Manipulating window look & behaviour with 'hey' | Haiku Project

[Haiku]

I have an ActivityMonitor replicant showing network receive/send info on the Desktop. I’d also like to have something showing cpu usage. However, a combined cpu usage ActivityMonitor doesn’t show individual core usage, and having a graph of all cpus often isn’t that informative either, because the 8 doodling lines of my cores are easily confusing. ProcessController’s bars are too narrow. Here are both, showing their inadequacy:

---

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.haiku-os.org/blog/humdinger/2020-08-22_manipulating_windows_with_hey/

[Zenja]

Thanks for the tutorial. On a similar note, I’ll need to implement audio recording functionality to my Video Editor (I’ve just ordered a cheap 3.5” jack microphone for testing today), and thought that interfacing with the built in app SoundRecorder using BMessages (instead of hey) might be a better and faster solution for me. The challenge then becomes redirecting Sound Recorder GUI button messages to my app. Just like with hey, I would interrogate button names and then modify the message targets. Should work in theory …

[jjpx]

those are like some of the features cmdow has

[alpopa]

Thank you for sharing your experience.

I believe, hey scripting is the most underappreciated feature of Haiku. It really deserves more attention.

[lelldorin]

Look here too:

Scripting the GUI with 'hey'

https://www.haiku-os.org/documents/dev/using_scripting_in_haiku/

[AndrewZ]

I tried to use Hey as documented to do basic updates to the picture display utility. I was not able to reproduce many features in the documentation. I don’t know whether some features are not documented, or whether the hey command line usage is too complicated for my brain. Hopefully you have better luck.

[humdinger]

Consider opening a new thread with the specific hey command that gives you trouble, and we’ll see if we can find out where’s the problem.

[victordomingos]

Having a library or a gallery showing a sample of some useful hey scripts would be cool.

[zuMi]

These is a known way to get the current workspace bg color?

[Starcrasher]

Workspaces applet is tainting each workspace with its background colour. You may try to get it from there.

[CodeforEvolution]

Indeed! The DesktopColor() call in the BScreen class is probably what you’re looking for:

haiku/haiku/blob/6b6aa8ad5b84c09a1e7c95e2bdad70c8087811e5/headers/os/interface/Screen.h#L55

[zuMi]

not strictly related to hey but it’s involved, I’ve almost finished a bash script to manage windows using hey but with only one command line to do multiple things, but I’m stuck and I can’t go further

I dunno if there are some shell wizards out there but I’l try

I want to change the flags of the selected window, default flags=1572864 for quit on close and async controls, so I have to add the related value of flag to this value (not movable +1, not closable +32 etc), I pass the string to SumFlags functions that should do that, but when the while is done the value of flags is not changed, the variable is not declared locally and I can’t understand why it acts like that, any hint?

ChangeFlags()
{
flags=1572864
echo $1 | tr “,” “\n” | while read line; do #multiple values splitted by commas
SumFlags ${line}
done
hey -o “${app_name}” set Flags of Window “${win_ID}” to ${flags}
}

SumFlags()
{
case $1 in
nm|not-movable)
let flags+=1
;;
nr|not-resizable)
let flags+=2
;;
nh|not-h-resizable)
let flags+=4
;;
nv|not-v-resizable)
let flags+=8
;;
fs|accept-first-click)
let flags+=16
;;
nc|not-closable)
let flags+=32
;;
nz|not-zoomable)
let flags+=64
;;
af|avoid-front)
let flags+=128
;;
nw|no-workspace-activation)
let flags+=256
;;
as|avoid-focus)
let flags+=8192
;;
nb|not-minimizable)
let flags+=16384
;;
na|not_anchored)
let flags+=131072
;;
sp|same-position)
let flags+=2097152
;;
ce|close-on-escape)
let flags+=8388608
;;
*)
Usage
;;
esac
}

[Lrrr]

When you pipe data into a while loop, the “while” gets executed as a subshell with its own variables. You can use a “here string” in bash like …

while read line; do #multiple values splitted by commas
    SumFlags ${line}
done <<<  $(echo $1 | tr "," "\\n")

[zuMi]

thanks, it worked perfectly, I didn’t know that “while” has that behavior but this explains a lot of weird things happened in other scripts.
If you want to try and fork, you are better than me at coding, this is my winpwnr gits

#! /bin/sh

Usage()
{
echo "usage: ${script_name} -option <value>
	-a	select the application by name
	
	-l	list windows for the selected application
	
	-s	select application's window by ID number or title
	
	-t	change the title of the selected window 
	
	-f	force full-screen for the selected window, no value is needed
	
	-w	show the selected window on {x} workspace(s),
			you can set multiple values separated by any character, like
			\"1,2,4,5\" or \"5.6.1\", use \"all\" to show it in every workspace
			
	-L	change the LOOK of the selected window:
			- b OR bordered
			- n OR no-border
			- t OR titled
			- d OR document
			- m OR modal
			- f OR floating
			
	-F	change the FEEL of the selected window:
			- n OR normal
			- ms OR modal-subset
			- mp OR modal-app
			- ml OR modal-all
			- fs OR floating-subset
			- fp OR floating-app
			- fl OR floating-all
			
	-G	change the FLAGS of the selected window, multiple values are accepted separated by commas
			- nm OR not-movable
			- nr OR not-resizable
			- nh OR not-h-resizable
			- nv OR not-v-resizable
			- fs OR accept-first-click
			- nc OR not-closable
			- nz OR not-zoomable
			- af OR avoid-front
			- nw OR no-workspace-activation
			- as OR avoid-focus
			- nb OR not-minimizable
			- na OR not_anchored
			- sp OR same-position
			- ce OR close-on-escape
			- r OR reset to cancel previous selection
			
	-M	minimize the selected window (1, t, true, on, y, yes / 0, f, false, off, n, no / toggle)
	
	-A	active the selected window (1, t, true, on, y, yes / 0, f, false, off, n, no / toggle)
	
	-m	move the selected window against the edges and corners of the screen:
		
		7	8	9		ul	u	ur		up-left		up		up-right
		
		4	5	6	OR	l	c	r	OR	left		center		right
		
		1	2	3		dl	d	dr		down-left	down		down-right
			
	-H	as the -m option but the selected window will be moved to the edges resized to half the screen size, a quarter of the screen size to the corners
	
	-r	resize the frame of the selected window to width,height, centered with respect to the original window and avoiding going out of bounds"
	>&2
exit
}

CheckArgs()
{
if [ $(echo -n "$1" | wc -c) -eq 2 ] && [ $(echo -n "$1" | awk '/-/{print}') ]
then
	OPTIND=`echo ${OPTIND}-1`
	return 1
fi	
}

SetWorkspace ()
{
[ "$1" != "all" ] && hey -o "${app_name}" set Workspaces of Window "${win_ID}" to `echo -n $1 | awk '{for(i=1;i<=NF;i++) print ($i-1)}' FS="[^0-9]" | sort -u | awk '{val+=2^($0)} END {print val}'` || hey -o "${app_name}" set Workspaces of Window "${win_ID}" to -1
}

EnlistWindows()
{
for (( i=0;i<=`echo $(hey "${app_name}" Count of Window | awk '/result/{print $4}') - 1 | bc`;i++ )); do echo -n "$i) ";hey "${app_name}" get Title of Window "$i" | awk '/result/{print $4}' FS="\""; done
}

ChangeTitle ()
{
hey -o "${app_name}" set Title of Window "${win_ID}" TO "$1"
}

ResizeFrame()
{
hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[\
$((echo -n "$1,"; hey "${app_name}" get Frame of Window "${win_ID}" | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");printf "%s,",$0}'; hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print $0}') | awk '{\
if ($1<$9) {x_pos=int($3+(($5-$3-$1)/2)); wx_pos=x_pos+$1; if (x_pos<0) {wx_pos-=x_pos;x_pos=0;};if (wx_pos>$9){delta=(wx_pos-$9);wx_pos-=delta;x_pos-=delta;}}\
else {x_pos=0;wx_pos=$9;};\
if ($2<$10) {y_pos=int($4+(($6-$4-$2)/2)); wy_pos=y_pos+$2; if (y_pos<0) {wy_pos-=y_pos;y_pos=0;};if (wy_pos>$10){delta=(wy_pos-$10);wy_pos-=delta;y_pos-=delta;}}\
else {y_pos=0;wy_pos=$10;};\
print x_pos,y_pos,wx_pos,wy_pos}' FS="," OFS=",")]
}
PlaceOnEdges()
{
case $1 in
	7|ul|up-left)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$(hey "${app_name}" get Frame of Window "${win_ID}" | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print "0,0,"($3-$1),($4-$2)}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;		
	8|u|up)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$((hey "${app_name}" get Frame of Window "${win_ID}" | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");printf "%s,",$0}' ; hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print $0}') | awk '{print int(($7-($3-$1))/2),"0",int(($7+($3-$1))/2),($4-$2)}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;		
	9|ur|up-right)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$((hey "${app_name}" get Frame of Window "${win_ID}" | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");printf "%s,",$0}' ; hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print $0}') | awk '{print ($7-($3-$1)),"0",$7,($4-$2)}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;		
	4|l|left)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$((hey "${app_name}" get Frame of Window "${win_ID}" | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");printf "%s,",$0}' ; hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print $0}') | awk '{print "0",int(($8-($4-$2))/2),($3-$1),int(($8+($4-$2))/2)}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;
	5|c|center)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$((hey "${app_name}" get Frame of Window "${win_ID}" | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");printf "%s,",$0}' ; hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print $0}') | awk '{print int(($7-($3-$1))/2),int(($8-($4-$2))/2),int(($7+($3-$1))/2),int(($8+($4-$2))/2)}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;		
	6|r|right)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$((hey "${app_name}" get Frame of Window "${win_ID}" | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");printf "%s,",$0}' ; hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print $0}') | awk '{print ($7-($3-$1)),int(($8-($4-$2))/2),$7,int(($8+($4-$2))/2)}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;	
	1|dl|down-left)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$((hey "${app_name}" get Frame of Window "${win_ID}" | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");printf "%s,",$0}' ; hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print $0}') | awk '{print "0",($8-($4-$2)),($3-$1),$8}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;
	2|d|down)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$((hey "${app_name}" get Frame of Window "${win_ID}" | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");printf "%s,",$0}' ; hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print $0}') | awk '{print ($7-($3-$1))/2,($8-($4-$2)),int(($7+($3-$1))/2),$8}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;
	3|dr|down-right) # lower right corner. half screen size
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$((hey "${app_name}" get Frame of Window "${win_ID}" | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");printf "%s,",$0}' ; hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print $0}') | awk '{print ($7-($3-$1)),($8-($4-$2)),$7,$8}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;
	*)
		Usage
	;;
esac
}
SplitOnEdges()
{
case $1 in
	7|ul|up-left) # upper left corner, 1/4 screen size
	hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$(hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print "0","0",int($3/2),int($4/2)}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;		
	8|u|up) # upper half screen height
	hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$(hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print "0","0",$3,int($4/2)}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;		
	9|ur|up-right) # upper right corner, 1/4 screen size
	hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$(hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print int($3/2),"0",$3,int($4/2)}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;		
	4|l|left) # left half screen width
	hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$(hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print "0","0",int($3/2),$4}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;
	5|c|center) # middle screen, half screen size	
	hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$(hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print int($3/4),int($4/4),int($3*3/4),int($4*3/4)}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;		
	6|r|right) # right half screen width
	hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$(hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print int($3/2),"0",$3,$4}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;	
	1|dl|down-left) # lower left corner. half screen size
	hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$(hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print "0",int($4/2),int($3/2),$4}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;
	2|d|down) # lower half screen height
	hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$(hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print "0",int($4/2),$3,$4}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;
	3|dr|down-right) # lower right corner. half screen size
	hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" TO BRect[$(hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");gsub(" ","");print int($3/2),int($4/2),$3,$4}' FS="," OFS=",")]
		;;
	*)
		Usage
	;;
esac
}
FullScreen()
{
hey -o "${app_name}" set Frame of Window "${win_ID}" to "BRect(\
$(hey Tracker get Frame of Window 0 | awk '/result/{sub(/^.*\(/,"");sub(/\)/,"");print}')"
}
ChangeLook()
{
case $1 in
	b|bordered)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Look of Window "${win_ID}" to 20
		;;
	n|no-border)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Look of Window "${win_ID}" to 19
		;;
	t|titled)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Look of Window "${win_ID}" to 1
		;;
	d|document)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Look of Window "${win_ID}" to 11
		;;
	m|modal)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Look of Window "${win_ID}" to 3
		;;
	f|floating)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Look of Window "${win_ID}" to 7
		;;
	*)
		Usage
		;;
esac
}
ChangeFeel()
{
case $1 in
	n|normal)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Feel of Window "${win_ID}" to 0
		;;
	ms|modal-subset)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Feel of Window "${win_ID}" to 2
		;;
	mp|modal-app)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Feel of Window "${win_ID}" to 1
		;;
	ml|modal-all)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Feel of Window "${win_ID}" to 3
		;;
	fs|floating-subset)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Feel of Window "${win_ID}" to 5
		;;
	fp|floating-app)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Feel of Window "${win_ID}" to 4
		;;
	fl|floating-all)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Feel of Window "${win_ID}" to 6
		;;
	*)
		Usage
		;;
esac
}
SumFlags()
{
case $1 in
	nm|not-movable)
		let flags+=1
		;;
	nr|not-resizable)
		let flags+=2
		;;
	nh|not-h-resizable)
		let flags+=4
		;;
	nv|not-v-resizable)
		let flags+=8
		;;
	fs|accept-first-click)
		let flags+=16
		;;
	nc|not-closable)
		let flags+=32
		;;
	nz|not-zoomable)
		let flags+=64
		;;
	af|avoid-front)
		let flags+=128
		;;
	nw|no-workspace-activation)
		let flags+=256
		;;
	as|avoid-focus)
		let flags+=8192
		;;
	nb|not-minimizable)
		let flags+=16384
		;;
	na|not_anchored)
		let flags+=131072
		;;
	sp|same-position)
		let flags+=2097152
		;;
	ce|close-on-escape)
		let flags+=8388608
		;;
	r|reset)
		return
		;;
	*)
		Usage
		;;
esac
}
ChangeFlags()
{
flags=1572864
while read line; do
SumFlags ${line}
done <<< $( echo $1 | tr "," "\\n" )
hey -o "${app_name}" set Flags of Window "${win_ID}" to ${flags} 
}
ToggleActive()
{
case $1 in
	1|t|true|on|y|yes)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Active of Window "${win_ID}" to true
		;;
	0|f|false|off|n|no)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Active of Window "${win_ID}" to false
		;;
	toggle)
		active=`hey -o "${app_name}" get Active of Window "${win_ID}"`
		[ "${active}" == "true" ] && ToggleActive 0 || ToggleActive 1
		;;
	*)
		Usage
		;;
esac
}
ToggleMinimize()
{
case $1 in
	1|t|true|on|y|yes)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Minimize of Window "${win_ID}" to true
		;;
	0|f|false|off|n|no)
		hey -o "${app_name}" set Minimize of Window "${win_ID}" to false
		;;
	toggle)
		minimized=`hey -o "${app_name}" get Minimize of Window "${win_ID}"`
		[ "${minimized}" == "true" ] && ToggleMinimize 0 || ToggleMinimize 1
		;;
	*)
		Usage
		;;
esac
}
###############
# main script #
###############
script_name="$(basename ${0})"
if [ $# -ne 0 ]
then
	while getopts "a:hlfs:t:w:L:F:m:H:r:M:A:G:" script_opt
	do
		case ${script_opt} in
		a)
			app_name="$OPTARG"
			;;
		l)
			[ -n "${app_name}" ] && EnlistWindows
			exit
			;;
		s)
			[ -n "${app_name}" ] && win_ID="$OPTARG" || Usage
			;;
		m)
			if [ -n "${app_name}" ] && [ -n "${win_ID}" ]
			then
				CheckArgs "$OPTARG"
				[ $? -ne 1 ] &&	PlaceOnEdges "$OPTARG"
			else
				Usage
			fi
			;;	
		H)
			if [ -n "${app_name}" ] && [ -n "${win_ID}" ]
			then
				CheckArgs "$OPTARG"
				[ $? -ne 1 ] &&	SplitOnEdges "$OPTARG"
			else
				Usage
			fi
			;;
		f)
			if [ -n "${app_name}" ] && [ -n "${win_ID}" ]
			then
				FullScreen
			else
				Usage
			fi
			;;
		t)
			if [ -n "${app_name}" ] && [ -n "${win_ID}" ]
			then
				CheckArgs "$OPTARG"
				[ $? -ne 1 ] &&	ChangeTitle "$OPTARG"
			else
				Usage
			fi
			;;
		w)
			if [ -n "${app_name}" ] && [ -n "${win_ID}" ]
			then
				CheckArgs "$OPTARG"
				[ $? -ne 1 ] &&	SetWorkspace "$OPTARG"
			else
				Usage
			fi
			;;
		r)
			if [ -n "${app_name}" ] && [ -n "${win_ID}" ]
			then
				CheckArgs "$OPTARG"
				[ $? -ne 1 ] &&	ResizeFrame "$OPTARG"
			else
				Usage
			fi
			;;
		L)
			if [ -n "${app_name}" ] && [ -n "${win_ID}" ]
			then
				CheckArgs "$OPTARG"
				[ $? -ne 1 ] &&	ChangeLook "$OPTARG"
			else
				Usage
			fi
			;;
		F)
			if [ -n "${app_name}" ] && [ -n "${win_ID}" ]
			then
				CheckArgs "$OPTARG"
				[ $? -ne 1 ] &&	ChangeFeel "$OPTARG"
			else
				Usage
			fi
			;;
		G)
			if [ -n "${app_name}" ] && [ -n "${win_ID}" ]
			then
				CheckArgs "$OPTARG"
				[ $? -ne 1 ] &&	ChangeFlags "$OPTARG"
			else
				Usage
			fi
			;;
		A)
			if [ -n "${app_name}" ] && [ -n "${win_ID}" ]
			then
				CheckArgs "$OPTARG"
				[ $? -ne 1 ] &&	ToggleActive "$OPTARG"
			else
				Usage
			fi
			;;
		M)
			if [ -n "${app_name}" ] && [ -n "${win_ID}" ]
			then
				CheckArgs "$OPTARG"
				[ $? -ne 1 ] &&	ToggleMinimize "$OPTARG"
			else
				Usage
			fi
			;;
		h|*)
			Usage
			;;
		esac
	done
else
	Usage
fi
exit

so basically if I want to have my Terminal with a size of 400x400 px, sitting at the upper left corner of the screen, visible in all workspaces, not closable not movable, with no borders the line is:

winpwnr.sh -a Terminal -s 0 -r 400,400 -w all -L no-border -m up-left -G not-closable,not-movable