i3 FAQ - Individual question feed

i3 FAQ - Individual question feedhttps://faq.i3wm.org/questions/Frequently asked questions and answers about the i3 window managerenCopyright i3, 2012Tue, 05 Aug 2014 16:42:16 +0000i3 fails to consistently execute last order in command chain (ipc)https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/I am making a ruby script to vertically swap pairs of screens on my 2x2 grid of monitors. The actual flipping works perfectly, but I am having difficulty consistently restoring focus to the original workspace. My script works by building a single large command that switches to each workspace and moves it to a screen. An example command might be: workspace w:ff; move workspace to xinerama-2; workspace p:ref; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:dl; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:shop; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:bet; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:mail; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:music; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:fun; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace a:file; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace w:ref; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace 4; move workspace to xinerama-0; workspace w:chr; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace w:sub; move workspace to xinerama-2 To this I append a command to focus the originally focused workspace (which I saved earlier). I have tried this by focusing the workspace itself (i.e., `workspace w:chr`) as well as focusing the output that it will be on when the script resolves (i.e., `focus output xinerama-2`). I then pass the whole command at once to i3 through i3ipc-glib (care of a ruby gem gir_ffi). A minority of the time, the last command does not execute (or I think more likely, doesn't execute in order). In such cases, I believe it usually (always?) winds up focusing the output with the fewest workspaces. It also seems like the problem is more likely to occur when there is a greater disparity between the number of workspaces on the most and least populated outputs. This problem persists even when I move the final focusing command into its own call to i3. @i3.command giant_flip_command @i3.command "workspace w:chr" I have been able to kludge a solution by making the script `sleep 0.2` between these two commands. But this causes a distracting jump in the cursor. How can I make i3 return focus to the original workspace at the end of my script? EDIT: Unfortunately the script it is hard-coded for 4 screens in a 2x2 grid using xinerama. If that doesn't scare you off it's on [my github](https://github.com/hbaughman/i3_config/blob/master/scripts/flip_screens.rb). Just comment out lines 24 and 25 (the kludge) and run if from the command line. It only happens sometimes so, try `for i in {1..10}; do ruby ./flip_screens.rb; sleep 1; done`. EDIT 2: To see the problem on your machine: 1. Populate your first screen with workspaces 1-5 (they all must contain a client so they don't auto-close) and put workspace 6 on your second screen. 2. Add this to your config file replacing `first_output_name` and `second_output_name` with your output names (e.g., DVI-I-1 and DVI-I-2) set $screen0 first_output_name set $screen1 second_output_name bindsym $mod+z workspace 1; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 2; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 3; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 4; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 5; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 6; move workspace to $screen0; workspace 1 bindsym $mod+x workspace 1; move workspace to $screen0; workspace 2; move workspace to $screen0; workspace 3; move workspace to $screen0; workspace 4; move workspace to $screen0; workspace 5; move workspace to $screen0; workspace 6; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 1 3. Swap the workspaces back and forth by pressing $mod+z and $mod+x. Note that the focused workspace does not always wind up being 1. The issue _doesn't_ occur every time so you may have to do it a few times.Sun, 03 Aug 2014 12:16:34 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/Comment by hbaughman for <div class="snippet">I am making a ruby script to vertically swap pairs of screens on my 2x2 grid of monitors. The actual flipping works perfectly, but I am having difficulty consistently restoring focus to the original workspace. My script works by building a single large command that switches to each workspace and moves it to a screen. An example command might be: <pre><code>workspace w:ff; move workspace to xinerama-2; workspace p:ref; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:dl; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:shop; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:bet; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:mail; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:music; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:fun; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace a:file; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace w:ref; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace 4; move workspace to xinerama-0; workspace w:chr; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace w:sub; move workspace to xinerama-2 </code></pre> To this I append a command to focus the originally focused workspace (which I saved earlier). I have tried this by focusing the workspace itself (i.e., <code>workspace w:chr</code>) as well as focusing the output that it will be on when the script resolves (i.e., <code>focus output xinerama-2</code>). I then pass the whole command at once to i3 through i3ipc-glib (care of a ruby gem gir_ffi). A minority of the time, the last command does not execute (or I think more likely, doesn't execute in order). In such cases, I believe it usually (always?) winds up focusing the output with the fewest workspaces. It also seems like the problem is more likely to occur when there is a greater disparity between the number of workspaces on the most and least populated outputs. This problem persists even when I move the final focusing command into its own call to i3. <pre><code>@i3.command giant_flip_command @i3.command "workspace w:chr" </code></pre> I have been able to kludge a solution by making the script <code>sleep 0.2</code> between these two commands. But this causes a distracting jump in the cursor. How can I make i3 return focus to the original workspace at the end of my script? EDIT: Unfortunately the script it is hard-coded for 4 screens in a 2x2 grid using xinerama. If that doesn't scare you off it's on <a href="https://github.com/hbaughman/i3_config/blob/master/scripts/flip_screens.rb">my github</a>. Just comment out lines 24 and 25 (the kludge) and run if from the command line. It only happens sometimes so, try <code>for i in {1..10}; do ruby ./flip_screens.rb; sleep 1; done</code>. EDIT 2: To see the problem on your machine: <ol> <li>Populate your first screen with workspaces 1-5 (they all must contain a client so they don't auto-close) and put workspace 6 on your second screen. </li> <li>Add this to your config file replacing <code>first_output_name</code> and <code>second_output_name</code> with your output names (e.g., DVI-I-1 and DVI-I-2) <pre><code>set $screen0 first_output_name set $screen1 second_output_name bindsym $mod+z workspace 1; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 2; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 3; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 4 ...</code></pre></li></ol> <a>(more)</a></div>https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4395#comment-4395@zolar Are you suggesting that I target the workspace using marks? I'm pretty confident that I am correctly targeting the workspace I want. I believe the problem is that the order of execution gets messed up somehow and other tasks execute before the issue is resolved. Tue, 05 Aug 2014 16:42:16 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4395#comment-4395Comment by joepd for <div class="snippet">I am making a ruby script to vertically swap pairs of screens on my 2x2 grid of monitors. The actual flipping works perfectly, but I am having difficulty consistently restoring focus to the original workspace. My script works by building a single large command that switches to each workspace and moves it to a screen. An example command might be: <pre><code>workspace w:ff; move workspace to xinerama-2; workspace p:ref; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:dl; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:shop; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:bet; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:mail; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:music; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:fun; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace a:file; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace w:ref; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace 4; move workspace to xinerama-0; workspace w:chr; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace w:sub; move workspace to xinerama-2 </code></pre> To this I append a command to focus the originally focused workspace (which I saved earlier). I have tried this by focusing the workspace itself (i.e., <code>workspace w:chr</code>) as well as focusing the output that it will be on when the script resolves (i.e., <code>focus output xinerama-2</code>). I then pass the whole command at once to i3 through i3ipc-glib (care of a ruby gem gir_ffi). A minority of the time, the last command does not execute (or I think more likely, doesn't execute in order). In such cases, I believe it usually (always?) winds up focusing the output with the fewest workspaces. It also seems like the problem is more likely to occur when there is a greater disparity between the number of workspaces on the most and least populated outputs. This problem persists even when I move the final focusing command into its own call to i3. <pre><code>@i3.command giant_flip_command @i3.command "workspace w:chr" </code></pre> I have been able to kludge a solution by making the script <code>sleep 0.2</code> between these two commands. But this causes a distracting jump in the cursor. How can I make i3 return focus to the original workspace at the end of my script? EDIT: Unfortunately the script it is hard-coded for 4 screens in a 2x2 grid using xinerama. If that doesn't scare you off it's on <a href="https://github.com/hbaughman/i3_config/blob/master/scripts/flip_screens.rb">my github</a>. Just comment out lines 24 and 25 (the kludge) and run if from the command line. It only happens sometimes so, try <code>for i in {1..10}; do ruby ./flip_screens.rb; sleep 1; done</code>. EDIT 2: To see the problem on your machine: <ol> <li>Populate your first screen with workspaces 1-5 (they all must contain a client so they don't auto-close) and put workspace 6 on your second screen. </li> <li>Add this to your config file replacing <code>first_output_name</code> and <code>second_output_name</code> with your output names (e.g., DVI-I-1 and DVI-I-2) <pre><code>set $screen0 first_output_name set $screen1 second_output_name bindsym $mod+z workspace 1; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 2; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 3; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 4 ...</code></pre></li></ol> <a>(more)</a></div>https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4389#comment-4389No, I was attempting to ask for a concise, reproducable test case. A polite yet unclear way of saying: "TLDR" ;) Mon, 04 Aug 2014 17:48:15 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4389#comment-4389Comment by hbaughman for <div class="snippet">I am making a ruby script to vertically swap pairs of screens on my 2x2 grid of monitors. The actual flipping works perfectly, but I am having difficulty consistently restoring focus to the original workspace. My script works by building a single large command that switches to each workspace and moves it to a screen. An example command might be: <pre><code>workspace w:ff; move workspace to xinerama-2; workspace p:ref; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:dl; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:shop; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:bet; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:mail; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:music; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:fun; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace a:file; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace w:ref; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace 4; move workspace to xinerama-0; workspace w:chr; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace w:sub; move workspace to xinerama-2 </code></pre> To this I append a command to focus the originally focused workspace (which I saved earlier). I have tried this by focusing the workspace itself (i.e., <code>workspace w:chr</code>) as well as focusing the output that it will be on when the script resolves (i.e., <code>focus output xinerama-2</code>). I then pass the whole command at once to i3 through i3ipc-glib (care of a ruby gem gir_ffi). A minority of the time, the last command does not execute (or I think more likely, doesn't execute in order). In such cases, I believe it usually (always?) winds up focusing the output with the fewest workspaces. It also seems like the problem is more likely to occur when there is a greater disparity between the number of workspaces on the most and least populated outputs. This problem persists even when I move the final focusing command into its own call to i3. <pre><code>@i3.command giant_flip_command @i3.command "workspace w:chr" </code></pre> I have been able to kludge a solution by making the script <code>sleep 0.2</code> between these two commands. But this causes a distracting jump in the cursor. How can I make i3 return focus to the original workspace at the end of my script? EDIT: Unfortunately the script it is hard-coded for 4 screens in a 2x2 grid using xinerama. If that doesn't scare you off it's on <a href="https://github.com/hbaughman/i3_config/blob/master/scripts/flip_screens.rb">my github</a>. Just comment out lines 24 and 25 (the kludge) and run if from the command line. It only happens sometimes so, try <code>for i in {1..10}; do ruby ./flip_screens.rb; sleep 1; done</code>. EDIT 2: To see the problem on your machine: <ol> <li>Populate your first screen with workspaces 1-5 (they all must contain a client so they don't auto-close) and put workspace 6 on your second screen. </li> <li>Add this to your config file replacing <code>first_output_name</code> and <code>second_output_name</code> with your output names (e.g., DVI-I-1 and DVI-I-2) <pre><code>set $screen0 first_output_name set $screen1 second_output_name bindsym $mod+z workspace 1; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 2; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 3; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 4 ...</code></pre></li></ol> <a>(more)</a></div>https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4379#comment-4379@joepd Are you asking for the script? If so, I edited the post to include it. The script isn't very portable, at the moment, it is hard-coded for 4 screens in a 2x2 grid using xinerama.Sun, 03 Aug 2014 17:48:20 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4379#comment-4379Comment by joepd for <div class="snippet">I am making a ruby script to vertically swap pairs of screens on my 2x2 grid of monitors. The actual flipping works perfectly, but I am having difficulty consistently restoring focus to the original workspace. My script works by building a single large command that switches to each workspace and moves it to a screen. An example command might be: <pre><code>workspace w:ff; move workspace to xinerama-2; workspace p:ref; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:dl; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:shop; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:bet; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:mail; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:music; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:fun; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace a:file; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace w:ref; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace 4; move workspace to xinerama-0; workspace w:chr; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace w:sub; move workspace to xinerama-2 </code></pre> To this I append a command to focus the originally focused workspace (which I saved earlier). I have tried this by focusing the workspace itself (i.e., <code>workspace w:chr</code>) as well as focusing the output that it will be on when the script resolves (i.e., <code>focus output xinerama-2</code>). I then pass the whole command at once to i3 through i3ipc-glib (care of a ruby gem gir_ffi). A minority of the time, the last command does not execute (or I think more likely, doesn't execute in order). In such cases, I believe it usually (always?) winds up focusing the output with the fewest workspaces. It also seems like the problem is more likely to occur when there is a greater disparity between the number of workspaces on the most and least populated outputs. This problem persists even when I move the final focusing command into its own call to i3. <pre><code>@i3.command giant_flip_command @i3.command "workspace w:chr" </code></pre> I have been able to kludge a solution by making the script <code>sleep 0.2</code> between these two commands. But this causes a distracting jump in the cursor. How can I make i3 return focus to the original workspace at the end of my script? EDIT: Unfortunately the script it is hard-coded for 4 screens in a 2x2 grid using xinerama. If that doesn't scare you off it's on <a href="https://github.com/hbaughman/i3_config/blob/master/scripts/flip_screens.rb">my github</a>. Just comment out lines 24 and 25 (the kludge) and run if from the command line. It only happens sometimes so, try <code>for i in {1..10}; do ruby ./flip_screens.rb; sleep 1; done</code>. EDIT 2: To see the problem on your machine: <ol> <li>Populate your first screen with workspaces 1-5 (they all must contain a client so they don't auto-close) and put workspace 6 on your second screen. </li> <li>Add this to your config file replacing <code>first_output_name</code> and <code>second_output_name</code> with your output names (e.g., DVI-I-1 and DVI-I-2) <pre><code>set $screen0 first_output_name set $screen1 second_output_name bindsym $mod+z workspace 1; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 2; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 3; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 4 ...</code></pre></li></ol> <a>(more)</a></div>https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4378#comment-4378Could you provide an example of the failure that works with a default i3 config? Sun, 03 Aug 2014 17:32:33 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4378#comment-4378Comment by hbaughman for <div class="snippet">I am making a ruby script to vertically swap pairs of screens on my 2x2 grid of monitors. The actual flipping works perfectly, but I am having difficulty consistently restoring focus to the original workspace. My script works by building a single large command that switches to each workspace and moves it to a screen. An example command might be: <pre><code>workspace w:ff; move workspace to xinerama-2; workspace p:ref; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:dl; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:shop; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:bet; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:mail; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:music; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:fun; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace a:file; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace w:ref; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace 4; move workspace to xinerama-0; workspace w:chr; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace w:sub; move workspace to xinerama-2 </code></pre> To this I append a command to focus the originally focused workspace (which I saved earlier). I have tried this by focusing the workspace itself (i.e., <code>workspace w:chr</code>) as well as focusing the output that it will be on when the script resolves (i.e., <code>focus output xinerama-2</code>). I then pass the whole command at once to i3 through i3ipc-glib (care of a ruby gem gir_ffi). A minority of the time, the last command does not execute (or I think more likely, doesn't execute in order). In such cases, I believe it usually (always?) winds up focusing the output with the fewest workspaces. It also seems like the problem is more likely to occur when there is a greater disparity between the number of workspaces on the most and least populated outputs. This problem persists even when I move the final focusing command into its own call to i3. <pre><code>@i3.command giant_flip_command @i3.command "workspace w:chr" </code></pre> I have been able to kludge a solution by making the script <code>sleep 0.2</code> between these two commands. But this causes a distracting jump in the cursor. How can I make i3 return focus to the original workspace at the end of my script? EDIT: Unfortunately the script it is hard-coded for 4 screens in a 2x2 grid using xinerama. If that doesn't scare you off it's on <a href="https://github.com/hbaughman/i3_config/blob/master/scripts/flip_screens.rb">my github</a>. Just comment out lines 24 and 25 (the kludge) and run if from the command line. It only happens sometimes so, try <code>for i in {1..10}; do ruby ./flip_screens.rb; sleep 1; done</code>. EDIT 2: To see the problem on your machine: <ol> <li>Populate your first screen with workspaces 1-5 (they all must contain a client so they don't auto-close) and put workspace 6 on your second screen. </li> <li>Add this to your config file replacing <code>first_output_name</code> and <code>second_output_name</code> with your output names (e.g., DVI-I-1 and DVI-I-2) <pre><code>set $screen0 first_output_name set $screen1 second_output_name bindsym $mod+z workspace 1; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 2; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 3; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 4 ...</code></pre></li></ol> <a>(more)</a></div>https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4393#comment-4393@joepd I added a test case that will hopefully work on your machine.Tue, 05 Aug 2014 15:50:09 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4393#comment-4393Comment by zolar for <div class="snippet">I am making a ruby script to vertically swap pairs of screens on my 2x2 grid of monitors. The actual flipping works perfectly, but I am having difficulty consistently restoring focus to the original workspace. My script works by building a single large command that switches to each workspace and moves it to a screen. An example command might be: <pre><code>workspace w:ff; move workspace to xinerama-2; workspace p:ref; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:dl; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:shop; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:bet; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:mail; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace a:music; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace p:fun; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace a:file; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace w:ref; move workspace to xinerama-1; workspace 4; move workspace to xinerama-0; workspace w:chr; move workspace to xinerama-3; workspace w:sub; move workspace to xinerama-2 </code></pre> To this I append a command to focus the originally focused workspace (which I saved earlier). I have tried this by focusing the workspace itself (i.e., <code>workspace w:chr</code>) as well as focusing the output that it will be on when the script resolves (i.e., <code>focus output xinerama-2</code>). I then pass the whole command at once to i3 through i3ipc-glib (care of a ruby gem gir_ffi). A minority of the time, the last command does not execute (or I think more likely, doesn't execute in order). In such cases, I believe it usually (always?) winds up focusing the output with the fewest workspaces. It also seems like the problem is more likely to occur when there is a greater disparity between the number of workspaces on the most and least populated outputs. This problem persists even when I move the final focusing command into its own call to i3. <pre><code>@i3.command giant_flip_command @i3.command "workspace w:chr" </code></pre> I have been able to kludge a solution by making the script <code>sleep 0.2</code> between these two commands. But this causes a distracting jump in the cursor. How can I make i3 return focus to the original workspace at the end of my script? EDIT: Unfortunately the script it is hard-coded for 4 screens in a 2x2 grid using xinerama. If that doesn't scare you off it's on <a href="https://github.com/hbaughman/i3_config/blob/master/scripts/flip_screens.rb">my github</a>. Just comment out lines 24 and 25 (the kludge) and run if from the command line. It only happens sometimes so, try <code>for i in {1..10}; do ruby ./flip_screens.rb; sleep 1; done</code>. EDIT 2: To see the problem on your machine: <ol> <li>Populate your first screen with workspaces 1-5 (they all must contain a client so they don't auto-close) and put workspace 6 on your second screen. </li> <li>Add this to your config file replacing <code>first_output_name</code> and <code>second_output_name</code> with your output names (e.g., DVI-I-1 and DVI-I-2) <pre><code>set $screen0 first_output_name set $screen1 second_output_name bindsym $mod+z workspace 1; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 2; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 3; move workspace to $screen1; workspace 4 ...</code></pre></li></ol> <a>(more)</a></div>https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4382#comment-4382Using "mark" maybe?Sun, 03 Aug 2014 19:05:57 +0000https://faq.i3wm.org/question/4375/i3-fails-to-consistently-execute-last-order-in-command-chain-ipc/?comment=4382#comment-4382