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genmonify - precision control for xfce4-panels genmon plugin

I created this to replicate the functionality I got with polybar hook modules and polify in the XFCE panel with the genmon plugin.

installation

If you use Arch Linux you can get genmonify from AUR. all you need is the genmonify script in your PATH. Use the Makefile to do a systemwide installation of both the script and the manpage.

(configure the installation destination in the Makefile, if needed)

$ git clone https://github.com/budlabs/genmonify.git
$ cd genmonify
$ make
# make install
$ genmonify -v
genmonify - version: 2020.11.16.0
updated: 2020-11-16 by budRich

options

-b, --background  COLOR        | color value for MESSAGE background color.
-x, --clear                    | clears the module.
-C, --click       COMMAND      | COMMAND will be executed when the IMAGE is clicked.
-t, --expire-time SECONDS      | if set module will get cleared after SECONDS
-f, --foreground  COLOR        | color value for MESSAGE foreground color.
-g, --get                      | prints the content of target modules `<msg>`
-h, --help                     | print help and exit  
-i, --icon        ICON_NAME    | name (not path) of icon for `<icon>`
-c, --iconclick   COMMAND      | COMMAND will be executed when the **ICON** is clicked.
-I, --img         IMAGE        | full path to image to prefix the label with
--list                         | list IDs of Generic Monitors, left to right in active panel
-o, --module      MODULE_ALIAS | name of target module
-s, --msg         MESSAGE      | set the `<msg>` field
-p, --progress    PERCENTAGE   | percentage to display in the progressbar.
-l, --tooltip     PANGO        | set text to display in the tooltip
-v, --version                  | print version info and exit

usage

To make genmonify (and genmon) somewhat usable you need to do two things:

  1. set up one or more genmon plugins/modules in your xfce4-panel
  2. set up aliases for these modules.

The first step is easy, just add a genmon module to your panel and open its properties dialog. There as the command enter:
genmonify --module NAME
where NAME can be anything you want. Also be sure to set the Period (interval) to max value of 86400 seconds (24h).

The second step is a little bit trickier. First execute genmonify without any arguments. This should create an example alias-file. The default location for this file is ~/.config/genmonify/module-list In that file there are instructions for how to set the aliases for the modules. genmonify updates the modules by sending the following command:
xfce4-panel --plugin-event=genmon-ID:refresh:bool:true

Where ID should be replaced with the actual plugin-id.

The easiest way to find the IDs is to exctue genmonify with the --list option.

genomify --list
24    25    18    23    10    19

Found IDs are printed left to right in the order they appear in the panel.

If this doesn't work you have to manually find the IDs in the file:

~/.config/xfce4/xfconf/xfce-perchannel-xml/xfce4-panel.xml
find lines that looks like this (search for "genmon"):
<property name="plugin-2" type="string" value="genmon"/>

Lets say we have two genmon plugins, and their ID's are 2 and 10. And they have the following commands set in their respective properties:
2: genmonify --module mediainfo
10: genmonify --module internet

we should then add the following lines to the module-list file:

modules[mediainfo]=2
modules[internet]=10

When genmonify is executed with only the --module MODULE_NAME option, all it will do is cat the content of the file: /tmp/genmonify/MODULE_NAME . When this is done from a genmon plugin in the panel, it will set the plugins text based on the content of the file.

Any arguments to the genmonify command that doesn't belong to an option, will get redirected (and formatted if needed or requested) to /tmp/genmonify/MODULE_NAME. Then the command xfce4-panel --plugin-event=genmon-ID:refresh:bool:true will get executed, causing the module to get updated.

EXAMPLE:

$ genmonify --module mediainfo testing one three four

this will first create (or overwrite) the file: /tmp/genmonify/mediainfo with the single line: testing one three four

then the command: xfce4-panel --plugin-event=genmon-2:refresh:bool:true
is automatically executed, which will update the plugin and the Command set in the properties will run again: (genmonify --module mediainfo), which in turn will update the module with the string: "testing one three four"

The --expire-time SECONDS option can be used to clear the module when SECONDS have passed. It is also possible to manually clear a module with the --clear option.

genmonify is shipped with the script genmonifypop, which can be used to execute commands on the --msgline. It will only execute a command if it is prefixed with the word POLIPOP. And the first argument to genmonifypop needs to be the name of the module, it is sweet to bind genmonifypop to a hotkey...

$ genmonify --module genmonifyModule1 --msg "POLIPOP notify-send 'hello pop'" hello guy
$ genmonifypop genmonifyModule1

In the example below you can see how --msg and --get can be used to keep track and toggle a modules state.

genmonifymodetoggler.sh

#!/bin/bash

thisscript="$(readlink -f "$0")"

if [[ $(genmonify --module genmonifyModule1 --get) = mode1 ]]; then
    genmonify --module genmonifyModule1   \
           --iconclick "$thisscript"      \
           --foreground '#00FF00'         \
           --icon dialog-warning          \
           --msg "mode2"                  \
           this is mode two
else 
    genmonify --module genmonifyModule1   \
           --iconclick "$thisscript"      \
           --foreground '#FF0000'         \
           --icon dialog-warning          \
           --msg "mode1"                  \
           this is mode one
fi

license

genmonify is licensed with BSD 2-Clause Lincense

updates

Previous releasenotes can be found in docs/releasenotes.

22.05.03

Updated bashbud build system