MWM RESOURCE DESCRIPTION FILE SYNTAX

The mwm resource description file is a standard text file that contains items of information separated by blanks, tabs, and new lines characters. Blank lines are ignored. Items or characters can be quoted to avoid special interpretation (for example, the comment character can be quoted to prevent it from being interpreted as the comment character). A quoted item can be contained in double quotes (" " ). Single characters can be quoted by preceding them by the back-slash character (\ ), except for workspace names, which may contain no back-slash characters. If a line ends with a back-slash, the next line is considered a continuation of that line. All text from an unquoted # to the end of the line is regarded as a comment and is not interpreted as part of a resource description. If ! is the first character in a line, the line is regarded as a comment.

If a function is specified in a type of resource where it is not supported or is invoked in a context that does not apply then the function is treated as f.nop. The following table indicates the resource types and function contexts in which workspace manager functions apply.

WORKSPACE MANAGER EVENT SPECIFICATION

Events are indicated as part of the specifications for button and key binding sets, and menu panes. Button events have the following syntax:

button =~[modifier_list
]<button_event_name >
modifier_list =~modifier_name { modifier_name}

The following table indicates the values that can be used for modifier_name . Note that [Alt] and [Meta] can be used interchangably on some hardware.

Locking modifiers are ignored when processing button and key bindings. The following table lists keys that are interpreted as locking modifiers. The X server may map some of these symbols to the Mod1 - Mod5 modifier keys. These keys may or may not be available on your hardware: Key Symbol Caps Lock Shift Lock Kana Lock Num Lock Scroll Lock The following table indicates the values that can be used for button_event_name .

Key events that are used by the workspace manager for menu mnemonics and for binding to workspace manager functions are single key presses; key releases are ignored. Key events have the following syntax:

key =~[modifier_list] Keykey_name
modifier_list =~modifier_name { modifier_name}

All modifiers specified are interpreted as being exclusive (this means that only the specified modifiers can be present when the key event occurs). Modifiers for keys are the same as those that apply to buttons. The key_name is an X11 keysym name. Keysym names can be found in the keysymdef.h file (remove the XK_ prefix).

BUTTON BINDINGS

The buttonBindings resource value is the name of a set of button bindings that are used to configure workspace manager behavior. A workspace manager function can be done when a button press occurs with the pointer over a framed client window, an icon or the root window. The context for indicating where the button press applies is also the context for invoking the workspace manager function when the button press is done (significant for functions that are context sensitive). The button binding syntax is

Buttons bindings_set_name
{
    button    context    function
    button    context    function
    ...
    button    context    function
}

The syntax for the context specification is: context = object [| context ] object = root | icon | window | title | frame | border | app The context specification indicates where the pointer must be for the button binding to be effective. For example, a context of window indicates that the pointer must be over a client window or window management frame for the button binding to be effective. The frame context is for the window management frame around a client window (including the border and titlebar), the border context is for the border part of the window management frame (not including the titlebar), the title context is for the title area of the window management frame, and the app context is for the application window (not including the window management frame). If an f.nop function is specified for a button binding, the button binding is not done.

KEY BINDINGS

The keyBindings resource value is the name of a set of key bindings that are used to configure workspace manager behavior. A window manager function can be done when a particular key is pressed. The context in which the key binding applies is indicated in the key binding specification. The valid contexts are the same as those that apply to button bindings. The key binding syntax is:

Keys bindings_set_name
{
    key    context    function
    key    context    function
    ...
    key    context    function
}

If an f.nop function is specified for a key binding, the key binding is not done. If an f.post_wmenu or f.menu function is bound to a key, mwm automatically uses the same key for removing the menu from the screen after it has been popped up. The context specification syntax is the same as for button bindings with one addition. The context ifkey may be specified for binding keys that may not be available on all displays. If the key is not available and if ifkey is in the context, then reporting of the error message to the error log is suppressed. This feature is useful for networked, heterogeneous environments. For key bindings, the frame, title, border, and app contexts are equivalent to the window context. The context for a key event is the window or icon that has the keyboard input focus ( root if no window or icon has the keyboard input focus).

MENU PANES

Menus can be popped up using the f.post_wmenu and f.menu workspace manager functions. The context for workspace manager functions that are done from a menu is root, icon or window depending on how the menu was popped up. In the case of the window menu or menus popped up with a key binding, the location of the keyboard input focus indicates the context. For menus popped up using a button binding, the context of the button binding is the context of the menu. The menu pane specification syntax is:

Menu menu_name
{
    label  [mnemonic]  [accelerator ]   function
    label  [mnemonic]  [accelerator ]   function
    ...
    label  [mnemonic]  [accelerator ]   function
}

Each line in the Menu specification identifies the label for a menu item and the function to be done if the menu item is selected. Optionally a menu button mnemonic and a menu button keyboard accelerator may be specified. Mnemonics are functional only when the menu is posted and keyboard traversal applies. The label may be a string or a bitmap file. The label specification has the following syntax:

label = text | bitmap_file
bitmap_file = @file_name
text = quoted_item | unquoted_item

The string encoding for labels must be compatible with the menu font that is used. Labels are greyed out for menu items that do the f.nop function or an invalid function or a function that doesn't apply in the current context. A mnemonic specification has the following syntax:

mnemonic = _ character

The first matching character in the label is underlined. If there is no matching character in the label, no mnemonic is registered with the workspace manager for that label. Although the character must exactly match a character in the label, the mnemonic does not execute if any modifier (such as Shift) is pressed with the character key. The accelerator specification is a key event specification with the same syntax as is used for key bindings to workspace manager functions.

INCLUDING FILES

You may include other files into your mwmrc file by using the include construct. For example,

INCLUDE
{
    /usr/local/shared/mwm.menus
    /home/kmt/personal/my.bindings
}

causes the files named to be read in and interpreted in order as an additional part of the mwmrc file. Include is a top-level construct. It cannot be nested inside another construct.

WARNINGS

Errors that occur during the processing of the resource description file are recorded in: $HOME/.mwm/errorlog . Be sure to check this file if the appearance or behavior of mwm is not what you expect.

FILES

$HOME/$LANG/.mwmrc $HOME/.mwmrc /usr/lib/X11/$LANG/system.mwmrc /usr/lib/X11/system.mwmrc $HOME/.mwm/errorlog

RELATED INFORMATION

mwm (1), mwm( 1X), X (1).