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NAME
tvtwm - Tom's Virtual Tab Window Manager for the X Window System
SYNTAX
tvtwm [-display dpy] [-s] [-m | -M] [-k] [-f initfile] [-v]
DESCRIPTION
Tvtwm is a window manager for the X Window System based on the X11R5
version of twm. It includes a ``Virtual Desktop'' feature that
effectively makes the root window of the screen larger than the
physical limits of the display. To change as little as possible in
this manual, from here on the window manager is referred to as twm.
Twm is a window manager for the X Window System. It provides
titlebars, shaped windows, several forms of icon management, user-
defined macro functions, click-to-type and pointer-driven keyboard
focus, and user-specified key and pointer button bindings.
This program is usually started by the user's session manager or
startup script. When used from xdm(1) or xinit(1) without a session
manager, twm is frequently executed in the foreground as the last
client. When run this way, exiting twm causes the session to be
terminated (i.e. logged out).
By default, application windows are surrounded by a ``frame'' with a
titlebar at the top and a special border around the window. The
titlebar contains the window's name, a rectangle that is lit when the
window is receiving keyboard input, and function boxes known as
``titlebuttons'' at the left and right edges of the titlebar.
Pressing pointer Button1 (usually the left-most button unless it has
been changed with xmodmap) on a titlebutton will invoke the function
associated with the button. In the default interface, windows are
iconified by clicking (pressing and then immediately releasing) the
left titlebutton (which looks like a Dot). Conversely, windows are
deiconified by clicking in the associated icon or entry in the icon
manager (see description of the variable ShowIconManager and of the
function f.showiconmgr).
Windows are resized by pressing the right titlebutton (which resembles
a group of nested squares), dragging the pointer over edge that is to
be moved, and releasing the pointer when the outline of the window is
the desired size. Similarly, windows are moved by pressing in the
title or highlight region, dragging a window outline to the new
location, and then releasing when the outline is in the desired
position. Just clicking in the title or highlight region raises the
window without moving it.
When new windows are created, twm will honor any size and location
information requested by the user (usually through -geometry command
line argument or resources for the individual applications).
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Otherwise, an outline of the window's default size, its titlebar, and
lines dividing the window into a 3x3 grid that track the pointer are
displayed. Clicking pointer Button1 will position the window at the
current position and give it the default size. Pressing pointer
Button2 (usually the middle pointer button) and dragging the outline
will give the window its current position but allow the sides to be
resized as described above. Clicking pointer Button3 (usually the
right pointer button) will give the window its current position but
attempt to make it long enough to touch the bottom the screen.
OPTIONS
Twm accepts the following command line options:
-display dpy
This option specifies the X server to use.
-s This option indicates that only the default screen (as
specified by -display or by the DISPLAY environment variable)
should be managed. By default, twm will attempt to manage all
screens on the display.
-m Causes tvtwm to preprocess the .twmrc file using the m4(1)
macro processor.
-M Causes tvtwm not to preprocess the .twmrc file using the m4(1)
macro processor.
-k This option makes twm leave a file in /tmp containing the
predefines that are generated and fed to m4 before your .twmrc
file. Twm passes this file, followed immediately by your
.twmrc file (which may not be called .twmrc. See -f option.),
to m4(1) for preprocessing. If you give twm the -k option, it
will leave a copy of the temporary file as /tmp/twmrc$$ (where
$$ is variable). This is often useful for knowing what you
can use when adding m4 commands and conditions to your .twmrc
file.
-f filename
This option specifies the name of the startup file to use. By
default, twm will look in the user's home directory for files
named .twmrc.num (where num is a screen number) or .twmrc.
-v This option indicates that twm should print error messages
whenever an unexpected X Error event is received. This can be
useful when debugging applications but can be distracting in
regular use.
CUSTOMIZATION
Much of twm's appearance and behavior can be controlled by providing a
startup file in one of the following locations (searched in order for
each screen being managed when twm begins):
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$HOME/.tvtwmrc.screennumber
The screennumber is a small positive number (e.g. 0, 1, etc.)
representing the screen number (e.g. the last number in the
DISPLAY environment variable host:displaynum.screennum) that
would be used to contact that screen of the display. This is
intended for displays with multiple screens of differing
visual types.
$HOME/.tvtwmrc
This is the usual name for an individual user's startup file.
$HOME/.twmrc.screennumber
Same as .tvtwmrc.screennumber.
$HOME/.twmrc
Same as .tvtwmrc.
/usr/lib/X11/twm/system.twmrc
If neither of the preceding files are found, twm will look in
this file for a default configuration. This is often tailored
by the site administrator to provide convenient menus or
familiar bindings for novice users.
If no startup files are found, twm will use the built-in defaults
described above. The only resource used by twm is bitmapFilePath for
a colon-separated list of directories to search when looking for
bitmap files (for more information, see the Athena Widgets manual and
xrdb(1)).
Twm startup files are logically broken up into three types of
specifications: Variables, Bindings, Menus. The Variables section
must come first and is used to describe the fonts, colors, cursors,
border widths, icon and window placement, highlighting, autoraising,
layout of titles, warping, use of the icon manager. The Bindings
section usually comes second and is used to specify the functions that
should be to be invoked when keyboard and pointer buttons are pressed
in windows, icons, titles, and frames. The Menus section gives any
user-defined menus (containing functions to be invoked or commands to
be executed).
Variable names and keywords are case-insensitive. Strings must be
surrounded by double quote characters (e.g. "blue") and are case-
sensitive. A pound sign (#) outside of a string causes the remainder
of the line in which the character appears to be treated as a comment.
M4 PREPROCESSING
A new feature in this release of tvtwm is that it can use m4(1) to
pre-process it's setup files. When twm is started with the -m option,
or if it was compiled to use m4 by default and the -M option was not
specified, it will open a file for input as described above. But, it
will process that file through m4 before parsing it. So, you can use
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m4 macro's to perform operations at runtime. This makes it very easy
to work when you use many different display's, with different
characteristics. For example, If you want to set the lower right
section of the screen to be your IconRegion, (see below for details on
the IconRegion variable) you can use m4 directives and pre-defined
symbols to calculate the region you want. For example:
define(IRegion, translit(eval(WIDTH/3)*eval(HEIGHT/2)+eval(WIDTH-WIDTH/3)-0, *, x))
IconRegion "IRegion" SOUTH EAST 75 25
will define the lower half, and right-hand third of the screen. The
above makes use of symbols that are predefined in m4 by twm. The
symbols WIDTH and HEIGHT are calculated by twm and written into a
temporary file for m4 to use. The following symbols are predefined by
tvtwm:
SERVERHOST This variable is set to the name of the
machine that is running the X server.
CLIENTHOST The machine that is running the clients. (ie,
twm)
HOSTNAME The canonical hostname running the clients.
(ie. a fully-qualified version of CLIENTHOST)
USER The name of the user running the program.
Gotten from the environment.
HOME The user's home directory. Gotten from the
environment.
VERSION The X major protocol version. As seen by
ProtocolVersion(3).
REVISION The X minor protocol revision. As seen by
ProtocolRevision(3).
VENDOR The vendor of your X server. For example: MIT
X Consortium.
RELEASE The release number of your X server. For MIT
X11R5, this is 5.
WIDTH The width of your display in pixels.
HEIGHT The height of your display in pixels.
X_RESOLUTION The X resolution of your display in pixels per
meter.
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Y_RESOLUTION The Y resolution of your display in pixels per
meter.
PLANES The number of bit planes your display supports
in the default root window.
BITS_PER_RGB The number of significant bits in an RGB
color. (log base 2 of the number of distinct
colors that can be created. This is often
different from the number of colors that can
be displayed at once.)
TWM_TYPE Tells which twm offshoot is running. It will
always be set to the string "tvtwm" in this
program. This is useful for protecting parts
of your .twmrc file that twm proper won't
understand (like VirtualDesktop) so that it is
still usable with other twm programs.
CLASS Your visual class. Will return one of
StaticGray, GrayScale, StaticColor,
PseudoColor, TrueColor, DirectColor, or, if it
cannot determine what you have, NonStandard.
COLOR This will be either 'Yes' or 'No'. This is
just a wrapper around the above definition.
Returns 'Yes' on *Color, and 'No' on
StaticGray and GrayScale.
NG_* There will be a large (about 16) number of
predefines that look like NG_EE or NG_AE.
These are for access control. When they are
set to something intelligent, you can protect
certain machines or groups of machines in
login menus by which group of people should be
able to access them. If you place an
ifelse(NG_STAFF, yes, `') in your .twmrc file,
and place the login menu, or the like, in
between the quotes, then it will only be seen
by members of the staff. This is useful when
you have a whole system that include()s a
system-wide login file. This makes it easy to
centrally administer things such as login
menus, and have all users notice changes
without having to make them individually. At
the moment, there is little or no
functionality in these. If you are a member
of the group "staff", you have them all set to
'Yes', else, you have only NG_STD defined to
'Yes'. I plan to make these symbols
meaningful in the near future.
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You may well find that if you research the m4(1) manual well, and
understand the power of m4, this will be a very useful and powerful
tool.
Be aware that m4(1) preprocessing can cause things often found in
.twmrc files to break. For example, quotes and backquotes in shell
commands will be badly messed up by m4's own internal quoting
mechanism. This particular problem can be worked around by placing
changequote(,) at the top of your .twmrc file.
VIRTUAL DESKTOP
The Virtual Desktop feature of tvtwm was modeled after the same
feature in swm (Solbourne Window Manager). The Virtual Desktop
effectively makes the ``root'' window of the display larger than the
physical screen size. The Virtual Desktop is panned in one of two
ways, either by executing one of the f.scroll commands or by using the
panner.
The panner is a special window that shows a miniature view of windows
on the desktop. The small windows in the panner will have the same
colors as the titlebars and icons of their associated client windows.
The panner is very simple to operate. Mouse button one, pressed
inside the panner, allows you to move the outline indicating your
current view on the desktop. Releasing the button will reposition the
desktop to the point at which the outline is displayed. Mouse button
two, pressed in one of the small "virtual" windows, allows you to move
the small window to another portion of the desktop. If during the
move operation, you would like to place the window in your current
view of the desktop, simply moving the pointer out of the panner will
result in the window outline changing from the small outline to a
large outline showing the dimensions of the client window. The
converse is true of any move operation started outside of the panner:
if the pointer is moved into the panner window, the outline will
change to a small outline allowing you to place the window anywhere on
the desktop. Another feature of the panner is that if you resize it,
the Virtual Desktop will resize a corresponding amount. During the
resize, the dimensions shown reflect the Virtual Desktop size.
There are two hints that client windows may use when asking the window
manager to position top level windows: User Specified Position
(USPosition) and Program Specified Position (PPosition). tvtwm
handles each of these two hints in a different manner. If USPosition
hints are set, the window will be placed at the pixel location
requested. If PPosition hints are set, the window will be placed at
the requested location plus the offsets of the current Virtual Desktop
position. For example, if the desktop is positioned at +100+300 and a
window is mapped at +100+100 with PPosition hints set, the window
would be placed at +200+400 on the Virtual Desktop.
Along with the Virtual Desktop comes a concept called ``sticky''
windows. Sticky windows can be thought of as stuck to the glass of
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the display. Sticky windows do not scroll out of view when the
desktop is scrolled.
VARIABLES
Many of the aspects of twm's user interface are controlled by
variables that may be set in the user's startup file. Some of the
options are enabled or disabled simply by the presence of a particular
keyword. Other options require keywords, numbers, strings, or lists
of all of these.
Lists are surrounded by braces and are usually separated by whitespace
or a newline. For example:
AutoRaise { "emacs" "XTerm" "Xmh" }
or
AutoRaise
{
"emacs"
"XTerm"
"Xmh"
}
When a variable containing a list of strings representing windows is
searched (e.g. to determine whether or not to enable autoraise as
shown above), a string must be an exact, case-sensitive match to the
window's name name (given by the WM_NAME window property), resource
name or class name (both given by the WM_CLASS window property). The
preceding example would enable autoraise on windows named ``emacs'' as
well as any xterm (since they are of class ``XTerm'') or xmh windows
(which are of class ``Xmh'').
String arguments that are interpreted as filenames (see the Pixmaps,
Cursors, and IconDirectory below) will prepend the user's directory
(specified by the HOME environment variable) if the first character is
a tilde (~). If, instead, the first character is a colon (:), the
name is assumed to refer to one of the internal bitmaps that are used
to create the default titlebars symbols: :xlogo or :iconify (both
refer to the X used for the iconify button), :resize (the nested
squares used by the resize button), and :question (the question mark
used for non-existent bitmap files).
The following variables may be specified at the top of a twm startup
file. Lists of Window name prefix strings are indicated by win-list.
Optional arguments are shown in square brackets:
AutoRaise { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of windows that should
automatically be raised whenever the pointer enters the
window. This action can be interactively enabled or disabled
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on individual windows using the function f.autoraise.
AutoRelativeResize
This variable indicates that dragging out a window size
(either when initially sizing the window with pointer Button2
or when resizing it) should not wait until the pointer has
crossed the window edges. Instead, moving the pointer
automatically causes the nearest edge or edges to move by the
same amount. This allows the resizing windows that extend off
the edge of the screen. If the pointer is in the center of
the window, or if the resize is begun by pressing a
titlebutton, twm will still wait for the pointer to cross a
window edge (to prevent accidents). This option is
particularly useful for people who like the press-drag-release
method of sweeping out window sizes.
BorderColor string [{ wincolorlist }]
This variable specifies the default color of the border to be
placed around all non-iconified windows, and may only be given
within a Color or Monochrome list. The optional wincolorlist
specifies a list of window and color name pairs for specifying
particular border colors for different types of windows. For
example:
BorderColor "gray50"
{
"XTerm" "red"
"xmh" "green"
}
The default is "black".
BorderTileBackground string [{ wincolorlist }]
This variable specifies the default background color in the
gray pattern used in unhighlighted borders (only if
NoHighlight hasn't been set), and may only be given within a
Color or Monochrome list. The optional wincolorlist allows
per-window colors to be specified. The default is "white".
BorderTileForeground string [{ wincolorlist }]
This variable specifies the default foreground color in the
gray pattern used in unhighlighted borders (only if
NoHighlight hasn't been set), and may only be given within a
Color or Monochrome list. The optional wincolorlist allows
per-window colors to be specified. The default is "black".
BorderWidth pixels
This variable specifies the width in pixels of the border
surrounding all client window frames if ClientBorderWidth has
not been specified. This value is also used to set the border
size of windows created by twm (such as the icon manager).
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The default is 2.
ButtonIndent pixels
This variable specifies the amount by which titlebuttons
should be indented on all sides. Positive values cause the
buttons to be smaller than the window text and highlight area
so that they stand out. Setting this and the
TitleButtonBorderWidth variables to 0 makes titlebuttons be as
tall and wide as possible. The default is 1.
ClientBorderWidth
This variable indicates that border width of a window's frame
should be set to the initial border width of the window,
rather than to the value of BorderWidth.
Color { colors-list }
This variable specifies a list of color assignments to be made
if the default display is capable of displaying more than
simple black and white. The colors-list is made up of the
following color variables and their values: DefaultBackground,
DefaultForeground, MenuBackground, MenuForeground,
MenuTitleBackground, MenuTitleForeground, and MenuShadowColor.
VirtualDesktopBackground. VirtualDesktopForeground.
PannerBackground. PannerForeground. The following color
variables may also be given a list of window and color name
pairs to allow per-window colors to be specified (see
BorderColor for details): BorderColor, IconManagerHighlight,
BorderTitleBackground, BorderTitleForeground, TitleBackground,
TitleForeground, IconBackground, IconForeground,
IconBorderColor, IconManagerBackground, and
IconManagerForeground. VirtualBackground, and
VirtualForeground. For example:
Color
{
MenuBackground "gray50"
MenuForeground "blue"
BorderColor "red" { "XTerm" "yellow" }
TitleForeground "yellow"
TitleBackground "blue"
}
All of these color variables may also be specified for the
Monochrome variable, allowing the same initialization file to
be used on both color and monochrome displays.
ConstrainedMoveTime milliseconds
This variable specifies the length of time between button
clicks needed to begin a constrained move operation. Double
clicking within this amount of time when invoking f.move will
cause the window only be moved in a horizontal or vertical
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direction. Setting this value to 0 will disable constrained
moves. The default is 400 milliseconds.
Cursors { cursor-list }
This variable specifies the glyphs that twm should use for
various pointer cursors. Each cursor may be defined either
from the cursor font or from two bitmap files. Shapes from
the cursor font may be specified directly as:
cursorname "string"
where cursorname is one of the cursor names listed below, and
string is the name of a glyph as found in the file
/usr/include/X11/cursorfont.h (without the ``XC_'' prefix).
If the cursor is to be defined from bitmap files, the
following syntax is used instead:
cursorname "image" "mask"
The image and mask strings specify the names of files
containing the glyph image and mask in bitmap(1) form. The
bitmap files are located in the same manner as icon bitmap
files. The following example shows the default cursor
definitions:
Cursors
{
Frame "top_left_arrow"
Title "top_left_arrow"
Icon "top_left_arrow"
IconMgr "top_left_arrow"
Move "fleur"
Resize "fleur"
Menu "sb_left_arrow"
Button "hand2"
Wait "watch"
Select "dot"
Destroy "pirate"
}
DecorateTransients
This variable indicates that transient windows (those
containing a WM_TRANSIENT_FOR property) should have titlebars.
By default, transients are not reparented.
DefaultBackground string
This variable specifies the background color to be used for
sizing and information windows. The default is "white".
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DefaultForeground string
This variable specifies the foreground color to be used for
sizing and information windows. The default is "black".
DontIconifyByUnmapping { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of windows that should not be
iconified by simply unmapping the window (as would be the case
if IconifyByUnmapping had been set). This is frequently used
to force some windows to be treated as icons while other
windows are handled by the icon manager.
DontInterpolateTitles
This variable specifies a modification to the
InterpolateMenuColors behavior. It will cause twm to not
apply color interpolation to any titles in the middle of the
menu. So, f.title strings that appear in the middle of the
menu (ie, without a specific color defined for them) will
inherit the default MenuTitle foreground and background
colors.
DontMoveOff
This variable indicates that windows should not be allowed to
be moved off the screen. It can be overridden by the
f.forcemove function.
DontSqueezeTitle [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that titlebars should not be squeezed
to their minimum size as described under SqueezeTitle below.
If the optional window list is supplied, only those windows
will be prevented from being squeezed.
ForceIcons
This variable indicates that icon pixmaps specified in the
Icons variable should override any client-supplied pixmaps.
FramePadding pixels
This variable specifies the distance between the titlebar
decorations (the button and text) and the window frame. The
default is 2 pixels.
IconBackground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the background color of bitmap icons,
and may only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome
list. This value is ignored when the icon is an Xpm format
pixmap, as they have their own colors. The optional win-list
is a list of window names and colors so that per-window colors
may be specified. See the BorderColor variable for a complete
description of the win-list. The default is "white".
IconBorderColor string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the color of the border used for icon
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windows, and may only be specified inside of a Color or
Monochrome list. This option only has an effect on icon
windows that don't have their own shape mask (ie, only on
rectangular icons). The optional win-list is a list of window
names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified.
See the BorderColor variable for a complete description of the
win-list. The default is "black".
IconBorderWidth pixels
This variable specifies the width in pixels of the border
surrounding icon windows. The default is 2.
IconDirectory string
This variable specifies the directory that should be searched
if a bitmap file cannot be found in any of the directories in
the bitmapFilePath resource. This is generally a poor way to
do things. It is much better to set your bitmapFilePath
resource to what you want it to be in your resources file.
IconFont string
This variable specifies the font to be used to display icon
names within icons. The default is "variable".
IconForeground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the foreground color to be used when
displaying bitmap icons, and may only be specified inside of a
Color or Monochrome list. This value is ignored when the icon
is an Xpm format pixmap, as they have their own colors. The
optional win-list is a list of window names and colors so that
per-window colors may be specified. See the BorderColor
variable for a complete description of the win-list. The
default is "black".
IconifyByUnmapping [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that windows should be iconified by
being unmapped without trying to map any icons. This assumes
that the user will remap the window through the icon manager,
the f.warpto function, or the TwmWindows menu. If the
optional win-list is provided, only those windows will be
iconified by simply unmapping. Windows that have both this
and the IconManagerDontShow options set may not be accessible
if no binding to the TwmWindows menu is set in the user's
startup file.
IconManagerBackground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the background color to use for icon
manager entries, and may only be specified inside of a Color
or Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window
names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified.
See the BorderColor variable for a complete description of the
win-list. The default is "white".
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IconManagerDontShow [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that the icon manager should not
display any windows. If the optional win-list is given, only
those windows will not be displayed. This variable is used to
prevent windows that are rarely iconified (such as xclock or
xload) from taking up space in the icon manager.
IconManagerFont string
This variable specifies the font to be used when displaying
icon manager entries. The default is "variable".
IconManagerForeground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the foreground color to be used when
displaying icon manager entries, and may only be specified
inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The optional win-list
is a list of window names and colors so that per-window colors
may be specified. See the BorderColor variable for a complete
description of the win-list. The default is "black".
IconManagerGeometry string [ columns ]
This variable specifies the geometry of the icon manager
window. The string argument is standard geometry
specification that indicates the initial full size of the icon
manager. The icon manager window is then broken into columns
pieces and scaled according to the number of entries in the
icon manager. Extra entries are wrapped to form additional
rows. The default number of columns is 1.
IconManagerHighlight string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the border color to be used when
highlighting the icon manager entry that currently has the
focus, and can only be specified inside of a Color or
Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window
names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified.
See the BorderColor variable for a complete description of the
win-list. The default is "black".
IconManagers { iconmgr-list }
This variable specifies a list of icon managers to create.
Each item in the iconmgr-list has the following format:
"winname" ["iconname"] "geometry" columns
where winname is the name of the windows that should be put
into this icon manager, iconname is the name of that icon
manager window's icon, geometry is a standard geometry
specification, and columns is the number of columns in this
icon manager as described in IconManagerGeometry. For
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example:
IconManagers
{
"XTerm" "=300x5+800+5" 5
"myhost" "=400x5+100+5" 2
}
Clients whose name or class is ``XTerm'' will have an entry
created in the ``XTerm'' icon manager. Clients whose name was
``myhost'' would be put into the ``myhost'' icon manager.
IconManagerShow { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of windows that should appear
in the icon manager. When used in conjunction with the
IconManagerDontShow variable, only the windows in this list
will be shown in the icon manager.
IconRegion geomstring vgrav hgrav gridwidth gridheight
This variable specifies an area on the root window in which
icons are placed if no specific icon location is provided by
the client. The geomstring is a quoted string containing a
standard geometry specification. If more than one IconRegion
lines are given, icons will be put into the succeeding icon
regions when the first is full. The vgrav argument should be
either North or South and control and is used to control
whether icons are first filled in from the top or bottom of
the icon region. Similarly, the hgrav argument should be
either East or West and is used to control whether icons
should be filled in from left from the right. Icons are laid
out within the region in a grid with cells gridwidth pixels
wide and gridheight pixels high.
Icons { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of window names and the
pixmap/bitmap filenames that should be used as their icons.
For example:
Icons
{
"XTerm" "xterm.icon"
"xfd" "xfd_icon"
"xeyes" "xeyes.xpm"
}
Windows that match ``XTerm'' and would not be iconified by
unmapping, and would try to use the icon pixmap/bitmap in the
file ``xterm.icon''. If ForceIcons is specified, this bitmap
will be used even if the client has requested its own icon
pixmap.
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IconTitle { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of clients that will have the
icon name displayed below the icon and is used to request icon
titles on specific windows when NoIconTitle has been set.
InterpolateMenuColors
This variable indicates that menu entry colors should be
interpolated between entry specified colors. In the example
below:
Menu "mymenu"
{
"Title" ("black":"red") f.title
"entry1" f.nop
"entry2" f.nop
"entry3" ("white":"green") f.nop
"entry4" f.nop
"entry5" ("red":"white") f.nop
}
the foreground colors for ``entry1'' and ``entry2'' will be
interpolated between black and white, and the background
colors between red and green. Similarly, the foreground for
``entry4'' will be half-way between white and red, and the
background will be half-way between green and white.
ListRings
This variable indicates that duplicate list entries will be
handled in a ring like manner. In the example below:
SqueezeTitle
{
"XTerm" right 0 0
"XTerm" center 0 0
"XTerm" left 0 0
}
the first xterm created will have its tab on the left side of
the window. The second xterm will have the tab in the center,
and the third on the right. The forth will receive it on the
left.
MakeTitle { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of windows on which a titlebar
should be placed and is used to request titles on specific
windows when NoTitle has been set.
MaxWindowSize string
This variable specifies a geometry in which the width and
height give the maximum size for a given window. This is
typically used to restrict windows to the size of the screen.
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The default is "30000x30000".
MenuBackground string
This variable specifies the background color used for menus,
and can only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome
list. The default is "white".
MenuFont string
This variable specifies the font to use when displaying menus.
The default is "variable".
MenuForeground string
This variable specifies the foreground color used for menus,
and can only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome
list. The default is "black".
MenuShadowColor string
This variable specifies the color of the shadow behind pull-
down menus and can only be specified inside of a Color or
Monochrome list. The default is "black".
MenuTitleBackground string
This variable specifies the background color for f.title
entries in menus, and can only be specified inside of a Color
or Monochrome list. The default is "white".
MenuTitleFont string
This variable specifies the font to be used in menu titles.
MenuTitleForeground string
This variable specifies the foreground color for f.title
entries in menus and can only be specified inside of a Color
or Monochrome list. The default is "black".
Monochrome { colors }
This variable specifies a list of color assignments that
should be made if the screen has a depth of 1. See the
description of Colors.
MoveDelta pixels
This variable specifies the number of pixels the pointer must
move before the f.move function starts working. Also see the
f.deltastop function. The default is one pixel.
NoBackingStore
This variable indicates that twm's menus should not request
backing store to minimize repainting of menus. This is
typically used with servers that can repaint faster than they
can handle backing store.
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NoCaseSensitive
This variable indicates that case should be ignored when
sorting icon names in an icon manager or window names in the
TWM Windows menu. This option is typically used with
applications that capitalize the first letter of their icon
name.
NoDefaults
This variable indicates that twm should not supply the default
titlebuttons and bindings. This option should only be used if
the startup file contains a completely new set of bindings and
definitions.
NoGrabServer
This variable indicates that twm should not grab the server
when popping up menus and moving opaque windows.
NoHighlight [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that borders should not be highlighted
to track the location of the pointer. If the optional win-
list is given, highlighting will only be disabled for those
windows. When the border is highlighted, it will be drawn in
the current BorderColor. When the border is not highlighted,
it will be stippled with an gray pattern using the current
BorderTileForeground and BorderTileBackground colors.
NoIconManagers
This variable indicates that no icon manager should be
created.
NoIconTitle [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that icons should not display the icon
name of the client. If the optional win-list is given, only
those clients will not have icon titles. IconTitle may be
used with this option to force icon titles to be put on on
specific clients
NoMenuShadows
This variable indicates that menus should not have drop
shadows drawn behind them. This is typically used with slower
servers since it speeds up menu drawing at the expense of
making the menu slightly harder to read.
NoRaiseOnDeiconify
This variable indicates that windows that are deiconified
should not be raised.
NoRaiseOnMove
This variable indicates that windows should not be raised when
moved. This is typically used to allow windows to slide
underneath each other.
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NoRaiseOnResize
This variable indicates that windows should not be raised when
resized. This is typically used to allow windows to be
resized underneath each other.
NoRaiseOnWarp
This variable indicates that windows should not be raised when
the pointer is warped into them with the f.warpto function.
If this option is set, warping to an occluded window may
result in the pointer ending up in the occluding window
instead the desired window (which causes unexpected behavior
with f.warpring).
NoSaveUnders
This variable indicates that menus should not request save-
unders to minimize window repainting following menu selection.
It is typically used with displays that can repaint faster
than they can handle save-unders.
NoStackMode [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that client window requests to change
stacking order should be ignored. If the optional win-list is
given, only requests on those windows will be ignored. This
is typically used to prevent applications from relentlessly
popping themselves to the front of the window stack.
NoTitle [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that windows should not have
titlebars. If the optional win-list is given, only those
windows will not have titlebars. MakeTitle may be used with
this option to force titlebars to be put on specific windows.
NoTitleFocus
This variable indicates that twm should not set keyboard input
focus to each window as it is entered. Normally, twm sets the
focus so that focus and key events from the titlebar and icon
managers are delivered to the application. If the pointer is
moved quickly and twm is slow to respond, input can be
directed to the old window instead of the new. This option is
typically used to prevent this ``input lag'' and to work
around bugs in older applications that have problems with
focus events.
NoTitleHighlight [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that the highlight area of the
titlebar, which is used to indicate the window that currently
has the input focus, should not be displayed. If the optional
win-list is given, only those windows will not have highlight
areas. This and the SqueezeTitle options can be set to
substantially reduce the amount of screen space required by
titlebars.
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OpaqueMove
This variable indicates that the f.move function should
actually move the window instead of just an outline so that
the user can immediately see what the window will look like in
the new position. This option is typically used on fast
displays (particularly if NoGrabServer is set).
PannerBackgroundPixmap string
This variable specifies the filename of a pixmap or bitmap
file to be used as the background image of the panner. If
this file is a bitmap, the PannerBackground and
PannerForeground colors are used when constructing the
background.
PannerGeometry string
This variable specifies the position of the Virtual Desktop
panner. The default geometry is "-0-0".
PannerOpaqueScroll
This variable causes the panner to scroll the Virtual Desktop
opaquely. This variable only takes effect if the StickyAbove
variable is also set.
PannerScale scale
This variable specifies that scale of the Virtual Desktop
Panner in relation to the actual screen. The default scale is
20.
PannerState string
This variable specifies the initial state of the Virtual
Desktop panner window. Possible initial state values include
"normal", "iconic", or "withdrawn". The default initial state
is "normal".
Pixmaps { pixmaps }
This variable specifies a list of pixmaps that define the
appearance of various images. Each entry is a keyword
indicating the pixmap to set, followed by a string giving the
name of the bitmap file. The following pixmaps may be
specified:
Pixmaps
{
VirtualDesktopBackgroundPixmap "/homes/davis/pictures/background.gif"
PannerBackgroundPixmap "panner.xpm"
TitleHighlight "gray1"
}
The default for TitleHighlight is to use an even stipple
pattern. The VirtualDesktopBackgroundPixmap and
PannerBackgroundPixmap pixmaps can be set as detailed in each
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of their own sections.
RandomPlacement
This variable indicates that windows with no specified
geometry should should be placed in a pseudo-random location
instead of having the user drag out an outline.
ResizeFont string
This variable specifies the font to be used for in the
dimensions window when resizing windows. The default is
"fixed".
RestartPreviousState
This variable indicates that twm should attempt to use the
WM_STATE property on client windows to tell which windows
should be iconified and which should be left visible. This is
typically used to try to regenerate the state that the screen
was in before the previous window manager was shutdown.
SaveColor { colors-list }
This variable indicates a list of color assignments to be
stored as pixel values in the root window property
_MIT_PRIORITY_COLORS. Clients may elect to preserve these
values when installing their own colormap. Note that use of
this mechanism is a way for an application to avoid the
"technicolor" problem, whereby useful screen objects such as
window borders and titlebars disappear when a programs custom
colors are installed by the window manager. For example:
SaveColor
{
BorderColor
TitleBackground
TitleForeground
"red"
"green"
"blue"
}
This would place on the root window 3 pixel values for borders
and titlebars, as well as the three color strings, all taken
from the default colormap.
ScrollDistanceX percentage
This variable specifies the amount (as a percentage of the
screen width) to move when one of the scroll functions
f.scrollleft or f.scrollright is called.
ScrollDistanceY percentage
This variable specifies the amount (as a percentage of the
screen height) to move when one of the scroll functions
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f.scrollup or f.scrolldown is called.
ShowIconManager
This variable indicates that the icon manager window should be
displayed when twm is started. It can always be brought up
using the f.showiconmgr function.
ShowVirtualNames
This variable causes client window names to be displayed in
the small virtual windows inside the Virtual Desktop panner.
The names will be displayed using the current VirtualFont.
SortIconManager
This variable indicates that entries in the icon manager
should be sorted alphabetically rather than by simply
appending new windows to the end.
SqueezeTitle [{ squeeze-list }]
This variable indicates that twm should attempt to use the
SHAPE extension to make titlebars occupy only as much screen
space as they need, rather than extending all the way across
the top of the window. The optional squeeze-list may be used
to control the location of the squeezed titlebar along the top
of the window. It contains entries of the form:
"name" justification num denom
where name is a window name, justification is either left,
center, or right, and num and denom are numbers specifying a
ratio giving the relative position about which the titlebar is
justified. The ratio is measured from left to right if the
numerator is positive, and right to left if negative. A
denominator of 0 indicates that the numerator should be
measured in pixels. For convenience, the ratio 0/0 is the
same as 1/2 for center and -1/1 for right. For example:
SqueezeTitle
{
"XTerm" left 0 0
"xterm1" left 1 3
"xterm2" left 2 3
"oclock" center 0 0
"emacs" right 0 0
}
The DontSqueezeTitle list can be used to turn off squeezing on
certain titles.
StartIconified [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that client windows should initially
be left as icons until explicitly deiconified by the user. If
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the optional win-list is given, only those windows will be
started iconic. This is useful for programs that do not
support an -iconic command line option or resource.
StayUpMenus
This variable alters menu interaction. By default, a menu
item is selected when a mouse button is released over it.
This variable causes menu items to be selected on the next
button press event.
Sticky [{ win-list }]
This variable is a list of client windows that will be sticky
by default. See the VIRTUAL DESKTOP section for a full
description of sticky windows.
StickyAbove
This variable causes sticky windows to be physically above
non-sticky windows.
TitleBackground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the background color used in
titlebars, and may only be specified inside of a Color or
Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window
names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified.
The default is "white".
TitleButtonBorderWidth pixels
This variable specifies the width in pixels of the border
surrounding titlebuttons. This is typically set to 0 to allow
titlebuttons to take up as much space as possible and to not
have a border. The default is 1.
TitleFont string
This variable specifies the font to used for displaying window
names in titlebars. The default is "variable".
TitleFontPadding pixels
This variable specifies the number of pixels of padding to be
placed above window titles. This allows for using small fonts
with larger buttons.
TitleForeground string [{ win-list }]
This variable specifies the foreground color used in
titlebars, and may only be specified inside of a Color or
Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window
names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified.
The default is "black".
TitlePadding pixels
This variable specifies the distance between the various
buttons, text, and highlight areas in the titlebar. The
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default is 8 pixels.
UnknownIcon string
This variable specifies the filename of a bitmap file to be
used as the default icon. This bitmap will be used as the
icon of all clients which do not provide an icon bitmap and
are not listed in the Icons list.
UsePPosition string
This variable specifies whether or not twm should honor
program-requested locations (given by the PPosition flag in
the WM_NORMAL_HINTS property) in the absence of a user-
specified position. The argument string may have one of three
values: "off" (the default) indicating that twm should ignore
the program-supplied position, "on" indicating that the
position should be used, and "non-zero" indicating that the
position should used if it is other than (0,0). The latter
option is for working around a bug in older toolkits.
VirtualDesktop string
This variable enables the Virtual Desktop feature and
specifies the initial size of the desktop, either in pixels or
in integral multiples of the screen size. The size is
specified as a standard geometry string. If a width or height
value is smaller than the width or height of the physical
display, it is assumed to mean a multiple of the screen size,
otherwise it is assumed to be in pixels. So to get a 2x2
sized Virtual Desktop across all platforms, one could use the
string "2x2" to enable the desktop.
VirtualDesktopBackgroundPixmap string
This variable specifies the filename of a image to be used as
the background image of the Virtual Desktop. If you have
configured twm to use xloadimage(1) to load this image, the
string must be a full pathname, or be in the image-path in
your ~/.xloadimagerc file. If you have not configured twm to
use xloadimage(1), then it will load a bitmap or pixmap in the
traditional fashion. If the pixmap you load is a bitmap (one
plane deep), VirtualDesktopBackground and
VirtualDesktopForeground colors are used when constructing the
background.
WarpCursor [{ win-list }]
This variable indicates that the pointer should be warped into
windows when they are deiconified. If the optional win-list
is given, the pointer will only be warped when those windows
are deiconified. This will also change the position of the
virtual desktop if the unmapped window wasn't visible from the
actual position.
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WrapVirtual
This variable will cause tvtwm's scroll behavior to change
slightly. If this is set, then calls to f.scrollleft,
f.scrollright, f.scrollup, and f.scrolldown, that would move
the panner outside of the virtual desktop, will shift position
to the other end. In effect, "wrap-around" the outside of the
virtual desktop. (This is phrased poorly, and should be
rewritten)
VirtualFont font
This is the font used to display window names in the small
windows inside the panner if the ShowVirtualNames variable is
specified. The default font is "5x8".
WindowRing { win-list }
This variable specifies a list of windows along which the
f.warpring function cycles.
WarpUnmapped
This variable indicates that that the f.warpto function should
deiconify any iconified windows it encounters. This is
typically used to make a key binding that will pop a
particular window (such as xmh), no matter where it is. The
default is for f.warpto to ignore iconified windows.
XorValue number
This variable specifies the value to use when drawing window
outlines for moving and resizing. This should be set to a
value that will result in a variety of of distinguishable
colors when exclusive-or'ed with the contents of the user's
typical screen. Setting this variable to 1 often gives nice
results if adjacent colors in the default colormap are
distinct. By default, twm will attempt to cause temporary
lines to appear at the opposite end of the colormap from the
graphics.
Zoom [ count ]
This variable indicates that outlines suggesting movement of a
window to and from its iconified state should be displayed
whenever a window is iconified or deiconified. The optional
count argument specifies the number of outlines to be drawn.
The default count is 8.
The following variables must be set after the fonts have been
assigned, so it is usually best to put them at the end of the
variables or beginning of the bindings sections:
DefaultFunction function
This variable specifies the function to be executed when a key
or button event is received for which no binding is provided.
This is typically bound to f.nop, f.beep, or a menu containing
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window operations.
WindowFunction function
This variable specifies the function to execute when a window
is selected from the TwmWindows menu. If this variable is not
set, the window will be deiconified and raised.
BINDINGS
After the desired variables have been set, functions may be attached
titlebuttons and key and pointer buttons. Titlebuttons may be added
from the left or right side and appear in the titlebar from left-to-
right according to the order in which they are specified. Key and
pointer button bindings may be given in any order.
Titlebuttons specifications must include the name of the pixmap to use
in the button box and the function to be invoked when a pointer button
is pressed within them:
LeftTitleButton "bitmapname" = function
or
RightTitleButton "bitmapname" = function
The bitmapname may refer to one of the built-in bitmaps (which are
scaled to match TitleFont) by using the appropriate colon-prefixed
name described above.
Key and pointer button specifications must give the modifiers that
must be pressed, over which parts of the screen the pointer must be,
and what function is to be invoked. Keys are given as strings
containing the appropriate keysym name; buttons are given as the
keywords Button1-Button5:
"FP1" = modlist : context : function
Button1 = modlist : context : function
The modlist is any combination of the modifier names shift, control,
lock, meta, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, or mod5 (which may be abbreviated
as s, c, l, m, m1, m2, m3, m4, m5, respectively) separated by a
vertical bar (|). Similarly, the context is any combination of
window, title, icon, root, frame, iconmgr, their first letters
(iconmgr abbreviation is m), or all, separated by a vertical bar. The
function is any of the f. keywords described below. For example, the
default startup file contains the following bindings:
Button1 = : root : f.menu "TwmWindows"
Button1 = m : window | icon : f.function "move-or-lower"
Button2 = m : window | icon : f.iconify
Button3 = m : window | icon : f.function "move-or-raise"
Button1 = : title : f.function "move-or-raise"
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Button2 = : title : f.raiselower
Button1 = : icon : f.function "move-or-iconify"
Button2 = : icon : f.iconify
Button1 = : iconmgr : f.iconify
Button2 = : iconmgr : f.iconify
A user who wanted to be able to manipulate windows from the keyboard
could use the following bindings:
"F1" = : all : f.iconify
"F2" = : all : f.raiselower
"F3" = : all : f.warpring "next"
"F4" = : all : f.warpto "xmh"
"F5" = : all : f.warpto "emacs"
"F6" = : all : f.colormap "next"
"F7" = : all : f.colormap "default"
"F20" = : all : f.warptoscreen "next"
"Left" = m : all : f.backiconmgr
"Right" = m | s : all : f.forwiconmgr
"Up" = m : all : f.upiconmgr
"Down" = m | s : all : f.downiconmgr
Twm provides many more window manipulation primitives than can be
conveniently stored in a titlebar, menu, or set of key bindings.
Although a small set of defaults are supplied (unless the NoDefaults
is specified), most users will want to have their most common
operations bound to key and button strokes. To do this, twm
associates names with each of the primitives and provides user-defined
functions for building higher level primitives and menus for
interactively selecting among groups of functions.
User-defined functions contain the name by which they are referenced
in calls to f.function and a list of other functions to execute. For
example:
Function "move-or-lower" { f.move f.deltastop f.lower }
Function "move-or-raise" { f.move f.deltastop f.raise }
Function "move-or-iconify" { f.move f.deltastop f.iconify }
Function "restore-colormap" { f.colormap "default" f.lower }
The function name must be used in f.function exactly as it appears in
the function specification.
In the descriptions below, if the function is said to operate on the
selected window, but is invoked from a root menu, the cursor will be
changed to the Select cursor and the next window to receive a button
press will be chosen:
! string
This is an abbreviation for f.exec string.
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f.autoraise
This function toggles whether or not the selected window is
raised whenever entered by the pointer. See the description
of the variable AutoRaise.
f.backiconmgr
This function warps the pointer to the previous column in the
current icon manager, wrapping back to the previous row if
necessary.
f.beep This function sounds the keyboard bell.
f.bottomzoom
This function is similar to the f.fullzoom function, but
resizes the window to fill only the bottom half of the screen.
f.circledown
This function lowers the top-most window that occludes another
window.
f.circleup
This function raises the bottom-most window that is occluded
by another window.
f.colormap string
This function rotates the colormaps (obtained from the
WM_COLORMAP_WINDOWS property on the window) that twm will
display when the pointer is in this window. The argument
string may have one of the following values: "next", "prev",
and "default". It should be noted here that in general, the
installed colormap is determined by keyboard focus. A pointer
driven keyboard focus will install a private colormap upon
entry of the window owning the colormap. Using the click to
type model, private colormaps will not be installed until the
user presses a mouse button on the target window.
f.constrainedmove
This function will have approximately the same behavior,
except that the move will be constrained without need for
double clicking.
f.deiconify
This function deiconifies the selected window. If the window
is not an icon or an unmapped window, this function does
nothing.
f.delete
This function sends the WM_DELETE_WINDOW message to the
selected window if the client application has requested it
through the WM_PROTOCOLS window property. The application is
supposed to respond to the message by removing the indicated
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window. If the window has not requested WM_DELETE_WINDOW
messages, the keyboard bell will be rung indicating that the
user should choose an alternative method. Note this is very
different from f.destroy. The intent here is to delete a
single window, not necessarily the entire application.
f.deltastop
This function allows a user-defined function to be aborted if
the pointer has been moved more than MoveDelta pixels. See
the example definition given for Function "move-or-raise" at
the beginning of the section.
f.destroy
This function instructs the X server to close the display
connection of the client that created the selected window.
This should only be used as a last resort for shutting down
runaway clients. See also f.delete.
f.downiconmgr
This function warps the pointer to the next row in the current
icon manger, wrapping to the beginning of the next column if
necessary.
f.exec string
This function passes the argument string to /bin/sh for
execution. In multiscreen mode, if string starts a new X
client without giving a display argument, the client will
appear on the screen from which this function was invoked.
f.focus This function toggles the keyboard focus of the server to the
selected window, changing the focus rule from pointer-driven
if necessary. If the selected window already was focused,
this function executes an f.unfocus.
f.forcemove
This function is like f.move except that it ignores the
DontMoveOff variable.
f.forwiconmgr
This function warps the pointer to the next column in the
current icon manager, wrapping to the beginning of the next
row if necessary.
f.fullzoom
This function resizes the selected window to the full size of
the display or else restores the original size if the window
was already zoomed.
f.function string
This function executes the user-defined function whose name is
specified by the argument string.
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f.hbzoom
This function is a synonym for f.bottomzoom.
f.hideiconmgr
This function unmaps the current icon manager.
f.horizoom
This variable is similar to the f.zoom function except that
the selected window is resized to the full width of the
display.
f.htzoom
This function is a synonym for f.topzoom.
f.hzoom This function is a synonym for f.horizoom.
f.iconify
This function iconifies or deiconifies the selected window or
icon, respectively.
f.identify
This function displays a summary of the name and geometry of
the selected window. Clicking the pointer or pressing a key
in the window will dismiss it.
f.lefticonmgr
This function similar to f.backiconmgr except that wrapping
does not change rows.
f.leftzoom
This variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom function but
causes the selected window is only resized to the left half of
the display.
f.lower This function lowers the selected window.
f.menu string
This function invokes the menu specified by the argument
string. Cascaded menus may be built by nesting calls to
f.menu.
f.menufunc string1 : string2
This functions invokes a menu like f.menu, but if the user
does not pop up the menu menu "string1" the function string2
will be called.
f.move This function drags an outline of the selected window (or the
window itself if the OpaqueMove variable is set) until the
invoking pointer button is released. Double clicking within
the number of milliseconds given by ConstrainedMoveTime warps
the pointer to the center of the window and constrains the
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move to be either horizontal or vertical depending on which
grid line is crossed. To abort a move, press another button
before releasing the first button.
f.nexticonmgr
This function warps the pointer to the next icon manager
containing any windows on the current or any succeeding
screen.
f.nop This function does nothing and is typically used with the
DefaultFunction or WindowFunction variables or to introduce
blank lines in menus.
f.opaquemove
This function will exact as does f.move, but it will do an
opaque move regardless of whether OpaqueMove is set or not.
f.panner
This function toggles the display of the panner window.
f.previconmgr
This function warps the pointer to the previous icon manager
containing any windows on the current or preceding screens.
f.quit This function causes twm to restore the window's borders and
exit. If twm is the first client invoked from xdm, this will
result in a server reset.
f.raise This function raises the selected window.
f.raiselower
This function raises the selected window to the top of the
stacking order if it is occluded by any windows, otherwise the
window will be lowered.
f.refresh
This function causes all windows to be refreshed.
f.relativemove string
This function will move the selected window relative to its
current position. The string parameter is a geometry
specification indicating how many pixels to move the window.
For example, "+15+0" would move the window fifteen (15) pixels
to the right, and "+5-10" would move the window five (5)
pixels right and ten (10) pixels up.
f.relativeresize
This function will do a resize and behave as if
AutoRelativeResize were set, whether it is or not
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f.resize
This function displays an outline of the selected window.
Crossing a border (or setting AutoRelativeResize) will cause
the outline to begin to rubber band until the invoking button
is released. To abort a resize, press another button before
releasing the first button.
f.restart
This function kills and restarts twm.
f.righticonmgr
This function is similar to f.nexticonmgr except that wrapping
does not change rows.
f.rightzoom
This variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom function except
that the selected window is only resized to the right half of
the display.
f.saveyourself
This function sends a WM_SAVEYOURSELF message to the selected
window if it has requested the message in its WM_PROTOCOLS
window property. Clients that accept this message are
supposed to checkpoint all state associated with the window
and update the WM_COMMAND property as specified in the ICCCM.
If the selected window has not selected for this message, the
keyboard bell will be rung.
f.scroll string
This function scrolls the Virtual Desktop to a specific
logical screen quadrant. The string parameter is a geometry
specification indicating how to scroll the desktop. For
example, "+0+0" would scroll the desktop to the home location
and "+2+1" would scroll the desktop to the quadrant in the
third logical column and the second row.
f.scrollback
This function scrolls the Virtual Desktop back to its previous
location.
f.scrolldown
This function scrolls the Virtual Desktop down a fraction of
the height of the screen specified in ScrollDistanceY.
f.scrollhome
This function scrolls the Virtual Desktop to the home
location.
f.scrollleft
This function scrolls the Virtual Desktop left a fraction of
the width of the screen specified in ScrollDistanceX.
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f.scrollright
This function scrolls the Virtual Desktop right a fraction of
the width of the screen specified in ScrollDistanceX.
f.scrollup
This function scrolls the Virtual Desktop up one a fraction of
the height of the screen specified in ScrollDistanceY.
f.showiconmgr
This function maps the current icon manager.
f.sorticonmgr
This function sorts the entries in the current icon manager
alphabetically. See the variable SortIconManager.
f.stick This function toggles making a window sticky.
f.title This function provides a centered, unselectable item in a menu
definition. It should not be used in any other context.
f.topzoom
This variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom function except
that the selected window is only resized to the top half of
the display.
f.unfocus
This function resets the focus back to pointer-driven. This
should be used when a focused window is no longer desired.
f.upiconmgr
This function warps the pointer to the previous row in the
current icon manager, wrapping to the last row in the same
column if necessary.
f.vlzoom
This function is a synonym for f.leftzoom.
f.vrzoom
This function is a synonym for f.rightzoom.
f.warpring string
This function warps the pointer to the next or previous window
(as indicated by the argument string, which may be "next" or
"prev") specified in the WindowRing variable.
f.warpto string
This function warps the pointer to the window which has a name
or class that matches string. If the window is iconified, it
will be deiconified if the variable WarpUnmapped is set or
else ignored. If string is empty (i.e. ""), the current
window is selected. In addition to warping the pointer to the
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window the Virtual Desktop will be scrolled to the logical
quadrant that contains the window.
f.warptoiconmgr string
This function warps the pointer to the icon manager entry
associated with the window containing the pointer in the icon
manager specified by the argument string. If string is empty
(i.e. ""), the current icon manager is chosen.
f.warptoscreen string
This function warps the pointer to the screen specified by the
argument string. String may be a number (e.g. "0" or "1"),
the word "next" (indicating the current screen plus 1,
skipping over any unmanaged screens), the word "back"
(indicating the current screen minus 1, skipping over any
unmanaged screens), or the word "prev" (indicating the last
screen visited.
f.winrefresh
This function is similar to the f.refresh function except that
only the selected window is refreshed.
f.zoom This function is similar to the f.fullzoom function, except
that the only the height of the selected window is changed.
MENUS
Functions may be grouped and interactively selected using pop-up (when
bound to a pointer button) or pull-down (when associated with a
titlebutton) menus. Each menu specification contains the name of the
menu as it will be referred to by f.menu, optional default foreground
and background colors, the list of item names and the functions they
should invoke, and optional foreground and background colors for
individual items:
Menu "menuname" [ ("deffore":"defback") ]
{
string1 [ ("fore1":"backn")] function1
string2 [ ("fore2":"backn")] function2
.
.
.
stringN [ ("foreN":"backN")] functionN
}
The menuname is case-sensitive. The optional deffore and defback
arguments specify the foreground and background colors used on a color
display to highlight menu entries. The string portion of each menu
entry will be the text which will appear in the menu. The optional
fore and back arguments specify the foreground and background colors
of the menu entry when the pointer is not in the entry. These colors
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will only be used on a color display. The default is to use the
colors specified by the MenuForeground and MenuBackground variables.
The function portion of the menu entry is one of the functions,
including any user-defined functions, or additional menus.
There is a special menu named TwmWindows which contains the names of
all of the client and twm-supplied windows. Selecting an entry will
cause the WindowFunction to be executed on that window. If
WindowFunction hasn't been set, the window will be deiconified and
raised. If the Virtual Desktop is enabled, the desktop will also be
scrolled to the logical quadrant that contains the windows.
ICONS
Twm supports several different ways of manipulating iconified windows.
The common pixmap-and-text style may be laid out by hand or
automatically arranged as described by the IconRegion variable. In
addition, a terse grid of icon names, called an icon manager, provides
a more efficient use of screen space as well as the ability to
navigate among windows from the keyboard.
An icon manager is a window that contains names of selected or all
windows currently on the display. In addition to the window name, a
small button using the default iconify symbol will be displayed to the
left of the name when the window is iconified. By default, clicking
on an entry in the icon manager performs f.iconify. To change the
actions taken in the icon manager, use the the iconmgr context when
specifying button and keyboard bindings.
Moving the pointer into the icon manager also directs keyboard focus
to the indicated window (setting the focus explicitly or else sending
synthetic events NoTitleFocus is set). Using the f.upiconmgr,
f.downiconmgr f.lefticonmgr, and f.righticonmgr functions, the input
focus can be changed between windows directly from the keyboard.
SIGNALS
It is possible to issue a the equivalent of a f.restart via a unix
signal. This is intended to ease debugging of twm initialization
files. To force this send a SIGUSR1 to the twm process ID. See man
kill(1) for more details.
BUGS
The resource manager should have been used instead of all of the
window lists.
The IconRegion variable should take a list.
Double clicking very fast to get the constrained move function will
sometimes cause the window to move, even though the pointer is not
moved.
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If IconifyByUnmapping is on and windows are listed in
IconManagerDontShow but not in DontIconifyByUnmapping, they may be
lost if they are iconified and no bindings to f.menu "TwmWindows" or
f.warpto are setup.
FILES
$HOME/.[tv]twmrc.<screen number>
$HOME/.[tv]twmrc
/usr/lib/X11/twm/system.[tv]twmrc
ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES
DISPLAY This variable is used to determine which X server to use. It
is also set during f.exec so that programs come up on the
proper screen.
HOME This variable is used as the prefix for files that begin with
a tilde and for locating the twm startup file.
SEE ALSO
X(1), Xserver(1), xdm(1), xrdb(1), m4(1), kill(1)
COPYRIGHT
Portions copyright 1988 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation;
portions copyright 1989 Hewlett-Packard Company and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, See X(1) for a full statement of rights and
permissions.
AUTHORS
Tom LaStrange, Solbourne Computer; Chris Ross, University of Maryland;
Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium; Steve Pitschke, Stardent Computer; Keith
Packard, MIT X Consortium; Dave Sternlicht, MIT X Consortium; Dave
Payne, Apple Computer.
Virtual Desktop added by Tom LaStrange, Solbourne Computer.
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