Devil's Pie [foosel.(net|org)] First of all: What is Devil's Pie? From the developer's site:
A window-matching utility, inspired by Sawfish's “Matched Windows” option and the lack of the functionality in Metacity. Metacity lacking window matching is not a bad thing — Metacity is a lean window manager, and window matching does not have to be a window manager task.
Devil's Pie can be configured to detect windows as they are created, and match the window to a set of rules. If the window matches the rules, it can perform a series of actions on that window. For example, I can make all windows created by X-Chat appear on all workspaces, and the main Gkrellm1 window does not appear in the pager or task list.
With the release of version 0.13 the configuration files changed from an xml-based format to s-expressions. This wiki node represents my try at documenting the new format, as sadly there is no official documentation yet. The information I provide here was kinda extracted from the source code of Devil's Pie.
I will give a generic syntax definition for each function, followed by a Java-Representation in order to describe the defined datatypes, using the following conventions:
String means a valid string, e.g. “firefox-bin”.
int means a valid integer value, e.g. 0 or 800.
boolean means a boolean value, either true or false.
Object means a mixed type determined at runtime.
There is also a small collection of example rules with a description of what they do.
The current version of this document covers Devil's Pie from 0.13 up to 0.20.2. I do my best to update it as soon as I find time to search the codebase of current versions for changes and describe them.
The configuration files consist of rules formulated in an s-expression based syntax, with ; denoting comment-lines which are not parsed, e.g.
; Move firefox to workspace 2
(if
(is (application_name) "firefox-bin")
(set_workspace 2)
)
Those files have the extension ds and usually are located at ~/.devilspie.
If I say “one rule for each file”, I really mean it: If you add more than one, the others will simply be ignored by Devil's Pie's parser (at least up to version 0.20). So be sure to make a file for each rule you want to define.
What you can do though is encapsulate several rules in one begin block, this works like a charm. Additonally, with version 0.20 Devil's Pie also seems to have support for multiple expressions per file natively, though I haven't tested this yet myself. Whether you want to use this is up to you - I prefer the “one-rule-per-file” variant for the sake of clarity 
.
The configuration currently in use on my ThinkPad can be found here.
Move Firefox to workspace 2 and maximize it:
(if
(is (application_name) "firefox-bin")
(begin
(set_workspace 2)
(maximize)
)
)
Pin the Gaim Buddylist to all workspaces, with a size of 340×630 pixels and at position (4,150):
(if
(and
(is (application_name) "gaim")
(is (window_name) "Buddy List")
)
(begin
(pin)
(geometry "340x630+4+150")
)
)
Move Skype to workspace 1, set its size to 300×600 pixels, center it, make it “always on top” and let it skip pager and tasklist:
(if
(matches (application_name) "^Skype")
(begin
(geometry "300x600")
(center)
(above)
(skip_pager)
(skip_tasklist)
)
)
Move a gaim window that is neither the buddy list nor an
IRC conversation (thanks to Andrew Conkling for this example):
(if
(and
(is (application_name) "gaim")
(not (is (window_name) "Buddy List"))
(not (contains (window_name) "#"))
)
(geometry "+0+313")
)
Remove the window decoration from all windows:
(undecorate)
Combine two rules into one file:
(begin
(if
(is (application_name) "firefox-bin")
(begin
(set_workspace 2)
(maximize)
)
)
(if
(and
(is (application_name) "gaim")
(not (is (window_name) "Buddy List"))
(not (contains (window_name) "#"))
)
(geometry "+0+313")
)
)
(if a b)
(if a b c)
if (a) {
b;
}
if (a) {
b;
} else {
c;
} A conditional flow based on the boolen expression a.
Example:
(begin a b c ...)
{
a;
b;
c;
// ...
} A sequential execution of actions a, b, c, …
Example:
(and a b ...)
boolean and(boolean a, boolean b, ...)
Returns the result of and-ing the given logical expressions.
Examples:
(and true true) - true
(and true false) - false
(and false false) - false
(and true true true) - true
(and true false true) - false
(or a b ...)
boolean or(boolean a, boolean b, ...)
Returns the result of or-ing the given logical expressions.
Examples:
(not a)
boolean not(boolean a)
Returns the negation of the given logical expression a.
Examples:
(not true) - false
(not false) - true
(is a b)
boolean is(String a, String b)
Returns true if a and b are the same.
Examples:
(is “foo” “foo”) - true
(is “foo” “bar”) - false
(contains haystack needle)
boolean contains(String haystack, String needle)
Returns true if needle is a sub-string of haystack.
Examples:
(matches str pattern)
boolean matches(String str, String pattern)
Returns true if pattern matches on string. pattern is a Regular Expression.
Examples:
Matchers return certain properties of the available windows – like windowtitle, applicationame, … – and are used to formulate conditions to match certain programs and/or windows.
(window_name)
String window_name()
Returns a STRING containing the name of the window as displayed in the windows titlebar.
(window_role)
String window_role()
Returns a STRING describing the current window role of the matched window as defined by it's WM_WINDOW_ROLE hint.
(application_name)
String application_name()
Returns a STRING containing the name of a windows application.
(window_workspace)
int window_workspace()
Returns an INT containing the number of a windows workspace aka virtual desktop.
(window_class)
String window_class()
Returns a STRING containing the class of a window.
(window_xid)
int window_xid()
Returns an INT containing the XID of a window.
One or more of the following actions can be applied to a set of selected windows, which can be either a subset of all windows on the screen (created by using a single matcher or a combination of matchers and the if statement) or simply all windows.
(debug)
void debug()
Prints information to stdout about matched open windows, including applicationname, windowtitle, windowrole and geometry.
(print text)
void print(String text)
Prints the String text to stdout (without a newline at the end), useful for debugging purposes.
(println text)
void println(String text)
Prints the String text to stdout (with a newline at the end), useful for debugging purposes.
(str value)
String str(Object value)
Converts given value into a String and returns it. The value can be boolean, int, a String, an array pointer or even a timestamp which is then formatted into a date respresentation as defined by the current locale.
(hex num)
String hex(int value)
Converts given value into a String containing the value's hexadecimal representation (including a 0x at it's beginning).
(geometry geo)
void geometry(String geo)
Sets the geometry of the matched window. geo must be a STRING containing a valid X-GeometryString as parsed by XParseGeometry. Excerpt from man XParseGeometry:
By convention, X applications use a standard string to indicate window
size and placement. XParseGeometry makes it easier to conform to this
standard because it allows you to parse the standard window geometry.
Specifically, this function lets you parse strings of the form:
[=][{xX}][{+-}{+-}]
Examples:
A friendly hint from the comments, courtesy of Kai-Martin Knaak:
Dialogs and splashscreens don’t accept position and size commands. They have to be turned into normal windows with the wintype command before devilspie can direct them to some other place.
(fullscreen)
void fullscreen()
Sets the matched window into fullscreen mode.
(focus)
void focus()
Gives focus to the matched window.
(center)
void center()
Centers the matched window on the screen.
(maximize)
void maximize()
Maximizes the matched window horizontally and vertically.
(maximze_vertically)
void maximize_vertically()
Maximizes the matched window vertically.
(maximize_horizontally)
void maximize_horizontally()
Maximizes the matched window horizontally.
(unmaximize)
void unmaximize()
Unmaximizes the matched window horizontally.
(minimize)
void minimize()
Minimizes the matched window.
(unminimize)
void unminimize()
Unminimizes the matched window.
(shade)
void shade()
Shades aka “rolls up” the matched window.
(unshade)
void unshade()
Unshades aka “rolls down” the matched window.
(close)
void close()
Closes the matched window.
(pin)
void pin()
Pins the matched window, making it visible on all workspaces.
(unpin)
void unpin()
Unpins the matched window.
(stick)
void stick()
Sticks the matched window, making it visible on all viewports.
(unstick)
void unstick()
Unsticks the matched window.
(set_workspace num)
void set_workspace(int num)
Moves the matched window to workspace number num (counting from 1).
Example:
(set_viewport num)
void set_viewport(int num)
Moves the matched window to viewport number num (counting from 1).
Example:
(skip_pager)
void skip_pager()
Stops the matched window from being shown in the pager.
(skip_tasklist)
void skip_tasklist()
Stops the matched window from being shown in the tasklist.
(above)
void above()
Makes the matched window be always on top.
(below)
void below()
Makes the matched window stay under all other windows.
(undecorate)
void undecorate()
Removes the window manager decoration from the matched window.
(opacity percent)
boolean opacity(int percent)
Sets the opacity of the matched window to the given percentage. Returns true upon success.
(spawn_sync command)
(spawn_sync command1 command2 ...)
String spawn_sync(String command)
String spawn_sync(String[] command)
Executes the given command (given as either one String or a list of multiple Strings) in the foreground and returns its output as a String.
(spawn_async command)
(spawn_async command1 command2 ...)
boolean spawn_async(String command)
boolean spawn_async(String[] command)
Executes the given command (given as either one String or a list of multiple Strings) in the background and returns true upon successful command start.
First of all, thanks for such clear and comprehensive documentation. Let’s hope this makes it into devilspie.
I was just wondering if it were possible to create a “not” condition, e.g.: (is (application_name) “gaim”) (is not (window_name) “Buddy List”) (contains not (window_name) “#”) The goal is to match a Gaim conversation window that’s not the buddy list or an IRC chat window.
Sadly, such a construct doesn’t seem to be implemented in the s-expression engine devilspie uses. In theory, it should be possible to write an s-expression emulating a not by simply putting the action to perform into the else arm of the if construct and just some empty statement in the other: (if (is (window_title) “Buddy List”) (+ 1 1) (pin)). This seems to work with one tier, but when I just tried to extend this to two tiers (by encapsulating the above construct with an addition (if (is (application_name) “gaim”) (...))) it didn’t execute the pin action, although the debug action worked (and printed information only about the chat-window, not the buddylist, so it matched correctly). I don’t understand this behaviour though. The best thing would probably be to extend src/s-expr.c to allow a not statement, which shouldn’t be too difficult. Maybe write a nice email to Ross that he adds it 
I have to correct myself here: There is a not statement (should have used grep earlier *cough*), will update the documentation shortly.
Very nice, thanks for updating. I got it working, but not that way. Here’s what I ended up with:
(if
(and
(is (application_name) "gaim")
(not (is (window_name) "Buddy List"))
(not (contains (window_name) "#"))
)
(begin
(geometry "+0+313")
)
)
Also, is it possible to do something with the main Firefox window, but leave any secondary windows (dialogs, popups, etc.) alone? I can’t figure any way to match just the main window.
I can’t find one either. Sadly, Firefox doesn’t set any window role hints, at least devilspie doesn’t detect them, otherwise one could have depended on those to match.
hi, i’m thinking of this – i’d like some windows that suddenly spring open not to steal focus (that is not to get focused). but i can’t see unfocus among the actions. how could i achieve it pls? cheers, m.
mato, I think that kind of functionality exists in different window managers. Maybe seek out some other ones?
XFCE for example - smaller, better, faster ;)
Anyway, if I needed to implement an unfocus action, I’d try to make devilspie track the focused windows, keeping in mind the currently and priorily focused one and then refocusing the priorily one if the current one matches an unfocus action. But I’m not sure whether it is possible to track the current focus (sadly I have no experience at all at X11 programming), but if someone sees the need for implementing such a functionality althouh a window manager can already provide it, go ahead ;)
Hi, thanks for this great reference, it helped me finally understand the new system.
However, there are few things that need to be corrected:
1. (print “something”) action – that’s pretty obvious. Prints the string parameter to stdout (like debug). For example, (begin (print “You have opened: “) (print (window_name)) ) will print the exact name of the window that has been matched.
2. (below) action is not the opposite state of (above), as your comment might suggest. There are actually three states – above, below and normal (no action used). Your description for above is correct, but your description for below belongs to normal. Below means that the window will _always_ be at the bottom, no matter if it has been clicked, has focus, whatever.
Thanks for the additions and corrections, I included them in the text.
Back to the focus issue. I as well would like to only have one window always have focus and have made appropriate .ds files. However I get a timestamp 0 error and it never gets focused. It has been suggested that I can force the use of timestamps but have not seen any reference to any forcing or timestamps. Anyone care to clear this up? An example perhaps? Please :)
I may have found a way to do as requested by Andrew regarding Firefox; do something to the main window without affecting other windows. I assume this means without multiple browser windows open. I don’t need this functionality, and thus haven’t tested it, but it seems like it should work. Also, I don’t expect it to work with the Titlebar Tweaks extension for Firefox. Here it is:
; Move the Firefox browser window to workspace 2 and maximize it. (if (and (matches (application-name) “^firefox-bin$”) (matches (window-name) “^.*-.Mozilla.Firefox$”) ) (begin (set_workspace 2) (maximize) ) )
Bah. Stupid parsing. Let’s try this again:
; Move the Firefox brwoser window to workspace 2 and maximize it.
(if
(and
(matches (application-name) "^firefox-bin$")
(matches (window-name) "^.*-.Mozilla.Firefox$")
)
(begin
(set_workspace 2)
(maximize)
)
)
Only to thank you very very much for one so helpful page. Sincerely,
Filippo Rusconi
It took me quite some time to realize that devilspie stops parsing an *.ds file after the (debug) statement. Also, it is by far not obvious that devilspie will take only the first statement of every file and ignores the rest. This is not only contrary to the behaviour of the previous versions but also highly unusual. You may add both snippets of information in large and friendly letters at the appropiate places of the wiki.
Thank you for providing the information, the author of the tool didn’t bother to put into the docs. —<(kaimartin)>—
Sorry for posting the above comments twice. Can you remove one of them? Thank you.
Yet another gotcha that may go into the tutorial: Dialogs and splashscreens don’t accept position and size commands. They have to be turned into normal windows with the wintype command before devilspie can direct them to some other place. —<(kaimartin)>—
i was searching how to undecorate every windows on all my workspaces...something like this:
(if (is (application_name) “*”) (undecorate))
or around this solution...but I haven’t found nothing that work!
Currently, I’ve solved this problem using this method:
(if (matches “str” “str”) (undecorate))
but isn’t logical and I don’t like it.
Someone knows something about this? Thanks a lot.
@Kai-Martin
Thanks for your additions! I will incorporate them ASAP.
About the debug thing though, I would be grateful if you could provide an example rule that shows that behaviour. I just tried to reproduce it, but couldn’t bring devilspie to ignore the rest of my test rule.
@Zeno
A simple (undecorate) already should do the trick. Just put it in a .ds file in ~/.devilspie.
Update
I just realised I haven’t been very clear on the usage of actions, as it sounded like you needed to select a subset of windows first with some matchers. I rewrote that accordingly to reflect reality a bit better
I see, that my comments already made it into the text Maybe I wasn’t clear about the debug thing. I missunderstood the debug rule as an option and placed it in the beginning of a *.ds file. Devilspie reads it as the first S-expression and does not read any further. This is of course a consequence of devilspie current (miss-) behaviour to parse the first expression only. It would be nice, if the tutorial would recommand to put the (debug) statement in a seperate file, or inside the action section of a rule.
This is the *.ds file that is read only until the end of the debug statement.
(debug)
(if
(is (window_name) "Transformation")
(begin
(geometry "+1000+400")
)
)
Yeah, I was trying to chicken out of learning for uni this morning and updating the wiki came as a handy excuse to do so 
Anyway, now I get the problem with the debug statement... I will add a small word of warning somewhere
Hi again, I just discovered that it is possible to keep all rules in one file: Just put them inside the parenthesis of a “(begin foo)” statement. Pretty obvious with hindsight... Example: (begin
(if (is (window_name) "Selection")
(begin
(wintype "normal")
(geometry "+1100+130")
(print "Edit2DProfile")
)
)
(if (is (window_name) "3D Snap")
(begin
(wintype "normal")
(geometry "+1100+130")
(print "3D Snap")
)
)
)
Thanks again, just incorporated that piece of info as well :)
@Gina Thanks for the terrific write-up! :)
@Contributers Thanks for the ideas :D
I have a question regarding DP. I haven’t had the chance to look at the code, but is there a way to set display (in a multi-display setup) for windows?
I haven’t encountered something like this as of now during my code studies, but it would be a great addition IMO :D
I’ll second that (Gina Haeussge). Can any of you confirm for sure that it isn’t possible to use it to change display (I’m not THAT good at reading code), becuase I’ve seen a lot of threads in the Ubuntu forums, where people ask if it is possible to control window behavior across dual displays in a Xinerama configuration, and all the time, the question is answered with something like “I don’t know if it’ll work but you could try to use Devil’s pie”. So it would be nice to know for sure if that isn’t possible so we can look for another solution, (or hope that it’ll be included in Devil’s pie at some point;) ).
I would like for my terminal (in Gnome) to open fullscreen everytime. So I made the following terminal.ds file:
(if
(matches (application_name) "me@machine")
(maximize)
)
‘me@machine’ corresponds to the display on top of my terminal window.
So I put the devilspie command in my session startup programs, and it doesnt do anything. If I open a terminal window, and type ‘devilspie’ it will maximize that single session only, and concurrent sessions will not maximize unless I specifically type devilspie each time. Is there a way to have devilspie constantly running in the background and automatically maximize each terminal window as it is opened? Thanks for the help.
Try putting devilspie & instead of devilspie in your startup file. I simply put that line in my .xsession, works flawlessly.
Great guide. Was this written by a woman?
Actually yes... dunno though why this would matter ;)
Doesn’t matter at all. I could just tell ;)
Just discovered the ability to match the the window class. Works great for editors like LyX. You might add “window_class” to the list of matchers. —<(kaimartin)>—
Is it possible to clear a flag, such as skip_pager or skip_tasklist? And why is it even called skip_tasklist, I thought it was supposed to be skip_taskbar?
Hello, I’m using Ubuntu 6.06 LTS with the latest updates and GNOME with MetaCity, though I can’t get Devil’s Pie to get running properly on my system. For example “application_name” doesn’t seem to work for me at all. Also, (if (is (window_name) “Terminal”) (geometry “640×500+100+100”)) X and Y position has no effect whatever numbers i put here, what could be the problem? I store my *.ds files in ~./devilspie Thanks in advance.
@Ciprian Popovici: First of all sorry for the late answer, I just now saw this. About an undo action for skip_pager or skip_tasklist - I didn’t find one in the source. The used library would allow one, the developer didn’t include one though as to my knowledge, although I have no idea why he did skip to implement this...
@saiko: Maybe someone reading this here might be able to help you with this problem, as I’m using neither Ubuntu nor Gnome I sadly can’t.
But just to clearify again, I am not the developer of Devil’s Pie. I’m just a user of it as well, I just found the total lack of documentation for the tool intolerable and therefore wrote one by reading the sourcecode of the tool. So any bugs, naming concerns or whatever are nothing I can do anything about, you should post them in the official bugtracker of Devil’s Pie.
Ok, I have devilspie installed and set to run upon login via sessions. The sample gaim rule that pins the conversations windows to each workspace appears to work just fine. Now, any and all Firefox rules I’ve tried to implement will not work for me upon login, but will work if I open a terminal and type ‘devilspie -a’. This is very confusing and any help would be greatly appreciated in making these Firefox rules work upon login along with the gaim rules.
Thanks, Mike
Ok, so now it seems to suddenly be working correctly. I have no idea why, maybe all we both needed was a good night of rest. My Firefox is now positioned correctly, but, the dialogs are taking on the same position and size as my main Firefox window. Does anyone know how to ignore dialog boxes? Such as the warning for closing multiple tabs or the preferences dialog.
Thanks again, Mike
Hm.. could you please paste the rule you used to match Firefox? Maybe that would give a hint as to why it is behaving like you said.
devilspie really is great and works fine for me, except...
problem with Radrails: But I can’t get a program called Radrails (IDE for Rails) to go to a specific workspace. Do you’ve any suggestions?
my radrails.ds file in $HOME/.devilspie:
(if (is (application_name) “radrails”) (set_workspace 2))
What output does the debug.ds create? Is it really the correct appname?
Well, after spending about an hour on this, I cannot get it to properly configure GIMP. For the image window, I have:
(if (is (window_role) “gimp-image-window”) (begin geometry “732×689+292+73”(set_workspace 4)))
This works perfectly, opening up any image window in the fourth desktop and resizing it properly. Unfortunately, I cannot get the toolbox window to send itself to another desktop with any consistency, it is just strange. Its properties, as far as I can tell are:
Window role : “gimp-toolbox” Window name : “The GIMP” Window class: “gimp” Application name: “gimp”
All I want is for it to open up on the fourth workspace whenever I launch it. I have tries lots of variations of:
(if (is (window_role) “gimp-toolbox”) (begin (set_workspace 4)))
Now, if run it and just wait, it will open itself on the current desktop. However, if make GIMP’s splash screen lose focus (by clicking into another window), it will send itself to another desktop. Why does it do that? Has anybody had any success in configuring GIMP? Also, setting its geometry always works fine, it’s just sending it to another workspace that it has troubles with,
Hey Ammar (and everyone else of course), I’ve managed to customize GIMP to move to another workspace this way:
(or
(matches (window_role) "^gimp.*$")
(is (window_name) "The GIMP")
)
This matches the splash-screen, the toolbox, the main window and the opened image window. So you could first modify each window individually and then move them all to wherever you want.
I’m having some trouble finding out the application name. Using just “gaim” and “xchat” for those two work, but I’m having some problems with swiftfox. I’ve tried a few combinations (”swiftfox-bin”, “/usr/lib/swiftfox-bin”, “swiftfox”, etc.) but devilspie doesn’t seem to recognise any of them. Is there a way I could find out the exact application_name I should be using?
Create a file, just containing the debug action, start up devilspie, then start swiftfox, and take a look what the debug output states about your window. Alternatively try using xprop.
Someone with write access should add the window_workspace matcher, which returns the number of the window’s workspace/virtual desktop.
Hello! I’m trying to display the same terminal window on each of the four desktops. Does anyone know how to do that?
Ok, I got that with pin. Now there’s one other thing. If I say (wintype “desktop”) it really shows on the desktop, but disappears when i click on anything else on the desktop. How do I get it NOT to hide when I click on the desktop? The code I use:
(if
(is (application_name) "Terminal")
(begin
(pin)
(undecorate)
(geometry "+382+333")
(wintype "desktop")
)
)
I want to close window matching criteria A if window matching criteria B is open. Can I do this with devilspie?
This way I pin a borderless terminal window (Eterm) onto the Desktop. Using “wintype dock” it does not hide when you click the desktop or use the “show desktop” feature of your window manager. “below” is necessary, because the window would else be on top of all other windows. this way (”wintype dock” + “below”) makes the window be on top of the desktop window, but below all other windows.
(if
(and
(matches (application_name) "^rootterm")
(matches (window_class) "^Eterm")
)
(begin
(undecorate)
(skip_tasklist)
(skip_pager)
(pin)
(wintype "dock")
(below)
) )
I start my Eterm like this:
Eterm -x -O -q –cmod 128 -g 140×17+10-35 -T rootterm –no-cursor –buttonbar=no –scrollbar=no -e tail -f /var/log/screenmessages
Explanation of the Eterm Parameters: * -x : Borderless * -O : Transparency * –cmod 128 : shade by 50% * -g : geometry (devilspie is not reliable) * -T : set window title, needed for match with devilspie * -q : do not accept input, output only * –no-cursor : no input cursor, output only * –scrollbars=no : self explaining * –buttonbar=no : same here * -e : execute command
I am working the same situation as Mike Grabowski’s post of 2006/11/15 11:06 (don’t see a resolution posted). Am able to control the main Foxfire screen, but ‘Add Bookmark’ opens in the same size as the main window regardless of the size specified in the rule.
Firefox rule...firefox.ds (if
(and
(is (application_name) 'Firefox')
(begin
(geometry '1080x821+350+49')
)
)
)
Firefox ‘Add Bookmark’ rule...bookmark.ds (if
(and
(is (window_name) 'Add Bookmark')
(is (application_name) 'Firefox')
(begin
(geometry '540x410+350+49')
)
)
)
Hm... I can’t try this out myself right now, but you might have success in stopping the bookmark dialog to be matched by using something like
(if
(and
(is (application_name) "Firefox")
(not (is (window_name) "Add Bookmark"))
)
(geometry "1080x821+350+49")
)
Alternatively, you might have success by juggling around with the window_role matcher. A debug rule could help here to find out what roles firefox sets on its windows.
I might be a bit dense, but if I work at it long enough, sometimes I see the light. I have resolved the problem I was having with the Firefox ‘Add Bookmark’ window also opening at the same size as that set for the main FF window by using:
(if
(is (window_name) 'Add Bookmark')
(begin
(geometry '540x150+150+350')
)
)
Didn’t really need the application_name in the rule. Of course, if some other app has an ‘Add Bookmark’ window, it will respond to the above rule.
Another thing that was causing me to get screwed up was the use of ‘devilspie -d &’ in a terminal window to check my results. I hadn’t realized that each time I did that, I was launching an additional job. Nothing like having a dozen versions of devilspie runnng at the same time. Use the ‘kill’ command.
Hi,
If you are using Compiz, it will not accept set_workspace (at least I got the message workspace does not exist). Instead use set_viewport. This should probably also be added above...
~Jørn
I finally had the time to update this to cover Devil’s Pie 0.20.2 and hopefully found all changes in available matchers and actions. Enjoy.
With the addition of spawn_sync, some processing can be done in externally, and the workspace that we want the window to switch to, for example, can be calculated, as opposed to being put in the .ds file as a constant. However, spawn_sync returns a string, and as far as I could tell, there is no way of converting a string type into an integer type (atoi) in the given codebase (although the reverse is possible). Because of this I made a tiny addition to the code, so that set_workspace does not reject a string if it is convertable to a non-zero integer. A better solution would be to add atoi as an action, but I didn’t have the time or the guts to add a new action to the code - slightly changing an existing action is obviously a lot easier and safer.
Gina, I know you are not the developer, but you do provide a lot more documentation than the developer. Therefore, in case anybody else wants to use it, I am attaching my small patch here:
diff -Naur devilspie-0.20.2/src/actions.c devilspie-0.20.2_new/src/actions.c
--- devilspie-0.20.2/src/actions.c 2007-01-08 14:22:52.000000000 -0500
+++ devilspie-0.20.2_new/src/actions.c 2007-04-21 17:55:53.000000000 -0400
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@
#include "xutils.h"
#include "devilspie.h"
#include "actions.h"
+#include "stdlib.h"
/*
* Actions to perform on windows.
@@ -419,12 +420,25 @@
WnckWorkspace *workspace;
int num;
- if (argc != 1 || argv[0]->type != ESEXP_RES_INT) {
- g_printerr(_("set_workspace expects a single integer argument\n"));
+ if (argc != 1 ){
+ g_printerr(_("set_workspace expects a single argument\n"));
return e_sexp_result_new_bool (f, FALSE);
}
- num = argv[0]->value.number;
+ switch(argv[0]->type){
+ case ESEXP_RES_INT:
+ num = argv[0]->value.number;
+ break;
+ case ESEXP_RES_STRING:
+ num = atoi(argv[0]->value.string);
+ if(num != 0)
+ break;
+ // if the string was not a legitimate number,
+ // the default case will be followed
+ default:
+ g_printerr(_("set_workspace expects an integer or its string representation\n"));
+ return e_sexp_result_new_bool (f, FALSE);
+ }
screen = wnck_window_get_screen(c->window);
/* Adjust for 0-offset in workspaces list */
Fantastic documentation for a fantastic tool. Thanks very much for your efforts!
I have found that (and) accepts more than two expressions, and I suspect that (or) might be the same. Also, it has been implicitly mentioned in the comments that a semicolon can be used at the beginning of a line to denote a comment. It could be useful to incorporate these pieces of information into the main document.
Finally, if anyone is wondering whether the same sort of functionality is available for Microsoft Windows, check out the free PowerPro.
there is no pause or sleep command. i seem to have a race condition for the kgs go server new game window. sometimes the script works and sometimes not.
Could someone help me figure out how to force windows to never open in a maximized state?
note: looks like the post didn’t format properly, here’s a second try, please delete my first post.
Kyle: just make a rule with (unmaximize) in it, and nothing else, so it will apply to all windows.
i just wanted to thank you guys for the excellent information, by combining devilspie with wmctrl, i’ve been able to create a rule that simulates the Quake-style drop-down console by using gnome-terminal. i know that there are terminal emulators that do this already (tilda, kuake, yakuake) but none of them seem to be reliable enough, they’re pretty buggy and slow.
anyway, here’s my rule, in case anyone was curious:
; ~/.devilspie/DropDownTerminal.ds
; Sets up a Gnome-Terminal to drop down like a Quake-style Console
(if
(and
(is (window_class) "Gnome-terminal")
(contains (window_name) "DropTerminal")
)
(begin
(wintype "dock")
(geometry "1280x344+200+28")
(wintype "normal")
(skip_tasklist)
(skip_pager)
(above)
(pin)
(stick)
)
)
(if
(and
(is (window_class) "Gnome-terminal")
(is (window_name) "DropTerminal-Down")
)
(begin
(wintype "dock")
(geometry "+200+20")
(wintype "normal")
(shade)
(opacity 0)
(spawn_sync "wmctrl -Fr 'DropTerminal-Down' -T 'DropTerminal-Up'")
)
)
(if
(and
(is (window_class) "Gnome-terminal")
(is (window_name) "DropTerminal-Up")
)
(begin
(opacity 100)
(spawn_sync "wmctrl -Fa 'DropTerminal-Up'")
(spawn_sync "wmctrl -Fr 'DropTerminal-Up' -T 'DropTerminal-Down'")
)
)
i’m also using the following script bound to a key using compiz’s run_command_#, and run_command_#_key to execute it:
#!/bin/bash
#
# ~/.scripts/dropdownterminal.sh
# restarts devilspie for terminal drop down effect
# check that terminal is running
if [ $((`wmctrl -l | grep -c "[[:space:]]asus-z71v\.site[[:space:]]DropTerminal-\(Up\|Down\)"`)) = "0" ]; then
gnome-terminal --window-with-profile="DropTerminal-Down" --hide-menubar &
fi
# restart devilspie
killall devilspie
devilspie -a &
Gongo: Thanks very much! I guess I was just trying to make things too complicated.
Hi everyone! Before posing my specific question, let me thank you all for the great job on documenting this app.
My problem/unsolved issue is the following. I use Mathematica all the time, and it has various (4 at least) palettes (like those of gimp) which I use. Up to now, every time I start a Mathematica session I had to arrange all those windows one by one, by hand.
Thanks to you I discovered devilspie and decided to ‘automatize’ the placement of these ‘palette’ windows. After reading your info/doc and playing for a while I managed to match each one, and move them to a specific workspace.
However, when I try to assign them a specific geometry (i.e., size and placement) some strange behaviour takes place. If i start devilspie, and after that I start Mathematica, all the windows are moved to the designated workspace but are not placed correctly. On the contrary, if I start Mathematica and then start devilspie with the ‘-a’ command-line option, the windows get correctly arranged. (This tells me that there’s no bug or coding error in my .ds file.)
So... I hope someone could help me with this, I can’t explain myself this... FYI: I use XFCE, (X)Ubuntu Feisty Fawn.
Thanks in advance for all your help!
Paolo
Hi. There is a typo in the example for maximize_vertically — an i is missing.
—<(kaimartin)>—
Is there any progress or more info on Xinerama support? Such nice utility as DevilsPie becomes almost completely useless with dual-monitor setup. Now, when nvidia drivers support on-the-fly change of geometry, hard-coded geometry will not work for positioning windows on main monitor. What a pity!
example of spawn_async use: (if
(matches (window_class) "URxvt")
(begin
(spawn_async (str "transset-df -i " (window_xid) " .82" ) )
)
)
I have (if
(is (window_class) "Gimp-2.4")
(begin
(set_workspace 2)
)
) for Gimp, but in XFce the main window stays on actual workspace (all other windows go to 2). In Openbox it works fine. What should be wrong?
Hi - thanks all for some great tips, they got me working as I wanted. Only problem is I can't get devilspie to start when the computer starts! I'm using Kubuntu and tried a shell script in ~/.kde/autostart containing just the line devilspie didn't work so added devilspie to the /etc/rc.local I suspect the problem is a timestamp error i get if I run devilspie from a terminal session - it just sits there with the error and does not return to the prompt. Me thinks if this happens in the autostart or rc.local script I'm scuppered! Any ideas what causes this error and how to get round it my ds file contains the following in case its relevant (if
(is (application_name)"oklin")
(begin
(wintype "normal")
(pin)
(focus)
(above)
)
)
Thanks
I have setup Evolution on workspace 2 & maximize via application_name matcher; How i can have separate rule for individual e-mails windows? Can't do it via window_name since every window has a different name ?
I did this code:
(if
(is (window_name) "Buddy List")
(begin
(undecorate)
(skip_tasklist)
(geometry "100x600")
(geometry "+12+105")
(stick)
(opacity 60)
)
)
and it did what I wanted it to do for my pidgin buddy list but it's inconsistent. Sometimes I can't highlight a name of the person that I want to IM, other times when I minimize and then bring my buddy list back up my buddy list is just white (but if I randomly click in it an IM window will come up for whoever “should” be there. Has anyone else had this problem. I removed everything other than (undecorated) and couldn't fix it so I'm assuming it is the undecorated that causes the problem….but….if it's going to have the window around it I might as well not use devilspie, I'm trying to make it look as if my buddy list is embedded in my desktop. Thanks all
With regards to the individual emails, I don't think it's possible, you can either call on the program name or the window name, if there is no consistent pattern for the email messages I doubt you can focus on it. I thought about the same thing for IM's but since the window name changes depending on who I talk to I couldn't think of a logical way to fix it.
Is there a way to make a .ds file be executed only once by Devil's Pie? I have a program that launches at start-up and it displays its window which takes up almost the entire screen when it is executed. I figured that a way to hide this window was to have Devil's Pie move it to another workspace, but I only want this to happen the first time the program displays its window, I don't want it to be on that other workspace permanently. Any suggestions on how I would make Devil's Pie act on the .ds file only once?
Hi everyone! Great job on documenting this app.
My terminal configuration
(if
(matches (window_name) "DesktopConsole")
(begin
(pin)
(undecorate)
(skip_pager)
(skip_tasklist)
(wintype "dock")
(below)
(geometry "+50+50")
(geometry "800x600")
)
)
It is possible put the console on desktop, but below the icons?
Thanks
awesome guide! very useful. i'm having a problem with the center method, however. this is what i have: [code] (if
(is (application_name) "Firefox")
(begin
(undecorate)
(unmaximize)
(center)
(geometry "600x300")
)
) [/code]
this is the output in console
[code] wasabi@latitudex1:~/.devilspie$ devilspie
(devilspie:22973): Wnck-CRITICAL : wnck_workspace_get_width: assertion `WNCK_IS_WORKSPACE (space)' failed (devilspie:22973): Wnck-CRITICAL : wnck_workspace_get_height: assertion `WNCK_IS_WORKSPACE (space)' failed [/code]
everything works except the window isn't centered. it can't see to get the size of my workspace. is there anyway i can set this?
Hello everyone.
First I'd like to thank you for this wonderful guide. It inspired me to create a simple gui to help making these rules. I also wanted an excuse to learn pyGTK.
There is still no release yet, so you will have to check out from svn, but I'd love to get your opinion about it.
http://code.google.com/p/gdevilspie/
Thanks
Maybe you guys can help me, I'm trying to start a Planeshift window in the size of one of my screens (1280×1024) and undecorate it so it looks like fullscreen on one monitor. I do this with a different game too and it works just fine. With Planeshift I can't seem to get Devilspie to spawn the window correctly. It always appears on the secondary monitor and still has the window decorations. The name of the window according to xwininfo is “Crystal Space Application” but neither through (is (window_name)) nor (matches (window_name)) can I get DP to load the window correctly. Anyone know how to improve my match filtering? Right now my string for matching is “Crystal Space Application” but that doesn't work.
Hi there, Great guide, really helpfull!!
I'm trying to open a terminal in the lower-left corner of my screen I execute xwininfo and put (geometry [corners_value]) but it doesn't work.
[code] (if
(matches (window_name) "DeskCon")
(begin
(stick)
(below)
(undecorate)
(skip_pager)
(skip_tasklist)
(geometry "+7+593 -711+593 -711-4 +7-4")
(wintype "dock")
)
) [/code]
I'm not sure about wintype also..
Thanks again!
Hi,
imagine i want to open Firefox and place it to the second work area, and after, open again Firefox and place it this time at the third workspace, is that possible with Devilspie? how?
Bye!
Maximize appears to toggle maximization. Am I missing something here?
Using the following configuration, Evince is only maximized every other time I open it, because it remembers the previous state from the last time it was closed. When Evince starts unmaximized, Devilspie maximizes it; when Evince starts maximized, Devilspie unmaximizes it.
(if
(is (application_name) "Evince Document Viewer")
(begin (maximize))
)
Hello! I have been trying to get devilspie to work with iceweasel(firefox) and this is what I have found: Firstly, I have a script that prints the following:
(begin
(print (application_name))
(print (window_name))
(print (window_role))
(print (window_class))
(print "")
)
This prints out all of the above information for all of the open windows, including the title of the page currently open in iceweasel. Any further windows open will also print lines while the script is running. I want to be able to move and resize an iceweasel window based on the title of the web page. If I am running the above script, I can see the title as the window_name, however, if I open iceweasel and then browse to the site, it does not recognize it. I have even tried running iceweasel from the command line:
root:~$ iceweasel "www.google.com"
The output displays iceweasel as the window_name and firefox as the application name, but does not show me the title. If I stop the devilspie script and restart it, it shows up as the window_name “Google - Iceweasel”. Any information about this would be appreciated.
oops, sorry about the script. apparently 3 brackets wont indent your code?
Show Desktop?
I've got this: (if
(is (window_name) "DesktopConsole")
(begin
(undecorate)
(fullscreen)
(skip_tasklist)
(skip_pager)
(pin)
(wintype "dock")
(below)
)
)
But whenever I press Win+D to show my desktop (in Fluxbox) the terminal window disappears! Has anyone found a way to fix this bug?
Thanks!
Is it possible to change a window according to whether it's fullscreen, or depending on it's geometry?
Hi there. This is an awesome tool. I am trying to use it to automate my startup so that when certain windows open, it is automatically moved to a specific workspace.
I have added it to my Ubuntu sessions, but I think I need to stat the Daemon to make it work? What is the command needed to start the devilspie daemon?
Thanks for a great tool
Great guide - best I have found anywhere that unravels many of the mysteries of devilspie, and helped me to do what I wanted - only simple stuff; undecorate mplayer, center thunar and terminal. Here's how (each in a separate .ds file):
[code](if (is (application_name) “MPlayer”) (undecorate) )
(if (is (window_class) “Thunar”) (center) )
(if (is (window_class) “Thunar”) (center) )
(if (matches (window_name) “Terminal”) (center) )[/code]
I will be playing much more though :)
Somone knows if devilspie give the possibility to embed 2 applications? For examples have an embed calculator into the mozilla?
Thanks
I made scripts for Firefox and Thunderbird to open all windws centered and they worked great, but nothing else (Gnome or KDE) worked with the same syntaxt. I played around and came up with this.
(if(is (application_name) “foo”)
(focus)
(center)
)
This single script in my ~.devilspie folder makes any app or window to open centered; Gnome. KDE, or thrid party apps.
Mike
how do you prevent user input from an application?
because lets say I want to make a animated wallpaper, I would like to send the application to the background and prevent user input, and disable focus. any such way of doing this? thx
(center) works well for the combined horizontal center and vertical center.
I would like to know if a feature could be added to allow you to center horizontally as well as vertically, independently without using a static geometry for either x or y.
In my example I would like to raise my avant-window-navigator above (in negative x direction) a panel I have located at the bottom of the screen and still have it vertically centered. whereas utilizing the current geometry and subtracts 50 from current xoffset.
Please Note before you comment: I understand the (above) command raises the z dimension (or layer offset) of the window/object, this is not what I'm looking for.
for example:
( if(is (application_name) “avant-window-navigator”)
(begin
(xoffset "-50")
(vcenter)
(wintype "dock")
(undecorate)
)
)
Any ideas, please let me know how I might be able to achieve this affect, and yet still be able to resize the viewport dynamically. Having positions being properly updated.
Thanks in advance! -C.Wolf (CodeWolf)
Nevermind the above post. I have found another way to manage avant-window-navigator without using devilspie. Just edit the gconf monitor height setting for apps/avant-window-navigator then check the force monitor and keep_below options.
Worked perfectly for me.
Thanks anyways!! :D
PS: those options i stated would still be usefull to other apps.
I am trying to use devil's pie with no window manager (only X is running) but am having difficulties doing so. Is this even possible or do I need to be running some kind of window manager for this tool to work?
You need an EWMH (right abbreviation?) compliant window manager for devilspie and/or similar programs to work. So, no, you can't use devilspie without a window manager.
hi there, i'm try do see if i can do this with devilspie:
auto minimize all windows except the active one.
be it upon pressing a hotkey or, running in background all the time to alway keep only one window displayed. someone could help me a bit?
is there a forum or an irc channel for devilspie ?
tnx
Doesn't seem to be working.
i have the file gnome-terminal.ds in ~/.devilspie
(if
(matches (application_name) "gnome-terminal")
(set_workspace 4)
)
i run devilspie, then run gnome-terminal and nothing happens
Hi everybody ,, i am using centos 5.2 i am able to use devilspie application ….. but at login time it doesnot automatically start-up the is no file as ~/.xinitrc or ~/.Xsession .. i even tried with startup→preferences→session but no result…. can anybody help me Thanks in advance
I'm still rereading the docs I've found, but if I could get a hint as to how to do these two items: one, on any particular app, how to get the tags I might be able to use on that app, to control it in scripts. Second, how to make the SECOND appearance of an app (like my 2nd Konsole window) to appear on a particular window (other than the place the first one goes to, and not just another one at random, either). I really commonly run two windows of browser and 2 of terminals, with each one have a particular personal use. I run 9 workspaces, using xfce4 often (I try KDE4 also, sometimes). I use devilspie, have for about a year now, by manually placing the 2nd apps.
Thanks
The usage of the 'full justification' for the window list is wrong. The text 'fill' might work in English, but not in other UI languages.