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https://github.com/fboender/blaunch

Perl/TK application launcher bar for X
https://github.com/fboender/blaunch

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Perl/TK application launcher bar for X

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README 

        
blaunch

=======



About

-----



blaunch is a small tool written in perl/tk which shows a bar with buttons/icons

in X. If you press a button, a program will be launched.  You may customize the

bar and icons to your own liking using the configuration file. 



It's written primarily for window managers which don't have such a handy button

bar of them selfs (i.e. afterstep - because it's wharf sucks eggs), and because

I was bored and found out about perl/tk.

    

Requirements

------------



blaunch requires Perl and the Perl/Tk module installed on your system

in order to work. You may download Perl from:



    http://www.perl.com/pub/language/info/software.html



and the Perl/tk module from:



    http://search.cpan.org/search?module=Tk

	

Installation

------------



blaunch doesn't really need to be installed, but you could copy the `blaunch`

file to a directory in your path (`/usr/local/bin`, for example) for

convenience.

	

Blaunch will look for the configuration file in several places:



    ~/.blaunch.conf		(your home directory)

    /etc/blaunc.conf	(global configuration)

					 

If it can't find a configuration file, the execution will be aborted, and an

error message printed.



You should copy the icons directory somewhere too. I suggest something like:

	

    /usr/local/blaunch/icons/

		



Configuration

-------------

	

Blaunch configuration consists out of a single configuration file, called

blaunch.conf. This file may either be placed global on your system in the `/etc/`

directory:

	

    /etc/blaunch.conf

		

or your personal configuration file, in your homedirectory:



    /home/username/.blaunch.conf

		

(remember the dot)

	

In the configuration file, each line (lines starting with `#` or `%` and empty

lines not included) define a single button. Such a line consists out of a

number of elements, 4 to be precise. The elements are seperated by a comma ( `,`

)



Here's what the four elements represent:

	

*   path and filename of icon, 

*   background color of button (specify in html format #RRGGBB), 

*   background color when mouse is over button (specify in html format #RRGGBB),

*   command to execute when button is clicked

	

Example:

	

	/usr/local/blaunch/icons/bl_terminal.gif, #606060, #808080, xterm -rv -e mutt

	

Will give you a button (which becomes a lighter shade of grey when the mouse

passes over it) with bl_terminal.gif as the icon, which will start a x-terminal

with mutt in it.

	

Lines which start with a # are comments, and are ignored by blaunch, as are

empty lines. Lines which start with a `%`-sign are special configuration lines.

Currently there is only one special command:

	

	%vertical

	

or 

	

	%horizontal

	

That last one (horizontal) is the default, and is therefor not neccesary to specify.

	

For a complete example of a configuration file, see the blaunch.conf file which

came with the tar.gz file.

	

	

Copyright stuff

---------------



blaunch is Copyright by Ferry Boender, licensed under the General Public

License (GPL)



Copyright (C), 2000-2013 by Ferry Boender 



This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under

the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software

Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later

version.

    

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY

WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A

PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

    

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with

this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass

Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

            

For more information, see the COPYING file supplied with this program.