moves into the root window. In this case, the id passed is 0.

Note: When the shutdown event arrives, FvwmEvent may be killed before it can trigger the associated action.

Provided fvwm supports it (not yet), there's an additional event to replace all fvwm beeps with a sound:


        *FvwmEvent: beep beep.au

*FvwmEvent: Delay 5

Specifies that an event-action will only be executed if it occurs at least 5 seconds after the previous event. Events that occur during the delay period are ignored. This option is useful if you don't want several sounds playing at the same time. The default delay is 0 which disables the Event delay.

*FvwmEvent: StartDelay delay

Specifies that an event-action will only be executed if it occurs at least delay seconds after the startup event. Events that occur during the delay period are ignored. This option is useful when fvwm starts and restarts using an audio player. The default delay is 0.

RPLAY OPTIONS

The following options are only valid with builtin rplay support. i.e: when FvwmEvent was compiled with HAVE_RPLAY defined. They are used only if FvwmEvent: Cmd is set to builtin-rplay.

*FvwmEvent: RplayHost hostname: Specifies what host the rplay sounds will play on. The hostname can also be an environment variable such as $HOSTDISPLAY.
*FvwmEvent: RplayPriority 0: Specifies what priority will be assigned to the rplay sounds when they are played.
*FvwmEvent: RplayVolume 127: Specifies what volume will be assigned to the sounds when they are played.

FvwmAudio Compatibility Mode

When invoked in FvwmAudio compatibility mode (see above), FvwmEvent accepts the following options to provide backwards compatibility for FvwmAudio:

*FvwmEvent: PlayCmd command: This is equivalent to using *FvwmEvent: Cmd to Exec commands. This determines the independent audio player program that will actually play the sounds. If the play command is set to builtin-rplay then the builtin rplay support will be used.
*FvwmAudio: Dir directory: Specifies the directory to look for the audio files. This option is ignored when rplay is used.

BUGS

It's REALLY noisy when fvwm starts and restarts using an audio player. You can use FvwmEvent: StartDelay to fix this problem.

COPYRIGHTS

This module has evolved of FvwmAudio, which in term is heavily based on a similar Fvwm module called FvwmSound by Mark Boyns. FvwmAudio simply took Mark's original program and extended it to make it generic enough to work with any audio player. Due to different requests to do specific things on specific events, FvwmEvent took this one step further and now calls any fvwm function, or builtin-rplay. If fvwm's Exec function is used, any external program can be called with any parameter.

The concept for interfacing this module to the Window Manager, is original work by Robert Nation.

Copyright 1998 Albrecht Kadlec. Copyright 1994, Mark Boyns and Mark Scott. No guarantees or warranties or anything are provided or implied in any way whatsoever. Use this program at your own risk. Permission to use and modify this program for any purpose is given, as long as the copyright is kept intact.

AUTHORS

1994  FvwmSound  Mark Boyns       (boyns@sdsu.edu)
1994  FvwmAudio  Mark Scott       (mscott@mcd.mot.com)
1996  FvwmAudio  Albrecht Kadlec
1998  FvwmEvent  Albrecht Kadlec  (albrecht@auto.tuwien.ac.at)