Devilspie (version 0.13 and greater) s-expressions examples

[foxy123]

thanks a lot for this topic. I hope it's gonna be very helpful. I am trying to start using devil's pie and cannot make it work.

I tried firefox, but then decided to test something simpler: mousepad text editor.

So I get devilspie running in the terminal and launch mousepad:

Window Title: 'Mousepad'; Application Name: 'mousepad'; Class: 'Mousepad'; Geometry: 1012x667+6+53

So I assume that Application Name is 'mousepad'.

So I created ~/.devilspie directory ad put test.ds file their with the following syntax:

(debug)
(if (is (application_name) "mousepad") (set_workspace 1))

So I killed devilspie and launch it again to be on the safe side. Now I launch mousepad from workspace 4, assuming that it will appear on the workspace 1, but it is still on 4. What dod I do wrong?

[Wolki]

(debug)
(if (is (application_name) "mousepad") (set_workspace 1))

The expressions look correct. Devil's Pie currently onla parses the first exprssion in a file, put each in a single file and it should work.

[foxy123]

The expressions look correct. Devil's Pie currently onla parses the first exprssion in a file, put each in a single file and it should work.

I've got only one file with this only expression... oh you mean (debug) is a separate expression?

EDIT: it works now, thanks a lot!

[sup]

Hi, I would like to achieve following with Gaim: I would like the buddy list to be in tray unless I call it and the conversation window to stay pinned and minimized. I encounter two problems i cannot really get around:
1)I fail to match the Buddy List, because when I run (debug), it gives this:

Window Title: 'Buddy List'; Application Name: 'gaim'; Class: 'Gaim'; Geometry: 264x942+17+57

it seems to me it is impossible to match window title since I tried all "window_name" "window_role" "window_class" "application_name" to match it but none did. Am I missing something or is it just impossible with current version (0.16)? If I can remember it was possible with 0.10? (debug) for conversation window gives this:

Window Title: 'Rogue'; Application Name: 'gaim'; Class: 'Gaim'; Geometry: 510x523+22+79

Rogue being a nick I was talking to, so the only difference from Buddy List the window title.
2)If I suceed in matching the Buddy List, how do I send it to tray? When using action "close", (and mathcing application name gaim, so it affects also conversation) it send it to the tray, but it cannot be retrieved from there because everytime I click it in the tray, it is closed once again.

Any ideas?

[sup]

eh, I looked into my old xml config file and found out that conversation can be matched like this:

(if (is (window_role) "conversation")(ACTIONS))

and Buddy List like this:

(if (is (window_role) "buddy_list") (ACTIONS))

. Seems that the old debug file worked somehow better if it found that out.

[jrib]

...
1)I fail to match the Buddy List
...

I can match the buddy list with:

if (is (window_name) "Buddy List")  (pin))

Doing what you propose with starting closed, seems to be a bit tougher. We have to find someway for it to test that the tray icon is open. Don't know how to accomplish that

[edit]okay, I figured out how you can do it. Install the gaim-extendedprefs packages form universe. Then you can enable them in plugins. That'll give you the option to hide the buddy list on startup (near the bottom). Here is a screen shot: http://gaim-extprefs.sourceforge.net/extprefs.png . Be sure to post your finished product if you can get the whole setup to work

4 minutes too slow apparently, now that I read Wolki's post

[Wolki]

Doing what you propose with starting closed, seems to be a bit tougher. We have to find someway for it to test that the tray icon is open. Don't know how to accomplish that

Gaim has a preference for starting with the Buddy List hidden if you install extended preferences (from eg. synaptic). Works better than trying it with devilspie

[sup]

huh, I found out how to do that with devilspie, and it is not difficult at all when you find out what some action means, so:

(if (is (window_role) "conversation") (begin pin(minimize)))

and in another file:

(if (is (window_role) "buddy_list") (begin minimize(skip_tasklist)))

makes Gaim conversation stay with you through all workspaces and is minimized when started (I think it is necessary if you dont want to pup it up when you switch workspaces. EDIT:not true, checked out and it does not pop up) and Buddy List start in tray. Buddy List also never goes to taskbar, it goes directly from maximized to tray, but that is just fine with me.
So the skip_tasklist makes window never appear on a taskbar - which effectively makes application that do not go to tray (krusader for example) unreachable(ALT+TAB does not work) - the only thing I figured out was to kill it with system monitor and then start again without devilspie:-/.


btw:I just found out that although i got extended preferences installed, they somehow arent there (I messed around with compiling gaim by myself, maybe it is for that), I gues I'll just wait for 2.0 version to solve that.
EDIT:a typo

[sup]

(if (contains (window_role) "gnome-terminal") (geometry "1000x978+0+25"))

Sets geometry of the gnome-terminal to 1000x978+0+25, meaning it is then 1000 pixels wide, 978 heigh, 0 pixels far in x (horizontal) direction from left edge of the display and 25 pixels far in y (vertical) direction form the upper edge of the display.

It does not apply for already maximized windows, however it does apply for new windows and open but not maximized windows.
Also, it seems that it is not possible to change values continuously but only descretely. For example, 1000x977+0+25 and 1000x970+0+25 gives me exactly the same output when 1000x978+0+25 and 1000x977+0+25 differ - I would say - by 20 pixels.

Also it seems that (at least on my display which is 1400x1050, but I guess this could be universal?) 25 here is the y size of the upper panel.

[sup]

I wrote a Wiki page about Devil's Pie: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Devilspie
Feel free to improve it, it was my first wiki written from the scratch and I am not a native English speaker either so there are probably some gramatical and conceptual mistakes. Table of contents would be nice too. Also, it would need some examples and actual info how to use Devil's pie, I consider this to be just a beginning.