fvwm-menu-directory

Section: Fvwm Utilities (1)
Updated: 2009-03-22
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NAME

fvwm-menu-directory - builds a directory browsing menu for fvwm

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

A perl script which provides an output to read in with PipeRead to build an fvwm menu containing a directory listing. Almost everything can be configured.

HINTS

The title item with its own attached action is usually added to the menu. This may be used to define an action for the directory for which the menu is built, such as starting a terminal in this directory (the default). However, this may annoy some users. To disable the title action use --command-title "", to remove the title completely use --title "".

OPTIONS

--help

show the usage and exit

--version

show version and exit

--name name

menu name, used only with --reuse, default is MenuBrowser

--title title

menu title format, default is '%*-40p' - last 40 characters of the current full path. TAB can be specified as '\t', but in .fvwm2rc you should specify a double backslash or a real TAB.

Format specifiers: %d - the current directory name %p - the current directory full path

These specifiers can receive an optional integer size, positive for right adjusted string or negative for left adjusted, example: %8x; and optional *num or *-num, which means to leave only the first or last (if minus) num of chars, the num must be greater than 3, since the striped part is replaced with ``...'', example: %*30x. Both can be combined: %-10*-20x, this instructs to get only the 20 last characters, but if the length is less then 10 - to fill with up to 10 spaces on the right.

--item format

menu item format, default is '%n'. TAB and width modifiers for %n, %N and %s can be specified as described in --title above. Note, specifying a non default format slows the script.

Format specifiers:

  %n - file/dir name (without the path)
  %N - file/dir name (full with the path)
  %d - file/dir date (yyyy-mm-dd HH:MM:SS)
  %D - file/dir date (yyyy-mm-dd)
  %s - file/dir size (in bytes)
  %t - file/dir type (File|Dir |Link|Sock|Blck|Char|Pipe)
  %T - file/dir type (F|D|L|S|B|C|P)

Example: --title '%*-40p\tDate, Type\tSize' --item '%*40n\t%d %t\t%s'

--icon-title icon

menu title icon, default is none

--icon-dir icon

menu dir icon, default is none

--icon-file icon

menu file icon, default is none

--icon-app icon

menu application icon, default is none

--wm-icons

define icon names suitable for use with wm-icons package. Currently this is equivalent to: --icon-title menu/folder-open.xpm --icon-item menu/file.xpm --icon-dir menu/folder.xpm --icon-app menu/utility.xpm.

--dir dir

starting dir, default is ${HOME-.}

--order number

in the range (-6 .. 6), default is 5:

  1 - do not sort,  2 - dirs first, 3 - files first
  4 - sort by name, 5 - dirs first, 6 - files first
  Negative number represents reverse order.

--[no]all

show hidden files, like in 'ls -A', default is --noall

--[no]links

follow linked directories, default is --nolinks

--xterm command

X terminal call, default is 'xterm -e'

--exec-title command

an fvwm Exec command on directory title (usually the shell), default is ${SHELL-/bin/sh}. '-' means no Exec command, i.e. Nop. If the command is not started with '^' X terminal call is prepended. The command is started in the currently browsed directory.

--exec-file command

an fvwm Exec command on regular files, default is ${EDITOR-vi}. '-' means no Exec command, i.e. Nop. If the command is not started with '^' X terminal call is prepended. The actual file name is appended to the command.

--exec-app [command]

an fvwm Exec command on +x files, default is '-', which means the same command as on regular files. If no command is given, it is assumed to be empty - simply run the +x file. If the command is not started with '^' X terminal call is prepended. The actual file name is appended to the command.

--command-title command

an fvwm command to execute on title. If this option is not given (or command is '-'), the "--exec-title" is used instead. In the command, %d is substituted with the full directory path.

In fact, --exec-title=tcsh is equivalent to --command-title='Exec cd ``%d''; xterm -e tcsh'

The empty value disables the title action.

--command-file command

an fvwm command to execute on regular files. If this option is not given (or command is '-'), the "--exec-file" is used instead. In the command, %f is substituted with the full file path.

In fact, --exec-file=vi is equivalent to --command-file='Exec xterm -e vi ``%f'''

--command-app command

an fvwm command to execute on +x files. If this option is not given (or command is '-'), the "--command-app" is used instead. In the command, %f is substituted with the full file path.

In fact, --exec-app=^exec is equivalent to --command-app='Exec exec ``%f'''

--[no]reuse

no pop-up menus, reuse the same menu, default is --noreuse. When you specify this option the Menu action is used, not Popup. Also, the --name parameter is not ignored, and --dir parameter is ignored if there is ~/.fvwm/.fvwm-menu-directory.dir file. This file is only created or used with this option specified, it is the only solution for the current fvwm menu state.

--[no]check-subdirs

check all subdirs for having execute (+x) permission and replace ``Popup''/``Menu'' command with ``Nop'' for these without permissions. This has a visual effect of disabling popup triangle in the subdirectory item. The default is --nocheck-subdirs, because: 1) enabling this slows a bit the script, 2) with this option enabled, if no icons used and no dir/file separate sorting used there is no way to know that the item is directory and not file.

--special-dirs value

add .. or ~ or / special directories according to given optional value. Without with option these directories are not added. Default value if not specified is ``1,2''. The value is comma separated ordered special directory indexes, where 1 is parent directory, 2 is home directory, 3 is root directory. If minus is prepended to the value, special directories are added at the bottom of menu instead of top. Value ``0'' or any bad value is equivalent to non-specifying this option at all.

--[no]memory-for-speed

use speed optimization, i.e. use previously created directory menus without destroying it when closed, default is --nomemory-for-speed

    Warning: speed optimization takes up a lot of memory
    that is never free'd again while fvwm is running.

--menu-style name

assign MenuStyle name to the menus

--func-name name

overwrite the default MissingSubmenuFunction name that is ``FuncFvwmMenuDirectory''

Option parameters can be specified either using '=' or in the next argument. Short options are ok if not ambiguous: "-a", "-x", "-icon-f"; but be careful with short options, what is now unambiguous, can become ambiguous in the next versions.

USAGE

Put this into your fvwm configuration file to invoke the script:

  AddToFunc FuncFvwmMenuDirectory
  + I PipeRead "fvwm-menu-directory -d '$0'"

More complex example:

  # AddToFunc FuncFvwmMenuDirectory
  # + I PipeRead "fvwm-menu-directory -d '$0' -x 'Eterm -g 80x40 -e' \\
    -a -l -o 6 --exec-app --exec-title 'tcsh -l' --exec-file 'vim -R' \\
    -t 'Go to: %d' --wm-icons"

And put this in the menu from which you want to pop-up the directory menus:

  AddToMenu SomeMenu MissingSubmenuFunction FuncFvwmMenuDirectory
  + "Home Directory"  Popup $[HOME]
  + "Httpd Directory" Popup /home/httpd

Note: please use absolute path names.

It is a good idea to set the menu pop-up delay to something positive and enable busy cursor

  MenuStyle * PopupDelayed, PopupDelay 200
  BusyCursor DynamicMenu True

in your configuration file when using this script for better results.

Another interesting usage ("--reuse" or "-r" is mandatary for this):

  AddToMenu Browser
  + DynamicPopupAction PipeRead \\
    "fvwm-menu-directory -r -na Browser -d / -s"
  AddToMenu SomeMenu "My Browser" Menu Browser

Here the "--dir" parameter (starting directory) is ignored if there is ~/.fvwm/.fvwm-menu-directory.dir file, which you can delete.

AUTHORS

Inspired on 1999-06-07 by Dominik Vogt <domivogt@fvwm.org>.

Rewritten on 1999-08-05 by Mikhael Goikhman <migo@homemail.com>.

COPYING

The script is distributed by the same terms as fvwm itself. See GNU General Public License for details.

BUGS

Report bugs to fvwm-bug@fvwm.org.