vtwm(1) · carta

NAME

vtwm - Virtual Tab Window Manager for the X Window System

SYNTAX

vtwm [-display dpy] [-s] [-f initfile] [-v]

DESCRIPTION

Vtwm is a window manager for the X Window System. It provides titlebars, shaped windows, several forms of icon management, user-defined macro functions, click-to-type and pointer-driven keyboard focus, and user-specified key and pointer button bindings.

This program is usually started by the user's session manager or startup script. When used from xdm(1) or xinit(1) without a session manager, vtwm is frequently executed in the foreground as the last client. When run this way, exiting vtwm causes the session to be terminated (i.e., logged out).

By default, application windows are surrounded by a "frame" with a titlebar at the top and a special border around the window. The titlebar contains the window's name, a rectangle that is lit when the window is receiving keyboard input, and function boxes known as "titlebuttons" at the left and right edges of the titlebar.

Pressing pointer Button1 (usually the left-most button unless it has been changed with xmodmap(1)) on a titlebutton will invoke the function associated with the button. In the default interface, windows are iconified by clicking (pressing and then immediately releasing) the left titlebutton (which looks like a dot). Conversely, windows are deiconified by clicking in the associated icon or entry in the icon manager (see the descriptions of the variable ShowIconManager and the function f.showiconmgr in the BINDINGS section).

Windows are resized by pressing the right titlebutton (which resembles a group of nested squares), dragging the pointer over the edge that is to be moved, and releasing the pointer when the outline of the window is the desired size. Similarly, windows are moved by pressing in the title or highlight region, dragging a window outline to the new location, and then releasing when the outline is in the desired position. Just clicking in the title or highlight region raises the window without moving it.

When new windows are created, vtwm will honor any size and location information requested by the user (usually through -geometry command line argument or X11 resources for the individual applications). Otherwise, an outline of the window's default size, its titlebar, and lines crossing the window diagonally that track the pointer are displayed. Clicking pointer Button1 will position the window at the current position and give it the default size. Pressing pointer Button2 (usually the middle pointer button) and dragging the outline will give the window its current position but allow the sides to be resized as described above. Clicking pointer Button3 (usually the right pointer button) will give the window its current position but attempt to make it long enough to touch the bottom of the screen.

THE VIRTUAL DESKTOP

vtwm is based upon the twm(1) window manager, but adds extra functionality in the form of a virtual desktop. The virtual desktop is an area larger than the physical screen. The real screen is considered to be a window onto portions of the virtual desktop showing whatever windows are present in that area of the desktop. To help navigate around the desktop, vtwm creates a new window, of the name VTWM Desktop, which shows the entire desktop using a small scale. In the Virtual Desktop window, all windows that exist are displayed and various options are provided to recognize the identity of the different windows (see the descriptions of the variables DesktopDisplayBackground, DesktopDisplayForeground, DesktopDisplayBorder and VirtualDesktopFont).

To provide a consistent workspace, the option is provided of nailing windows onto the real screen. When a window is nailed, it is considered stuck to the real screen no matter what part of the desktop is currently being displayed.

Normally, a few standard utilities are nailed down: the icon manager, the desktop view, a load average chart, a clock, and a mail notifier. The f.nail (or its alias, f.stick) function can be used to change the nailed status of any window; see the BINDINGS section for details.

The root window of the display is unchanged by this program and utilities such as xsetroot(1) will continue to work unmodified.

OPTIONS

vtwm accepts the following command line options:

-display dpy: This option specifies the X server to use.

-s: This option indicates that only the default screen (as specified by -display or by the DISPLAY environment variable) should be managed. By default, vtwm will attempt to manage all screens on the display.

-f filename: This option specifies the name of the startup file to use. By default, vtwm will look in the user's home directory for files named .vtwmrc.num, .vtwmrc, .twmrc.num, or .twmrc (num is a screen number). It also looks for system-wide default files; see the CUSTOMIZATION section below for details.

-v: This option indicates that vtwm should print error messages whenever an unexpected X Error event is received. This can be useful when debugging applications but can be distracting in regular use.

CUSTOMIZATION

Much of vtwm's appearance and behavior can be controlled by providing a startup file in one of the following locations (searched in order for each screen being managed when vtwm begins):

$HOME/.vtwmrc.screennumber: The screennumber is a small positive number (e.g., 0, 1, etc.) representing the screen number (e.g., the last number in the DISPLAY environment variable host:displaynum.screennum) that would be used to contact that screen of the display. This is intended for displays with multiple screens of differing visual types.

$HOME/.vtwmrc: This is the usual name for an individual user's startup file.

$VTWMDIR/twm/system.vtwmrc: If neither of the preceding files are found, vtwm will look in this file for a default configuration. Note that the variable is defined only in the Makefile, and is often set and tailored by the site administrator to provide convenient menus or familiar bindings for novice users.

$HOME/.twmrc.screennumber

$HOME/.twmrc

$VTWMDIR/twm/system.twmrc: When none of the .vtwmrc files can be found, vtwm reverts to acting like twm(1), and searches for these three .twmrc variants. Note that the variable is defined only in the Makefile.

This search algorithm allows both twm(1) and vtwm to coexist peacefully at an installation. Since vtwm is a superset of twm(1), it can even used to replace the latter, and users who have only a .twmrc-style file should not notice any difference.

If no startup files are found, vtwm will use the built-in defaults described above. The only X11 resource used by vtwm is bitmapFilePath for a colon-separated list of directories to search when looking for bitmap files (for more information, see the Athena Widgets manual and xrdb(1)).

vtwm startup files are logically broken up into three types of specifications: Variables, Bindings, Menus.

The Variables section must come first and is used to describe the fonts, colors, cursors, border widths, icon and window placement, highlighting, autoraising, layout of titles, warping, and use of the icon manager.

The Bindings section usually comes second and is used to specify the functions that should be to be invoked when keyboard and pointer buttons are pressed in windows, icons, titles, and frames.

The Menus section gives any user-defined menus (containing functions to be invoked or commands to be executed).

Variable names and keywords are case-insensitive. Strings must be surrounded by double quote characters (e.g., "blue") and are case-sensitive. A sharp sign (#) outside of a string causes the remainder of the line in which the character appears to be treated as a comment.

VARIABLES

Many of the aspects of vtwm's user interface are controlled by variables that may be set in the user's startup file. Some of the options are enabled or disabled simply by the presence of a particular keyword. Other options require keywords, numbers, strings, or lists of all of these.

Lists are surrounded by braces and are usually separated by whitespace or a newline. For example:

AutoRaise { "emacs" "XTerm" "Xmh" }

AutoRaise
{
        "emacs"
        "XTerm"
        "Xmh"
}

When a variable containing a list of strings representing windows is searched (e.g., to determine whether or not to enable autoraise as shown above), a string must be an exact, case-sensitive match to the window's name (given by the WM_NAME window property), resource name or class name (both given by the WM_CLASS window property). The preceding example would enable autoraise on windows named "emacs" as well as any xterm (since they are of class "XTerm") or xmh windows (which are of class "Xmh").

String arguments that are interpreted as filenames (see the Pixmaps, Cursors, and IconDirectory variables below) will prepend the user's directory (specified by the HOME environment variable) if the first character is a tilde (~). If, instead, the first character is a colon (:), the name is assumed to refer to one of the internal bitmaps that are used to create the default titlebars symbols: :xlogo or :iconify (both refer to the X used for the iconify button), :resize (the nested squares used by the resize button), and :question (the question mark used for non-existent bitmap files).

The following variables may be specified at the top of a vtwm startup file. Lists of Window name prefix strings are indicated by win-list. Optional arguments are shown in square brackets:

AutoPan N: This variable allows the screen to automatically pan by N% of a real screen when the mouse approaches the edge of the screen. The pan will be in the direction of the edge approached. On reasonably fast machines a value of 5 is nice.

AutoPanBorderWidth pixels: If AutoPan is turned on, when the mouse goes within the specified number of pixels of the real screen's border, the screen is panned. The default value is 5.

AutoPanExtraWarp pixels: If AutoPan is turned on and NaturalAutopanBehavior turned off, this variable specifies how far, in pixels, you want the mouse to move away from the inner edge of the autopan border when autopanning. The default value is 2 pixels.

AutoPanWarpWithRespectToRealScreen N

With this option turned on, the pointer is warped by N% as many pixels on the real screen as the screen is scrolled, or by

(AutoPanBorderWidth + AutoPanExtraWarp)

: pixels, whichever is greater. See NaturalAutopanBehavior for a more thorough discussion of this and some recommended settings.

AutoRaise [{ win-list }]: This variable specifies a list of windows (all windows if the list is defaulted) to be automatically raised whenever the pointer has come to rest in a window for the amount of time specified by the RaiseDelay variable. This action can be interactively enabled or disabled on individual windows using the function f.autoraise.

AutoRaiseDelay milliseconds: For windows that are to be automatically raised when the pointer enters (see the AutoRaise variable and the f.autoraise function) this variable specifies the length of time the pointer should rest in the window before it is raised. The default is 0 milliseconds. but 400 milliseconds works well too.

AutoRelativeResize: This variable indicates that dragging out a window size (either when initially sizing the window with pointer Button2 or when resizing it) should not wait until the pointer has crossed the window edges. Instead, moving the pointer automatically causes the nearest edge or edges to move by the same amount. This allows the resizing windows that extend off the edge of the screen. If the pointer is in the center of the window, or if the resize is begun by pressing a titlebutton, vtwm will still wait for the pointer to cross a window edge (to prevent accidents). This option is particularly useful for people who like the press-drag-release method of sweeping out window sizes.

BeNiceToColormap: This variable specifies that stippled lines be used for the shadow colors when any of the 3D resources are set, to conserve on colormap allocations.

BorderColor string [{ wincolorlist }]

This variable specifies the default color of the border to be placed around all non-iconified windows, and may only be given within a Color or Monochrome list. The optional wincolorlist specifies a list of window and color name pairs for specifying particular border colors for different types of windows. For example:

BorderColor "gray50"
{
        "XTerm" "red"
        "xmh"   "green"
}

: The default is "black".

BorderTileBackground string [{ wincolorlist }]: This variable specifies the default background color in the gray pattern used in unhighlighted borders (only if NoHighlight hasn't been set), and may only be given within a Color or Monochrome list. The optional wincolorlist allows per-window colors to be specified. The default is "white".

BorderTileForeground string [{ wincolorlist }]: This variable specifies the default foreground color in the gray pattern used in unhighlighted borders (only if NoHighlight hasn't been set), and may only be given within a Color or Monochrome list. The optional wincolorlist allows per-window colors to be specified. The default is "black".

BorderWidth pixels: This variable specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding all client window frames if ClientBorderWidth has not been specified. This value is also used to set the border size of windows created by vtwm (such as the icon manager). The default is 2.

ButtonIndent pixels: This variable specifies the amount by which titlebuttons should be indented on all sides. Positive values cause the buttons to be smaller than the window text and highlight area so that they stand out. Setting this and the TitleButtonBorderWidth variables to 0 makes titlebuttons be as tall and wide as possible. The default is 1.

ButtonColorIsFrame: This variable specifies that the titlebar buttons will be the same color as the window frame.

ClearShadowContrast contrast

Indicates to vtwm how to calculate the clear shadow color for 3D items. The value is a compressed to the range 0 and 100. The formula used is:

clear.{RGB} = (65535 - color.{RGB}) * (contrast / 100).

ClientBorderWidth: This variable indicates that border width of a window's frame should be set to the initial border width of the window, rather than to the value of BorderWidth.

Color { colors-list }

This variable specifies a list of color assignments to be made if the default display is capable of displaying more than simple black and white. The colors-list is made up of the following color variables and their values: DefaultBackground, DefaultForeground, MenuBackground, MenuForeground, MenuTitleBackground, MenuTitleForeground, and MenuShadowColor. The following color variables may also be given a list of window and color name pairs to allow per-window colors to be specified (see BorderColor for details): BorderColor, DesktopDisplayForeground, DesktopDisplayBackground, RealScreenForeground, RealScreenBackground, VirtualForeground, VirtualBackground, DekstopDisplayBorder, IconManagerHighlight, BorderTitleBackground, BorderTitleForeground, TitleBackground, TitleForeground, IconBackground, IconForeground, IconBorderColor, IconManagerBackground, and IconManagerForeground. For example:

Color
{
        MenuBackground            "gray50"
        MenuForeground            "blue"
        BorderColor               "red" {
                 "XTerm" "yellow"
         }
        TitleForeground           "yellow"
        TitleBackground           "blue"
}

: All of these color variables may also be specified for the Monochrome variable, allowing the same initialization file to be used on both color and monochrome displays.

ConstrainedMoveTime milliseconds: This variable specifies the length of time between button clicks needed to begin a constrained move operation. Double clicking within this amount of time when invoking f.move will cause the window only to be moved in a horizontal or vertical direction. Setting this value to 0 will disable constrained moves. The default is 400 milliseconds.

Cursors { cursor-list }

This variable specifies the glyphs that vtwm should use for various pointer cursors. Each cursor may be defined either from the cursor font or from two bitmap files. Shapes from the cursor font may be specified directly as:

cursorname        "string"

where cursorname is one of the cursor names listed below, and string is the name of a glyph as found in the file /usr/include/X11/cursorfont.h (without the "XC_" prefix). If the cursor is to be defined from bitmap files, the following syntax is used instead:

cursorname        "image"   "mask"

The image and mask strings specify the names of files containing the glyph image and mask in bitmap(1) form. The bitmap files are located in the same manner as icon bitmap files. The following example shows the default cursor definitions:

Cursors
{
        Frame           "top_left_arrow"
        Title           "top_left_arrow"
        Icon            "top_left_arrow"
        IconMgr         "top_left_arrow"
        Move            "fleur"
        Resize          "fleur"
        Menu            "sb_left_arrow"
        Button          "hand2"
        Wait            "watch"
        Select          "dot"
        Destroy         "pirate"
        Door            "exchange"
        Virtual         "rtl_logo"
        Desktop         "dotbox"
}

DarkShadowContrast contrast

Indicates to vtwm has to calculate the dark shadow color for 3D items. The value is a comprised between 0 and 100. The formula used is :

dark.{RGB}  = color.{RGB} * ((100 - contrast) / 100),

DecorateTransients: This variable indicates that transient windows (those containing a WM_TRANSIENT_FOR property) should have titlebars. By default, transients are not reparented.

DefaultBackground string: This variable specifies the background color to be used for sizing and information windows. The default is "white".

DefaultForeground string: This variable specifies the foreground color to be used for sizing and information windows. The default is "black".

DeiconifyToScreen: When deiconifying a window, by default, the window will be placed at its previous geometry in the virtual desktop. With this variable set, vtwm ensures that the window will be placed somewhere on the real screen.

DesktopDisplayBackground color [{ win-list }]

This variable sets the backgrounds of the little windows inside the Virtual Desktop window, AND it sets the backgrounds of menu entries in the "VTWM Windows" menu -- unless you specify OldFashionedTwmWindowsMenu. The default color is used for the default background of windows not named in the list. The optional win-list is a list of window names and colors, for example:

DesktopDisplayBackground "purple" {
	"zwgc" "green"
}

DesktopDisplayBorder color [{ win-list }]

This variable sets the border color in the virtual desktop representation window to color. The win-list is in the same format as TitleForeground and other similar variables.

DesktopDisplayBorder "black" {
	"zwgc" "green"
}

DesktopDisplayForeground color [{ win-list }]: If both this and the VirtualDesktopFont variable are set, then the names of the windows will be written in the window representations shown in the desktop. This entry also sets foreground colors for entries in the "VTWM Windows" menu. The format of this variable is the same as that used for DesktopDisplayBackground.

DontIconifyByUnmapping { win-list }: This variable specifies a list of windows that should not be iconified by simply unmapping the window (as would be the case if IconifyByUnmapping had been set). This is frequently used to force some windows to be treated as icons while other windows are handled by the icon manager.

DontInterpolateTitles: This variable specifies a modification to the InterpolateMenuColors behavior. It will cause vtwm to not apply color interpolation to any titles in the middle of the menu. So, f.title strings that appear in the middle of the menu (ie, without a specific color defined for them) will inherit the default MenuTitle foreground and background colors.

DontMoveOff: This variable indicates that windows should not be allowed to be moved off the screen. It can be overridden by the f.forcemove function.

DontShowInDisplay { list }

This variable specifies a list of clients that should not appear in the desktop display. It is useful to define as a minimum the list:

DontShowInDisplay {
	"VTWM Desktop"
	"VTWM Door"
}

DontSqueezeTitle [{ win-list }]: This variable indicates that titlebars should not be squeezed to their minimum size as described under SqueezeTitle below. If the optional window list is supplied, only those windows will be prevented from being squeezed.

DoorBackground color [{ door-list }]: Specifies background colors of doors.

DoorFont string: This variable specifies the font to be used for text in doors. This must be set in order to see the doors.

DoorForeground color [{ door-list }]: Specifies foreground colors of doors.

Doors { door-list }

This variable is used to create doors, which are teleports. Each item in the door-list has the following format:

"winname" "location" "jumpTo"

: Windows with the name winname appear with geometry and position as defined in location, and warp the user to jumpTo when f.enterdoor is executed inside them. Doors have a class of `VTWM Door'.

EnhancedExecResources: By default, f.exec resources behaved as they always did in vtwm. You would have to append " &" to all of your resources in order to execute them without blocking the window manager. With this option turned on, you don't have to; vtwm will automatically append " &" to the f.exec resource unless the last non-space character is either `&' or (in case you still want a command to block the window manager) `;'.

For example, in a resource such as:

f.exec "foo; bar; baz"

the window manager will be blocked so that "foo" and "bar" can be executed; "baz" is the only command which will NOT block the window manager. If you want all these commands to be backgrounded, try the following:

f.exec "{ foo; bar; baz }" # note that "{" and "}"
			   # are shell keywords; they
			   # MUST be separated by
			   # spaces.

If you still want a command to block the window manager, you would use:

f.exec "xset fp rehash;" # vtwm will not append " &"
			 # because ';' is the last
			 # non-space character.

: This behavior was inspired by that of vuewm(1), Hewlett-Packard's workspace implementation of mwm(1).

FixManagedVirtualGeometries

FixTransientVirtualGeometries: These are bug workarounds that *should* fix the way most windows' virtual geometries are handled, i.e., they should be on the real screen if the parent windows are on the real screen, no matter where the virtual desktop is (xv(1) is one example of how these don't work).

ForceIcons: This variable indicates that icon image files specified in the Icons variable should override any client-supplied images.

FramePadding pixels: This variable specifies the distance between the titlebar decorations (the button and text) and the window frame. The default is 2 pixels.

IconBackground string [{ win-list }]: This variable specifies the background color of icons, and may only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified. See the BorderColor variable for a complete description of the win-list. The default is "white".

IconBorderColor string [{ win-list }]: This variable specifies the color of the border used for icon windows, and may only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified. See the BorderColor variable for a complete description of the win-list. The default is "black".

IconBorderWidth pixels: This variable specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding icon windows. The default is 2.

IconDirectory string: This variable specifies the directory that should be searched if an image file cannot be found in any of the directories in the bitmapFilePath resource.

IconFont string: This variable specifies the font to be used to display icon names within icons. The default is "variable".

IconForeground string [{ win-list }]: This variable specifies the foreground color to be used when displaying icons, and may only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified. See the BorderColor variable for a complete description of the win-list. The default is "black".

IconifyByUnmapping [{ win-list }]: This variable indicates that windows should be iconified by being unmapped without trying to map any icons. This assumes that the user will remap the window through the icon manager, the f.warpto function, or the TwmWindows menu. If the optional win-list is provided, only those windows will be iconified by simply unmapping. Windows that have both this and the IconManagerDontShow options set may not be accessible if no binding to the TwmWindows menu is set in the user's startup file.

IconManagerBackground string [{ win-list }]: This variable specifies the background color to use for icon manager entries, and may only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified. See the BorderColor variable for a complete description of the win-list. The default is "white".

IconManagerDontShow [{ win-list }]: This variable indicates that the icon manager should not display any windows. If the optional win-list is given, only those windows will not be displayed. This variable is used to prevent windows that are rarely iconified (such as xclock or xload) from taking up space in the icon manager.

IconManagerFont string: This variable specifies the font to be used when displaying icon manager entries. The default is "variable".

IconManagerForeground string [{ win-list }]: This variable specifies the foreground color to be used when displaying icon manager entries, and may only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified. See the BorderColor variable for a complete description of the win-list. The default is "black".

IconManagerGeometry string [ columns ]: This variable specifies the geometry of the icon manager window. The string argument is standard geometry specification that indicates the initial full size of the icon manager. The icon manager window is then broken into columns pieces and scaled according to the number of entries in the icon manager. Extra entries are wrapped to form additional rows. The default number of columns is 1.

IconManagerHighlight string [{ win-list }]: This variable specifies the border color to be used when highlighting the icon manager entry that currently has the focus, and can only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified. See the BorderColor variable for a complete description of the win-list. The default is "black".

IconManagers { iconmgr-list }

This variable specifies a list of icon managers to create. Each item in the iconmgr-list has the following format:

"winname" ["iconname"]      "geometry" columns

where winname is the name of the windows that should be put into this icon manager, iconname is the name of that icon manager window's icon, geometry is a standard geometry specification, and columns is the number of columns in this icon manager as described in IconManagerGeometry. For example:

IconManagers
{
        "XTerm" "=300x5+800+5"  5
        "myhost"        "=400x5+100+5"  2
}

: Clients whose name or class is "XTerm" will have an entry created in the "XTerm" icon manager. Clients whose name was "myhost" would be put into the "myhost" icon manager.

IconManagerShow { win-list }: This variable specifies a list of windows that should appear in the icon manager. When used in conjunction with the IconManagerDontShow variable, only the windows in this list will be shown in the icon manager.

IconRegion geomstring vgrav hgrav gridwidth gridheight: This variable specifies an area on the root window in which icons are placed if no specific icon location is provided by the client. The geomstring is a quoted string containing a standard geometry specification. If more than one IconRegion lines are given, icons will be put into the succeeding icon regions when the first is full. The vgrav argument should be either North or South and control and is used to control whether icons are first filled in from the top or bottom of the icon region. Similarly, the hgrav argument should be either East or West and is used to control whether icons should be filled in from left from the right. Icons are laid out within the region in a grid with cells gridwidth pixels wide and gridheight pixels high.

Icons { win-list }

This variable specifies a list of window names and the image filenames that should be used as their icons. For example:

Icons
{
        "XTerm"         "xterm.icon"
        "xfd"           "xfd_icon"
}

: Windows that match "XTerm" and would not be iconified by unmapping, and would try to use the icon image in the file "xterm.icon". If ForceIcons is specified, this image will be used even if the client has requested its own icon image.

InfoFont string: This variable specifies the font to be used for in the identify window. The default is "fixed".

InterpolateMenuColors

This variable indicates that menu entry colors should be interpolated between entry specified colors. In the example below:

Menu "mymenu"
{
        "Title"         ("black":"red")         f.title
        "entry1"                                f.nop
        "entry2"                                f.nop
        "entry3"        ("white":"green")       f.nop
        "entry4"                                f.nop
        "entry5"        ("red":"white")         f.nop
}

: the foreground colors for "entry1" and "entry2" will be interpolated between black and white, and the background colors between red and green. Similarly, the foreground for "entry4" will be half-way between white and red, and the background will be half-way between green and white.

LessRandomZoomZoom: With this option turned on, this makes the f.zoomzoom function a bit less `random' and a bit more visible. This might make a better visual bell, depending on your personal taste.

MakeTitle { win-list }: This variable specifies a list of windows on which a titlebar should be placed and is used to request titles on specific windows when NoTitle has been set.

MaxWindowSize string: This variable specifies a geometry in which the width and height give the maximum size for a given window. This is typically used to restrict windows to the size of the screen. The default is "30000x30000".

MenuBackground string: This variable specifies the background color used for menus, and can only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The default is "white".

MenuFont string: This variable specifies the font to use when displaying menus. The default is "variable".

MenuForeground string: This variable specifies the foreground color used for menus, and can only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The default is "black".

MenuShadowColor string: This variable specifies the color of the shadow behind pull-down menus and can only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The default is "black".

MenuTitleBackground string: This variable specifies the background color for f.title entries in menus, and can only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The default is "white".

MenuTitleFont string: This variable specifies the font to be used in menu titles.

MenuTitleForeground string: This variable specifies the foreground color for f.title entries in menus and can only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The default is "black".

Monochrome { colors }: This variable specifies a list of color assignments that should be made if the screen has a depth of 1. See the description of Colors.

MoveDelta pixels: This variable specifies the number of pixels the pointer must move before the f.move function starts working. Also see the f.deltastop function. The default is 0 pixels.

NailedAbove: This variable causes nailed windows to be physically above non-nailed windows. The f.nailedabove function can be used to toggle this setting.

NailedDown { list }

This variable gives a list of clients that are nailed initially. It is usual to provide as a minimum the list:

NailedDown {
	"VTWM Desktop"
	"VTWM Door"
	"VTWM Icon Manager"
}

NaturalAutopanBehavior

By default, when autopanning, the pointer is warped by only

(AutoPanBorderWidth + AutoPanExtraWarp)

: pixels on the real screen. With this option turned on, the pointer is warped on the real screen by as many pixels as the screen is scrolled, or the above value, whichever is greater. Thus, the pointer does not normally move very much (only by AutoPanExtraWarp) in relation to the virtual desktop.

This works really well on faster X terminals and workstations, although for slower ones, you may want to use the following:

AutoPanWarpWithRespectToRealScreen 50

to achieve a similar effect. Setting NaturalAutopanBehavior has the exact same effect as using the resource

AutoPanWarpWithRespectToRealScreen 100

NoBackingStore: This variable indicates that vtwm's windows should not request backing store to minimize repainting. This is typically used with servers that can repaint faster than they can handle backing store.

NoCaseSensitive: This variable indicates that case should be ignored when sorting icon names in an icon manager. This option is typically used with applications that capitalize the first letter of their icon name.

NoDefaultMouseOrKeyboardBindings: This variable indicates that vtwm should not supply the default mouse and keyboard bindings. This option should only be used if the startup file contains a completely new set of mouse and keyboard bindings and definitions. See also NoDefaults.

NoDefaults: This variable indicates that vtwm should not supply the default titlebuttons and bindings. This option should only be used if the startup file contains a completely new set of bindings and definitions. This function has the effect of setting both NoDefaultMouseOrKeyboardBindings and NoDefaultTitleButtons.

NoDefaultTitleButtons: This variable indicates that vtwm should not supply the default titlebuttons. This option should only be used if the startup file contains a completely new set of titlebutton definitions. See also NoDefaults.

NoGrabServer: This variable indicates that vtwm should not grab the server when popping up menus and moving opaque windows.

NoHighlight [{ win-list }]: This variable indicates that borders should not be highlighted to track the location of the pointer. If the optional win-list is given, highlighting will only be disabled for those windows. When the border is highlighted, it will be drawn in the current BorderColor. When the border is not highlighted, it will be stippled with an gray pattern using the current BorderTileForeground and BorderTileBackground colors.

NoIconManagerHighlight: This variable indicates that icon manager entries will not be highlighted to track the location of the pointer. This is independant of the NoHighlight variable.

NoIconManagers: This variable indicates that no icon manager should be created.

NoIconifyIconManagers: This variable indicates that no icon manager should be iconified.

NoMenuShadows: This variable indicates that menus should not have drop shadows drawn behind them. This is typically used with slower servers since it speeds up menu drawing at the expense of making the menu slightly harder to read.

NoRaiseOnDeiconify: This variable indicates that windows that are deiconified should not be raised.

NoRaiseOnMove: This variable indicates that windows should not be raised when moved. This is typically used to allow windows to slide underneath each other.

NoRaiseOnResize: This variable indicates that windows should not be raised when resized. This is typically used to allow windows to be resized underneath each other.

NoRaiseOnWarp: This variable indicates that windows should not be raised when the pointer is warped into them with the f.warpto function. If this option is set, warping to an occluded window may result in the pointer ending up in the occluding window instead the desired window (which causes unexpected behavior with f.warpring).

NoSaveUnders: This variable indicates that menus should not request save-unders to minimize window repainting following menu selection. It is typically used with displays that can repaint faster than they can handle save-unders.

NoStackMode [{ win-list }]: This variable indicates that client window requests to change stacking order should be ignored. If the optional win-list is given, only requests on those windows will be ignored. This is typically used to prevent applications from relentlessly popping themselves to the front of the window stack.

NoTitle [{ win-list }]: This variable indicates that windows should not have titlebars. If the optional win-list is given, only those windows will not have titlebars. MakeTitle may be used with this option to force titlebars to be put on specific windows.

NoTitleFocus: This variable indicates that vtwm should not set keyboard input focus to each window as it is entered. Normally, vtwm sets the focus so that focus and key events from the titlebar and icon managers are delivered to the application. If the pointer is moved quickly and vtwm is slow to respond, input can be directed to the old window instead of the new. This option is typically used to prevent this "input lag" and to work around bugs in older applications that have problems with focus events.

NoTitleHighlight [{ win-list }]: This variable indicates that the highlight area of the titlebar, which is used to indicate the window that currently has the input focus, should not be displayed. If the optional win-list is given, only those windows will not have highlight areas. This and the SqueezeTitle options can be set to substantially reduce the amount of screen space required by titlebars.

NotVirtualGeometries: This variable indicates that vtwm should assume that user geometries should be relative to the current virtual window, as opposed to absolute. If you set this, then "xterm -geometry +20+20" specifies a position in the current view; otherwise, and by default, it would specify a position in the top-left view.

OldFashionedTwmWindowsMenu: By default, the VTWM Windows menu will use the same colors that you see in the panner. This variable disables that behavior.

OpaqueMove: This variable indicates that the f.move function should actually move the window instead of just an outline so that the user can immediately see what the window will look like in the new position. This option is typically used on fast displays (particularly if NoGrabServer is set).

PanDistanceX N

PanDistanceY N: These variables define a grid of screens for the virtual desktop, expressed as N% of a real screen. When the f.snap function is called, the real screen will be moved to the closest grid location. The (mis)naming of these variables is for historical reasons.

Pixmaps { pixmaps }

This variable specifies a list of bitmaps that define the appearance of various images. Each entry is a keyword indicating the bitmap to set, followed by a string giving the name of the bitmap file. The following bitmaps may be specified:

Pixmaps
{
        TitleHighlight  "gray1"
        RealScreenPixmap "something"
        VirtualBackgroundPixmap "something else"
}

: The default for TitleHighlight is to use an even stipple pattern.

PrettyZoom: If Zoom is turned on, this makes the associated animation look just a little nicer, depending on your personal taste. This makes the zoom slower, however, so you may have to decrease the value of the Zoom variable.

RaiseDelay milliseconds: For windows that are to be automatically raised when the pointer enters (see the AutoRaise variable and the f.autoraise function) this variable specifies the length of time the pointer should rest in the window before it is raised. The default is 0 milliseconds. 400 milliseconds works well.

RandomPlacement: This variable indicates that windows with no specified geometry should be placed in a pseudo-random location instead of having the user drag out an outline.

RealScreenBackground string: See RealScreenForeground.

RealScreenBorderWidth pixels: If UseRealScreenBorder is turned on, this value specifies the border width of the RealScreen window (see RealScreenForeground). The default value is 2 pixels.

RealScreenForeground string: Inside what vtwm calls the virtual desktop window, but which we might call the "panner", is a little window that shows where the physical screen is located in virtual space. The vtwm source code calls this little window the RealScreen. By default, it has no border, and can be distinguished from the normal backdrop of the panner only by its color or bitmap. Its foreground color has no meaning unless you give it a bitmap. (It can be given a border by specifying UseRealScreenBorder.)

RealScreenPixmap string: Names a bitmap used to decorate the RealScreen window. A sample is provided, realscr.bm, but your mileage may vary as the size of your screen varies! It is easy to find out the size of this window and to create a concentric-rectangle bitmap for it; that is the recommended procedure.

ResizeFont string: This variable specifies the font to be used for in the dimensions window when resizing windows. The default is "fixed".

ResizeRegion location: This variable specifies the area on the screen to display the resize window. The location should be one of NorthWest, NorthEast, SouthWest, SouthEast, or Centered.

RestartPreviousState: This variable indicates that vtwm should attempt to use the WM_STATE property on client windows to tell which windows should be iconified and which should be left visible. This is typically used to try to regenerate the state that the screen was in before the previous window manager was shutdown.

RightHandSidePulldownMenus: By default, pull-down menus start from the left-to-right center of their parent pull-down menus (if they have them). With this option turned on, they will start closer to the right-hand side of the parent menu. This behavior was inspired by that exhibited by pull-down menus in other GUIs.

SaveColor { colors-list }

This variable indicates a list of color assignments to be stored as pixel values in the root window property _MIT_PRIORITY_COLORS. Clients may elect to preserve these values when installing their own colormap. Note that use of this mechanism is a way an for application to avoid the "technicolor" problem, whereby useful screen objects such as window borders and titlebars disappear when a programs custom colors are installed by the window manager. For example:

SaveColor
{
        BorderColor
        TitleBackground
        TitleForeground
        "red"
        "green"
        "blue"
}

: This would place on the root window 3 pixel values for borders and titlebars, as well as the three color strings, all taken from the default colormap.

ShallowReliefWindowButton: This indicates to vtwm that 3D window titlebar buttons (and the title highlight bar if SunkFocusWindowTitle is used) should be rendered with a "flatter" appearance.

ShowIconManager: This variable indicates that the icon manager window should be displayed when vtwm is started. It can always be brought up using the f.showiconmgr function.

SnapRealScreen: This variable causes the real screen to snap to a grid defined in PanDistanceX and PanDistanceY increments whenever the representation moves. The f.snaprealscreen function can be used to toggle this setting.

SortIconManager: This variable indicates that entries in the icon manager should be sorted alphabetically rather than by simply appending new windows to the end.

SqueezeTitle [{ squeeze-list }]

This variable indicates that vtwm should attempt to use the SHAPE extension to make titlebars occupy only as much screen space as they need, rather than extending all the way across the top of the window. The optional squeeze-list may be used to control the location of the squeezed titlebar along the top of the window. It contains entries of the form:

"name"            justification     num       denom

where name is a window name, justification is either left, center, or right, and num and denom are numbers specifying a ratio for the relative position about which the titlebar is located, measured from left to right. A ratio of 0/0 indicates that the justification is absolute, A non-zero numerator with a zero denominator indicates a pixel count, and the justification is ignored entirely for any other ratio. For example:

SqueezeTitle
{
        "XTerm"         left            0       0
        "xterm1"        left            1       3
        "xterm2"        right           2       3
        "oclock"        center          0       0
        "emacs"         right           0       0
}

: The DontSqueezeTitle list can be used to turn off squeezing on certain titles.

StartIconified [{ win-list }]: This variable indicates that client windows should initially be left as icons until explicitly deiconified by the user. If the optional win-list is given, only those windows will be started iconic. This is useful for programs that do not support an -iconic command line option or resource.

StayUpMenus: This variable alters menu interaction. By default, a menu item is selected when a mouse button is released over it. This variable causes menu items to be selected on the next button press event.

StayUpOptionalMenus: This variable is similar to StayUpMenus, except that if any menu items are selected, the menu interaction reverts to the old behavior. For example, suppose you have the right mouse button bound to bring up a menu with a title bar. Clicking the right button and releasing it (over the title bar) will bring up the menu and have it stay up until you click on a menu item. Clicking the right button, moving the pointer to a menu item, and releasing the right button will activate that menu item and dismiss the menu.

Sticky { list }: A synonym for NailedDown.

StickyAbove: A synonym for NailedAbove.

SunkFocusWindowTitle: This variable specifies that the title highlight bar of the focus window (if exists) should be of a sunken appearance instead of a bitmap. Only valid if UseThreeDTitles is set.

ThreeDBorderWidth pixels: The width of the 3D border in pixels, if any.

TitleBackground string [{ win-list }]: This variable specifies the background color used in titlebars, and may only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified. The default is "white".

TitleButtonBorderWidth pixels: This variable specifies the width in pixels of the border surrounding titlebuttons. This is typically set to 0 to allow titlebuttons to take up as much space as possible and to not have a border. The default is 1.

TitleFont string: This variable specifies the font to used for displaying window names in titlebars. The default is "variable".

TitleForeground string [{ win-list }]: This variable specifies the foreground color used in titlebars, and may only be specified inside of a Color or Monochrome list. The optional win-list is a list of window names and colors so that per-window colors may be specified. The default is "black".

TitlePadding pixels: This variable specifies the distance between the various buttons, text, and highlight areas in the titlebar. The default is 8 pixels.

UnknownIcon string: This variable specifies the filename of an image file to be used as the default icon. This image will be used as the icon of all clients which do not provide an icon image and are not listed in the Icons list.

UsePPosition string: This variable specifies whether or not vtwm should honor program-requested locations (given by the PPosition flag in the WM_NORMAL_HINTS property) in the absence of a user-specified position. The argument string may have one of three values: "off" (the default) indicating that vtwm should ignore the program-supplied position, "on" indicating that the position should be used, and "non-zero" indicating that the position should used if it is other than (0,0). The latter option is for working around a bug in older toolkits.

UseRealScreenBorder: This variable lets the RealScreen have a border. It may be useful for monochrome systems.

UseThreeDBorders: Tells vtwm to use 3D-looking window borders. The width of the 3D borders is ThreeDBorderWidth. The color of the 3D border is BorderTileBackground, and if NoHighlight is not selected, the border of the Focus window is BorderColor.

UseThreeDIconManagers: Tells vtwm to use 3D-looking IconManagers if any.

UseThreeDMenus: Tells vtwm to use 3D-looking menus.

UseThreeDTitles: Tells vtwm to use 3D-looking windows titles. In which case the default values of TitleButtonBorderWidth, FramePadding, TitlePadding and ButtonIndent are set to 0. There are 5 built-in scalable pixmaps for buttons: :xpm:menu, :xpm:dot, :xpm:resize, :xpm:zoom and :xpm:bar.

VirtualBackground string: This is the background color for the panner, a.k.a. the Virtual Desktop window.

VirtualBackgroundPixmap string: Names a bitmap to decorate the panner. See also the nexpm program.

VirtualForeground string: Foreground for the panner; has no use unless you specify a panner bitmap.

VirtualDesktop geometry scale: This variable must be set to enable the virtual desktop features of vtwm. If this variable is not set, vtwm will behave in the same manner as twm. This variable specifies where to place the virtual desktop window and its size. The geometry is a standard X geometry specification and defines the size and location of the window containing the desktop representation.

The scale parameter specifies the scaling of the virtual desktop window compared to the desktop. The size specification can be given in three ways. If size is larger than the screen size, it represents the size of the whole desktop. The virtual window desktop size will then be size divided by scale. When size times scale is smaller than the screen size, size represents the number of screens that should fit in the desktop. Otherwise size represents the size of the virtual desktop window. The currently accessible virtual desktop is then scale times the size of the desktop window. In the following example, a scale of 20 (with a screen size of say 1152x900) means that the desktop area is 20 times the size of the desktop window: the desktop area will be 4000x4000.

VirtualDesktop "200x200+10+10" 20

: The size of the desktop can be changed dynamically, by simply resizing the Virtual Desktop window.

VirtualFont font: This variable causes font to be used when displaying the names of windows in the virtual desktop display. If this variable is not set, then names will not be displayed. The DesktopDisplayForeground should also be set for this feature to be useful.

WarpCursor [{ win-list }]: This variable indicates that the pointer should be warped into windows when they are deiconified. If the optional win-list is given, the pointer will only be warped when those windows are deiconified.

WarpSnug: With this variable set, the warp functions (f.warp and the like) will fit the entire window on the screen, i.e., they'll be snugged on the real screen.

WarpToTransients: This variable indicates that the pointer should be warped into transient windows when they are created.

WarpUnmapped: This variable indicates that the f.warpto function should deiconify any iconified windows it encounters. This is typically used to make a key binding that will pop a particular window (such as xmh), no matter where it is. The default is for f.warpto to ignore iconified windows.

WarpWindows: When warping to a window, by default the real screen will be moved to find the window on the virtual desktop. With this set, the window itself will be warped to the real screen, moving the window in the virtual desktop.

WindowRing { win-list }: This variable specifies a list of windows along which the f.warpring function cycles. If no list is specified, then all windows are included in the window ring.

XorValue number: This variable specifies the value to use when drawing window outlines for moving and resizing. This should be set to a value that will result in a variety of distinguishable colors when exclusive-or'ed with the contents of the user's typical screen. Setting this variable to 1 often gives nice results if adjacent colors in the default colormap are distinct. By default, vtwm will attempt to cause temporary lines to appear at the opposite end of the colormap from the graphics.

Zoom [ count ]: This variable indicates that outlines suggesting movement of a window to and from its iconified state should be displayed whenever a window is iconified or deiconified. The optional count argument specifies the number of outlines to be drawn. The default count is 8.

: The following variables must be set after the fonts have been assigned, so it is usually best to put them at the end of the variables or beginning of the bindings sections:

DefaultFunction function: This variable specifies the function to be executed when a key or button event is received for which no binding is provided. This is typically bound to f.nop, f.beep, or a menu containing window operations.

WindowFunction function: This variable specifies the function to execute when a window is selected from the TwmWindows menu. If this variable is not set, the window will be deiconified and raised.

BINDINGS

After the desired variables have been set, functions may be attached titlebuttons and key and pointer buttons. Titlebuttons may be added from the left or right side and appear in the titlebar from left-to-right according to the order in which they are specified. Key and pointer button bindings may be given in any order.

Titlebuttons specifications must include the name of the image to use in the button box and the function to be invoked when a pointer button is pressed within them:

LeftTitleButton "bitmapname"      = function

RightTitleButton "bitmapname"     = function

The bitmapname may refer to one of the built-in bitmaps (which are scaled to match TitleFont) by using the appropriate colon-prefixed name described above.

Key and pointer button specifications must give the modifiers that must be pressed, over which parts of the screen the pointer must be, and what function is to be invoked. Keys are given as strings containing the appropriate keysym name; buttons are given as the keywords Button1-Button5:

"FP1"           = modlist : context : function
Button1 = modlist : context : function

The modlist is any combination of the modifier names shift, control, lock, meta, mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, or mod5 (which may be abbreviated as s, c, l, m, m1, m2, m3, m4, m5, respectively) separated by a vertical bar (|). Similarly, the context is any combination of window, title, icon, root, frame, virtual, desktop, door, iconmgr, their first letters (iconmgr abbreviation is m, door has no abbreviation), or all, separated by a vertical bar. The function is any of the f. keywords described below. For example, the default startup file contains the following bindings:

Button1 =       : root          : f.menu "TwmWindows"
Button1 = m     : window | icon : f.function "move-or-lower"
Button2 = m     : window | icon : f.iconify
Button3 = m     : window | icon : f.function "move-or-raise"
Button1 =       : title         : f.function "move-or-raise"
Button2 =       : title         : f.raiselower
Button1 =       : icon          : f.function "move-or-iconify"
Button2 =       : icon          : f.iconify
Button1 =       : iconmgr       : f.iconify
Button2 =       : iconmgr       : f.iconify

A user who wanted to be able to manipulate windows from the keyboard could use the following bindings:

"F1"            =       : all           : f.iconify
"F2"            =       : all           : f.raiselower
"F3"            =       : all           : f.warpring "next"
"F4"            =       : all           : f.warpto "xmh"
"F5"            =       : all           : f.warpto "emacs"
"F6"            =       : all           : f.colormap "next"
"F7"            =       : all           : f.colormap "default"
"F20"           =       : all           : f.warptoscreen "next"
"Left"          = m     : all           : f.backiconmgr
"Right"         = m | s : all           : f.forwiconmgr
"Up"            = m     : all           : f.upiconmgr
"Down"          = m | s : all           : f.downiconmgr

Note, however, that using all for button or key bindings is almost always a bad idea, since it prevents all applications from receiving those events; this can cripple text and graphics editors that otherwise expect to see those buttons or keys.

vtwm provides many more window manipulation primitives than can be conveniently stored in a titlebar, menu, or set of key bindings. Although a small set of defaults are supplied (unless either NoDefaults, NoDefaultMouseOrKeyboardBindings, or NoDefaultTitleButtons is specified), most users will want to have their most common operations bound to key and button strokes. To do this, vtwm associates names with each of the primitives and provides user-defined functions for building higher level primitives and menus for interactively selecting among groups of functions.

User-defined functions contain the name by which they are referenced in calls to f.function and a list of other functions to execute. For example:

Function "move-or-lower"        { f.move f.deltastop f.lower }
Function "move-or-raise"        { f.move f.deltastop f.raise }
Function "move-or-iconify"      { f.move f.deltastop f.iconify }
Function "restore-colormap"     { f.colormap "default" f.lower }

The function name must be used in f.function exactly as it appears in the function specification.

VTWM PROFILE. If a function called "VTWM Profile" is defined within the startup file, that function will be executed upon startup or restarting of the window manager. For example:

AutoPan 25
        .
        .
Function "VTWM Profile" {
        .
        .
    f.autopan
        .
        .
}

gives AutoPan a value but turns autopanning off initially (it won't have a value unless AutoPan is set in the startup file; see f.autopan below), in case you want to turn it on sometime later.

In the descriptions below, if the function is said to operate on the selected window, but is invoked from a root menu, the cursor will be changed to the Select cursor and the next window to receive a button press will be chosen:

! string: This is an abbreviation for f.exec string.

^ string (OBSOLETE --- use a clipboard client): This is an abbreviation for f.cut string.

f.autopan: If autopan wasn't configured in your .vtwmrc file, this does nothing. If, however, it was configured, this toggles the current autopan state. The reason for this command is that autopan is sometimes nice to have, but it interferes with using sticky windows that are near the edge of the screen. With this command, you get the best of both worlds.

f.autoraise: This function toggles whether or not the selected window is raised whenever entered by the pointer. See the description of the variable AutoRaise.

f.backiconmgr: This function warps the pointer to the previous column in the current icon manager, wrapping back to the previous row if necessary.

f.beep: This function sounds the keyboard bell.

f.bottomzoom: This function is similar to the f.fullzoom function, but resizes the window to fill only the bottom half of the screen.

f.circledown: This function lowers the top-most window that occludes another window.

f.circleup: This function raises the bottom-most window that is occluded by another window.

f.colormap string: This function rotates the colormaps (obtained from the WM_COLORMAP_WINDOWS property on the window) that vtwm will display when the pointer is in this window. The argument string may have one of the following values: "next", "prev", and "default". It should be noted here that in general, the installed colormap is determined by keyboard focus. A pointer driven keyboard focus will install a private colormap upon entry of the window owning the colormap. Using the click to type model, private colormaps will not be installed until the user presses a mouse button on the target window.

f.cut string (OBSOLETE --- use a clipboard client): This function places the specified string (followed by a newline character) into the root window property CUT_BUFFER0.

f.cutfile (OBSOLETE --- use a clipboard client): This function reads the file indicated by the contents of the CUT_BUFFER0 window property and replaces the cut buffer.

f.deiconify: This function deiconifies the selected window. If the window is not an icon, this function does nothing.

f.delete: This function sends the WM_DELETE_WINDOW message to the selected window if the client application has requested it through the WM_PROTOCOLS window property. The application is supposed to respond to the message by removing the indicated window. If the window has not requested WM_DELETE_WINDOW messages, the keyboard bell will be rung indicating that the user should choose an alternative method. Note this is very different from f.destroy. The intent here is to delete a single window, not necessarily the entire application.

f.deletedoor: This function deletes a door. ... maybe some X-guru can check all memory allocated to a door is released when deleting a door ...

f.deltastop: This function allows a user-defined function to be aborted if the pointer has been moved more than MoveDelta pixels. See the example definition given for Function "move-or-raise" at the beginning of the section.

f.destroy: This function instructs the X server to close the display connection of the client that created the selected window. This should only be used as a last resort for shutting down runaway clients. See also f.delete.

: This action sometimes leaves a runaway process that consumes CPU cycles; you should always try to use the applications own quit function, rather than this one.

f.downiconmgr: This function warps the pointer to the next row in the current icon manger, wrapping to the beginning of the next column if necessary.

f.enterdoor

This function activates this door. Typically one binds:

Button1 =   : door  : f.enterdoor
Button2 =   : door  : f.enterdoor
Button3 =   : door  : f.enterdoor

f.exec string: This function passes the argument string to /bin/sh for execution. In multiscreen mode, if string starts a new X client without giving a display argument, the client will appear on the screen from which this function was invoked.

f.file string (OBSOLETE --- use a clipboard client): This function assumes string is a file name. This file is read into the window server's cut buffer.

f.focus: This function toggles the keyboard focus of the server to the selected window, changing the focus rule from pointer-driven if necessary. If the selected window already was focused, this function executes an f.unfocus.

f.forcemove: This function is like f.move except that it ignores the DontMoveOff variable.

f.forwiconmgr: This function warps the pointer to the next column in the current icon manager, wrapping to the beginning of the next row if necessary.

f.fullzoom: This function resizes the selected window to the full size of the display or else restores the original size if the window was already zoomed.

f.function string: This function executes the user-defined function whose name is specified by the argument string.

f.hbzoom: This function is a synonym for f.bottomzoom.

f.hidedesktopdisplay: This function unmaps the desktop display.

f.hideiconmgr: This function unmaps the current icon manager.

f.horizoom: This variable is similar to the f.zoom function except that the selected window is resized to the full width of the display.

f.htzoom: This function is a synonym for f.topzoom.

f.hzoom: This function is a synonym for f.horizoom.

f.iconify: This function iconifies or deiconifies the selected window or icon, respectively.

f.identify: This function displays a summary of the name and geometry of the selected window. Clicking the pointer or pressing a key in the window will dismiss it. If the function is invoked on a desktop representation of a window, the real window which is represented will be identified.

f.lefticonmgr: This function similar to f.backiconmgr except that wrapping does not change rows.

f.leftzoom: This variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom function but causes the selected window is only resized to the left half of the display.

f.lower: This function lowers the selected window.

f.menu string: This function invokes the menu specified by the argument string. Cascaded menus may be built by nesting calls to f.menu.

f.move: This function drags an outline of the selected window (or the window itself if the OpaqueMove variable is set) until the invoking pointer button is released. Double clicking within the number of milliseconds given by ConstrainedMoveTime warps the pointer to the center of the window and constrains the move to be either horizontal or vertical depending on which grid line is crossed. To abort a move, press another button before releasing the first button.

f.movescreen

Moves a window (or possibly the real screen) inside the desktop display. By default, the bindings using the desktop context are defined as:

Button1 = : desktop : f.movescreen
Button2 = : desktop : f.movescreen

This is useful if you want to reset the default keyboard and mouse bindings via NoDefaultMouseOrKeyboardBindings and use some of your own for the virtual desktop, e.g.:

NoDefaultMouseOrKeyboardBindings
Button1 = : desktop : f.movescreen
Button2 = : desktop : f.warp
Button3 = : desktop : f.iconify

: This function is not useful under any context other than `desktop'.

f.nail: This function nails or unnails the specified window onto the real screen—the current value of this property is toggled on the specified window.

f.nailedabove: This function toggles the setting of the NailedAbove variable.

f.newdoor: This function creates a new door with it's destination and name set to the real screen's current position in the virtual desktop.

f.nexticonmgr: This function warps the pointer to the next icon manager containing any windows on the current or any succeeding screen.

f.nop: This function does nothing and is typically used with the DefaultFunction or WindowFunction variables or to introduce blank lines in menus.

f.panup N

f.pandown N

f.panleft N

f.panright N

These functions move the real screen by N% of the screen dimension in the indicated direction. These are ideally bound to the cursor keys:

"Up"    = : root : f.panup    "100"
"Down"  = : root : f.pandown  "100"
"Left"  = : root : f.panleft  "100"
"Right" = : root : f.panright "100"

f.previconmgr: This function warps the pointer to the previous icon manager containing any windows on the current or preceding screens.

f.quit: This function causes vtwm to restore the window's borders and exit. If vtwm is the last client invoked from xdm, this will result in a server reset, and the user's session will be logged out.

: Users who stay logged in for long periods (days or weeks), or who like to change window managers, or experiment with them, may find it desirable to use a relatively simple application, such as xbiff(1), as the last application in their .xinitrc or .xsession file, letting the window manager start earlier, and run in the background. This allows changing window managers without logging out, and also makes it much less likely that a session will be abruptly terminated by a bug in a complex program like a window manager. The one drawback to this approach is that f.quit then no longer terminates the session: you need to use f.delete or f.destroy on that last application to logout.

f.raise: This function raises the selected window.

f.raiselower: This function raises the selected window to the top of the stacking order if it is occluded by any windows, otherwise the window will be lowered.

f.refresh: This function causes all windows to be refreshed.

f.resetdesktop: This function moves the real display to (0,0)

f.resize: This function displays an outline of the selected window. Crossing a border (or setting AutoRelativeResize) will cause the outline to begin to rubber band until the invoking button is released. To abort a resize, press another button before releasing the first button.

f.restart: This function kills and restarts vtwm.

f.righticonmgr: This function is similar to f.nexticonmgr except that wrapping does not change rows.

f.rightzoom: This variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom function except that the selected window is only resized to the right half of the display.

f.ring: Selects a window and adds it to the WarpRing, or removes it if it was already in the ring. This command makes f.warpring much more useful, by making its configuration dynamic.

f.saveyourself: This function sends a WM_SAVEYOURSELF message to the selected window if it has requested the message in its WM_PROTOCOLS window property. Clients that accept this message are supposed to checkpoint all state associated with the window and update the WM_COMMAND property as specified in the ICCCM. If the selected window has not selected for this message, the keyboard bell will be rung.

f.separator: Valid only in menus. The effect is to add a line separator between the previous and the following entry. The name selector part in the menu is not used (but must be present).

f.setrealscreen XxY: This function sets the real screen to the virtual coordinates (X,Y).

f.showdesktopdisplay: This function maps the desktop display.

f.showiconmgr: This function maps the current icon manager.

f.snap: This function snaps the real screen to a grid defined on virtual space with PanDistanceX and PanDistanceY increments.

f.snaprealscreen: This function toggles the setting of SnapRealScreen.

f.snugdesktop: moves the display to try to fit all partially visible windows completely on the screen.

f.snugwindow: moves the display to try to fit the selected window completely on the screen

f.sorticonmgr: This function sorts the entries in the current icon manager alphabetically. See the variable SortIconManager.

f.squeezecenter: Selects a window and makes its title appear as though you had configured it as SqueezeTitle center 0 0; makes squeezed titles much more useful because their configuration is dynamic.

f.squeezeleft: Selects a window and makes its title appear as though you had configured it as SqueezeTitle left 0 0; makes squeezed titles much more useful because their configuration is dynamic.

f.squeezeright: Selects a window and makes its title appear as though you had configured it as SqueezeTitle right 0 0; makes squeezed titles much more useful because their configuration is dynamic.

f.stick: This function is a synonym for f.nail.

f.stickyabove: This function is synonymous with the f.nailedabove function.

f.title: This function provides a centered, unselectable item in a menu definition. It should not be used in any other context.

f.topzoom: This variable is similar to the f.bottomzoom function except that the selected window is only resized to the top half of the display.

f.twmrc: Synonymous with f.restart. Historically, this function was intended to cause the startup customization file to be re-read.

f.unfocus: This function resets the focus back to pointer-driven. This should be used when a focused window is no longer desired.

f.upiconmgr: This function warps the pointer to the previous row in the current icon manager, wrapping to the last row in the same column if necessary.

f.version: This function causes the vtwm version window to be displayed. This window will be displayed until a pointer button is pressed or the pointer is moved from one window to another.

f.virtualgeometries: Toggles the setting of NotVirtualGeometries.

f.vlzoom: This function is a synonym for f.leftzoom.

f.vrzoom: This function is a synonym for f.rightzoom.

f.warp: Warp the cursor to the selected window. This is only useful if the window is selected via the icon manager.

f.warpclassnext string: This function warps the pointer to the next window in the specified class.

f.warpclassprev string: This function warps the pointer to the previous window in the specified class.

f.warpring string: This function warps the pointer to the next or previous window (as indicated by the argument string, which may be "next" or "prev") specified in the WindowRing variable.

f.warpto string: This function warps the pointer to the window which has a name or class that matches string. If the window is iconified, it will be deiconified if the variable WarpUnmapped is set or else ignored.

f.warptoiconmgr string: This function warps the pointer to the icon manager entry associated with the window containing the pointer in the icon manager specified by the argument string. If string is empty (i.e., ""), the current icon manager is chosen.

f.warptonewest: This function warps the pointer to the most recently created window.

f.warptoscreen string: This function warps the pointer to the screen specified by the argument string. String may be a number (e.g., "0" or "1"), the word "next" (indicating the current screen plus 1, skipping over any unmanaged screens), the word "back" (indicating the current screen minus 1, skipping over any unmanaged screens), or the word "prev" (indicating the last screen visited.

f.winrefresh: This function is similar to the f.refresh function except that only the selected window is refreshed.

f.zoom: This function is similar to the f.fullzoom function, except that the only the height of the selected window is changed.

f.zoomzoom: This silly function makes a zoom outline from a random place to another random place. (See the "Zoom" variable.) It's silly but it looks spiffy, and can be used as a visual bell in place of f.beep. Also see LessRandomZoomZoom.

MENUS

Functions may be grouped and interactively selected using pop-up (when bound to a pointer button) or pull-down (when associated with a titlebutton) menus. Each menu specification contains the name of the menu as it will be referred to by f.menu, optional default foreground and background colors, the list of item names and the functions they should invoke, and optional foreground and background colors for individual items:

Menu "menuname" [ ("deffore":"defback") ]
{
        string1   [ ("fore1":"back1")]        function1
        string2   [ ("fore2":"back2")]        function2
                .
                .
                .
        stringN   [ ("foreN":"backN")]        functionN
}

The menuname is case-sensitive. The optional deffore and defback arguments specify the foreground and background colors used on a color display to highlight menu entries. The string portion of each menu entry will be the text which will appear in the menu. The optional fore and back arguments specify the foreground and background colors of the menu entry when the pointer is not in the entry. These colors will only be used on a color display. The default is to use the colors specified by the MenuForeground and MenuBackground variables. The function portion of the menu entry is one of the functions, including any user-defined functions, or additional menus.

There is a special menu named TwmWindows which contains the names of all of the client and vtwm-supplied windows. Selecting an entry will cause the WindowFunction to be executed on that window. If WindowFunction hasn't been set, the window will be deiconified and raised. This menu uses the same colors as the little windows in the panner.

ICONS

vtwm supports several different ways of manipulating iconified windows. The common image-and-text style may be laid out by hand or automatically arranged as described by the IconRegion variable. In addition, a terse grid of icon names, called an icon manager, provides a more efficient use of screen space as well as the ability to navigate among windows from the keyboard.

An icon manager is a window that contains names of selected or all windows currently on the display. In addition to the window name, a small button using the default iconify symbol will be displayed to the left of the name when the window is iconified. By default, clicking on an entry in the icon manager performs f.iconify. To change the actions taken in the icon manager, use the iconmgr context when specifying button and keyboard bindings.

Moving the pointer into the icon manager also directs keyboard focus to the indicated window (setting the focus explicitly or else sending synthetic events if NoTitleFocus is set). Using the f.upiconmgr, f.downiconmgr f.lefticonmgr, and f.righticonmgr functions, the input focus can be changed between windows directly from the keyboard.

BUGS

The resource manager should have been used instead of all of the window lists.

The IconRegion variable should take a list.

Double clicking very fast to get the constrained move function will sometimes cause the window to move, even though the pointer is not moved.

If IconifyByUnmapping is on and windows are listed in IconManagerDontShow but not in DontIconifyByUnmapping, they may be lost if they are iconified and no bindings to f.menu "TwmWindows" or f.warpto exist. In such a case, correct your startup file, and then simply restart the window manager with the f.restart function.

FILES

$HOME/.vtwmrc.<screen number>
$HOME/.vtwmrc
$VTWMDIR/twm/system.vtwmrc
$HOME/.twmrc.<screen number>
$HOME/.twmrc
$VTWMDIR/twm/system.twmrc

These are searched for in the order shown.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

DISPLAY: This variable is used to determine which X server to use. It is also set during f.exec so that programs come up on the proper screen.

HOME: This variable is used as the prefix for files that begin with a tilde and for locating the vtwm startup file.

COPYRIGHT

Portions copyright 1988 Evans & Sutherland Computer Corporation; portions copyright 1989 Hewlett-Packard Company and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, See X(1) for a full statement of rights and permissions.

AUTHORS AND CONTRIBUTORS

Tom LaStrange, Solbourne Computer; Jim Fulton, MIT X Consortium; Steve Pitschke, Stardent Computer; Keith Packard, MIT X Consortium; Dave Payne, Apple Computer; Nick Williams <[email protected]>; Dave Edmondson, Santa Cruz Operation, <[email protected]>; Dana Chee, Bellcore (R5 conversion) <[email protected]>; Warren Jessop, University of Washington <[email protected]>; Gilligan <[email protected]>; Tim Ramsey <[email protected]>; Ralph Betza <[email protected]>; Michael Kutzner <[email protected]>; Stig Ostholm <[email protected]>; M. Eyckmans <[email protected]>; Tony Brannigan <[email protected]>; Alec Wolman <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; Marcel Mol <[email protected]>; Darren S. Embry <[email protected]>; Chris P. Ross <[email protected]>; Paul Falstad <[email protected]>; Claude Lecommandeur, SPIL (ctwm code) <[email protected]>; Nelson H. F. Beebe (portability) <[email protected]>; Jason Gloudon (XPM icons) <[email protected]>; Nicholas Jacobs ([email protected]); D. J. Hawkey Jr. (3D; maint) <[email protected]>