XMonad.Actions.Plane

This module has functions to navigate through workspaces in a bidimensional manner. It allows the organization of workspaces in lines, and provides functions to move and shift windows in all four directions (left, up, right and down) possible in a surface.

This functionality was inspired by GNOME (finite) and KDE (infinite) keybindings for workspace navigation, and by XMonad.Actions.CycleWS for the idea of applying this approach to XMonad.

Usage

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

import XMonad.Actions.Plane
import Data.Map (union)

main = xmonad def {keys = myKeys}

myKeys conf = union (keys def conf) $ myNewKeys conf

myNewKeys (XConfig {modMask = modm}) = planeKeys modm (Lines 3) Finite

For detailed instructions on editing your key bindings, see XMonad.Doc.Extending.

Data types

data Direction

Direction to go in the plane.

Constructors

ToLeft

ToUp

ToRight

ToDown

Instances

Enum Direction

data Limits

Defines the behaviour when you're trying to move out of the limits.

Constructors

Finite

Ignore the function call, and keep in the same workspace.

Circular

Get on the other side, like in the Snake game.

Linear

The plan comes as a row, so it goes to the next or prev if the workspaces were numbered.

Instances

Eq Limits

data Lines

The number of lines in which the workspaces will be arranged. It's possible to use a number of lines that is not a divisor of the number of workspaces, but the results are better when using a divisor. If it's not a divisor, the last line will have the remaining workspaces.

Constructors

GConf

Use gconftool-2 to find out the number of lines.

Lines Int

Specify the number of lines explicitly.

Key bindings

planeKeys :: KeyMask -> Lines -> Limits -> Map (KeyMask, KeySym) (X ())

This is the way most people would like to use this module. It attaches the KeyMask passed as a parameter with xK_Left, xK_Up, xK_Right and xK_Down, associating it with planeMove to the corresponding Direction. It also associates these bindings with shiftMask to planeShift.

Navigating through workspaces

planeShift :: Lines -> Limits -> Direction -> X ()

Shift a window to the next workspace in Direction. Note that this will also move to the next workspace. It's a good idea to use the same Lines and Limits for all the bindings.

planeMove :: Lines -> Limits -> Direction -> X ()

Move to the next workspace in Direction.