NAME¶
ratmenu - create a menu to run commands
SYNOPSIS¶
ratmenu [
-display displayname ] [
-font
fname ] [
-fg foreground-color ] [
-bg
background-color ] [
-io item-offset ] [
-label
name ] [
-shell prog ] [
-align
{left|center|right} ] [
-style {snazzy|dreary} ] [
-persist ] [
-version ] [
menuitem command ] ...
DESCRIPTION¶
ratmenu is a simple program that accepts a list of menu item and command
pairs on the command line. It creates a window that consists of nothing but a
menu. When a particular item is selected, the corresponding command is
executed.
ratmenu does not recognize any usage of the rodent. It is entirely
keystroke operated.
Menu items must be followed by a command. The syntax is based on that of the
dialog program.
ratmenu accepts the following command line options.
- -display displayname
- Use the X display displayname, instead of the default display.
- -font fname
- (X Resource: font) Use the font fname, instead of the default
font.
- -label name
- Change both the window and icon labels of the window to name. The
default label is the last component of the path used to run
ratmenu, typically, ratmenu.
- -fg foreground-color
- (X Resource: fgcolor) Set the foreground color to foreground-color.
By default, the foreground color is black.
- -bg background-color
- (X Resource: bgcolor) Set the background color to background-color.
By default, the background color is white.
- -io item-offset
- Set the first selected item to item-offset. By default, the first
item is the top-most one, or item-offset 1. The next item down would be at
item-offset 2.
- -style {snazzy|dreary}
- (X Resource: style) The default style is snazzy, where the
highlight bar, which shows the currently selected item, remains stationary
while all the menu items are rotated up or down when the cursor keys are
moved. In dreary mode, the highlight bar moves up and down the menu
as it does on all conventional keyboard controlled menus.
- -align {left|center|right}
- (X Resource: align) Align the text of the menu entries to the left, right,
or center. Defaults to left. This is different from 9menu,
which defaults to center.
- -shell prog
- Use prog as the shell to run commands, instead of /bin/sh. A
popular alternative shell is rc(1). If the shell cannot be
executed, ratmenu will silently fall back to using
/bin/sh.
- -back prevmenu
- prevmenu is a command or shell script to run when the back key is
pressed, usually a script that has ratmenu showing the previous menu. Used
to create nested menus, it gives the user a way to back out and return to
the previous menu. Note that you can use this option for other things too.
The command specified by the -back option is executed when the user
hits one of the "back" keys.
- -persist
- (X Resource: persist) Ordinarily, ratmenu exits if a new window pops up on
top of it, or if you switch to another window. This option tells ratmenu
to hang around, like a regular window.
- -version
- This option prints the version of ratmenu on the standard output,
and then exits with an exit value of zero.
KEYSTROKES¶
The
Up keystrokes move the selection to the next item up. The
Down
keystrokes move the selection to the next item down. When the selection
reaches the top or bottom, it scrolls around to the other side on pressing of
the appropriate keystroke. The
Select keystrokes execute the command
corresponding to the currently selected menu item, and exit ratmenu. The
Exit keystrokes quit ratmenu without doing anything.
- Up
-
'k', Up_arrow, BackSpace, '-', C-p
- Down
-
'j', Down_arrow, Space, Tab, '+', C-n, C-i
- Select
-
'l', Right_arrow, Return, C-f, C-m, C-j
- Back
-
'h', Left_arrow, C-b
- Exit
-
'q', Escape, C-g
CONFIGURATION USING X RESOURCES¶
You can configure some items using
xrdb to load appropriate X resources.
There is an example configuration in the file
/usr/share/doc/ratmenu/Xresources.ratmenu which shows all possible
configuration items. Give it a look; it is fairly easy to figure out.
EXAMPLES¶
ratmenu -label "Remotes xterm" acme "rsh acme xterm" herman "rsh herman 9term" &
ratmenu -label 'X progs' ghostview ghostview xdvi xdvi xeyes xeyes xneko xneko &
ratmenu -back ~/bin/mypreviousmenu "X Eyes" xeyes &
SEE ALSO¶
ratpoison(1),
ratpoisonrc(5),
dialog(1) xrdb(1)
Ratpoison Desktop Users Manual.
AUTHORS¶
The initial idea for this program was by Arnold Robbins, after having worked
with John Mackin's GWM Blit emulation. Matty Farrow wrote a version using
libXg, from which some ideas were borrowed. This code was written by David
Hogan and Arnold Robbins. Rich Salz motivated the
-shell option.
Jonathan Walther modified this code to play nicely with the ratpoison window
manager by removing handling of mouse events and iconification. Zrajm C Akfohg
made many improvements in his ratmen fork, including X resource handling, some
of which were folded back in.