FVWM: Task Bar Disappearing

[Jamie Paul Griffin]

Hello

I use the Task Bar and I have set it to check Maildirs in my home directory for new mail. When the window manager starts the Task Bar disappears after a few minutes, i'm assuming this is when the Maildir is first checked.

I wondered if anyone else has experienced this problem and if so, do you know how I can fix it. I'm sorry but I do not know of any debugging technique to provide more information.

The version of fvwm I am using is 2.7.0 built using the FreeBSD port process.

Jamie

[Jaimos Skriletz]

Post by Jamie Paul Griffin
Hello
I use the Task Bar and I have set it to check Maildirs in my home directory for new mail. When the window manager starts the Task Bar disappears after a few minutes, i'm assuming this is when the Maildir is first checked.
I wondered if anyone else has experienced this problem and if so, do you know how I can fix it. I'm sorry but I do not know of any debugging technique to provide more information.

You can check your $HOME/.xsession-errors (or stdout of your xserver) to see if any errors are spit out. Also if the process FvwmTaskBar isn't running when it disapeared its crashing. You are probabaly right about why its crashing, but will have to debug the paticulars.

For the most part FvwmTaskBar is no longer supported. If you want a task bar I would suggest mixing FvwmIconMan (for the task bar) + FvwmButtons as a container/pannel you can use to contain the start menu/clock/mail notification/system tray etc -- there are many examples of these floating around. Check the forums.

Post by Jamie Paul Griffin
The version of fvwm I am using is 2.7.0 built using the FreeBSD port process.

afiak fvwm is not going to continue using the stable/unstable branch split. Thus don't use 2.7.0 but use 2.6.1 instead (the offical branch is 2.6). Not sure about any paticulars on the FreeBSD port process but 2.7.0 is the same as the 2.6.0 release.

jaimos

[Thomas Adam]

Post by Jamie Paul Griffin
Hello
I use the Task Bar and I have set it to check Maildirs in my home
directory for new mail. When the window manager starts the Task Bar
disappears after a few minutes, i'm assuming this is when the Maildir is
first checked.

Anything in ~/.xsession-errors? Is FvwmTaskBar set to AutoHide? Ideally,
stop using it and use FvwmIconMan and FvwmButtons.

Post by Jamie Paul Griffin
I wondered if anyone else has experienced this problem and if so, do you
know how I can fix it. I'm sorry but I do not know of any debugging
technique to provide more information.

Use FvwmIconMan and FvwmButtons. I'll be deprecating FvwmTaskBar soon
enough. It's dead.

-- Thomas Adam

[Jamie Paul Griffin]

Post by Thomas Adam
Anything in ~/.xsession-errors? Is FvwmTaskBar set to AutoHide? Ideally,
stop using it and use FvwmIconMan and FvwmButtons.

strangely, nothing in ~/.xsession-errors. Definitely not set to
AutoHide. I'll do as you suggested and use use those two other modules,
I used to use them anyway but in a slightly different way.

Thanks to you both for your help.

Jamie

[elliot s]

<<
Use FvwmIconMan and FvwmButtons. I'll be deprecating FvwmTaskBar soon
enough. It's dead.
Is there an example somewhere on converting fvwmtaskbar functionality
to FvwmIconMan/FvwmButtons?

[Jaimos Skriletz]

Post by Thomas Adam
<<
Use FvwmIconMan and FvwmButtons. I'll be deprecating FvwmTaskBar soon
enough. It's dead.
Is there an example somewhere on converting fvwmtaskbar functionality
to FvwmIconMan/FvwmButtons?

Have you checked the forums for examples, fvwmforums.org?

I would search there.

Basic idea, FvwmButtons is the container. You can use it to hold the various parts of the taskbar you want. FvwmIconMan is the part that keeps track of running programs. I would first configure that, to act like the major part of the taskbar. After that you can add the start button and other things like clock/notifications by swalowing it into FvwmButtons.

jaimos

[Jamie Paul Griffin]

On Fri, May 13, 2011 at 07:07:41PM -0600, Jaimos Skriletz wrote:

Basic idea, FvwmButtons is the container. You can use it to hold the various parts of the taskbar you want. FvwmIconMan is the part that keeps track of running programs. I would first configure that, to act like the major part of the taskbar. After that you can add the start button and other things like clock/notifications by swalowing it into FvwmButtons.

I am sure there are good reasons for not keeping FvwmTaskBar but for me it is a shame. I think it's a cool feature. I've got it set up so it's transparent and i'm really happy with the look of it and the fact it's so easy to use.

FvwmButtons is great there's no doubt about that and i've achieved really nice results with it in the past - for me anyway - but, it is tricky to get the more advanced configuration right. I haven't yet looked at using it as a task bar though so not sure how tricky will be.

jamie

[elliot s]

Perhaps a sample of FvwmButtons/FvwmIconMan fvwmtaskbar replacement
code can be put into the wiki so that everyone currently using
fvwmtaskbar doesnt have to dumpster dive thru the forum.

[Jamie Paul Griffin]

Post by elliot s
Perhaps a sample of FvwmButtons/FvwmIconMan fvwmtaskbar replacement
code can be put into the wiki so that everyone currently using
fvwmtaskbar doesnt have to dumpster dive thru the forum.

Yeah that would be good. I always like to see how other people have configured their window manager as well, it always amazes me to see how versatile it is and some people achieve really fantastic results.

jamie

[Thomas Adam]

Post by elliot s
Perhaps a sample of FvwmButtons/FvwmIconMan fvwmtaskbar replacement
code can be put into the wiki so that everyone currently using
fvwmtaskbar doesnt have to dumpster dive thru the forum.

It's been in the TODO for ages, and is finally viable now that 2.6.X is out.

-- Thomas Adam

[XeCycle]

Post by Thomas Adam
Use FvwmIconMan and FvwmButtons. I'll be deprecating FvwmTaskBar soon
enough. It's dead.

Is there a complete list of deprecated(ing) or dead modules?
I don't want to play with a dead module, with issues
unsolvable.

[Thomas Adam]

Post by XeCycle

Post by Thomas Adam
Use FvwmIconMan and FvwmButtons. I'll be deprecating FvwmTaskBar soon
enough. It's dead.

Is there a complete list of deprecated(ing) or dead modules?
I don't want to play with a dead module, with issues
unsolvable.

Not as such, but in my mind:

* FvwmSave
* FvwmSaveDesk
* FvwmDragWell
* FvwmTaskBar (it's only FvwmButtons and FvwmIconMan)
* FvwmWinList (it's FvwmIconMan with tweaks?)
* FvwmIconBox
* FvwmGtk

None of these are likely to affect you anyway.

-- Thomas Adam

[elliot s]

Well, i got the FvwmIconMan/FvwmButtons pair looking like my fvwmtaskbar.
Two differences:
fvwmtaskbar had a shared mail checker/date display.
I dont know of an easy way to get both, so now it's just an xclock display.
fvwmtaskbar colorset colors show up lighter than the same colorset in
FvwmIconMan or elsewhere..

[Jamie Paul Griffin]

Post by elliot s
Well, i got the FvwmIconMan/FvwmButtons pair looking like my fvwmtaskbar.
fvwmtaskbar had a shared mail checker/date display.
I dont know of an easy way to get both, so now it's just an xclock display.
fvwmtaskbar colorset colors show up lighter than the same colorset in
FvwmIconMan or elsewhere..

would you be able/willing to share the relevent section of your config file to show how you did it?

jamie

[elliot s]

Post by Jamie Paul Griffin
would you be able/willing to share the relevent section of your config file
to show how you did it?

Here's what i have for my replacement taskbar.
I'm actually doing something else in the spot of xbiff, so i dont know
if it's right.

*FvwmIconMan: Action Mouse 1 N sendcommand Op_Raise_Iconify_Off
*FvwmIconMan: ButtonGeometry 642x25
*FvwmIconMan: Colorset 5
*FvwmIconMan: DrawIcons always
*FvwmIconMan: FocusColorset 4
*FvwmIconMan: IconColorset 6
*FvwmIconMan: Format "%i"
*FvwmIconMan: ManagerGeometry 1x2
*FvwmIconMan: ReliefThickness 1

*FvwmButtons: Colorset 5
*FvwmButtons: Frame 0
*FvwmButtons: Geometry 642x50+154-0
*FvwmButtons: Padding 0 0
*FvwmButtons: (1x1, Swallow "xbiff" 'Exec xbiff' Action(Mouse 1)
'Exec from | xmessage -file -' )
*FvwmButtons: (1x1, Swallow "xclock" 'Exec xclock -digital -strftime
%d -face lucidasans-8')
*FvwmButtons: (15x2-0-0, right, Swallow FvwmIconMan "Module FvwmIconMan")

[Thomas Adam]

Post by elliot s
*FvwmButtons: (1x1, Swallow "xbiff" 'Exec xbiff' Action(Mouse 1)

^^^^ add a comma here.
-- Thomas Adam

[Thomas Adam]

Post by elliot s
Well, i got the FvwmIconMan/FvwmButtons pair looking like my fvwmtaskbar.
fvwmtaskbar had a shared mail checker/date display.

xclock is fine for this. As for mail, use something like xbiff or xbuffy or
some other external tool.

Post by elliot s
I dont know of an easy way to get both, so now it's just an xclock display.
fvwmtaskbar colorset colors show up lighter than the same colorset in
FvwmIconMan or elsewhere..

How have you defined them?

-- Thomas Adam

[elliot s]

< As for mail, use something like xbiff or xbuffy or some other external tool.

The nice thing fvwmtaskbar did was to share the button, so that it was
a mail icon when you had mail, and "xclock" otherwise.

Post by elliot s
fvwmtaskbar colorset colors show up lighter than the same colorset in
FvwmIconMan or elsewhere..

I'm using the same colorsets for FvwmTaskbar and FvwmIconMan.
Maybe one module uses more of the colorset parameters than another.

Colorset 4 fg black, bg orange, fgsh black, sh black, hi orange
Colorset 5 fg black, bg #d8ffa0, fgsh black, sh tan , hi tan
Colorset 6 fg black, bg #ffff90, fgsh black, sh #ffff90, hi #ffff90

*FvwmIconMan: Colorset 5
*FvwmIconMan: FocusColorset 4
*FvwmIconMan: IconColorset 6

*FvwmTaskBar: Colorset 5
*FvwmTaskBar: IconColorset 6
*FvwmTaskBar: FocusColorset 4

[Thomas Adam]

Post by elliot s
< As for mail, use something like xbiff or xbuffy or some other external tool.
The nice thing fvwmtaskbar did was to share the button, so that it was
a mail icon when you had mail, and "xclock" otherwise.

Which you can do in FvwmButtons anyway.

Post by elliot s

Post by elliot s
fvwmtaskbar colorset colors show up lighter than the same colorset in
FvwmIconMan or elsewhere..

I'm using the same colorsets for FvwmTaskbar and FvwmIconMan.
Maybe one module uses more of the colorset parameters than another.

Nope. This is not how programming works.

Post by elliot s
Colorset 4 fg black, bg orange, fgsh black, sh black, hi orange
Colorset 5 fg black, bg #d8ffa0, fgsh black, sh tan , hi tan
Colorset 6 fg black, bg #ffff90, fgsh black, sh #ffff90, hi #ffff90
*FvwmIconMan: Colorset 5
*FvwmIconMan: FocusColorset 4
*FvwmIconMan: IconColorset 6
*FvwmTaskBar: Colorset 5
*FvwmTaskBar: IconColorset 6
*FvwmTaskBar: FocusColorset 4

These look the same according to my tired eyes, and also what gcolor2 made
of them. So I'll trust gcolor2.

-- Thomas Adam

[elliot s]

My FvwmIconMan buttons for iconified windows are always flat, whether
I set IconButton or not. My non-iconified window buttons react to the
settings just fine.
I'm running 2.7.0.

[elliot s]

<<
My FvwmIconMan buttons for iconified windows are always flat, whether
I set IconButton or not. My non-iconified window buttons react to the
settings just fine.
I'm running 2.7.0.
If i remove Colorset and IconColorset and instead use Background and
IconButton colors, that gave me the relief for iconified windows.

[elliot s]

<<
My FvwmIconMan buttons for iconified windows are always flat, whether
I set IconButton or not. My non-iconified window buttons react to the
settings just fine.
I'm running 2.7.0.

If i remove Colorset and IconColorset and instead use Background and
IconButton colors, that gave me the relief for iconified windows.
False alarm.
Apparently, my IconColorset had a color the same as the relief.

[Chris Siebenmann]

| > Is there a complete list of deprecated(ing) or dead modules?
| > I don't want to play with a dead module, with issues
| > unsolvable.
|
| Not as such, but in my mind:
[...]
| * FvwmWinList (it's FvwmIconMan with tweaks?)

This might need some modifications to FvwmIconMan, because the last
time I tried to do this only one FIM instance at a time could manage a
given window. If not changed, that would mean that the FIM instance
used as a pop-up list of all windows would not include any windows
already managed by a persistent FIM instance.

- cks

[Thomas Adam]

Post by Chris Siebenmann
| > Is there a complete list of deprecated(ing) or dead modules?
| > I don't want to play with a dead module, with issues
| > unsolvable.
|
[...]
| * FvwmWinList (it's FvwmIconMan with tweaks?)
This might need some modifications to FvwmIconMan, because the last

Yes. This is what "tweaks" refers to here.

-- Thomas Adam