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