FvwmGoodStuff(1.20)

NAME
FvwmGoodStuff - the FVWM button panel module

SYNOPSIS
FvwmGoodStuff is spawned by fvwm, so no command line invocation will work.

DESCRIPTION
The FvwmGoodStuff module provides a button panel which sits on the X terminal's root window. The user can press the buttons at any time, and trigger invocation of a user-specified command by the window manager. FvwmGoodStuff only works when fvwm is used as the window manager. The button panel can be of any configuration or geometry, and can have monochrome or color icons to represent the actions which would be invoked. Note that this is the older version of FvwmButtons (decended from fvwm 1.xx GoodStuff module), which was rewritten as of fvwm beta 2.0.42 to have more powerful configuration capabilities (see it's man page). If you don't want to exploit these new capabilities, or the new version gives you troubles, you may want to use this older module instead.

COPYRIGHTS
The FvwmGoodStuff program, and the concept for interfacing this module to the Window Manager, are all original work by Robert Nation Copyright 1993, Robert Nation. No guarantees or warranties or anything are provided or implied in any way whatsoever. Use this program at your own risk. Permission to use this program for any purpose is given, as long as the copyright is kept intact.

INITIALIZATION
During initialization, FvwmGoodStuff will search for a configuration file which describes the button panel geometry, color, icons, and actions. The format of this files will be described later. The configuration file will be the one which fvwm used during its initialization. If the FvwmGoodStuff executable is linked to another name, ie ln -s FvwmGoodStuff TermStuff, or if FvwmGoodStuff is invoked with a parameter, ie Module FvwmGoodStuff TermStuff, then another module called TermStuff can be started with a completely different configuration than FvwmGoodStuff, simply by changing the keywords FvwmGoodStuff??? to TermStuff???. This way multiple button-bars can be used.

INVOCATION
FvwmGoodStuff can be invoked by inserting the line 'Module FvwmGoodStuff' in the .fvwmrc file. This can be placed on a line by itself, if FvwmGoodStuff is to be spawned during fvwm's initialization, or can be bound to a menu or mouse button or keystroke to invoke it later. Fvwm will search directory specified in the ModulePath configuration option to attempt to locate FvwmGoodStuff.

CONFIGURATION OPTIONS
The following options can be placed in the .fvwmrc file

*FvwmGoodStuffGeometry geometry
    Specifies the FvwmGoodStuff window location and/or size. If the size is not specified, FvwmGoodStuff will auto-size itself in a reasonable manner. The geometry is a standard X11 window geometry specification.

*FvwmGoodStuffFont font
    Specifies the font to be used for labeling the buttons.

*FvwmGoodStuffRows rows
    Specifies the number of rows of buttons to be created. If unspecified, 2 rows will be used.

*FvwmGoodStuffColumns columns
    Specifies the number of columns of buttons to be created. If unspecified, the number of columns will be set to the number of buttons requested, divided by the number of rows. If both the rows and columns are specified, but do not specify as many buttons as are defined, then the users columns specification will be ignored.

*FvwmGoodStuffFore color
    Specifies the color for button label text and monochrome icons.

*FvwmGoodStuffBack color
    Specifies the color for the buttons.

*FvwmGoodStuff[(w x h)] label icon command
    Specifies a window manager built-in command, as described in the fvwm man page, which should be executed when a button is pressed. The label field is the text which will be written on the button. The icon field specifies an X11 bitmap file or XPM color icon file, containing the icon to display on the button. FvwmGoodStuff will search through the path specified in the fvwm IconPath or PixmapPath configuration items to find the icon file. If the optional (w x h) is specified, then this button will be w times the normal button width and h times the normal button height. If label is "-" then the button label will not be displayed. If command is an fvwm Exec command, then the button will remain pushed in until a window whose name or class matches the qouted portion of the command is encountered. This is intended to provide visual feedback to the user that the action he has requested will be performed. If the qouted portion contains no characters, then the button will pop out immediately. Note that users can continue pressing the button, and re-executing the command, even when it looks "pressed in." A single extension to the fvwm built-in command set is provided. A command of the form: '*FvwmGoodStuff junk clock.xpm Swallow "Clock" Exec rclock' will cause FvwmGoodStuff to spawn an rclock process, and capture the first window whose name or resource is "Clock", and display it in the button-bar. This is handy for applications like xclock, xbiff, and xload. Modules can be swallowed by specifying the module instead of 'Exec whatever', like: '*FvwmGoodStuff - foobar Swallow "FvwmPager" FvwmPager 0 0'. NOTE: if you use xclock for this application, you will want to specify xclock -padding 0.

SAMPLE CONFIGURATION
The following are excepts from a .fvwmrc file which describe FvwmGoodStuff initialization commands:

##############################################################
# Load any modules which should be started during
# fvwm initialization
ModulePath /usr/lib/X11/fvwm:/usr/bin/X11
Module FvwmGoodStuff
# Make FvwmGoodStuff title-bar-less, sticky, and give it an icon
NoTitle FvwmGoodStuff
Sticky FvwmGoodStuff
Icon "FvwmGoodStuff"    toolbox.xpm
##############################################################
##############################################################
#Definitions used by the modules
*FvwmGoodStuffFore Black
*FvwmGoodStuffBack #908090
*FvwmGoodStuffGeometry -135-5
*FvwmGoodStuffRows 1
*FvwmGoodStuffFont -adobe-helvetica-medium-r-*-*-12-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
*FvwmGoodStuff Resize  resize.xpm  Resize
*FvwmGoodStuff Move    arrows2.xpm Move
*FvwmGoodStuff Lower   Down        Lower
*FvwmGoodStuff Raise   Up          Raise
*FvwmGoodStuff Kill    bomb.xpm    Destroy
*FvwmGoodStuff Dopey   rterm.xpm   Exec "big_win" xterm -T big_win -geometry 80x50
*FvwmGoodStuff Snoopy  rterm.xpm   Exec "small_win" xterm -T small_wi
*FvwmGoodStuff Xcalc   rcalc.xpm   Exec "Calculator" xcalc
*FvwmGoodStuff XMag    magnifying_glass2.xpm    Exec "xmag" xmag
*FvwmGoodStuff Mail    mail2.xpm   Exec "xmh" xmh
*FvwmGoodStuff(4x1) - whatever SwallowModule "Fvwm Pager" FvwmPager 0 3

The last line is a little tricky - it spawns an FvwmPager module, and captures it to display in a quadruple width button. Since "-" is used for the button label, the Pager will be resized to be as big as possible within the button's borders. "whatever", of course, is a non-existent icon file, and will be ignored by FvwmGoodStuff.

AUTHOR
Robert Nation