[openbox] fluxbox-like tabs via external tool ?

[Phillip Warner]

--- On Mon, 2/9/09, Stepan <zelvicka at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am happy fluxbox user. Now I am tempted to switch to
> openbox, but I
> would miss tabs
> (=auto-grouped windows with tab over group - see
> http://fluxbox.sourceforge.net/features/tabs.php).
> I am aware that openbox developers are not going to add
> tabs into
> openbox itself.
> 
> So my question is: Is there any way to get at least part of
> this
> functionality into openbox via some
> tool? I am looking  for some tool that creates window with
> tab-bar and
> allow other applications to
> be run inside, creating one tab for each.
> 
> Thanks for any advice
> Stepan
> 
Stepan, I am in a similar position as you.  I, too, am quite find of fluxbox's tabbing (and pseudo-transparent root menu w/ icons), but I much prefer Openbox's popups (window switching, client menu, key modes), and the Openbox developers seem more Open to suggestions ;)  

One suggestion that I have for you is to try and treat workspaces like windows and the application windows as tabs.  You can assign certain applications to be "grouped" this way.  You can add/delete workspaces as necessary.  Have your configs perform multiple actions based upon key commands.

However, you also could do something similar to what was previously suggested: use tabbed programs.  This by itself is not that wonderful, though.  You can use wmctrl and xdotool to automate the "grouping" for tabbed programs.  This works because wmctrl can find and raise the program, and xdotool can simulate the keystrokes needed to open another tab.  I attached a script that I wrote to implement this.  Unfortunately, you cannot mix programs as you can with fluxbox (unless they are all terminal programs ;)   ).  Also, don't let you fingers linger on the keys when using xdotool, or else the buttons you are pressing will get added to the simulated keystrokes!

Right now, for instance, I use mrxvt as my terminal and typically nano for my text editor.  I like having my terminals grouped and my text editors grouped.  I also like having my text editors on the right side at a certain size.  I use the groupapp script (attached) to perform all of this.  I simply assign:
  groupapp nano.mrxvt.XTerm "mrxvt -name nano.mrxvt -tt nano -e nano" "ctrl+shift+F3" "0,660,0,361,713"
to ctrl+alt+n in my Openbox config.  Similarly, I assign:
  groupapp mrxvt.XTerm "mrxvt" "ctrl+shift+t"
to ctrl+alt+z, which is what I like to open terminals.  This works really well.

I would also suggest that if you place and resize windows using the attached script, that you pre-place them using the openbox config.  The window will be first placed according to Openbox, and then the script will move/resize it.  If the window is already where it will be, then no annoying jumping will occur.  If you just place the window using Openbox, then the placement might be wrong after resizing it.

Since you want unicode support, Stepan, I would suggest that you try using rxvt-unicode (urxvt).  urxvt does support tabbing (though not as nice as mrxvt's) if you enable the perl extension.  Be sure to disable any other perl extensions that you don't need to keep the program light.  I don't know of any other light terminals that support unicode and tabbing (perhaps lxde's lxterminal???).

Using the above mentioned tools you should be able to configure Openbox to provide close to what you want.  If not, then you could either try to patch Openbox or fluxbox.  You could also use something like superswitcher or a zenity/wmctrl combo for the missing alt-tab/client menu popups in fluxbox, and perhaps xosd for the others.

--Phillip


      
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