xxkb - switches and indicates a current keyboard layout.
The xxkb program shows the current keyboard layout (an XKB
group) and allows to switch it with a mouse click. It has some additional
features. The xxkb remembers the layout for each application window
and changes the keyboard state accordingly when the window gets a focus. The
xxkb can place an additional button on a window title bar and that
button is a switcher and an indicator for that separate window. If the
keyboard map has more than two layouts the xxkb can simplify a
switching using a two_state mode. In this mode the xxkb allows
to choose two layouts, one as a base layout and another one as an
alternative layout and then switch the keyboard state between them only.
Also the xxkb supports applications lists which allow to tune its
behavior for some separate applications.
The xxkb works with any window manager.
Working as an indicator the xxkb shows a current XKB layout
using one of four pixmaps and changes the pixmap when you change a layout
with the keyboard (using the key or the key combination specified in the
config file as an XKB group switcher) or using any other application which
able to change the XKB group. Also the xxkb shows the similar pixmaps
on each application window title bar which are indicators for separate
windows. Since the global indicator and the per window indicators duplicates
each other you can hide the global indicator or all per window indicators
using configure options.
Also you can use the xxkb as a layout switcher using a mouse button
click on the main xxkb window or one of the per window indicators. In
last case you switch the layout for the chosen application.
- MouseButton1
- The first button acts as a layout switcher. If the two_state mode
is active the button click switches the current layout between two
selected layouts (XKB groups). Otherwise it selects all possible layouts
in cycle.
- MouseButton3
- When the two_state mode is switched on the third button allows to
choose an alternative layout. It selects all possible layouts in cycle and
the layout you stop on becomes the alternative layout. Without the
two_state mode this button action is the same as the first button
action.
- MouseButton2
- The second (middle) button action depends on the place where you click.
The click on the main indicator terminates the xxkb. But the click
on one of the per window indicators simply removes the indicator from the
title bar and excludes that application from a set of managed
applications. Also the second button allows you to add an application into
one of three lists of the applications which should be ignored (see the
Applications lists options below). Clicking on the per window
indicator when the Control key is pressed you add this application
to the wm_class_class list. If the Shift key is pressed the
button click adds the application to the wm_name list. If both keys
are pressed the click adds the application to the wm_class_name
list. In all cases the updated lists will be saved in a per user config
file ~/.xxkbrc.
The xxkb reads all configure options from two files
app-defaults/XXkb and ~/.xxkbrc.
- XXkb.xpm.path
- The directory where the xxkb searches pixmap files.
Since the xxkb can keep the keyboard state for each
application and restore the state when the focus is changed there are group
of options which controls how the xxkb finds the application
windows.
- XXkb.controls.add_when_start
- If this mode is switched on (default) the xxkb at start time tries
to find all application already run.
- XXkb.controls.add_when_create
- In this mode the xxkb gets a new application window at time when
the application creates it. It is the base mode but I can't guaranty it
works with all window managers.
- XXkb.controls.add_when_change
- In this mode the xxkb doesn't catch the windows at their creation
but adds windows to the managed windows list if the keyboard state changes
when the window is focused. It's an additional mode (not recommended) and
may be useful only if the add_when_create mode for some reason
doesn't work.
- XXkb.controls.focusout
- It makes the xxkb reset the keyboard group when the focus leaves
the window. The mode makes sense with the add_when_change mode
only.
- XXkb.controls.button_delete
- This mode (switched on by default) allows user to remove the per window
button using a mouse middle button click. Although the xxkb tries
to ignore the windows where the keyboard layout switching doesn't make
sense, such windows can still appear. Or there are windows where an user
for some reason doesn't want to have the button.
- XXkb.controls.button_delete_and_forget
- This mode in addition to previous one makes xxkb to forget the
window which button is deleted. It means the xxkbwill not remember the
keyboard state changes in this window and restore this state when
the window will be focused.
- XXkb.controls.two_state
- Switching between two chosen keyboard layouts only. If the XKB symbols map
has more than two groups and not all of them are needed for each
application the xxkb allows to skip unneeded layouts at the layout
switching. You can select one group as a base group and another one as an
alternative group and then switch between these two groups only. The base
group is common for all applications (usually it contains ASCII) but the
alternative group can be chosen for each application window separately. In
this mode a mouse right button allows to select the alternative group and
a mouse left button as well as the key which configured as the layout
switcher change the current state between two selected layouts only.
This mode uses two additional config options:
- XXkb.group.base
- the base group (integer 1..4).
- XXkb.group.alt
- the default alternative group (integer 1..4).
The xxkb allows to specify lists of applications that
requires some special actions. The applications can be specified using their
WM_CLASS or WM_NAME properties.
A common form of such option is
XXkb.app_list.property.action:
an applications list
The action here can be one of ignore, start_alt or
alt_groupn. The ignore action means that the
xxkb must ignore the windows of those applications and doesn't add
them to the managed windows set. The start_alt action means that the
xxkb must set the keyboard state to the alternative layout when the
application starts. And the alt_group1, alt_group2, alt_group3
or alt_group4 actions allow to specify the alternative layout for
some applications if this layout should be different from the common
alternative layout specified in the XXkb.group.alt option.
The property can be one of wm_class_class, wm_class_name or
wm_name. The xxkb can identify an application using its window
properties WM_CLASS or WM_NAME. The WM_CLASS property
actually consists of two parts - a res_class and a res_name.
Thus the property field specifies what property or part of property
should be considered for the application identification.
By default all these lists are empty. A not empty list is a sequence of words
separated by space/tab. The xxkb accepts an asterisk as a part of
word. Long lists can be continued to the next line using a backslash as the
last char in the line.
For example:
XXkb.app_list.wm_name.ignore: Fvwm* *clock \
Xman
- XXkb.ignore.reverse
- This option changes a meaning of the Xxkb.*.ignore list. If the
option switched on the ignore list becomes the list of windows
which should be managed but all other should be ignored.