herbstluftwm tasking
i’ve been living with herbstluftwm for half a year now. It’s here to stay as I continue to fashion it to my workflow idiosyncrasies, including keybinds adapted to my Colemak Shift-DH layout.
hide window
has been further augmented from the window handling described here to add restoring windows by application, versus the original FILO (first in, last out) window order..
function hidden_windows() {
for i in $(herbstclient attr clients | grep ‘0x’)
do
if herbstclient attr clients.$i | grep -q “‘$tag”; then
window=$(herbstclient attr clients.$i | grep ‘title’ | cut -d’”’ -f2)
[[ $hidden ]] && hidden=”$hidden\n$window” || hidden=”$window”
fi
done
[[ $hidden ]] && return 0 || return 1
}
function unhide() {
for i in $(herbstclient attr clients | grep ‘0x’)
do
if herbstclient attr clients.$i | grep -q “$@”; then
winid=${i%.}
break
fi
done
[[ $winid ]] && herbstclient chain . use $tag . bring $winid
}
function unhide_window() {
case $window in
‘[ all ]’) hide_window 0 ;;
‘[ last ]’) hide_window -1 ;;
*) unhide “$window”
release_ticktag $tag
;;
esac
}
tag=$(herbstclient list_monitors | grep '\[FOCUS\]' | cut -d'"' -f2)
case "$@" in
+1) herbstclient dump “‘$tag” || herbstclient add “‘$tag”
herbstclient move “‘$tag”
;;
-1) if herbstclient dump “‘$tag”; then
herbstclient chain . lock . use “‘$tag”
winid=$(herbstclient attr clients.focus.winid)
herbstclient chain . use $tag . bring $winid . unlock
release_ticktag $tag
fi
;;
0) herbstclient dump “‘$tag” && herbstclient merge_tag “‘$tag” ;;
*) if hidden_windows; then
if (( $(echo -e $hidden | wc -l) - 1 )); then
if window=$(echo -e $hidden | sort | sed “1i[ all ]\n[ last ]” | $(dwrapper) -p “Raise Window □ $tag”); then
unhide_window
fi
else
if window=$(echo -e $hidden | sort | $(dwrapper) -p “Raise Window □ $tag”); then
unhide_window
fi
fi
fi
;;
esac
If more than one window for the tag (desktop) is hidden, the dmenu lists “all” or “last” window actions.
The herbstluftwm autostart keybinds to hide and restore windows..
hc keybind $Mod-h spawn hide_window +1
hc keybind $Mod-Control-h spawn hide_window -1
hc keybind $Mod-Control-Shift-h spawn hide_window 0
hc keybind $Mod-Shift-h spawn hide_window
As my herbstluftwm configuration organizes my numbered tags by function—browsing, IRC/messaging, email/calendar, music/audio, etc. —hide_window allows managing the visible content on each of these desktops.
But what of referencing windows in general? Enter..
window tabbing
a hotkeyed pop up window (application) menu bar similar to that found in many desktop environments such as, OSX..
[[ $* ]] && mode='Raise' || mode='Focus'
function attr() {
herbstclient attr clients.$2 | grep “ s - $1 “ | awk ‘{ print $5; }’
}
function instance() {
attr “instance” “$@”
}
function tag() {
tag=$(attr “tag” “$@”)
echo $tag | grep -q “’” && echo “ – ${tag#'}” || echo “ □ $tag”
}
for i in $(herbstclient attr clients | grep '0x')
do
window=”$(tag $i):$(instance $i)$(tag $i):$i”
[[ $windows ]] && windows=”$windows\n$window” || windows=”$window”
done
if window=$(echo -e $windows | sort | cut -d: -f2 | $(dwrapper) -p "$mode Window"); then
window=$(echo -e $windows | grep “$window”)
tag=$(echo $window | sed ‘s/.* [□–] ([0-9]):0x.*/\1/’)
if [[ $* ]]; then
herbstclient bring “$(echo $window | sed ‘s/.:(.)/\1/’)”
elif echo $window | grep ‘ □ [0-9]:0x’; then
herbstclient chain . use “$tag” . jumpto “$(echo $window | sed ‘s/.:(.)/\1/’)”
else
herbstclient chain . use “$tag” . bring “$(echo $window | sed ‘s/.:(.)/\1/’)”
fi
echo $window | grep ‘ – [0-9]:0x’ && release_ticktag $tag
fi
Visible windows are represented with a box “□” tag, hidden or minimized windows with an em-dash “–” tag, in tag (desktop) number order.
The beauty lies in the minimal number of keystrokes required to filter the menu list to a desktop with a single digit, an application with one or more characters. Tabbing, of course, can also be used to cycle through the list for selection.
The herbstluftwm autostart keybinds to focus and raise (bring) windows..
hc keybind Super-Tab spawn dhlwm
hc keybind Super-Control-Tab spawn dhlwm bring
release tick’tag
is a housekeeping script which merges empty tag placeholders used for hidden windows (by not being keybind accessible). It is only required by Conky for properly toggling the desktop indicator which is colored if hidden windows exist for that tag..
if [[ $(herbstclient dump "'$@" | wc -w) -le 2 ]]; then
herbstclient merge_tag “’$@”
fi
This pretty much customizes herbstluftwm to my workflow preferences. Once “winterbreeze”, the next iteration of herbstluftwm is released with frame attributes, I may get hooked on some other attribute gymnastics.
For now, herbstluftwm’s keyboard agility equals productivity.