Hints and FAQ
=============

Hint: Don't restart
-------------------
To make changes in your autostart take effect immediately, just type
+herbstclient reload+. There is no need to restart herbstluftwm or X. +

Even if you just updated you herbstluftwm-binary, there's no need to restart
anything. Run +herbstclient wmexec+, which does an +exec+(3) on the new
herbstluftwm version. (You also can use +wmexec+ to switch to another window
manager without restarting anything)

Hint: Use scripts!
------------------
There are a bunch of scripts coming along with herbstluftwm. Check out the
scripts directory in the sources and the examples directory after installing.

Hint: Understanding processes
-----------------------------
To understand the relationship between the different processes that running
in a typical herbstluftwm setup, consider the following diagram:

----
                 startx
                   | f/e
                   V
              ~/.xinitrc
                   | f/e or exec
    IPC-Call       V
    .- - - -> herbstluftwm           __________________
  ."            /     \             | Symbol | Meaning |
  .            /       \            |--------+---------|
  .       f/e /         \ f/e       |  A     | A forks |
  .          /           \          |  | f/e | and     |
  .         V             V         |  V     | execs   |
  .     autostart       xterm       |  B     | into B  |
  .         |             |         |________|_________|
  .     f/e |             | f/e
  .         V             V
   --  herbstclient     $SHELL

----

As you can see, +herbstclient+ does nothing except sending requests to
+herbstluftwm+. Whenever a process performs a fork-and-exec, the following
rules apply:

        * A child process inherits the environment variables of its parent
          process. If you change an environment variable (like 'PATH'), then it
          will stay unchanged in the parent process. +
          +
          => If you want to set some environment variables for your complete
          session (i.e. all processes) then you have to set it in your
          +~/.xinitrc+.

        * If a process spawns a window, then the window will spawn delayed. This
          delay differs from application to application (and from time to time).
          So a script like +
+
----
herbstclient spawn xterm
herbstclient spawn xev
----
+
does *not* guarantee that the +xterm+ window will appear before the
+xev+ window! It only guarantees that the +xterm+ is executed before +xev+ will
be executed. +
    +
    => If you want to apply some rules only for the next windows, then use a
    bash-script like the one for <<TEMP_RULES,temporary rules>>.


Q: Why is herbstluftwm called herbstluftwm?
-------------------------------------------
I liked the name of the e-mail client wanderlust. Unfortunately I am a happy
mutt user, so I needed an other application with a similar name.

[[FORK]]
Q: Is herbstluftwm a fork of dwm/musca/wmii/...?
------------------------------------------------
No. It was written from scratch, although it borrows some basic XLib function calls
(like updating numlock-state, sending a +WMDelete+-Message to a client,
updating the urgent hints, ...) from dwm.

Q: If the config is a bash script, does it mean it is called on each keystroke?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No, the configuration file is executed once to set internal settings and
keybindings and so on. If a keybinding is registered and its key is pressed,
the according (internal) command directly is called.

Q: How can I let single clients float?
--------------------------------------
You can assign a shortcut for +herbstclient attr clients.focus.floating toggle+.
Also, herbstluftwm floats some clients like dialogs by default (you can disable
this with a rule). Single floating clients are supported since version 0.8.

Q: I use GIMP very often, how can I use it without floating?
------------------------------------------------------------
Load a predefined layout to a gimp tag. Move the GIMP-Tool windows to the
left and right border and put the rest in the center. Add this to your
autostart:

----
# GIMP
# ensure there is a gimp tag
hc add gimp
hc load gimp '
(split horizontal:0.850000:0
(split horizontal:0.200000:1
(clients vertical:0)
(clients grid:0))
(clients vertical:0))
'               # load predefined layout
# center all other gimp windows on gimp tag
hc rule class=Gimp tag=gimp index=01 pseudotile=on
hc rule class=Gimp windowrole~'gimp-(image-window|toolbox|dock)' \
pseudotile=off
hc rule class=Gimp windowrole=gimp-toolbox focus=off index=00
hc rule class=Gimp windowrole=gimp-dock focus=off index=1
----

Q: What about a layout for Instant Messaging applications (Gajim, Pidgin, …)?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
A good layout for Instant Messaging applications looks as follows: One frame on
the left displays the buddy list/roster, consuming ~15% of the monitor space,
while the right side is used for the conversations. This can be configured
easily with herbstluftwm. The following example configures such a layout on tag
'7' and creates the rules to automatically move Gajim's windows to the right
frame:

----
hc load 7 '(split horizontal:0.15:1 (clients horizontal:0) (clients grid:4))'
hc rule class="Gajim" tag=7 index=1
hc rule class="Gajim" windowrole="roster" tag=7 index=0
----

For pidgin, the setup looks similar. In this case the buddy list is on the
right with a width of 20% of the monitor space. In addition to the above, the
buddy list will not receive input focus when it shows up:
----
imtag=7 # just set the name of the tag here
hc load "$imtag" '(split horizontal:0.800000:0 (clients grid:0) (clients vertical:0))'
hc rule class=Pidgin   windowrole=buddy_list tag=$imtag index=1 focus=off
hc rule class=Pidgin ! windowrole=buddy_list tag=$imtag index=0
----


[[TEMP_RULES]]
Q: How can I add rules temporarily for some special clients?
------------------------------------------------------------
Add a rule for the clients pid, before the client appears. This script
creates two xterms with different behaviours:

----
#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Requirement: bash >= 4.0 (because of the usage of $BASHPID)

spawn_with_rules() {(
    # this rule also requires, that the client
    # sets the _NET_WM_PID property
    herbstclient rule once pid=$BASHPID maxage=10 "${RULES[@]}"
    exec "$@"
    ) &
}

# spawn an xterm with uname info, but not where the focus is
RULES=( index='/' focus=off )
spawn_with_rules xterm -e 'uname -a ; read'

# spawn an xterm in pseudotile mode
RULES=( pseudotile=on focus=on )
spawn_with_rules xterm
----

Q: Why doesn't a new client receive focus?
------------------------------------------
The reason is the default setting of the +focus+ consequence in the rules.
You can change it by adding this to the link:herbstluftwm.html#RULES[rules]
section in the autostart file:

----
hc unrule --all      # clear rules
hc rule focus=on     # focus new clients by default
----

Q: herbstclient is too long to type it in the shell
---------------------------------------------------
Use tab-completion! +her&lt;tab&gt;c&lt;tab&gt;+ expands to herbstclient.
There is also a tab-completion for the herbstclient parameters. After
installing herbstluftwm, add this to your .bashrc:

----
source /usr/share/bash-completion/completions/herbstclient
----

(The tab-completion in zsh works out of the box with most zsh-configurations).

You also can add an alias for herbstclient:

----
alias hc='herbstclient'
----

If you use bash, then also add this to make the tab-completion work for the
+hc+ alias:
----
complete -F _herbstclient_complete -o nospace hc
----
(For zsh and fish, the tab-completion is inherited by aliases and no further
configuration is needed)


Q: My rules seem to be messed up
--------------------------------
Clear them with +hc unrule -F+ and start over. It is recommended to do this
in the autostart file.

Q: I don't like that my mplayervideo/inputdialogs get resized to full framesize
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Add this to your autostartfile:

----
hc rule instance=<instancename> pseudotile=on
----

You can request the instancename with xprop by clicking on the related window.
+<instancename>+ is the first string in the line +WM_CLASS(STRING)+ (for
mplayer that would be +xv+, for firefox dialogs it is +Dialog+).

Q: I set default_frame_layout to my favorite layout but it doesn't work with the root frame/existing frames
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Existing tags are not affected by a change of that variable (only new
ones), so be sure to set it *before* creating any tags.

In order to change the layout algorithm for the existing root-frames on all
tags, put the following in the autostart after setting +default_frame_layout+:
----
hc substitute ALGO settings.default_frame_layout \
    foreach T tags.by-name. \
    sprintf ATTR '%c.tiling.root.algorithm' T \
    set_attr ATTR ALGO
----

On old herbstluftwm versions, a workaround is to put +hc split vertical 0.5; hc
remove+ at the end in your autostart file.  You can also 'cycle_layout' in
existing tags.

[[PANELS]]
Q: How can I start external panels correctly?
---------------------------------------------
The cleanest solution to start the external EWMH panel (like +xfce4-panel+)
from the autostart and manually reserve some space for it. Also start
+herbstclient+ instance that knows when to kill the panel again so that
there aren't multiple instances when reloading the autostart multiple
times. Append the following code to your +bash+ autostart (assuming the
panel needs 31 pixels at the bottom of monitor 0):

----
# add an external panel
{
    pids=( )
    # reserve some space for the panel on monitor 0
    hc pad 0 "" "" 31
    # start the panel itself and remember its pid
    xfce4-panel -d --sm-client-disable &
    pids+=( $! )
    # or start another panel:
    # mypanel &
    # pids+=( $! )
    # wait until the panels should be stopped
    herbstclient -w '(quit_panel|reload)'
    # stopp all started panels
    kill ${pids[@]}
} &
----

Q: I'm using a compositing manager like xcompmgr and get ugly artifacts when switching tags or splitting frames
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
You probably have an old version of herbstluftwm and +frame_bg_transparent+
enabled. Disable this setting and use +frame_active_opacity+ and/or
+frame_normal_opacity+ instead or upgrade to a current version.

Q: How can I keybind a simple "Run" dialog?
-------------------------------------------
Install dmenu and keybind +dmenu_run_hlwm+ by adding the following line to
your autostart file:

----
hc keybind $Mod-p spawn dmenu_run_hlwm
----

Note that +$Mod-p+ is bound to +pseudotile toggle+ in the default
autostart of herbstluftwm, so you either need to change that binding or
use a different one for +spawn dmenu_run_hlwm+.

Q: How can I have some of the tags on specific monitors only?
-------------------------------------------------------------
For each tag, save the desired monitor name or index in the tag's attributes.
Before switching to another tag, check whether it has such an attribute, and if
so, switch to that monitor first. This is accomplished by the following code in
the autostart:
----
# Replace the default section for tags in your autostart by the following:
# This is the default tag section of the autostart, with a single change:
# In the use_index keybinding, check the presence of the my_monitor attribute,
# before focusing the desired tag.
hc rename default "${tag_names[0]}" || true
for i in ${!tag_names[@]} ; do
    hc add "${tag_names[$i]}"
    key="${tag_keys[$i]}"
    if ! [ -z "$key" ] ; then
        # first check if the tag is locked to some monitor.
        # if so, first focus the monitor
        hc keybind "$Mod-$key" \
            chain , silent substitute M tags."$i".my_monitor \
                        focus_monitor M \
                  , use_index "$i"
        hc keybind "$Mod-Shift-$key" move_index "$i"
    fi
done

# Add a keybinding for locking the current tag to the monitor it is displayed
# on. This is done by saving the current monitor index in the my_monitor
# attribute of the focused tag. If the monitor has a (nonempty) name, use the
# monitor name instead of its index.
herbstclient keybind $Mod-t chain \
    , new_attr string tags.focus.my_monitor \
    , substitute M monitors.focus.index set_attr tags.focus.my_monitor M \
    , try and \
        . compare monitors.focus.name != "" \
        . substitute M monitors.focus.name \
                set_attr tags.focus.my_monitor M

# Add a keybinding for removing the lock
herbstclient keybind $Mod-Shift-t \
    remove_attr tags.focus.my_monitor

# Statically define which tag should be send to which monitor
lock_tag_to_monitor() {
    herbstclient chain \
        , new_attr string tags.by-name."$1".my_monitor \
        , set_attr tags.by-name."$1".my_monitor "$2"
}
# Already lock some of the tags to a monitor, for example:
# lock the second tag to the monitor with index 0
lock_tag_to_monitor 2 0
----
The usage is: adjust the +lock_tag_to_monitor+-lines in your autostart to
statically define which tag should be send to which monitor. Press Mod-t to
lock the focused tag to the monitor it is currently on. Press Mod-Shift-t to
release the locking and to allow the tag to be displayed on any monitor.



Q: How can I have a separate list of tags per monitor?
------------------------------------------------------

As a solution: add the desired tags for each monitor and then configure the
keybindings s.t. the i'th key references the i'th tag of that monitor instead
of the i'th of all the tags. You can achieve this by replacing the section
"tags" and "cycle through tags" in the autostart by the following:

----
# tags
mon1_names=( 1_{1..5} ) # tag names for monitor 1
mon2_names=( 2_{1..5} ) # tag names for monitor 2
fallback_names=( {1..5} ) # tag names for all other monitors
tag_keys=( {1..9} 0 )

hc rename default "${mon1_names[0]}" || true
for tag in "${mon1_names[@]}" "${mon2_names[@]}" "${fallback_names[@]}" ; do
    hc try silent add "$tag"
done

for i in ${!tag_keys[@]} ; do
    key="${tag_keys[$i]}"
    # the keybinding works as follows: the or executes the commands separated by
    # CASE and stops executing them after the first of those succeeds.
    # the first command is: check that we are on monitor 3 and can switch to tag "${mon1_names[$i]}"
    # if only one of these two steps fail, try the second one (and so one).
    # The setup for two monitors is as follows:
    hc keybind "$Mod-$key" \
        or CASE and . compare monitors.focus.index = 0 . use "${mon1_names[$i]}" \
           CASE and . compare monitors.focus.index = 1 . use "${mon2_names[$i]}" \
           CASE use "${fallback_names[$i]}"
    hc keybind "$Mod-Shift-$key" \
        or CASE and . compare monitors.focus.index = 0 . move "${mon1_names[$i]}" \
           CASE and . compare monitors.focus.index = 1 . move "${mon2_names[$i]}" \
           CASE move "${fallback_names[$i]}"
done

# cycle through tags
# add additional information in order to cycle only through a monitor's tags
# and not through all tags
define-tag-cycle() {
    local n=$#
    local tags=( "$@" )
    for i in "${!tags[@]}" ; do
        local t="${tags[$i]}"
        hc chain , new_attr string tags.by-name."$t".my_previous_tag \
                 , set_attr tags.by-name."$t".my_previous_tag "${tags[$(((i - 1 + n) % n))]}" \
                 , new_attr string tags.by-name."$t".my_next_tag \
                 , set_attr tags.by-name."$t".my_next_tag "${tags[$(((i + 1) % n))]}"
    done
}

define-tag-cycle "${mon1_names[@]}"
define-tag-cycle "${mon2_names[@]}"
define-tag-cycle "${fallback_names[@]}"

# cycle through tags
# check whether the current tag as a custom "next tag" configured
# if yes, jump to that one, otherwise fall back to ordinary use_index +1
hc keybind $Mod-period or , substitute NEXT tags.focus.my_next_tag use NEXT  \
                          , use_index +1 --skip-visible
hc keybind $Mod-comma  or , substitute PREV tags.focus.my_previous_tag use PREV  \
                          , use_index +1 --skip-visible
----

You should also set +swap_monitors_to_get_tag+ to 0. Also consider the
following hint for shifting windows between monitors:

Q: How to navigate between monitors?
------------------------------------
In order to switch focus between the monitors, use the usual direction based
focusing (the command +focus+). It either focuses a window on the current
monitor or the next monitor if the boundary is reached. Since version 0.9.3,
the same works when moving windows (command +shift+).

If you're using an older version you need to configure it in your +autostart+.
In order to shift windows from monitor to monitor, replace the usual usage of
+shift+ in your autostart by this one:

----
hc keybind $Mod-Shift-h or / shift left / \
    chain , lock , shift_to_monitor -l , focus_monitor -l , unlock
hc keybind $Mod-Shift-j or / shift down / \
    chain , lock , shift_to_monitor -d , focus_monitor -d , unlock
hc keybind $Mod-Shift-k or / shift up / \
    chain , lock , shift_to_monitor -u , focus_monitor -u , unlock
hc keybind $Mod-Shift-l or / shift right / \
    chain , lock , shift_to_monitor -r , focus_monitor -r , unlock
----
(or analogously with arrow keys instead of +hjkl+).  Again, this shifts a
window to the next monitor if the monitor boundary is reached.

[[firstautostart]]
Q: How do I detect whether it is the first time that autostart is executed?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to actually autostart applications on herbstluftwm startup, one
needs to take care that they are not executed on successive reloads. The
following command returns success on the first time, autostart is executed, and
failure on successive calls:
----
herbstclient silent new_attr bool my_not_first_autostart
----
It tries to create a new attribute (on the root object). If it is the first
autostart run, then this succeeds. On any successive execution, this command
fails, because the attribute +my_not_first_autostart+ already exists.
An example looks as follows:
----
if hc silent new_attr bool my_not_first_autostart ; then
    /path/to/examples/exec_on_tag.sh web firefox &
    pidgin &
fi
----


Q: How can I unminimize all minimized clients?
----------------------------------------------
The following keybinding unminimizes all clients on the current tag:
-----
hc keybind Mod4-Ctrl-m \
   substitute FOCUS "tags.focus.name" \
   foreach CLIENT clients. \
     sprintf MINATT "%c.minimized" CLIENT \
     sprintf TAGATT "%c.tag" CLIENT and \
       , compare MINATT "=" "true" \
       , compare TAGATT "=" FOCUS \
       , set_attr MINATT false
-----
It iterates over all clients, compares its +tag+ attribute sets the +minimized+
attribute to +false+.


