Portability | portable |
---|---|
Stability | unstable |
Maintainer | andrea.rossato@unibz.it |
XMonad.Doc.Extending
Description
This module documents the xmonad-contrib library and how to use it to extend the capabilities of xmonad.
Reading this document should not require a deep knowledge of Haskell; the examples are intended to be useful and understandable for those users who do not know Haskell and don't want to have to learn it just to configure xmonad. You should be able to get by just fine by ignoring anything you don't understand and using the provided examples as templates. However, relevant Haskell features are discussed when appropriate, so this document will hopefully be useful for more advanced Haskell users as well.
Those wishing to be totally hardcore and develop their own xmonad extensions (it's easier than it sounds, we promise!) should read the documentation in XMonad.Doc.Developing.
More configuration examples may be found on the Haskell wiki:
The xmonad-contrib library
The xmonad-contrib (xmc) library is a set of extension modules contributed by xmonad hackers and users, which provide additional xmonad features. Examples include various layout modes (tabbed, spiral, three-column...), prompts, program launchers, the ability to manipulate windows and workspaces in various ways, alternate navigation modes, and much more. There are also "meta-modules" which make it easier to write new modules and extensions.
This is a concise yet complete overview of the xmonad-contrib modules. For more information about any particular module, just click on its name to view its Haddock documentation; each module should come with extensive documentation. If you find a module that could be better documented, or has incorrect documentation, please report it as a bug (http://code.google.com/p/xmonad/issues/list)!
Actions
In the XMonad.Actions
namespace you can find modules exporting
various functions that are usually intended to be bound to key
combinations or mouse actions, in order to provide functionality
beyond the standard keybindings provided by xmonad.
See XMonad.Doc.Extending for instructions on how to edit your key bindings.
- XMonad.Actions.Commands: Allows you to run internal xmonad commands (X () actions) using a dmenu menu in addition to key bindings. Requires dmenu and the Dmenu XMonad.Actions module.
- XMonad.Actions.ConstrainedResize: Lets you constrain the aspect ratio of a floating window (by, say, holding shift while you resize). Useful for making a nice circular XClock window.
- XMonad.Actions.CopyWindow: Provides bindings to duplicate a window on multiple workspaces, providing dwm-like tagging functionality.
- XMonad.Actions.CycleRecentWS: Provides bindings to cycle through most recently used workspaces with repeated presses of a single key (as long as modifier key is held down). This is similar to how many window managers handle window switching.
- XMonad.Actions.CycleSelectedLayouts: This module allows to cycle through the given subset of layouts.
- XMonad.Actions.CycleWS: Provides bindings to cycle forward or backward through the list of workspaces, to move windows between workspaces, and to cycle between screens. Replaces the former XMonad.Actions.RotView.
- XMonad.Actions.CycleWindows: Provides bindings to cycle windows up or down on the current workspace stack while maintaining focus in place.
- XMonad.Actions.DeManage: This module provides a method to cease management of a window without unmapping it. XMonad.Hooks.ManageDocks is a more automated solution if your panel supports it.
- XMonad.Actions.DwmPromote: Dwm-like swap function for xmonad. Swaps focused window with the master window. If focus is in the master, swap it with the next window in the stack. Focus stays in the master.
- XMonad.Actions.DynamicWorkspaces: Provides bindings to add and delete workspaces. Note that you may only delete a workspace that is already empty.
- XMonad.Actions.FindEmptyWorkspace: Find an empty workspace.
- XMonad.Actions.FlexibleManipulate: Move and resize floating windows without warping the mouse.
- XMonad.Actions.FlexibleResize: Resize floating windows from any corner.
- XMonad.Actions.FloatKeys: Move and resize floating windows.
- XMonad.Layout.FloatSnap: Move and resize floating windows using other windows and the edge of the screen as guidelines.
- XMonad.Actions.FocusNth: Focus the nth window of the current workspace.
- XMonad.Actions.GridSelect: GridSelect displays items(e.g. the opened windows) in a 2D grid and lets the user select from it with the cursor/hjkl keys or the mouse.
- XMonad.Actions.MessageFeedback:
Alternative to
XMonad.Operations.sendMessage
that provides knowledge of whether the message was handled, and utility functions based on this facility. - XMonad.Actions.MouseGestures: Support for simple mouse gestures.
- XMonad.Actions.MouseResize: A layout modifier to resize windows with the mouse by grabbing the window's lower right corner.
- XMonad.Actions.NoBorders: This module provides helper functions for dealing with window borders.
- XMonad.Actions.OnScreen: Control workspaces on different screens (in xinerama mode).
- XMonad.Actions.PerWorkspaceKeys: Define key-bindings on per-workspace basis.
- XMonad.Actions.PhysicalScreens: Manipulate screens ordered by physical location instead of ID
- XMonad.Actions.Plane: This module has functions to navigate through workspaces in a bidimensional manner.
- XMonad.Actions.Promote: Alternate promote function for xmonad.
- XMonad.Actions.RandomBackground: An action to start terminals with a random background color
- XMonad.Actions.RotSlaves: Rotate all windows except the master window and keep the focus in place.
- XMonad.Actions.Search: A module for easily running Internet searches on web sites through xmonad. Modeled after the handy Surfraw CLI search tools at https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Surfraw.
- XMonad.Actions.SimpleDate: An example external contrib module for XMonad. Provides a simple binding to dzen2 to print the date as a popup menu.
- XMonad.Actions.SinkAll: (Deprecated) Provides a simple binding that pushes all floating windows on the current workspace back into tiling. Instead, use the more general XMonad.Actions.WithAll
- XMonad.Actions.SpawnOn: Provides a way to modify a window spawned by a command(e.g shift it to the workspace it was launched on) by using the _NET_WM_PID property that most windows set on creation.
- XMonad.Actions.Submap: A module that allows the user to create a sub-mapping of key bindings.
- XMonad.Actions.SwapWorkspaces: Lets you swap workspace tags, so you can keep related ones next to each other, without having to move individual windows.
- XMonad.Actions.TagWindows: Functions for tagging windows and selecting them by tags.
- XMonad.Actions.TopicSpace: Turns your workspaces into a more topic oriented system.
- XMonad.Actions.UpdateFocus: Updates the focus on mouse move in unfocused windows.
- XMonadContrib.UpdatePointer: Causes the pointer to follow whichever window focus changes to.
- XMonad.Actions.Warp: Warp the pointer to a given window or screen.
- XMonad.Actions.WindowBringer: dmenu operations to bring windows to you, and bring you to windows. That is to say, it pops up a dmenu with window names, in case you forgot where you left your XChat.
- XMonad.Actions.WindowGo:
Defines a few convenient operations for raising (traveling to) windows based on XMonad's Query
monad, such as
runOrRaise
. - XMonad.Actions.WindowMenu: Uses XMonad.Actions.GridSelect to display a number of actions related to window management in the center of the focused window.
- XMonad.Actions.WindowNavigation: Experimental rewrite of XMonad.Layout.WindowNavigation.
- XMonad.Actions.WithAll: Provides functions for performing a given action on all windows of the current workspace.
- XMonad.Actions.WorkspaceCursors: Like XMonad.Actions.Plane for an arbitrary number of dimensions.
Configurations
In the XMonad.Config
namespace you can find modules exporting the
configurations used by some of the xmonad and xmonad-contrib
developers. You can look at them for examples while creating your own
configuration; you can also simply import them and use them as your
own configuration, possibly with some modifications.
- XMonad.Config.Arossato This module specifies my xmonad defaults.
- XMonad.Config.Azerty Fixes some keybindings for users of French keyboard layouts.
- XMonad.Config.Desktop This module provides core desktop environment settings used in the Gnome, Kde, and Xfce config configs. It is also useful for people using other environments such as lxde, or using tray or panel applications without full desktop environments.
- XMonad.Config.Gnome
- XMonad.Config.Kde
- XMonad.Config.Sjanssen
- XMonad.Config.Xfce
Hooks
In the XMonad.Hooks
namespace you can find modules exporting
hooks. Hooks are actions that xmonad performs when certain events
occur. The two most important hooks are:
-
XMonad.Core.manageHook
: this hook is called when a new window xmonad must take care of is created. This is a very powerful hook, since it lets us examine the new window's properties and act accordingly. For instance, we can configure xmonad to put windows belonging to a given application in the float layer, not to manage dock applications, or open them in a given workspace. See XMonad.Doc.Extending for more information on customizingXMonad.Core.manageHook
. -
XMonad.Core.logHook
: this hook is called when the stack of windows managed by xmonad has been changed, by calling theXMonad.Operations.windows
function. For instance XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog will produce a string (whose format can be configured) to be printed to the standard output. This can be used to display some information about the xmonad state in a status bar. See XMonad.Doc.Extending for more information. -
XMonad.Core.handleEventHook
: this hook is called on all events handled by xmonad, thus it is extremely powerful. See Graphics.X11.Xlib.Extras and xmonad source and development documentation for more details.
Here is a list of the modules found in XMonad.Hooks
:
- XMonad.Hooks.DynamicHooks: One-shot and permanent ManageHooks that can be updated at runtime.
- XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog: for use with
XMonad.Core.logHook
; send information about xmonad's state to standard output, suitable for putting in a status bar of some sort. See XMonad.Doc.Extending. - XMonad.Hooks.EwmhDesktops: Makes xmonad use the EWMH hints to tell panel applications about its workspaces and the windows therein. It also allows the user to interact with xmonad by clicking on panels and window lists.
- XMonad.Hooks.FadeInactive: Makes XMonad set the _NET_WM_WINDOW_OPACITY atom for inactive windows, which causes those windows to become slightly translucent if something like xcompmgr is running
- XMonad.Hooks.FloatNext: Hook and keybindings for automatically sending the next spawned window(s) to the floating layer.
- XMonad.Hooks.InsertPosition: Configure where new windows should be added and which window should be focused.
- XMonad.Hooks.ManageDocks:
This module provides tools to automatically manage
dock
type programs, such as gnome-panel, kicker, dzen, and xmobar. - XMonad.Hooks.ManageHelpers: provide helper functions to be used
in
manageHook
. - XMonad.Hooks.Place: Automatic placement of floating windows.
- XMonad.Hooks.RestoreMinimized: Lets you restore minimized windows (see XMonad.Layout.Minimize) by selecting them on a taskbar (listens for _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW and WM_CHANGE_STATE).
- XMonad.Hooks.Script: Provides a simple interface for running a ~/.xmonad/hooks script with the name of a hook.
- XMonad.Hooks.ServerMode: Allows sending commands to a running xmonad process.
- XMonad.Hooks.SetCursor: Set a default mouse cursor on startup.
- XMonad.Hooks.SetWMName: Sets the WM name to a given string, so that it could be detected using _NET_SUPPORTING_WM_CHECK protocol. May be useful for making Java GUI programs work.
- XMonad.Hooks.UrgencyHook: UrgencyHook lets you configure an action to occur when a window demands your attention. (In traditional WMs, this takes the form of "flashing" on your "taskbar." Blech.)
- XMonad.Hooks.WorkspaceByPos: Useful in a dual-head setup: Looks at the requested geometry of new windows and moves them to the workspace of the non-focused screen if necessary.
- XMonad.Hooks.XPropManage: A ManageHook matching on XProperties.
Layouts
In the XMonad.Layout
namespace you can find modules exporting
contributed tiling algorithms, such as a tabbed layout, a circle, a spiral,
three columns, and so on.
You will also find modules which provide facilities for combining different layouts, such as XMonad.Layout.Combo, XMonad.Layout.ComboP, XMonad.Layout.LayoutBuilder, XMonad.Layout.SubLayouts, or XMonad.Layout.LayoutCombinators.
Layouts can be also modified with layout modifiers. A general interface for writing layout modifiers is implemented in XMonad.Layout.LayoutModifier.
For more information on using those modules for customizing your
XMonad.Core.layoutHook
see XMonad.Doc.Extending.
- XMonad.Layout.Accordion: LayoutClass that puts non-focused windows in ribbons at the top and bottom of the screen.
- XMonad.Layout.AutoMaster: Provides layout modifier AutoMaster. It separates screen in two parts - master and slave. Size of slave area automatically changes depending on number of slave windows.
- XMonad.Layout.BorderResize: This layout modifier will allow to resize windows by dragging their borders with the mouse. However, it only works in layouts or modified layouts that react to the SetGeometry message. XMonad.Layout.WindowArranger can be used to create such a setup. BorderResize is probably most useful in floating layouts.
- XMonad.Layout.BoringWindows: BoringWindows is an extension to allow windows to be marked boring
- XMonad.Layout.CenteredMaster: Two layout modifiers. centerMaster places master window at center, on top of all other windows, which are managed by base layout. topRightMaster is similar, but places master window in top right corner instead of center.
- XMonad.Layout.Circle: Circle is an elliptical, overlapping layout.
- XMonad.Layout.Column: Provides Column layout that places all windows in one column. Windows heights are calculated from equation: H1H2 = H2H3 = ... = q, where q is given. With Shrink/Expand messages you can change the q value.
- XMonad.Layout.Combo: A layout that combines multiple layouts.
- XMonad.Layout.ComboP: A layout that combines multiple layouts and allows to specify where to put new windows.
- XMonad.Layout.Cross: A Cross Layout with the main window in the center.
- XMonad.Layout.Decoration: A layout modifier and a class for easily creating decorated layouts.
- XMonad.Layout.DecorationMadness: A collection of decorated layouts: some of them may be nice, some usable, others just funny.
- XMonad.Layout.Dishes: Dishes is a layout that stacks extra windows underneath the master windows.
- XMonad.Layout.DragPane: Layouts that splits the screen either horizontally or vertically and shows two windows. The first window is always the master window, and the other is either the currently focused window or the second window in layout order. See also XMonad.Layout.MouseResizableTall
- XMonad.Layout.DwmStyle: A layout modifier for decorating windows in a dwm like style.
- XMonad.Layout.FixedColumn: A layout much like Tall, but using a multiple of a window's minimum resize amount instead of a percentage of screen to decide where to split. This is useful when you usually leave a text editor or terminal in the master pane and like it to be 80 columns wide.
- XMonad.Layout.Gaps: Create manually-sized gaps along edges of the screen which will not be used for tiling, along with support for toggling gaps on and off. You probably want XMonad.Hooks.ManageDocks.
- XMonad.Layout.Grid: A simple layout that attempts to put all windows in a square grid.
- XMonad.Layout.GridVariants: Two layouts: one is a variant of the Grid layout that allows the desired aspect ratio of windows to be specified. The other is like Tall but places a grid with fixed number of rows and columns in the master area and uses an aspect-ratio-specified layout for the slaves.
- XMonad.Layout.HintedGrid: A not so simple layout that attempts to put all windows in a square grid while obeying their size hints.
- XMonad.Layout.HintedTile: A gapless tiled layout that attempts to obey window size hints, rather than simply ignoring them.
- XMonad.Layout.IM: Layout modfier suitable for workspace with multi-windowed instant messenger (like Psi or Tkabber).
- XMonad.Layout.IndependentScreens: Utility functions for simulating independent sets of workspaces on each screen (like dwm's workspace model), using internal tags to distinguish workspaces associated with each screen.
- XMonad.Layout.LayoutBuilder: A layout combinator that sends a specified number of windows to one rectangle and the rest to another.
- XMonad.Layout.LayoutCombinators: The XMonad.Layout.LayoutCombinators module provides combinators for easily combining multiple layouts into one composite layout, as well as a way to jump directly to any particular layout (say, with a keybinding) without having to cycle through other layouts to get to it.
- XMonad.Layout.LayoutHints: Make layouts respect size hints.
- XMonad.Layout.LayoutModifier: A module for writing easy layout modifiers, which do not define a layout in and of themselves, but modify the behavior of or add new functionality to other layouts. If you ever find yourself writing a layout which takes another layout as a parameter, chances are you should be writing a LayoutModifier instead!
In case it is not clear, this module is not intended to help you configure xmonad, it is to help you write other extension modules. So get hacking!
- XMonad.Layout.LayoutScreens: Divide a single screen into multiple screens.
- XMonad.Layout.LimitWindows: A layout modifier that limits the number of windows that can be shown.
- XMonad.Layout.MagicFocus: Automagically put the focused window in the master area.
- XMonad.Layout.Magnifier: Screenshot : http://caladan.rave.org/magnifier.png This is a layout modifier that will make a layout increase the size of the window that has focus.
- XMonad.Layout.Master: Layout modfier that adds a master window to another layout.
- XMonad.Layout.Maximize: Temporarily yanks the focused window out of the layout to mostly fill the screen.
- XMonad.Layout.MessageControl: Provides message escaping and filtering facilities which help control complex nested layouts.
- XMonad.Layout.Minimize: Makes it possible to minimize windows, temporarily removing them from the layout until they are restored.
- XMonad.Layout.Monitor: Layout modfier for displaying some window (monitor) above other windows
- XMonad.Layout.Mosaic: Based on MosaicAlt, but aspect ratio messages always change the aspect ratios, and rearranging the window stack changes the window sizes.
- XMonad.Layout.MosaicAlt:
A layout which gives each window a specified amount of screen space
relative to the others. Compared to the
Mosaic
layout, this one divides the space in a more balanced way. - XMonad.Layout.MouseResizableTile: A layout in the spirit of XMonad.Layout.ResizableTile, but with the option to use the mouse to adjust the layout.
- XMonad.Layout.MultiToggle: Dynamically apply and unapply transformers to your window layout. This can be used to rotate your window layout by 90 degrees, or to make the currently focused window occupy the whole screen ("zoom in") then undo the transformation ("zoom out").
- XMonad.Layout.Named: A module for assigning a name to a given layout.
- XMonad.Layout.NoBorders: Make a given layout display without borders. This is useful for full-screen or tabbed layouts, where you don't really want to waste a couple of pixels of real estate just to inform yourself that the visible window has focus.
- XMonad.Layout.NoFrillsDecoration: Most basic version of decoration for windows without any additional modifications. In contrast to XMonad.Layout.SimpleDecoration this will result in title bars that span the entire window instead of being only the length of the window title.
- XMonad.Layout.OneBig: Places one (master) window at top left corner of screen, and other (slave) windows at the top.
- XMonad.Layout.PerWorkspace: Configure layouts on a per-workspace basis: use layouts and apply layout modifiers selectively, depending on the workspace.
- XMonad.Layout.Reflect: Reflect a layout horizontally or vertically.
- XMonad.Layout.ResizableTile: More useful tiled layout that allows you to change a width/height of window. See also XMonad.Layout.MouseResizableTile.
- XMonad.Layout.ResizeScreen: A layout transformer to have a layout respect a given screen geometry. Mostly used with Decoration (the Horizontal and the Vertical version will react to SetTheme and change their dimension accordingly.
- XMonad.Layout.Roledex: This is a completely pointless layout which acts like Microsoft's Flip 3D
- XMonad.Layout.ShowWName: This is a layout modifier that will show the workspace name
- XMonad.Layout.SimpleDecoration: A layout modifier for adding simple decorations to the windows of a given layout. The decorations are in the form of ion-like tabs for window titles.
- XMonad.Layout.SimpleFloat: A basic floating layout.
- XMonad.Layout.Simplest: A very simple layout. The simplest, afaik. Used as a base for decorated layouts.
- XMonad.Layout.SimplestFloat: A basic floating layout like SimpleFloat but without the decoration.
- XMonad.Layout.Spacing: Add a configurable amount of space around windows.
- XMonad.Layout.Spiral: A spiral tiling layout.
- XMonad.Layout.Square: A layout that splits the screen into a square area and the rest of the screen. This is probably only ever useful in combination with XMonad.Layout.Combo. It sticks one window in a square region, and makes the rest of the windows live with what's left (in a full-screen sense).
- XMonad.Layout.StackTile: A stacking layout, like dishes but with the ability to resize master pane. Mostly useful on small screens.
- XMonad.Layout.SubLayouts: A layout combinator that allows layouts to be nested.
- XMonad.Layout.TabBarDecoration: A layout modifier to add a bar of tabs to your layouts.
- XMonad.Layout.Tabbed: A tabbed layout for the Xmonad Window Manager
- XMonad.Layout.ThreeColumns: A layout similar to tall but with three columns. With 2560x1600 pixels this layout can be used for a huge main window and up to six reasonable sized slave windows.
- XMonad.Layout.ToggleLayouts: A module to toggle between two layouts.
- XMonad.Layout.TwoPane: A layout that splits the screen horizontally and shows two windows. The left window is always the master window, and the right is either the currently focused window or the second window in layout order.
- XMonad.Layout.WindowArranger: This is a pure layout modifier that will let you move and resize windows with the keyboard in any layout.
- XMonad.Layout.WindowNavigation: WindowNavigation is an extension to allow easy navigation of a workspace. See also XMonad.Actions.WindowNavigation.
- XMonad.Layout.WorkspaceDir:
WorkspaceDir is an extension to set the current directory in a workspace.
Actually, it sets the current directory in a layout, since there's no way I
know of to attach a behavior to a workspace. This means that any terminals
(or other programs) pulled up in that workspace (with that layout) will
execute in that working directory. Sort of handy, I think.
Note this extension requires the
directory
package to be installed.
Prompts
In the XMonad.Prompt
name space you can find modules providing
graphical prompts for getting user input and using it to perform
various actions.
The XMonad.Prompt provides a library for easily writing new prompt modules.
These are the available prompts:
- XMonad.Prompt.AppLauncher: A module for launch applicationes that receive parameters in the command line. The launcher call a prompt to get the parameters.
- XMonad.Prompt.AppendFile: A prompt for appending a single line of text to a file. Useful for keeping a file of notes, things to remember for later, and so on--- using a keybinding, you can write things down just about as quickly as you think of them, so it doesn't have to interrupt whatever else you're doing. Who knows, it might be useful for other purposes as well!
- XMonad.Prompt.DirExec: A directory file executables prompt for XMonad. This might be useful if you don't want to have scripts in your PATH environment variable (same executable names, different behavior) - otherwise you might want to use XMonad.Prompt.Shell instead - but you want to have easy access to these executables through the xmonad's prompt.
- XMonad.Prompt.Directory: A directory prompt for XMonad
- XMonad.Prompt.Email: A prompt for sending quick, one-line emails, via the standard GNU 'mail' utility (which must be in your $PATH). This module is intended mostly as an example of using XMonad.Prompt.Input to build an action requiring user input.
- XMonad.Prompt.Input: A generic framework for prompting the user for input and passing it along to some other action.
- XMonad.Prompt.Layout: A layout-selection prompt for XMonad
- XMonad.Prompt.Man:
A manual page prompt for XMonad window manager.
TODO
* narrow completions by section number, if the one is specified
(like
/etc/bash_completion
does) - XMonad.Prompt.RunOrRaise: A prompt for XMonad which will run a program, open a file, or raise an already running program, depending on context.
- XMonad.Prompt.Shell: A shell prompt for XMonad
- XMonad.Prompt.Ssh: A ssh prompt for XMonad
- XMonad.Prompt.Theme: A prompt for changing the theme of the current workspace
- XMonad.Prompt.Window: xprompt operations to bring windows to you, and bring you to windows.
- XMonad.Prompt.Workspace: A workspace prompt for XMonad
- XMonad.Prompt.XMonad: A prompt for running XMonad commands
Usually a prompt is called by some key binding. See XMonad.Doc.Extending, which includes examples of adding some prompts.
Utilities
In the XMonad.Util
namespace you can find modules exporting various
utility functions that are used by the other modules of the
xmonad-contrib library.
There are also utilities for helping in configuring xmonad or using external utilities.
A non complete list with a brief description:
- XMonad.Util.Cursor: configure the default cursor/pointer glyph.
- XMonad.Util.CustomKeys: configure key bindings (see XMonad.Doc.Extending).
- XMonad.Util.Dmenu: A convenient binding to dmenu. Requires the process-1.0 package
- XMonad.Util.Dzen: Handy wrapper for dzen. Requires dzen >= 0.2.4.
- XMonad.Util.EZConfig: configure key bindings easily, including a parser for writing key bindings in M-C-x style.
- XMonad.Util.Font: A module for abstracting a font facility over Core fonts and Xft
- XMonad.Util.Invisible: A data type to store the layout state
- XMonad.Util.Loggers:
A collection of simple logger functions and formatting utilities
which can be used in the
XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog.ppExtras
field of a pretty-printing status logger format. See XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog for more information. - XMonad.Util.NamedActions: A wrapper for keybinding configuration that can list the available keybindings.
- XMonad.Util.NamedScratchpad: Like XMonad.Util.Scratchpad toggle windows to and from the current workspace. Supports several arbitrary applications at the same time.
- XMonad.Util.NamedWindows: This module allows you to associate the X titles of windows with them.
- XMonad.Util.Paste: A module for sending key presses to windows. This modules provides generalized and specialized functions for this task.
- XMonad.Util.Replace:
Implements a
--replace
flag outside of core. - XMonad.Util.Run: This modules provides several commands to run an external process. It is composed of functions formerly defined in XMonad.Util.Dmenu (by Spencer Janssen), XMonad.Util.Dzen (by glasser@mit.edu) and XMonad.Util.RunInXTerm (by Andrea Rossato).
- XMonad.Util.Scratchpad: Very handy hotkey-launched toggleable floating terminal window.
- XMonad.Util.StringProp: Internal utility functions for storing Strings with the root window. Used for global state like IORefs with string keys, but more latency, persistent between xmonad restarts.
- XMonad.Util.Themes: A (hopefully) growing collection of themes for decorated layouts.
- XMonad.Util.Timer: A module for setting up timers
- XMonad.Util.Types: Miscellaneous commonly used types.
- XMonad.Util.WindowProperties: EDSL for specifying window properties; various utilities related to window properties.
- XMonad.Util.XSelection:
A module for accessing and manipulating X Window's mouse selection (the buffer used in copy and pasting).
getSelection
andputSelection
are adaptations of Hxsel.hs and Hxput.hs from the XMonad-utils - XMonad.Util.XUtils: A module for painting on the screen
Extending xmonad
Since the xmonad.hs
file is just another Haskell module, you may
import and use any Haskell code or libraries you wish, such as
extensions from the xmonad-contrib library, or other code you write
yourself.
Editing key bindings
Editing key bindings means changing the XMonad.Core.XConfig.keys
field of the XMonad.Core.XConfig
record used by xmonad. For
example, you could write:
import XMonad main = xmonad $ defaultConfig { keys = myKeys }
and provide an appropriate definition of myKeys
, such as:
myKeys conf@(XConfig {XMonad.modMask = modm}) = [ ((modm, xK_F12), xmonadPrompt defaultXPConfig) , ((modm, xK_F3 ), shellPrompt defaultXPConfig) ]
This particular definition also requires importing XMonad.Prompt, XMonad.Prompt.Shell, and XMonad.Prompt.XMonad:
import XMonadPrompt import ... -- and so on
For a list of the names of particular keys (such as xK_F12, and so on), see http://hackage.haskell.org/packages/archive/X11/latest/doc/html/Graphics-X11-Types.html
Usually, rather than completely redefining the key bindings, as we did above, we want to simply add some new bindings and/or remove existing ones.
Adding key bindings
Adding key bindings can be done in different ways. See the end of this
section for the easiest ways. The type signature of
XMonad.Core.XConfig.keys
is:
keys :: XConfig Layout -> M.Map (ButtonMask,KeySym) (X ())
In order to add new key bindings, you need to first create an
appropriate Data.Map.Map
from a list of key bindings using
Data.Map.fromList
. This Data.Map.Map
of new key bindings then
needs to be joined to a Data.Map.Map
of existing bindings using
Data.Map.union
.
Since we are going to need some of the functions of the Data.Map module, before starting we must first import this modules:
import qualified Data.Map as M
For instance, if you have defined some additional key bindings like these:
myKeys conf@(XConfig {XMonad.modMask = modm}) = [ ((modm, xK_F12), xmonadPrompt defaultXPConfig) , ((modm, xK_F3 ), shellPrompt defaultXPConfig) ]
then you can create a new key bindings map by joining the default one with yours:
newKeys x = M.union (keys defaultConfig x) (M.fromList (myKeys x))
Finally, you can use newKeys
in the XMonad.Core.XConfig.keys
field
of the configuration:
main = xmonad $ defaultConfig { keys = newKeys }
All together, your ~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs
would now look like this:
module Main (main) where import XMonad import qualified Data.Map as M import Graphics.X11.Xlib import XMonad.Prompt import XMonad.Prompt.Shell import XMonad.Prompt.XMonad main :: IO () main = xmonad $ defaultConfig { keys = newKeys } newKeys x = M.union (keys defaultConfig x) (M.fromList (myKeys x)) myKeys conf@(XConfig {XMonad.modMask = modm}) = [ ((modm, xK_F12), xmonadPrompt defaultXPConfig) , ((modm, xK_F3 ), shellPrompt defaultXPConfig) ]
There are much simpler ways to accomplish this, however, if you are willing to use an extension module to help you configure your keys. For instance, XMonad.Util.EZConfig and XMonad.Util.CustomKeys both provide useful functions for editing your key bindings; XMonad.Util.EZConfig even lets you use emacs-style keybinding descriptions like "M-C-F12".
Removing key bindings
Removing key bindings requires modifying the Data.Map.Map
which
stores the key bindings. This can be done with Data.Map.difference
or with Data.Map.delete
.
For example, suppose you want to get rid of mod-q
and mod-shift-q
(you just want to leave xmonad running forever). To do this you need
to define newKeys
as a Data.Map.difference
between the default
map and the map of the key bindings you want to remove. Like so:
newKeys x = M.difference (keys defaultConfig x) (M.fromList $ keysToRemove x) keysToRemove :: XConfig Layout -> [((KeyMask, KeySym),X ())] keysToRemove x = [ ((modm , xK_q ), return ()) , ((modm .|. shiftMask, xK_q ), return ()) ]
As you can see, it doesn't matter what actions we associate with the
keys listed in keysToRemove
, so we just use return ()
(the
"null" action).
It is also possible to simply define a list of keys we want to unbind
and then use Data.Map.delete
to remove them. In that case we would
write something like:
newKeys x = foldr M.delete (keys defaultConfig x) (keysToRemove x) keysToRemove :: XConfig Layout -> [(KeyMask, KeySym)] keysToRemove x = [ (modm , xK_q ) , (modm .|. shiftMask, xK_q ) ]
Another even simpler possibility is the use of some of the utilities
provided by the xmonad-contrib library. Look, for instance, at
XMonad.Util.EZConfig.removeKeys
.
Adding and removing key bindings
Adding and removing key bindings requires simply combining the steps for removing and adding. Here is an example from XMonad.Config.Arossato:
defKeys = keys defaultConfig delKeys x = foldr M.delete (defKeys x) (toRemove x) newKeys x = foldr (uncurry M.insert) (delKeys x) (toAdd x) -- remove some of the default key bindings toRemove XConfig{modMask = modm} = [ (modm , xK_j ) , (modm , xK_k ) , (modm , xK_p ) , (modm .|. shiftMask, xK_p ) , (modm .|. shiftMask, xK_q ) , (modm , xK_q ) ] ++ -- I want modm .|. shiftMask 1-9 to be free! [(shiftMask .|. modm, k) | k <- [xK_1 .. xK_9]] -- These are my personal key bindings toAdd XConfig{modMask = modm} = [ ((modm , xK_F12 ), xmonadPrompt defaultXPConfig ) , ((modm , xK_F3 ), shellPrompt defaultXPConfig ) ] ++ -- Use modm .|. shiftMask .|. controlMask 1-9 instead [( (m .|. modm, k), windows $ f i) | (i, k) <- zip (workspaces x) [xK_1 .. xK_9] , (f, m) <- [(W.greedyView, 0), (W.shift, shiftMask .|. controlMask)] ]
You can achieve the same result using the XMonad.Util.CustomKeys
module; take a look at the XMonad.Util.CustomKeys.customKeys
function in particular.
NOTE: modm is defined as the modMask you defined (or left as the default) in your config.
Editing mouse bindings
Most of the previous discussion of key bindings applies to mouse bindings as well. For example, you could configure button4 to close the window you click on like so:
import qualified Data.Map as M myMouse x = [ (0, button4), (\w -> focus w >> kill) ] newMouse x = M.union (mouseBindings defaultConfig x) (M.fromList (myMouse x)) main = xmonad $ defaultConfig { ..., mouseBindings = newMouse, ... }
Overriding or deleting mouse bindings works similarly. You can also
configure mouse bindings much more easily using the
XMonad.Util.EZConfig.additionalMouseBindings
and
XMonad.Util.EZConfig.removeMouseBindings
functions from the
XMonad.Util.EZConfig module.
Editing the layout hook
When you start an application that opens a new window, when you change
the focused window, or move it to another workspace, or change that
workspace's layout, xmonad will use the XMonad.Core.layoutHook
for
reordering the visible windows on the visible workspace(s).
Since different layouts may be attached to different workspaces, and you can change them, xmonad needs to know which one to use. In this sense the layoutHook may be thought as the list of layouts that xmonad will use for laying out windows on the screen(s).
The problem is that the layout subsystem is implemented with an advanced feature of the Haskell programming language: type classes. This allows us to very easily write new layouts, combine or modify existing layouts, create layouts with internal state, etc. See XMonad.Doc.Extending for more information. This means that we cannot simply have a list of layouts as we used to have before the 0.5 release: a list requires every member to belong to the same type!
Instead the combination of layouts to be used by xmonad is created
with a specific layout combinator: XMonad.Layout.|||
.
Suppose we want a list with the XMonad.Layout.Full
,
XMonad.Layout.Tabbed.tabbed
and
XMonad.Layout.Accordion.Accordion
layouts. First we import, in our
~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs
, all the needed modules:
import XMonad import XMonad.Layout.Tabbed import XMonad.Layout.Accordion
Then we create the combination of layouts we need:
mylayoutHook = Full ||| tabbed shrinkText defaultTConf ||| Accordion
Now, all we need to do is change the XMonad.Core.layoutHook
field of the XMonad.Core.XConfig
record, like so:
main = xmonad $ defaultConfig { layoutHook = mylayoutHook }
Thanks to the new combinator, we can apply a layout modifier to a
whole combination of layouts, instead of applying it to each one. For
example, suppose we want to use the
XMonad.Layout.NoBorders.noBorders
layout modifier, from the
XMonad.Layout.NoBorders module (which must be imported):
mylayoutHook = noBorders (Full ||| tabbed shrinkText defaultTConf ||| Accordion)
If we want only the tabbed layout without borders, then we may write:
mylayoutHook = Full ||| noBorders (tabbed shrinkText defaultTConf) ||| Accordion
Our ~/.xmonad/xmonad.hs
will now look like this:
import XMonad import XMonad.Layout.Tabbed import XMonad.Layout.Accordion import XMonad.Layout.NoBorders mylayoutHook = Full ||| noBorders (tabbed shrinkText defaultTConf) ||| Accordion main = xmonad $ defaultConfig { layoutHook = mylayoutHook }
That's it!
Editing the manage hook
The XMonad.Core.manageHook
is a very powerful tool for customizing
the behavior of xmonad with regard to new windows. Whenever a new
window is created, xmonad calls the XMonad.Core.manageHook
, which
can thus be used to perform certain actions on the new window, such as
placing it in a specific workspace, ignoring it, or placing it in the
float layer.
The default XMonad.Core.manageHook
causes xmonad to float MPlayer
and Gimp, and to ignore gnome-panel, desktop_window, kicker, and
kdesktop.
The XMonad.ManageHook module provides some simple combinators that
can be used to alter the XMonad.Core.manageHook
by replacing or adding
to the default actions.
Let's start by analyzing the default XMonad.Config.manageHook
, defined
in XMonad.Config:
manageHook :: ManageHook manageHook = composeAll [ className =? "MPlayer" --> doFloat , className =? "Gimp" --> doFloat , resource =? "desktop_window" --> doIgnore , resource =? "kdesktop" --> doIgnore ]
XMonad.ManageHook.composeAll
can be used to compose a list of
different XMonad.Config.ManageHook
s. In this example we have a list
of XMonad.Config.ManageHook
s formed by the following commands: the
Mplayer's and the Gimp's windows, whose XMonad.ManageHook.className
are, respectively "Mplayer" and "Gimp", are to be placed in the
float layer with the XMonad.ManageHook.doFloat
function; the windows
whose resource names are respectively "desktop_window" and
kdesktop" are to be ignored with the XMonad.ManageHook.doIgnore
function.
This is another example of XMonad.Config.manageHook
, taken from
XMonad.Config.Arossato:
myManageHook = composeAll [ resource =? "realplay.bin" --> doFloat , resource =? "win" --> doF (W.shift "doc") -- xpdf , resource =? "firefox-bin" --> doF (W.shift "web") ] newManageHook = myManageHook <+> manageHook defaultConfig
Again we use XMonad.ManageHook.composeAll
to compose a list of
different XMonad.Config.ManageHook
s. The first one will put
RealPlayer on the float layer, the second one will put the xpdf
windows in the workspace named "doc", with XMonad.ManageHook.doF
and XMonad.StackSet.shift
functions, and the third one will put all
firefox windows on the workspace called web. Then we use the
XMonad.ManageHook.<+>
combinator to compose myManageHook
with the
default XMonad.Config.manageHook
to form newManageHook
.
Each XMonad.Config.ManageHook
has the form:
property =? match --> action
Where property
can be:
-
XMonad.ManageHook.title
: the window's title -
XMonad.ManageHook.resource
: the resource name -
XMonad.ManageHook.className
: the resource class name. -
XMonad.ManageHook.stringProperty
somestring
: the contents of the propertysomestring
.
(You can retrieve the needed information using the X utility named
xprop
; for example, to find the resource class name, you can type
xprop | grep WM_CLASS
at a prompt, then click on the window whose resource class you want to know.)
match
is the string that will match the property value (for instance
the one you retrieved with xprop
).
An action
can be:
-
XMonad.ManageHook.doFloat
: to place the window in the float layer; -
XMonad.ManageHook.doIgnore
: to ignore the window; -
XMonad.ManageHook.doF
: to execute a function with the window as argument.
For example, suppose we want to add a XMonad.Config.manageHook
to
float RealPlayer, which usually has a XMonad.ManageHook.resource
name of "realplay.bin".
First we need to import XMonad.ManageHook:
import XMonad.ManageHook
Then we create our own XMonad.Config.manageHook
:
myManageHook = resource =? "realplay.bin" --> doFloat
We can now use the XMonad.ManageHook.<+>
combinator to add our
XMonad.Config.manageHook
to the default one:
newManageHook = myManageHook <+> manageHook defaultConfig
(Of course, if we wanted to completely replace the default
XMonad.Config.manageHook
, this step would not be necessary.) Now,
all we need to do is change the XMonad.Core.manageHook
field of the
XMonad.Core.XConfig
record, like so:
main = xmonad defaultConfig { ..., manageHook = newManageHook, ... }
And we are done.
Obviously, we may wish to add more then one
XMonad.Config.manageHook
. In this case we can use a list of hooks,
compose them all with XMonad.ManageHook.composeAll
, and add the
composed to the default one.
For instance, if we want RealPlayer to float and thunderbird always opened in the workspace named mail, we can do so like this:
myManageHook = composeAll [ resource =? "realplay.bin" --> doFloat , resource =? "thunderbird-bin" --> doF (W.shift "mail") ]
Remember to import the module that defines the XMonad.StackSet.shift
function, XMonad.StackSet, like this:
import qualified XMonad.StackSet as W
And then we can add myManageHook
to the default one to create
newManageHook
as we did in the previous example.
One more thing to note about this system is that if
a window matches multiple rules in a XMonad.Config.manageHook
, all
of the corresponding actions will be run (in the order in which they
are defined). This is a change from versions before 0.5, when only
the first rule that matched was run.
Finally, for additional rules and actions you can use in your manageHook, check out the contrib module XMonad.Hooks.ManageHelpers.
The log hook and external status bars
When the stack of the windows managed by xmonad changes for any
reason, xmonad will call XMonad.Core.logHook
, which can be used to
output some information about the internal state of xmonad, such as the
layout that is presently in use, the workspace we are in, the focused
window's title, and so on.
Extracting information about the internal xmonad state can be somewhat difficult if you are not familiar with the source code. Therefore, it's usually easiest to use a module that has been designed specifically for logging some of the most interesting information about the internal state of xmonad: XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog. This module can be used with an external status bar to print the produced logs in a convenient way; the most commonly used status bars are dzen and xmobar.
By default the XMonad.Core.logHook
doesn't produce anything. To
enable it you need first to import XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog:
import XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog
Then you just need to update the XMonad.Core.logHook
field of the
XMonad.Core.XConfig
record with one of the provided functions. For
example:
main = xmonad defaultConfig { logHook = dynamicLog }
More interesting configurations are also possible; see the XMonad.Hooks.DynamicLog module for more possibilities.
You may now enjoy your extended xmonad experience.
Have fun!