XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog

Note: This module is a compatibility wrapper for the following:

• XMonad.Hooks.StatusBar
• XMonad.Hooks.StatusBar.PP

DynamicLog API is frozen and users are encouraged to migrate to these modern replacements.

Original description and documentation follows:

xmonad calls the logHook with every internal state update, which is useful for (among other things) outputting status information to an external status bar program such as xmobar or dzen. DynamicLog provides several drop-in logHooks for this purpose, as well as flexible tools for specifying your own formatting.

Usage

You can use this module with the following in your ~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs:

import XMonad
import XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog

If you just want a quick-and-dirty status bar with zero effort, try the xmobar or dzen functions:

main = xmonad =<< xmobar myConfig

myConfig = def { ... }

There is also statusBar if you'd like to use another status bar, or would like to use different formatting options. The xmobar, dzen, and statusBar functions are preferred over the other options listed below, as they take care of all the necessary plumbing -- no shell scripting required!

Alternatively, you can choose among several default status bar formats (dynamicLog or dynamicLogXinerama) by simply setting your logHook to the appropriate function, for instance:

main = xmonad $ def {
   ...
   logHook = dynamicLog
   ...
 }

For more flexibility, you can also use dynamicLogWithPP and supply your own pretty-printing format (by either defining one from scratch, or customizing one of the provided examples). For example:

   -- use sjanssen's pretty-printer format, but with the sections
   -- in reverse
   logHook = dynamicLogWithPP $ sjanssenPP { ppOrder = reverse }

Note that setting the logHook only sets up xmonad's output; you are responsible for starting your own status bar program (e.g. dzen or xmobar) and making sure xmonad's output is piped into it appropriately, either by putting it in your .xsession or similar file, or by using spawnPipe in your main function, for example:

import XMonad.Util.Run   -- for spawnPipe and hPutStrLn

main = do
    h <- spawnPipe "xmobar -options -foo -bar"
    xmonad $ def {
      ...
      logHook = dynamicLogWithPP $ def { ppOutput = hPutStrLn h }

If you use spawnPipe, be sure to redefine the ppOutput field of your pretty-printer as in the example above; by default the status will be printed to stdout rather than the pipe you create.

Even if you don't use a statusbar, you can still use dynamicLogString to show on-screen notifications in response to some events. For example, to show the current layout when it changes, you could make a keybinding to cycle the layout and display the current status:

   , ((mod1Mask, xK_a     ), sendMessage NextLayout >> (dynamicLogString myPP >>= xmessage))

Drop-in loggers

xmobarProp

Arguments

:: LayoutClass l Window

=> XConfig l

The base config

-> XConfig (ModifiedLayout AvoidStruts l)

Run xmonad with a property-based xmobar status bar set to some nice defaults.

main = xmonad $ xmobarProp myConfig

myConfig = def { ... }

The intent is that the above config file should provide a nice status bar with minimal effort. Note that you still need to configure xmobar to use the XMonadLog plugin instead of the default StdinReader, see above.

If you wish to customize the status bar format at all, use the modernized interface provided by the XMonad.Hooks.StatusBar and XMonad.Hooks.StatusBar.PP modules instead.

The binding uses the XMonad.Hooks.ManageDocks module to automatically handle screen placement for xmobar, and enables 'mod-b' for toggling the menu bar.

xmobar

Arguments

:: LayoutClass l Window

=> XConfig l

The base config

-> IO (XConfig (ModifiedLayout AvoidStruts l))

This function works like xmobarProp, but uses pipes instead of property-based logging.

statusBar

Arguments

:: LayoutClass l Window

=> String

The command line to launch the status bar

-> PP

The pretty printing options

-> (XConfig Layout -> (KeyMask, KeySym))

The desired key binding to toggle bar visibility

-> XConfig l

The base config

-> IO (XConfig (ModifiedLayout AvoidStruts l))

Like statusBarProp, but uses pipes instead of property-based logging. Only use this function if your status bar does not support reading from a property of the root window.

dzen

Arguments

:: LayoutClass l Window

=> XConfig l

The base config

-> IO (XConfig (ModifiedLayout AvoidStruts l))

Run xmonad with a dzen status bar set to some nice defaults.

main = xmonad =<< dzen myConfig

myConfig = def { ... }

This works pretty much the same as the xmobar function.

dzenWithFlags

Arguments

:: LayoutClass l Window

=> String

Flags to give to dzen

-> XConfig l

The base config

-> IO (XConfig (ModifiedLayout AvoidStruts l))

Run xmonad with a dzen status bar with specified dzen command line arguments.

main = xmonad =<< dzenWithFlags flags myConfig

myConfig = def { ... }

flags = "-e onstart lower -w 800 -h 24 -ta l -fg #a8a3f7 -bg #3f3c6d"

This function works much in the same way as the dzen function, only that it can also be used to customize the arguments passed to dzen2, e.g changing the default width and height of dzen2.

You should use this function only when the default dzen function does not serve your purpose.

dynamicLog :: X ()

An example log hook, which prints status information to stdout in the default format:

1 2 [3] 4 7 : full : title

That is, the currently populated workspaces, the current workspace layout, and the title of the focused window.

To customize the output format, see dynamicLogWithPP.

dynamicLogXinerama :: X ()

Workspace logger with a format designed for Xinerama:

[1 9 3] 2 7

where 1, 9, and 3 are the workspaces on screens 1, 2 and 3, respectively, and 2 and 7 are non-visible, non-empty workspaces.

At the present time, the current layout and window title are not shown. The xinerama workspace format shown above can be (mostly) replicated using dynamicLogWithPP by setting ppSort to getSortByXineramaRule from XMonad.Util.WorkspaceCompare. For example,

def { ppCurrent = dzenColor "red" "#efebe7"
    , ppVisible = wrap "[" "]"
    , ppSort    = getSortByXineramaRule
    }

xmonadPropLog :: String -> X ()

Write a string to the _XMONAD_LOG property on the root window.

xmonadPropLog'

Arguments

:: String

Property name

-> String

Message to be written to the property

-> X ()

Write a string to a property on the root window. This property is of type UTF8_STRING.

xmonadDefProp :: String

The default property xmonad writes to. (_XMONAD_LOG).

Build your own formatter

dynamicLogWithPP :: PP -> X ()

Format the current status using the supplied pretty-printing format, and write it to stdout.

dynamicLogString :: PP -> X String

The same as dynamicLogWithPP, except it simply returns the status as a formatted string without actually printing it to stdout, to allow for further processing, or use in some application other than a status bar.

data PP

The PP type allows the user to customize the formatting of status information.

Constructors

PP

Fields

• ppCurrent :: WorkspaceId -> String

  how to print the tag of the currently focused workspace

• ppVisible :: WorkspaceId -> String

  how to print tags of visible but not focused workspaces (xinerama only)

• ppHidden :: WorkspaceId -> String

  how to print tags of hidden workspaces which contain windows

• ppHiddenNoWindows :: WorkspaceId -> String

  how to print tags of empty hidden workspaces

• ppVisibleNoWindows :: Maybe (WorkspaceId -> String)

  how to print tags of empty visible workspaces

• ppUrgent :: WorkspaceId -> String

  format to be applied to tags of urgent workspaces.

• ppRename :: String -> WindowSpace -> String

  rename/augment the workspace tag (note that WindowSpace -> … acts as a Reader monad)

• ppSep :: String

  separator to use between different log sections (window name, layout, workspaces)

• ppWsSep :: String

  separator to use between workspace tags

• ppTitle :: String -> String

  window title format for the focused window. To display the titles of all windows—even unfocused ones—check logTitles.

• ppTitleSanitize :: String -> String

  escape / sanitizes input to ppTitle

• ppLayout :: String -> String

  layout name format

• ppOrder :: [String] -> [String]

  how to order the different log sections. By default, this function receives a list with three formatted strings, representing the workspaces, the layout, and the current window titles, respectively. If you have specified any extra loggers in ppExtras, their output will also be appended to the list. To get them in the reverse order, you can just use ppOrder = reverse. If you don't want to display the current layout, you could use something like ppOrder = \(ws:_:t:_) -> [ws,t], and so on.

• ppSort :: X ([WindowSpace] -> [WindowSpace])

  how to sort the workspaces. See XMonad.Util.WorkspaceCompare for some useful sorts.

• ppExtras :: [X (Maybe String)]

  loggers for generating extra information such as time and date, system load, battery status, and so on. See XMonad.Util.Loggers for examples, or create your own!

• ppOutput :: String -> IO ()

  applied to the entire formatted string in order to output it. Can be used to specify an alternative output method (e.g. write to a pipe instead of stdout), and/or to perform some last-minute formatting. Note that this is only used by dynamicLogWithPP; it won't work with dynamicLogString or XMonad.Hooks.StatusBar.

• ppPrinters :: WSPP

  extend workspace types with custom predicates. Check $predicates for more details.

Instances

Default PP

The default pretty printing options:

1 2 [3] 4 7 : full : title

That is, the currently populated workspaces, the current workspace layout, and the title of the focused window.

Defined in XMonad.Hooks.StatusBar.PP

Methods

def :: PP

def :: Default a => a

Example formatters

dzenPP :: PP

Settings to emulate dwm's statusbar, dzen only.

xmobarPP :: PP

Some nice xmobar defaults.

sjanssenPP :: PP

The options that sjanssen likes to use with xmobar, as an example. Note the use of xmobarColor and the record update on def.

byorgeyPP :: PP

The options that byorgey likes to use with dzen, as another example.

Formatting utilities

wrap

Arguments

:: String

left delimiter

-> String

right delimiter

-> String

output string

-> String

Wrap a string in delimiters, unless it is empty.

pad :: String -> String

Pad a string with a leading and trailing space.

trim :: String -> String

Trim leading and trailing whitespace from a string.

shorten :: Int -> String -> String

Limit a string to a certain length, adding "..." if truncated.

shorten' :: String -> Int -> String -> String

Limit a string to a certain length, adding end if truncated.

shortenLeft :: Int -> String -> String

Like shorten, but truncate from the left instead of right.

shortenLeft' :: String -> Int -> String -> String

Like shorten', but truncate from the left instead of right.

xmobarColor

Arguments

:: String

foreground color: a color name, or #rrggbb format

-> String

background color

-> String

output string

-> String

Use xmobar escape codes to output a string with given foreground and background colors.

xmobarAction

Arguments

:: String

Command. Use of backticks (`) will cause a parse error.

-> String

Buttons 1-5, such as "145". Other characters will cause a parse error.

-> String

Displayed/wrapped text.

-> String

Encapsulate text with an action. The text will be displayed, and the action executed when the displayed text is clicked. Illegal input is not filtered, allowing xmobar to display any parse errors. Uses xmobar's new syntax wherein the command is surrounded by backticks.

xmobarBorder

Arguments

:: String

Border type. Possible values: VBoth, HBoth, Full, Top, Bottom, Left or Right

-> String

color: a color name, or #rrggbb format

-> Int

width in pixels

-> String

output string

-> String

Use xmobar box to add a border to an arbitrary string.

xmobarRaw :: String -> String

Encapsulate arbitrary text for display only, i.e. untrusted content if wrapped (perhaps from window titles) will be displayed only, with all tags ignored. Introduced in xmobar 0.21; see their documentation. Be careful not to shorten the result.

xmobarStrip :: String -> String

Strip xmobar markup, specifically the fc, icon and action tags and the matching tags like /fc.

xmobarStripTags

Arguments

:: [String]

tags

-> String

-> String

with all tag.../tag removed

dzenColor

Arguments

:: String

foreground color: a color name, or #rrggbb format

-> String

background color

-> String

output string

-> String

Use dzen escape codes to output a string with given foreground and background colors.

dzenEscape :: String -> String

Escape any dzen metacharacters.

dzenStrip :: String -> String

Strip dzen formatting or commands.

filterOutWsPP :: [WorkspaceId] -> PP -> PP

Transforms a pretty-printer into one not displaying the given workspaces.

For example, filtering out the NSP workspace before giving the PP to dynamicLogWithPP:

logHook = dynamicLogWithPP . filterOutWsPP [scratchpadWorkspaceTag] $ def

Here is another example, when using XMonad.Layout.IndependentScreens. If you have handles hLeft and hRight for bars on the left and right screens, respectively, and pp is a pretty-printer function that takes a handle, you could write

logHook = let log screen handle = dynamicLogWithPP . filterOutWsPP [scratchpadWorkspaceTag] . marshallPP screen . pp $ handle
          in log 0 hLeft >> log 1 hRight

Internal formatting functions

pprWindowSet :: WorkspaceSort -> [Window] -> PP -> WindowSet -> String

Format the workspace information, given a workspace sorting function, a list of urgent windows, a pretty-printer format, and the current WindowSet.

pprWindowSetXinerama :: WindowSet -> String