Alternative Menu

Contents 1 Batz Alternative Menu 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Diff from awesome 3.4.6 menu.lua 1.3 Usage

Batz Alternative Menu

Introduction

I really liked the built-in menu for selecting a particular window quickly. However, the up/down mechanism was too limiting (not efficient). I modified the menu.lua code to add a hint to quickly raise a window.

Diff from awesome 3.4.6 menu.lua

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< module("awful.menu")
---
> module("batz.menu")
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> --keys = "aoeuidhtns',.pyfgcrl;qjkxbmwvz1234567890"
> keys = "asdfghjkl;qwertyuiopzxcvbnm,./1234567890"
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<         check_access_key(cur_menu, key)
---
>         local i = keys:find(key)
>         if not(i == nil) and i <= #cur_menu.items then
>             item_enter(cur_menu, i)
>             exec(cur_menu, i)
>         else
>             check_access_key(cur_menu, key)
>         end
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>     local keys_index = 1
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<         cls_t[#cls_t + 1] = { util.escape(c.name) or "",
---
>         cls_t[#cls_t + 1] = { keys:sub(keys_index, keys_index) .. " " .. util.escape(c.name) or "",
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>         keys_index = keys_index + 1

Usage

• Place in ~/.config/awesome/
• Add the following to the imports of rc.lua

 require("menu")

• To change the hint keys add the following to rc.lua (e.g. a dvorak layout)

 batz.menu.keys = "aoeuidhtns',.pyfgcrl;qjkxbmwvz123456789"

• Usage is just like awesome.menu (in rc.lua)

 awful.key({ altkey,           }, "Escape",
   function ()
     batz.menu.menu_keys.down = { "j", "Down" }
     batz.menu.menu_keys.up = { "k", "Up" }
     local cmenu = batz.menu.clients({width=245}, { keygrabber=true, coords={x=525, y=330} })
   end)

• Now when M-Esc is pressed the menu is show, and pressing the key associated with the item raises it.