[openbox] Key to bring up the menu?

Chris Anderson chris at dersoldat.org
Fri Aug 1 08:22:32 EDT 2003


Point taken, and if it helps I laughed the whole way though

-Chris

On Fri, 2003-08-01 at 01:22, Tim Riley wrote:
> On Fri, 2003-08-01 at 13:53, Chris Anderson wrote:
> > Perhaps I missed it in the rc3 file, is there a key combination I can
> > press to show the Openbox menu while I'm not on the desktop?
> 
> How about we step out side the square on this one, Chris?  Ok, are you
> ready to follow?  Let's do it!
> 
> So, here's what we're after:
> (1) A key combination.
> (2) The menu
> (3) The appearance of (1) & (2) in the rc3 file.
> 
> A clear, enumerated definition of our goal is much like the strong,
> seductively grey concrete that forms the foundation of any strong
> edifice.  As Sun Tsu says, with the concrete as my light, I will find
> that which is right.
> 
> As you would probably know, the rc3 that is distributed & installed with
> openbox contains pretty much the definitive list of the options
> available to brave man seeking to write his own configuration file. 
> We're after a menu, right?  Let's see what's in the default rc3 file
> that mentions the word 'menu.'
> 
> We'll be using the 'grep' tool, which "print[s] lines matching a
> pattern," [1] in the following manner:
> 
> grep -i menu /usr/local/share/openbox/rc3
> 
> This returns many mentions of the m-word, but one which would
> particularly interest us is this:
> 
> rc3:      <action name="showmenu"><menu>root</menu></action>
> 
> Obviously that is an action which will show the root menu!  We can
> ascertain this from the fact that the the word 'root' is enclosed in
> <menu> tags, which are, in turn, enclosed in <action> tags.
> 
> Now, we want to be able to launch this action from a keybinding, am I
> right, Chris?  Let's use the handy dandy grep tool again, this time
> looking for the word 'key.'
> 
> grep -i key /usr/local/share/openbox/rc3
> 
> Woah!  So many matches!  But you'll find that the word "key" most
> commonly appears in <keybind> tags, which all enclosed inside one big
> honking set of <keyboard> tags.  Upon further inspection, we will see
> that inside these <keybind> tags are <action> tags, much like the menu
> launching one we found before!
> 
> Fortunately for our noble cause is the fact that <keybind> tags also
> contain a property, called "key."  Cursorily, I would conclude that the
> value of this property represents the key combination that the user must
> type in order to trigger the action contained within the keybind tags. 
> Such zany combinations as "C-A-Delete" and "C-A-x" are possible.  Now,
> I'm no expert, but I'm guessing the "C" and the "A" characters are
> shorthand for the standard key modifiers, our friends "control" and
> "alt."
> 
> So, with all that tedious research out of the way, we should now have
> accumulated all the knowledge we need in order to create our own
> keybinding, and have it launch the root menu.  I'll give it a shot right
> now!
> 
> <keybind key="C-m">
> <action name="showmenu"><menu>root</menu></action>
> </keybind>
> 
> That's it!  Of course, we'd put this inside the aforementioned big
> honking <keyboard> tag, along with the other keybindings.
> 
> Chris, I know this has been a long journey, so I commend you on your
> valorous patience.
> 
> May you type safely, and may the concrete guide you, always,
> 
> With hugs and kisses from your fellow keybinder,
> 
> Tim Riley
> 
> 
> [1]: GNU Project, "GREP(1)" manual page, 2003
> 




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