XSHELL(1)

NAME

xshell - X Window System, key/button command exec

SYNOPSIS

xshell [ options ] [ host:display ] ...

DESCRIPTION

Xshell is a program for starting up X applications with a single key or button stroke. It displays a scallop shell icon in which button and key presses stand for different commands. The user can bind a command string to any key or button by inserting a line like the following in his or her .Xdefaults file:

xshell.action.keyname: command to be exec’ed

Keynames are simply letters, numbers, and symbols as they appear on the keyboard (e.g. a, $, 9), or one of the following special names (taken from the X keyboard definitions):

    KEYPAD0              FUNC1            E1
    KEYPAD.              FUNC2            E2
    ENTER                FUNC3            E3
    KEYPAD1              FUNC4            E4
    KEYPAD2              FUNC5            E5
    KEYPAD3              FUNC6            E6
    KEYPAD4              FUNC7            LEFTARROW
    KEYPAD5              FUNC8            RIGHTARROW
    KEYPAD6              FUNC9            DOWNARROW
    KEYPAD,              FUNC10           UPARROW
    KEYPAD7              FUNC11           SHIFT
    KEYPAD8              FUNC12           CONTROL
    KEYPAD9              FUNC13           LOCK
    KEYPAD-              FUNC14           SYMBOL
    PF1                  FUNC15
    PF2                  FUNC16
    PF3                  FUNC17
    PF4                  FUNC18
    LEFTBUTTON           FUNC19
    MIDDLEBUTTON         FUNC29
    RIGHTBUTTON

Thus, the following ‘.Xdefaults’ definitions specify that the Left Button will spawn a terminal window, the Middle Button an editor, the Right Button a calculator, $ a Bourne shell, and # a superuser shell:

    xshell.action.LeftButton:       xterm =80x65-0+0 -fn 6x10
    xshell.action.MiddleButton:     xted =80x65+0-0
    xshell.action.RightButton:      xterm =20x20-0-0 -fn 6x10 -e dc
    xshell.action.$:                xterm =80x65+0+0 -fn 6x10 -e sh
    xshell.action.#:                xterm =80x65+0+0 -fn 6x10 -e su

Xshell breaks the command string up into words by removing all white space (i.e. tabs and spaces) and uses the vfork() and execvp() system calls to spawn off the command. A more complicated parsing algorithm could easily be added, but the current method is adequate (and fast and memory efficient).

One thing to keep in mind is that xshell is NOT a window manager. It was written to make popping up frequently used utilities as painless as possible (how many times have you found that you need just 1 more window....). It might make a nice addition to some of the more verbose window managers, but it runs quite nicely as a separate program.

ARGUMENTS

Xshell is designed to be somewhat compatible with xclock in the arguments that it takes. However, xshell will allow you to abbreviate its longer flags to any length you chose. Thus, the −reverse flag can be spelled out, given as −rev, or even just −r:

−fg color On color displays, determines the color of the foreground.

−bg color On color displays, determines the color of the background.

−bd color On color displays, determines the color of the border.

−bw pixels
Specify the width in pixels of the border around the xshell window.

−v[olume] n
Volume for calls to XFeep, used when errors (such as unbound key) are found.

−f[lash] n Number of times to flash the shell window to acknowledge a button or key press.

−d[elay] n
One-hundredths of a second to wait between flashs (default is 5).

−r[everse]
Reverse video (swap foreground and background).

−q[uiet] Do not ‘feep’ on errors (see volume).

−s[mall] Use a smaller (48x48) version of the shell icon. The default icon is 96x96.

=geometry By default xshell will create a window the size of whatever icon you select; the standard X window geometry argument will override this. See X(1) for details.

host:display
specifies the display on which to put the xshell window. This overrides the DISPLAY environment variable.

X DEFAULTS

To make invoking xshell easier, each of the flags listed above may be specified in the user’s .Xdefaults file:

Foreground
gives the foreground color.

Background
gives the background color.

Border gives the border color.

BorderWidth
gives the border width.

ReverseVideo
if "on", the shell icon should be white on black instead of black on white.

Volume gives the volume to use in calls to XFeep().

Flash gives the number of times to flash the shell window to acknowledge key or button presses.

Delay gives hundredths of a second to wait in between flashes.

Quiet prevents xshell from feeping at you when you mistype.

IconSize if "small", a halfsize (48x48) version of the scallopshell is used.

WindowGeometry
gives the shell window size using standard X =WxH+X+Y notation.

ENVIRONMENT

DISPLAY
To get the default host and display number.

DIAGNOSTICS

If −quiet is not given on the command line or “xshell.Quiet: on” does not appear in the user’s .Xdefaults, xshell will ‘feep’ if a key or button is pressed for which there is no definition in the .Xdefaults file.

AUTHOR

Jim Fulton (Cognition Inc.)

BUGS

Xshell uses the XGetDefault call to fetch the command string for a given key. Thus, you cannot bind the colon (“:”) character to a command.

A more ‘user-friendly’ interface could include dialog boxes that the user could pop up to type in a command directly so that a full shell doesn’t have to be started. Then again, it is nice and compact now and if you really need to do that more than once you should use a real shell.

This program along with xwm(1) and xnwm have been mostly superceded by uwm(1).

Museum

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