Awesome WM: Placing tiled clients in specific order on startup

Question

I've installed Awesome WM about a week ago. Since then I've been trying to place terminal clients (bare terminal and vim, vifm, htop) in a specific order on startup. Here is a visual representation of what I'm trying to achieve:

########################
#            #   htop  #
#            ###########
#    vim     #   bare  #
#            ###########
#            #   vifm  #
########################

I've managed to place vim in the right position, but other windows are placed in what seems to be an arbitrary order, which changes with every reboot. Here is the content of my autostart.lua config:

    1 local awful = require("awful")                                 
    1                                                                
    2 awful.spawn.single_instance(terminal.."-e xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap; exit")             
    3 awful.spawn.single_instance("brave-browser", {                 
    4     fullscreen = true,                                         
    5     focus = true                                               
    6 })                                                             
    7             
    8 awful.spawn(terminal.." -e vim", {
    9     tag = "edit",
   10     placement = awful.placement.left,                          
   11     callback = function(c) awful.client.setmaster(c) end})
   12 awful.spawn(terminal.." -e htop", {                      
   13     tag = "edit",                                          
   14     height = 80, 
   15     placement = awful.placement.top_right})               
   16 awful.spawn(terminal, {
   17     tag = "edit",                                              
   18     placement = awful.placement.right})
   19 awful.spawn(terminal.." -e vifm", {   
   20     tag = "edit",    
   21     placement = awful.placement.bottom_right})
   22                                                                
   23 awful.spawn(terminal.." -e neomutt", {
   24     tag = "communication",                                     
   25     fullscreen = true })
   26                                                         
   27 awful.spawn("Spotify", { tag = "read" })

The layout of the tag with which I have problem is "tile". I'm on Awesome v4.3. What client property should I add to get the desired behavior?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Nov 04 '20 at 11:23

To get clients been spawned in the desired positions on startup callback option should be used. Here is a chunk of my autostart.lua file related to the issue:

    1 local awful = require("awful")                                                   
    1                                                                                  
    2 local function spawn_vifm ()                                                     
    3     awful.spawn(terminal.." -e vifm", {                                          
    4         tag = "edit",                                                            
    5         placement = awful.placement.bottom_right                                 
    6     })                                                                           
    7 end                                                                              
    8                                                                                  
    9 local function spawn_term ()                                                     
   10     awful.spawn(terminal, {                                                      
   11         tag = "edit",                                                            
   12         placement = awful.placement.right,                                       
   13         callback = function(c) spawn_vifm() end                                  
   14 })                                                                               
   15 end                                                                              
   16                                                                                  
   17 local function spawn_htop ()                                                     
   18     awful.spawn(terminal.." -e htop", {                                          
   19         tag = "edit",                                                            
   20         placement = awful.placement.top_right,                                   
   21         callback = function(c) spawn_term() end                                  
   22     })                                                                           
   23 end
   .......
   38 awful.spawn(terminal.." -e vim", {                                               
   39     tag = "edit",                                                                
   40     placement = awful.placement.left,                                            
   41     callback = function(c)                                                       
   42         awful.client.setmaster(c)                                                
   43         store_active_client(awful.tag.find_by_name(awful.screen.focused(), "edit"), c)
   44         spawn_htop()                                                             
   45     end                                                                          
   46 })

Spawning the next client in the callback function of the previous one ensures, that the placement property will be preserved for both of them.

with this solution for me the callback was not executed, I was trying start 3 alacritty windows in order... — Leandro Loureiro, Apr 15 '22 at 23:26

Doyousketch2 · Answer 2 · 2020-11-04T07:40:30.773

I don't know what you mean by this: "The layout of the tag with which I have problem is tiled left." I assume you mean that your terminals aren't tiling properly? I've used AwesomeWM for about a week a few years ago, but realized quickly it needs a lot of tinkering to get exactly how you want it. What's happening to you is exactly what I was running into.

Found it easier just to use LXDE and Devilspie2. You can Lua script windows to undecorate & maximise, jump to other desktops or whatever you want, fairly easily. This might help get you where you're going, but it's hard to say, without clarification on your question.

local screenwidth = awful.screen.geometry.width
local screenheight = awful.screen.geometry.height

local halfwidth = math.floor( screenwidth /2 )
local thirdheight = math.floor( screenheight /3 )

awful .spawn( terminal .." -e vim", {
    tag = "edit",
    width = halfwidth,
    height = screenheight,
    placement = awful .placement .left,
    callback = function(c) awful .client .setmaster(c) end }  )

awful .spawn( terminal.." -e htop", {
    tag = "edit",
    width = halfwidth,
    height = thirdheight,
    placement = awful .placement .top_right }  )

awful .spawn( terminal, {  --  bare
    tag = "edit",
    width = halfwidth,
    height = thirdheight,
    placement = awful .placement .right }  )

awful .spawn( terminal .." -e vifm", {
    tag = "edit",
    width = halfwidth,
    height = thirdheight,
    placement = awful .placement .bottom_right }  )

Also, I'd point out that Conky might be a viable solution, if you're just looking to view terminal output on your desktop, while scripting in Lua.

Thanks for your answer and suggestions. By _The layout of the tag with which I have problem is tiled left_ I've meant, that the layout I was having issues with is "tiled left" in Awesome terminology (actually, its just "tiled"). After some more study of Awesome API, I've managed to get the desired behavior. The key was to use **callback** option and to spawn the next client only when the previous one is ready. This way it ensures, that client are spawned in the correct order. By the way, I still haven't figured out how to set the "htop" widths, but I think I can live with it. — arsoc, Nov 04 '20 at 11:11

Awesome WM: Placing tiled clients in specific order on startup

2 Answers2