FvwmForm
- input form module for Fvwm
SYNOPSIS
FvwmForm must be spawned by Fvwm. It will not work from
the command line.
DESCRIPTION
FvwmForm provides a mechanism to get user input and act
accordingly. This is achieved by means of a form that the
user can fill out, and from which the user can select
actions he wants Fvwm to take. A form consists of five
types of items: text labels, single-line text inputs,
mutually-exclusive selections, multiple-choice selections,
and action buttons. These items are arranged into several
lines, with a very flexible layout.
A text label only serves the purpose of explanation. It
cannot accept any input. A text input field can be used
to edit a single-line string. FvwmForm accepts Emacs-
style cursor movement keys. No copying and pasting func-
tions exist.
A selection consists of several choices. The selection
itself is a logical entity that doesn't have any display
feature. Each choice is displayed as a push-button fol-
lowed by a explanatory text label. When selected, an
exclusive choice shows a circle in the middle, while a
multiple choice shows a check.
An action button, when clicked on, will send a set of com-
mands to Fvwm. FvwmForm will do variable substitutions in
the command text to reflect the user's input.
INITIALIZATION
FvwmForm uses the same configuration file (usually .fvwmrc
in the user's home directory) as Fvwm. To use FvwmForm
for multiple input forms, simply create symbolic links
with different names, and they will be treated as differ-
ent modules. Or, you can invoke FvwmForm with an optional
parameter, which it will use as the name instead (e.g.
'Module FvwmForm QuitVerify'). That way you don't even
have to make a symbolic link for it!
Be sure to set ModulePath in your .fvwmrc file to include
FvwmForm's path.
When FvwmForm is invoked with a window context, e.g. from
a window menu, all commands it sends to Fvwm will have
that window context.
CONFIGURATION
The following options can be set in the .fvwmrc file.
The order of the options DOES matter. In general, colors
and fonts should be specified first. Lines, text labels,
and input items should appear in their logical order.
*FvwmFormGrabServer
This option makes FvwmForm grab the mouse pointer on
startup. This feature is useful for things like
logout verification.
*FvwmFormWarpPointer
This option makes FvwmForm warp the mouse pointer into
its window on startup. It saves the user some mouse-
travelling.
*FvwmFormPosition x y
Puts the FvwmForm window at location (x, y) on the
screen. By convention, a negative x (resp. y) value
measures distance from the right (resp. bottom) of the
screen.
If this option is omitted, FvwmForm will start at the
center of the screen.
*FvwmFormBack color
Specifies the background color of the FvwmForm window.
*FvwmFormFore color
Specifies the foreground color for displaying plain
text.
*FvwmFormItemBack color
Specifies the background color for the text input win-
dows, and the buttons.
*FvwmFormItemFore color
Specifies the foreground color for the text input
strings and button markers.
*FvwmFormFont font
Specifies the font for displaying plain text.
*FvwmFormButtonFont font
Specifies the font for text marked in the action but-
tons.
*FvwmFormInputfont font
Specifies the font for text input. This font must
have fixed width.
*FvwmFormLine justification
Starts a new line. A line can contain an arbitrary
The width of the window is that of the longest line.
Justification of items in the line is specified by
justification, which can be one of the following:
left Items are justified to the left of the
window.
right Items are justified to the right of the
window.
center Items are placed in the center of the win-
dow.
expand If there is only one item in the line, the
item is centered in the window. If two or
more items are present, they are spreaded
to fill the whole width of the window.
*FvwmFormText string
Displays string as plain text. Line breaks must be
achieved by multiple *FvwmFormLine and *FvwmFormText
options. Blanks may be used to provide extra padding
between items.
*FvwmFormInput name size init_string
Specifies a text input item with name name. A subwin-
dow of size characters in width will be used for edit-
ting. If init_string is present, it will be the ini-
tial string when FvwmForm starts or resets itself.
The default initial string is "".
*FvwmFormSelection name type
This option starts a selection item with name name.
Its choices should be specified on the subsequent
lines. The option type is one of the following:
single The selections are mutually exclusive.
multiple This is a multiple-choice selection.
*FvwmFormChoice name value on | off string
Specifies a choice for a selection. The choice item
has a name and a value. The string will be displayed
to the right of the choice button as a label.
The choice will assume the specified initial state
("on" means selected) when FvwmForm starts or resets.
Note that if the selections are mutually exclusive,
FvwmForm will NOT detect inconsistencies in the ini-
tial states of the choices, i.e. two or none of the
choices can be selected. However, once the user
*FvwmFormButton type string [key]
This option specifies an action button. The button
has string as a label, and excutes a set of Fvwm com-
mand when it is activated. The commands should be
specified using the *FvwmFormCommand option.
The optional key specifies a keyboard shortcut that
activates the button. It is in either a control char-
acter, specified as ^@, ^A, ..., ^_, or a function
key, specified as F1, F2, ..., F35. Control keys that
are used for cursor movement in text input fields can-
not activate any buttons, with the exception of TAB,
RETURN, LINEFEED, which can activate a button when the
cursor is in the last text input field.
The behavior of the button is determined by type:
continue FvwmForm will resume execution after send-
ing the commands.
restart After sending the commands, FvwmForm will
reset all the values to the initial ones,
and then resume execution.
quit FvwmForm will quit after sending the com-
mands.
*FvwmFormCommand command
This option specifies an Fvwm command associated with
the current button. Commands that appear before any
*FvwmFormButton option will be executed at start-up
time. This is usually a beep that gets the user's
attention.
Before sending each command to Fvwm, FvwmForm recog-
nizes variables of the following forms, and supply
values to them.
$(name) If name corresponds to a text input field,
the result is the user's input string.
Special chars such as ", ', and will be
preceded by a backslash.
If name corresponds to a choice, the
result is the value of the choice (as
specified in *FvwmFormChoice) if the
choice is selected. If the choice is not
selected, the result is a blank string.
If name corresponds to a selection, the
result will be a list of the selected val-
value is not an empty string, the result
is string, with recursive variable substi-
tution applied. If the input value is
empty, the result is empty.
If name is a choice and it is selected,
the result is string, with recursive vari-
able substitution applied. If the choice
is not selected, the result is empty.
$(name!string) The same as the above, except that the
converse conditions are taken.
EXAMPLE 1 - QuitVerify
This example simulates the mwm way of confirming logout.
*QuitVerifyGrabServer
*QuitVerifyWarpPointer
*QuitVerifyFont *helvetica*m*r*n*14*
*QuitVerifyButtonFont *helvetica*m*o*n*14*
*QuitVerifyFore Black
*QuitVerifyBack Light Gray
*QuitVerifyItemFore Wheat
*QuitVerifyItemBack Gray50
# begin items
*QuitVerifyCommand Beep
*QuitVerifyLine center
*QuitVerifyText "Do you really want to logout?"
*QuitVerifyLine expand
*QuitVerifyButton quit "Logout" ^M
*QuitVerifyCommand Quit
*QuitVerifyButton quit "Cancel" ^[
*QuitVerifyCommand Nop
# Fvwm window style
Style "QuitVerify" NoTitle, NoHandles, BorderWidth 3
EXAMPLE 2 - Remote Login
This example lets the user type in a hostname, and option-
ally a user name on the remote machine, and opens an xterm
window from the remote host.
*RloginWarpPointer
*RloginFont *helvetica*m*r*n*14*
*RloginButtonFont *helvetica*m*o*n*14*
*RloginInputFont *cour*m*r*n*14*
*RloginFore Black
*RloginBack Light Gray
*RloginItemFore Wheat
*RloginItemBack Gray50
# begin items
*RloginLine center
*RloginText "Host:"
*RloginInput HostName 20 ""
*RloginLine center
*RloginSelection UserSel single
*RloginChoice Default Default on "same user"
*RloginChoice Custom Custom off "user:"
*RloginInput UserName 10 ""
*RloginLine expand
*RloginButton quit "Login" ^M
*RloginCommand Exec exec rsh $(Custom?-l $(UserName))
$(HostName) xterm -T xterm@$(HostName) -display $HOSTDIS-
PLAY &
*RloginButton restart "Clear"
*RloginButton quit "Cancel" ^[
*RloginCommand Nop
EXAMPLE 3 - Capture Window
This example provides a front-end to xwd, xwud, and xpr.
*CaptureFont *helvetica*m*r*n*14*
*CaptureButtonFont *helvetica*m*o*n*14*
*CaptureInputFont *cour*m*r*n*14*
*CaptureLine center
*CaptureText "Capture Window"
*CaptureLine left
*CaptureText "File: "
*CaptureInput file 25 "/tmp/Capture"
*CaptureLine left
*CaptureText "Printer: "
*CaptureInput printer 20 "ps1"
*CaptureLine expand
*CaptureSelection PtrType single
*CaptureChoice PS ps on "PostScript"
*CaptureChoice Ljet ljet off "HP LaserJet"
*CaptureLine left
*CaptureText "xwd options:"
*CaptureLine expand
*CaptureSelection Options multiple
*CaptureChoice Brd -nobdrs off "No border"
*CaptureChoice Frm -frame on "With frame"
*CaptureChoice XYZ -xy off "XY format"
*CaptureLine expand
*CaptureButton continue "Capture" ^M
*CaptureCommand Exec exec xwd -out $(file) $(Options)
&
*CaptureButton continue "Preview"
*CaptureCommand Exec exec xwud -in $(file) &
*CaptureButton continue "Print"
*CaptureCommand Exec xpr -device $(PtrType) $(file) |
lpr -P $(printer) &
*CaptureButton quit "Quit"
There is a hard-coded limit on the number of items.
Report bugs to ztfeng@math.princeton.edu.
COPYRIGHT
FvwmForm is original work of Thomas Zuwei Feng.
Copyright Feb 1995, Thomas Zuwei Feng. No guarantees or
warantees are provided or implied in any way whatsoever.
Use this program at your own risk. Permission to use,
modify, and redistribute this program is hereby given,
provided that this copyright is kept intact.
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