1 # MyMenu
2 
3 > A replacement for dmenu, 'cause I was bored
4 
5 ![MyMenu works!](screen.png)
6 
7 ![MyMenu alternate layout](screen-alt.png)
8 
9 ---
10 
11 ## What?
12 
13 This is a replacement for `dmenu(1)`.
14 
15 ## Why?
16 
17 This was the perfect excuse to learn how to make window with Xlib.
18 
19 ## How?
20 
21 Check out the [manpage](mymenu.1) for further documentation. Check out
22 also the [template](Xexample) for the resources.
23 
24 ---
25 
26 ## Dependencies
27 
28  - Xlib
29  - Xinerama (optional)
30    For multi-monitor support
31  - pkg-config (optional)
32    used in the makefile to generate `LIBS` and `CFLAGS` correctly
33 
34 ## Build
35 
36 As simple as `make`. If you want to disable Xinerama support just
37 delete `-DUSE_XINERAMA` from the `CFLAGS` and `xinerama` from the
38 `pkg-config` call from the Makefile.
39 
40 ## FAQ
41 
42  - Does not run / Hangs
43 
44    At the startup mymenu will read `stdin` for a list of item, only
45    then it'll display a window. Are you sure that you're passing
46    something on standard input?
47 
48  - License
49 
50    The code is released under GPLv3, but I don't have strong
51    preference regard licenses, so if you ask I may release the code
52    also under a different license (a free software one of course).
53 
54  - Will feature $X be added?
55 
56    No. Or maybe Yes. In fact, it depends. Open an issue and let's
57    discuss. If it's something that's trivial to achieve in combo with
58    other tool maybe is not the case to add it here.
59 
60  - Is feature $Y present? What $Z do? How to achieve $W?
61 
62    Everything is documented in the man page. To read it, simply execute
63    `man -l mymenu.1` or `mandoc mymenu.1 | less` (depending on your
64    system the `-l` option may not be present).
65 
66 ---
67 
68 ## TODO
69 
70  - Command line flags
71 
72    At the moment the X Resource Database is the only way to interact
73    with the graphic appearance of MyMenu.
74 
75  - Optional TrueType support
76 
77  - Opacity support
78 
79 ## Scripts
80 
81 I'm using this script to launch MyMenu with custom item
82 
83 ``` shell
84 #!/bin/sh
85 
86 cat <<EOF | /bin/sh -c "$(mymenu "$@")"
87 sct 4500
88 lock
89 connect ethernet
90 connect home
91 connect phone
92 ZZZ
93 zzz
94 ...
95 EOF
96 ```
97 
98 You can generate a menu from the `.desktop` file with something like
99 this:
100 
101 ``` shell
102 #!/bin/sh
103 
104 getname() {
105     cat $1 | grep '^Name=' | sed 's/^.*=//'
106 }
107 
108 getexec() {
109     cat $1 | grep '^Exec=' | sed 's/^.*=//'
110 }
111 
112 desktop_files=`ls /usr/local/share/applications/*.desktop`
113 
114 {
115     for i in $desktop_files; do
116         getname $i
117     done
118 } | mymenu "$@" | {
119     read prgname
120     for i in $desktop_files; do
121         name=`getname $i`
122         if [ "x$prgname" = "x$name" ]; then
123             exec `getexec $i`
124         fi
125     done
126 }
127 ```
128 
129 or generate a list of executables from `$PATH` like this:
130 
131 ``` shell
132 #!/bin/sh
133 
134 path=`echo $PATH | sed 's/:/ /g'`
135 
136 {
137     for i in $path; do
138         ls -F $i | grep '.*\*$' | sed 's/\*//'
139     done
140 } | sort | /bin/sh -c "$(mymenu "$@")"
141 ```
142 
143 Of course you can as well use the `dmenu_path` and `dmenu_run` scripts
144 that (usually) comes with `dmenu`.