fbpanel

Documentation for fbpanel project

Building fbpanel
Running
Configuring

Building fbpanel

The following is what you will need to compile fbpanel:

GTK+-2.4 headers and libraries (development package)

Once you have the above dependancies installed, you are ready to build fbpanel.

% tar zxvf fbpanel-x.y.tgz     #...untar the fbpanel archive 
% cd fbpanel-x.y               #...cd inside the source tree
% ./configure                  #...prepare source for compiling
% make                         #...fbpanel builds...
% su                           #...become root
% make install                 #...do install

Running

Simple like that...

% fbpanel &          # use default profile
% fbpanel -p abc &   # use profile abc, create it if needed

Configuring

fbpanel stores its configurations in ~/.config/fbpanel directory. Every profile is represented by a single text file with a same name. Name of default profile is default. Edit relevant file and restart fbpanel. You can also tell running fbpanel to reload its configuration by sending it USR1 signal.

% vi ~/.config/fbpanel/default  
% killall -USR1 fbpanel         # tell fbpanel to reload configuration

In addition, there is configuration GUI that covers all panel's options, but not plugins yet. To get it, click Ctrl-Button2 anywhere in panel or run it with -C option

Configuration file structure

Configuration file consists from one Global section, that covers panel options, and one or more Plugin sections.
The syntax is following:

Spaces at the begining and at the end of a line are ignored
Lines strarting with '#' or blank lines are ignored. '#' in any other place is NOT treated as comment
Variable's name is NOT case sensitive
Variable's value IS case sensitive
Variable's value is a text from first non-blank char after '=' till the last non-blank char.
Section starts by its type (Global or Plugin) and "{' on a same line, then inner variables and sections, and ends with '}' on separate line.

Global section

It describes global panel parameters like position, size and some NETWM settings.
If variable has default value, it can be omited. The full variable list is:

Edge - screen edge
Legal values are left, right, top or bottom.
Default is bottom.
Allign - allignment of a panel
Legal values are left, right or center.
Default is center.
WidthType - units of width
Legal values are
- pixel - width is number of pixels
- percent - width is percent of an edge
- request - follow widgets' size requests. can shrink or grow dynamically
Default is percent.
Width - panel width in widthtype units
Legal values are numbers.
Default is 100.
HeightType - units of height
Legal values are
- pixel - height is number of pixels
Default is pixel.
Height - panel height in heighttype units
Legal values are numbers.
Default is 26.
Margin - margin from screen edge for left or right allignment. Legal values are numbers.
Default is 0.
SetDockType - set panel's NETWM window type to Dock Legal values are true or false.
Default is true.
SetPartialStrut - ask NETWM compliant window manager to not cover panel by maximized windows. Legal values are true or false.
Default is true.
Transparent - enable transparent background Legal values are true or false.
Default is false.
TintColor - color to composite on root background Legal values are colors, eg 0xRRGGBB or red, black etc.
Default is white.
Alpha - transparency of the tint color Legal values are numbers from 0 to 255.
Default is 127.
Autohide - hide panel when mouse is far enough Legal values are true or false.
Default is false.
RoundCorners - panel has rounded corners Legal values are true or false.
Default is true.
RoundCornersRadius - radius of ronded corners. Legal values are numbers from 0 to 25.
Default is 7.
Layer - stacking layer of a panel Legal values are above or below.
Default is above.
SetLayer - set or not stacking layer of panel. If not, defaul WM policy is used. Legal values are true or false.
Default is false.
MaxElemHeight - maximal height of plugins' lements, like icons, messages etc. If plugin has more space, it can place elements in multiple rows. Legal values are numbers from 10 to 200.
Default is 200

For example:

Global {
    edge = bottom
    allign = center
    margin = 0
    widthtype = percent
    width = 92
    height = 48
    transparent = true
    tintcolor = #ffffff
    alpha = 32
    setdocktype = true
    setpartialstrut = true
    autohide = false
    heightWhenHidden = 2
    roundcorners = false
    roundcornersradius = 7
    layer = above
    setlayer = false
    maxelemheight = 24
}

Plugin section

It describes which plugin to load, how to position it and has plugin specific configuration section. If variable has default value, it can be omited. The full variable list is:

type - plugin type
Legal values are battery, cpu, dclock, deskno, deskno2, genmon, icons, image, launchbar, mem, menu, net, pager, separator, space, systray, taskbar, tclock, volume, wincmd
Mandatory.
expand - expand plugin if extra space is available
Legal values are true or false
Default is false
padding - padding around plugin in pixels
Legal values are numbers
Default is 0
config - a section with plugin specific configuration.

For example:

Plugin {
    type = space
    expand = false
    padding = 0
    config {
        size = 2
    }
}

Plugin {
    type = cpu
}

Plugins with additional configuration

Cpu

color - chart color
Legal values are colors eg 0xRRGGBB or red, black etc.
Default is green.

For example:

Plugin {
    type = cpu
    config {
        Color = green
    }
}

Net

interface - interface to watch
Legal values are network interface names.
Default is eth0.
TxColor - color of Tx traffic
Legal values are colors.
Default is violet.
RxColor - color of Rx traffic
Legal values are colors.
Default is blue.
TxLimit - Tx limit of the connection, in KB/s. Used to scale chart properly
Legal values are numbers.
Default is 12.
RxLimit - Rx limit of the connection, in KB/s. Used to scale chart properly
Legal values are numbers.
Default is 120.

For example:

Plugin {
    type = net
    config {
        interface = eth0
        TxLimit = 20
        RxLimit = 190
        TxColor = violet
        RxColor = blue
    }
}

Pager

ShowWallpaper - show desktop wallpaper in pager window or not
Legal values are true or false.
Default is true.

For example:

Plugin {
    type = pager
    config {
        showwallpaper = true
    }
}

Space

size - size of space to occupy in pixels
Legal values are numbers.
Default is 1.

For example:

Plugin {
    type = space
    config {
        size = 15
    }
}

Mem

ShowSwap - show swap usage or not
Legal values are true or false
Default is false.

For example:

Plugin {
    type = mem
    config {
        ShowSwap = true
    }
}

dclock

ShowSeconds - show secondsor not
Legal values are true or false
Default is false.
HoursView - 24h or 12h hours view
Legal values are 12 or 24
Default is 24.
TooltipFmt - tooltip content
Legal values are strftime formats
Default is %A %x.
Action - command to run on mouse click
Legal values are bash commands
Default is none.
Color - digits color
Legal values are colors, eg 0xRRGGBB or red, black etc.
Default is blue.

For example:

Plugin {
    type = dclock
    config {
        ShowSeconds = false
        HoursView = 24
        Action = xmessage Please define some command 
    }
}

tclock

ClockFmt - Clock format string. May contain strftime conversion specifications and Pango markup information.
Legal values are strings
Default is "%R".
TooltipFmt - Tooltip format string. May contain strftime conversion specifications and Pango markup information.
Legal values are strings
Default is "%A %x".
Action - command to run on mouse click
Legal values are bash commands
Default is none.
ShowCalendar - Show a GTK calendar widget when the clock is clicked. Only valid if Action is unset.
Legal values are true or false
Default is true.
ShowTooltip - Show tooltip for clock
Legal values are true or false
Default is true.

Plugin {
    type = tclock
    config {
        # 2 line view, time in bold above and date below
        ClockFmt = %-l:%M %P&#xA;%a %B %-e
        TooltipFmt = %A %x
        #Action = xmessage Please define some command 
        ShowCalendar = false
        ShowTooltip = true
    }
}

Taskbar

TBD

For example:

plugin {
    type = taskbar
    expand = true
    config {
        ShowIconified = true
        ShowMapped = true
        ShowAllDesks = false
        tooltips = true
        IconsOnly = false
        MaxTaskWidth = 150
    }
}

Launchbar

TBD

For example:

plugin {
    type = launchbar
    expand = false
    padding = 0
    config {
        button {
            icon = gnome-terminal
            tooltip = Terminal
            action = xterm
        }
        button {
            image = /opt/google/chrome/product_logo_48.png
            tooltip = Google Chrome
            action = google-chrome
        }     
    }
}

plugin {
    type = menu
    config {
        icon = start-here
        systemmenu {
        }
        separator {
        }
        menu {
            name = Computer
            icon = computer
            item {
                name = Terminal
                icon = terminal
                action = x-terminal
            }
            item {
                name = Lock Display
                icon = gnome-lockscreen
                action = xtrlock2
            }
            separator {
            }
            item {
                name = Reboot
                icon = gnome-session-reboot
                action = sudo reboot
            }
        
        }
    }
}

Icons

TBD

For example:

plugin {
    type = icons
    expand = false
    padding = 0
    config {
        DefaultIcon = /usr/share/fbpanel/images/default.xpm
        application {
            icon = gnome-terminal
            ClassName = XTerm
        }
        application {
            icon = gnome-terminal
            ClassName = mlterm
        }
        application {
            icon = gnome-terminal
            ClassName = URxvt
        }
        application {
            icon = gnome-emacs
            ClassName = Emacs
        }
        application {
            icon = mozilla-firefox
            ClassName = Firefox-bin
        }
        application {
            icon = mozilla-firefox
            ClassName = Firefox
        }
        application {
            image = /usr/share/icons/yasis/scalable/apps/gnome-ppp.svg
            AppName = minicom
        }
    }
}

fbpanel

Documentation for fbpanel project

Building fbpanel

Running

Configuring

Configuration file structure

Global section

Plugin section

Plugins with additional configuration

Cpu

Net

Pager

Space

Mem

dclock

tclock

Taskbar

Launchbar

Menu

Icons