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WIMENU(1)		     General Commands Manual		       WIMENU(1)

NAME
     wimenu - The wmii menu program

SYNOPSIS
     wimenu [-i] [-h <history file>] [-n <history count>] [-p <prompt>]

     wimenu -v

DESCRIPTION
     wimenu  is  wmii's standard menu program. It's used extensively by wmii and
     related programs to prompt the user for input. The  standard  configuration
     uses  it to launch programs, select views, and perform standard actions. It
     supports basic item completion and history searching.

BASIC ARGUMENTS
     Normal use of wimenu shouldn't require any arguments other than the follow-
     ing. More advanced options are documented below.

     -h <history file>
	    Causes wimenu to read its command history from <history file> and to
	    append its result to that file if -n is given.

     -i     Causes matching of completion items to be performed in a case insen-
	    sitive manner.

     -n <count>
	    Write at most <count> items back to the history file.  The	file  is
	    never  modified  unless this option is provided. Duplicates are fil-
	    tered out within a 20 item sliding window before this limit  is  im-
	    posed.

     -p <prompt>
	    The  string  <prompt>  will  be show before the input field when the
	    menu is opened.

ADVANCED ARGUMENTS
     -a     The address at which to connect to wmii.

     -K     Prevents wimenu from initializing its default key bindings. WARNING:
	    If you do this, be sure to bind a key with the Accept or Reject  ac-
	    tion, or you will have no way to exit wimenu.

     -k <key file>
	    Key bindings will be read from <key file>. Bindings appear as:

	    <key> [action] [args]

	    where  <key>  is a key name, similar to the format used by wmii. For
	    action and args, please refer to the default bindings,  provided  in
	    the  source  distribution under cmd/menu/keys.txt, or use strings(1)
	    on the wimenu executable (this level of  customization  is	reserved
	    for the determined).

     -s <screen>
	    Suggests that the menu open on Xinerama screen <screen>.

     -S <command separator>

	    Causes  each  input item to be split at the first occurance of <com-
	    mand sep>. The text to the left of the separator is displayed  as  a
	    menu option, and the text to the right is displayed when a selection
	    is made.

CUSTOM COMPLETION
     Custom,  multipart  completion data may be proveded by an external applica-
     tion. When the standard input is not a TTY, processing of a set of  comple-
     tions  stops  at every blank line.  After the first new line or EOF, wimenu
     displays the first set of menu items, and waits for further input. The com-
     pletion items may be replaced by writing out a new set, again followed by a
     new line. Every set following the first must begin with a line containing a
     single decimal number specifying where the new completion results are to be
     spliced into the input. When an item is selected, text from  this	position
     to the position of the caret is replaced.

   ARGUMENTS
     -c     Prints  the contents of the input buffer each time the user inputs a
	    character, as such:

	    <text before caret>\n<text after caret>\n

   EXAMPLE
     Let's assume that a script would like to provide a  menu  with  completions
     first  for  a command name, then for arguments to that command. Given three
     commands and argument sets,

     foo

	    1, 2, 3

     bar

	    4, 5, 6

     baz

	    7, 8, 9

     the following script provides the appropriate completions:

       #!/bin/sh -f

       rm fifo
       mkfifo fifo

       # Open wimenu with a fifo as its stdin
       wimenu -c <fifo | awk '
	    BEGIN {
		 # Define the completion results
		 cmds = "foo\nbar\nbaz\n"
		 cmd["foo"] = "1\n2\n3\n"
		 cmd["bar"] = "4\n5\n6\n"
		 cmd["baz"] = "7\n8\n9\n"

		 # Print the first set of completions to wimenuas fifo
		 fifo = "fifo"
		 print cmds >fifo; fflush(fifo)
	    }

	    # Store the last line we get and print it when done
	    { last = $0 }
	    END { print last }

	    # Push out a new set of completions
	    function update(str, opts) {
		 print length(str) >fifo # Print the length of the preceding string
		 print opts >fifo	 # and the options themself
		 fflush(fifo)
	    }

	    # Ensure correct argument count with trailing spaces
	    / $/ { $0 = $0 "#"; }

	    { # Process the input and provide the completions
		 if (NF == 1)
		      update("", cmds)	      # The first arg, command choices
		 else
		      update($1 " ", cmd[$1]) # The second arg, command arguments
		 # Skip the trailing part of the command
		 getline rest
	    }
       '

     In theory, this facility can be used for myriad purposes, including hijack-
     ing the programmable completion facilities of most shells.

ENVIRONMENT
     $WMII_ADDRESS
	    The address at which to connect to wmii.

     $NAMESPACE
	    The namespace directory to use if no address is provided.

SEE ALSO
     wmii(1), wmiir(1), wmii9menu(1), dmenu(1)

     [1] http://www.suckless.org/wiki/wmii/tips/9p_tips

wmii-3.9.2			    Oct, 2009			       WIMENU(1)

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