Desktop drive icons rendered using wbar, BoxPup style

[Keisha]

(Both taken on a 24" monitor)
screencap of desktop drive icons rendered using both rox and wbar (version 0.0.8 )
screencap of desktop drive icons rendered using only wbar (version 0.0.3)

note: Version 0.0.3 (supporting just wbar) works in Precise 5.7.1 but you must first install libimlib2 from PPM. Not sure yet why 0.0.8 (wbar + rox) doesn't work in Precise.

UPDATES:

UPDATE 2015-01-23: Version 0.0.8 incorporates the current-day style of hotplugging using udevd, rather than the old hotplug2stdout+shellscript-frontend_d way that I used up to version 0.0.7.

If no glaring errors appear, then starting with version 0.0.9 I will begin to add user settings to /usr/sbin/eventmanager, for usb-icons-to-the-right, volume labels, et cetera. Also, in order to understand this tangled code base, while learning my way through it I had to strip out many credits from these early versions, to condense it for maximum legibility. In version 0.0.9 I'll try to restore credit in the source code where credit is due.

If you want just wbar icons, Version 0.0.3 is probably better. Version 0.0.3 will work just fine provided you get rid of your Rox pinboard icons. If you keep them they will still work, but the status (mounted or not) will not update on them. It will however update on the wbar drive icons.

Choose Version 0.0.8 if you want both Rox pinboard icons and vbar (vertical wbar) icons. They peacefully coexist under 0.0.8.

Study resources:

new pup_event_frontend:
http://bkhome.org/blog2/?viewDetailed=00281
Puppy's InterProcess Communication, a description included with Quirky Unicorn at:
/usr/local/pup_event/pup_event_ipc-README.htm
Rewriting pup_event in C:
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=77398
pup-volume-monitor-0.1.15 and desktop-drive-icons-0.0.6:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=78881

***
VERSIONS HISTORY

--version 0.0.8, 2015-01-23
--1. upgraded to current Puppy / Quirky architectural framework using udevd.

--version 0.0.7, 2015-01-21
--1. fixed bug where boot indicator went missing from boot drive (I uploaded a version 0.0.6 with the fix strangely missing, uploaded version 0.0.7 a few hours later).
--2. fixed bug where usb drives were not getting usb icon.
--3. starting to examine the old code more closely now--correcting obsolete syntax, hunting for redundant code, et cetera.

--version 0.0.5, 2015-01-19.
--1. reverted to the Lupu-520 shellscripts as the basis of it all.
--2. Good synchronization between Rox icons and vbar (wbar) icons.
--3. skipped over version 0.0.4 (that was the first udevd-based attempt, it didn't pan out).

***
--version 0.0.3, 2015-01-17:
--1. Corrected line 350 of pup_event_frontend_d, to killall hotplug2stdout_notimeout instead of hotplug2stdout (which is never used).
--2. Added the ability to recognize f2fs partitions.

***
--version 0.0.2, 2015-01-13 19:40 PST:
--1. Added a line in /root/Startup/vstart to force rox to (re)load the pinboard before starting vbar. Changed the name of vstart to vbar-start.
--2. Added a startup program for wbar to go alongside vbar-start, in /root/Startup, in the case where you want to add wbar to an existing Puppy which also uses vbar. To do so, install wbar and then make the startup program executeable.

***
(original post:)

See http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 767#820767 and the next few posts after it, for screencaps.

This is my first .pet offering. Be nice.

This is an update of the slick feature offered in the various versions of BoxPup which appeared around the same time as Puppy 4, several years ago. This .pet changes the source from which Puppy renders the desktop drive icons, so that instead of rendering them from the Rox pinboard Puppy renders them instead using wbar from a wbar configuration file.

One big advantage of using wbar rather than the Rox pinboard to render the drive icons is neatness--the icons line up in a precise, neat row, and they stay put. Another advantage is the coolness factor of jump animation. Another advantage is, you can use smaller icons for the drives than for the rest of the desktop.

The .pet is about twice as big as it needs to be, because I have included both the Boxpup-421-retro and the Quirky Unicorn 6.21 versions of the scripts and other files which implement desktop drive icons. This is so that if something does not work right you can inspect the scripts side-by-side to see how things differ from the conventional way.

Most of the credit for this must go to mighty Puppy Forum member Gray, the originator of BoxPup, and to BarryK the founder of Puppy who wrote all these scripts in the first place. I'm just a fan here.

Alpha software, best effort but no responsibility, et cetera. Tested in unicornpup under jwm and in Quirky Unicorn under openbox. Under openbox, Obconf --> Windows --> Make new windows appear under the mouse pointer, works splendidly well with these vbar partition icons. The Rox window opens in exactly the place I wish it to.

Before you install this .pet, I recommend you back up your entire partition or psubdir to somewhere else, and have another Puppy ready to boot if things go awry.

Then, drag'n'drop all desktop icons you now have near the left edge of the screen, to someplace more than an inch away from the left side. It is OK to leave your existing drive icons on the screen, they can co-exist with the wbar icons. However, they might not update...hmm, I'll need to work on /etc/rc.d/functions4puppy4 to make that happen...

Then, install the .pet in the usual way (left-click on it) and then, after it's done installing, reboot (you must reboot, not merely restart X, so that the new functions4puppy4 file in /etc/rc.d gets properly installed).

Attaboys are welcome and criticisms will not necessarily draw snapping jaws!

[Keisha]

Version update to 0.0.2, see first post in this thread.

[Keisha]

If you are using version 0.0.2, I recommend you edit /sbin/pup_event_frontend_d line 350, change

Code: Select all

killall hotplug2stdout #pup_event_backend_d #no module/firmware hotplug support.

to

Code: Select all

killall hotplug2stdout_notimeout #pup_event_backend_d #no module/firmware hotplug support.

This error was in the original boxpup script, I only just now spotted it. hotplug2stdout_notimeout is started by line 137 of /sbin/pup_event_backend_d. hotplug2stdout is not used at all.

Also, if you want to do away with the traybar, so you have just the drive icons, change line 75 of /sbin/pup_event_frontend_d from

Code: Select all

header='# The Bar && Font\ni: /usr/share/wbar/wbar.icons/osxbarback.png\nt: /usr/share/wbar/wbar.icons/VeraBd/8\nc:'

to

Code: Select all

header='# The Bar && Font\ni: /usr/share/wbar/wbar.icons/invisible.png\nt: /usr/share/wbar/wbar.icons/VeraBd/8\nc:'

and restart X.

[Keisha]

Download version 0.0.3 from the first post, version 0.0.3 corrects one coding error in the original boxpup scripts (see post above) and adds the ability to recognize f2fs partitions.

[Keisha]

My apologies to whoever downloaded the previous version of version 0.0.3; the drive I developed it on had not been fsck'ed in 228 mounts, and the .pet got garbled in the upload. Try the revised version in the first post above.

[Keisha]

Version 0.0.5 is now out. I tried making it work with udevd but couldn't get it to run with acceptable speed. So for Version 0.0.5 I built it around the Lucid Puppy 5.20 shell scripts and hotplug2stdout_notimeout.

The Rox icons and the vbar (wbar) icons synchronize now.

If you want to use both Rox icons and wbar icons, I recommend Version 0.0.5 (***edit: as of January 21 2015, I recommend 0.0.6***).

If you want just wbar icons, Version 0.0.3 is probably better, mainly because faster.

[Keisha]

Durn -burn it. Something not quite right with the 0.0.5 I uploaded. Withdrawn temporarily til I figure out what went wrong.

--aha. If you downloaded the version of 0.0.5 I uploaded a little while ago, go into /etc/rc.d, edit functions4puppy4 as text, and remove that #!/bin/sh line I absent-mindedly stuck at the top. Now the rox and wbar icons synchronize.

New 0.0.5 .pet is up now.

[stemsee]

It works nicely along with my nicons icon management system. wbar has a small bug, it doesn't update background until right clicked upon.

[stemsee]

in vbar script the ccommented out lines DO work fine. You should use the latest desktop drives icon manager to work with, perhaps.

Code: Select all

vbar -config /etc/hotbar/hdbar -vbar -pos top -zoomf 1.2 -balfa 0 -nanim 1 -isize 36 -idist 6 >/dev/null & 
vbar -config /etc/hotbar/hdbar -above-desk -jumpf 1.0 -pos top -offset 10 -zoomf 1.8 -idist 6 -isize 32 -bpress -balfa 0 -falfa 100  >/dev/null &
vbar -config /etc/hotbar/hdbar -above-desk -vbar -jumpf 1.0 -pos left >/dev/null 2>&1 &

[Keisha]

Version 0.0.6 is out. Killed the bug where the boot partition was not keeping its boot icon, and the other bug where usb drives were not getting a usb icon. Some speed improvements.

[stemsee]

I reverted to 0.0.3 which works perfectly for me on dpup wheezy.

Is 0.0.6 a suitable update also from 0.0.3?

I am using only the vbar script and deleting the wbar script.....actually I don't fully understand the differnce, except that wbar seems to put icons in both wbar and desktop....is that right??

[stemsee]

Because my set up has puppypin per desktop (x4) when switching desktops the background of the wbar with drive icons retains previous background, is there a command to update it automatically, otherwise I have to right-click on it, or setup xdotool to right-click on it.

Cheers

EDIT: one last thing; how to exclude lock screen icon from vbar management? As it is included in my shapes management.

[Keisha]

There was one silly error in 0.0.6. 0.0.7 corrects it.

@stemsee: just a minute, gotta unload some cars...

[stemsee]

Can you do two wbars, one on the left for internal drives and partitions and one on the right for usb drives?

[Keisha]

Can you do two wbars, one on the left for internal drives and partitions and one on the right for usb drives?

Yes, that's do-able, but first there needs to be resolved an issue with either me making the same mistake three times in a row, or with the layering in either Geany or Quirky, see http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 876#822876.

As far as I know, wbar does not affect any icons other than its own ones in its launcher tray, and there is no command I can issue from within the .pet to have vbar and/or wbar automatically refresh when the background changes. As you say, xdotool.

I do have some code in my .pets which writes to the pinboard indirectly, by feeding pinboard-change instructions to rox itself, so if I were somehow mis-handling these writes then it is conceivable that the lock icon would be affected. However, the code I am feeding rox does not appear to differ in any material way from what earlier problem-free versions of both pup_event_frontend_d and functions4puppy4 have been feeding to rox. And I see no obvious errors in /root/Choices/ROX-Filer/PuppyPin after rox (at my command) writes to it which could cause the lock icon to misbehave.

So I provisionally conclude that there is some kind of a subtle layering error in Quirky. It has caused the last three versions of my .pets here to carry errors in the first version of each that I uploaded while Geany was still open on the last file I edited. To issue corrected versions, I had to copy the last file I edited from disk into the .pet sourcedir and do dir2pet over again without involving Geany.

This same layering error might also be affecting other icons on the rox desktop, such as the lock error you are seeing. Can you more specifically describe the error?

[stemsee]

The lock screen icon jumped out of position to the old standard position top right corner! Actually seems to be behaving right now!

EDIT: my puppypin path is determined thusly

Code: Select all

path=/root/.config/rox.sourceforge.net/ROX-Filer/

findpinfn () {
if [ `xdotool get_num_desktops` = 4 ]; then
findpin=`xdotool get_desktop`
findpin=`echo $findpin | sed "s/$findpin/pb_$findpin/g"`
findpin="$path""$findpin"
else
findpin=/root/Choices/ROX-Filer/PuppyPin
fi
}
findpinfn

[Keisha]

Version 0.0.8 is now up, it now uses udevd. If no giant bugs appear, I'll start working now on adding user options to the event manager, such as usb-icons-on-the-right, volume labels, et cetera.

[stemsee]

I have a few questions. 1. If I don't want the drive icons animated how to do that? 2. How to alter the size of the icons? 3. Is it possible to have an animated wbar as big as the desktop (full screen)?

[Keisha]

Just a quick note --I'll be returning to this project shortly, now that I am just about finished creating infinality fonting for DebianDog (and Debian) Jessie.

I see that gray has issued a new Nearly Office Pup based on TahrPup-6.0.2, I'm downloading it now, will see if gray has made any updates to the vertical wbar drive icons and, if so, see what I can do to incorporate any improvements he has made into these .pets.

[stemsee]

i am monitoring this thread!