Re: [RP] meta command strangeness

[Paul Boren]

On 6/13/06, Daniel Webb <address@hidden> wrote:
> Sigh.  So I'm trying to make some kind of scratched together macro facility
> for ratpoison, but:

I take it you want to start up some programs using a few quick commands and...

>    1) xbindkeys/xmacro doesn't play nice with xterm:
>         The remapped key is always dropped, even though I have allowSendEvents 
> true.
>
>    2) xbindkeys/ratpoison -c meta KEY doesn't play nice with Firefox:

xbindkeys is not working for you.  To troubleshoot this, it's best
just to deal with ratpoison and the program(s) you want to run.

Before binding keys, it's good to check that the commands work without
any problems.  With ratpoison commands you can type `C-t :' to use
"the Bar" or "ratpoison -c" at the command-line.  You can start other
programs from the shell, then double check that your commands work
through through ratpoison with `C-t !' or `C-t C-!' for the xterm -e
option.  Then you could go back and try out the whole macro at the
prompt using "ratpoison -c" and the external program commands.

Realize that your ratpoison key bindings will be similar to aliases
you use at the shell prompt.  You can bind keys during your session,
but you have to add them to the .ratpoisonrc (or .bashrc) for them to
take effect when you start ratpoison (or log-in).  Of course if you
are just editing the rc files, then you know that you've got to
restart ratpoison (or log-out & log-in) for your changes to take
effect.

I can't count the number of times that has I have forgotten that.

>         If I hit the remapped key repeatedly, maybe 15% go through as expected 
> and the
>         rest are dropped.  The key remapping works fine in xterm/screen/vim.

I haven't taken full advantage of the newer key re-mapping features of
ratpoison.  Could you post some output (using a program like xev) and
tell us exactly what macro/programs you are invoking at the time?

> Obviously something is wrong in both cases, but I don't know where the bugs
> are.
>
> Any other way to implement keyboard macros with ratpoison?  Does anyone else
> see a need for this, or are you just content to remap keys in every
> application you use?  What do you do if you don't like the keys in an
> application that doesn't have that feature?  Just deal with it is NOT an
> acceptable answer... if I wanted my computer to tell me how I'm going to use
> it I'd still be using Windows.  KDE has this ability but obviously I don't
> want to use KDE either.

I too wasted a few hours of my day once trying to get multi-key,
emacs-style keybindings to function under KDE.  Best of luck on
configuring ratpoison to your tastes.

-- Paul