165 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
165 lines
5.6 KiB
Markdown
# dwmblocks-async
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A [`dwm`](https://dwm.suckless.org) status bar that has a modular, async
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design, so it is always responsive. Imagine `i3blocks`, but for `dwm`.
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## Features
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- [Modular](#modifying-the-blocks)
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- Lightweight
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- [Suckless](https://suckless.org/philosophy)
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- Blocks:
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- [Clickable](#clickable-blocks)
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- Loaded asynchronously
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- [Updates can be externally triggered](#signalling-changes)
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- Compatible with `i3blocks` scripts
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> Additionally, this build of `dwmblocks` is more optimized and fixes the
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> flickering of the status bar when scrolling.
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## Why `dwmblocks`?
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In `dwm`, you have to set the status bar through an infinite loop, like so:
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```sh
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while :; do
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xsetroot -name "$(date)"
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sleep 30
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done
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```
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This is inefficient when running multiple commands that need to be updated at
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different frequencies. For example, to display an unread mail count and a clock
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in the status bar:
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```sh
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while :; do
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xsetroot -name "$(mailCount) $(date)"
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sleep 60
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done
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```
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Both are executed at the same rate, which is wasteful. Ideally, the mail
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counter would be updated every thirty minutes, since there's a limit to the
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number of requests I can make using Gmail's APIs (as a free user).
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`dwmblocks` allows you to divide the status bar into multiple blocks, each of
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which can be updated at its own interval. This effectively addresses the
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previous issue, because the commands in a block are only executed once within
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that time frame.
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## Why `dwmblocks-async`?
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The magic of `dwmblocks-async` is in the `async` part. Since vanilla
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`dwmblocks` executes the commands of each block sequentially, it leads to
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annoying freezes. In cases where one block takes several seconds to execute,
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like in the mail and date blocks example from above, the delay is clearly
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visible. Fire up a new instance of `dwmblocks` and you'll see!
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With `dwmblocks-async`, the computer executes each block asynchronously
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(simultaneously).
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## Installation
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Clone this repository, modify `config.h` appropriately, then compile the
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program:
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```sh
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git clone https://github.com/UtkarshVerma/dwmblocks-async.git
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cd dwmblocks-async
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vi config.h
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sudo make install
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```
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## Usage
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To set `dwmblocks-async` as your status bar, you need to run it as a background
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process on startup. One way is to add the following to `~/.xinitrc`:
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```sh
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# The binary of `dwmblocks-async` is named `dwmblocks`
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dwmblocks &
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```
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### Modifying the blocks
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You can define your status bar blocks in `config.h`:
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```c
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#define BLOCKS(X) \
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...
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X(" ", "wpctl get-volume @DEFAULT_AUDIO_SINK@ | cut -d' ' -f2", 0, 5) \
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X(" ", "date '+%H:%M:%S'", 1, 1) \
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...
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```
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Each block has the following properties:
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| Property | Description |
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| --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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| Icon | An icon you wish to prepend to your block output. |
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| Command | The command you wish to execute in your block. |
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| Update interval | Time in seconds, after which you want the block to update. If `0`, the block will never be updated. |
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| Update signal | Signal to be used for triggering the block. Must be a positive integer. If `0`, a signal won't be set up for the block and it will be unclickable. |
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Apart from defining the blocks, features can be toggled through `config.h`:
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```c
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// String used to delimit block outputs in the status.
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#define DELIMITER " "
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// Maximum number of Unicode characters that a block can output.
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#define MAX_BLOCK_OUTPUT_LENGTH 45
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// Control whether blocks are clickable.
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#define CLICKABLE_BLOCKS 1
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// Control whether a leading delimiter should be prepended to the status.
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#define LEADING_DELIMITER 0
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// Control whether a trailing delimiter should be appended to the status.
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#define TRAILING_DELIMITER 0
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```
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### Signalling changes
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Most status bars constantly rerun all scripts every few seconds. This is an
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option here, but a superior choice is to give your block a signal through which
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you can indicate it to update on relevant event, rather than have it rerun
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idly.
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For example, the volume block has the update signal `5` by default. I run
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`kill -39 $(pidof dwmblocks)` alongside my volume shortcuts in `dwm` to only
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update it when relevant. Just add `34` to your signal number! You could also
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run `pkill -RTMIN+5 dwmblocks`, but it's slower.
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To refresh all the blocks, run `kill -10 $(pidof dwmblocks)` or
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`pkill -SIGUSR1 dwmblocks`.
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> All blocks must have different signal numbers!
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### Clickable blocks
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Like `i3blocks`, this build allows you to build in additional actions into your
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scripts in response to click events. You can check out
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[my status bar scripts](https://github.com/UtkarshVerma/dotfiles/tree/main/.local/bin/statusbar)
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as references for using the `$BLOCK_BUTTON` variable.
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To use this feature, define the `CLICKABLE_BLOCKS` feature macro in your
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`config.h`:
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```c
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#define CLICKABLE_BLOCKS 1
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```
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Apart from that, you need `dwm` to be patched with
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[statuscmd](https://dwm.suckless.org/patches/statuscmd/).
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## Credits
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This work would not have been possible without
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[Luke's build of dwmblocks](https://github.com/LukeSmithxyz/dwmblocks) and
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[Daniel Bylinka's statuscmd patch](https://dwm.suckless.org/patches/statuscmd/).
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