FVWM: Module config syntax

From: Mikhael Goikhman <migo_at_homemail.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2001 16:15:33 +0000

On 17 Dec 2001 06:36:44 -0800, Tenebrae wrote:
>
> I noticed Dominik's example from the FvwmButtons man page looks a bit
> different from my old format:
>
> *FvwmButtons: (Title Xcalc, Icon rcalc.xpm, \
> Action `Exec "Calculator" xcalc &`)
>
> vs. my entry:
>
> *FvwmButtons(Title xcalc, Icon calculator.xpm, \
> Action 'Exec "Calculator" xcalc &')
>
> Dominik et al, should I go through and add a colon to all my FvwmButtons
> entries? It looks like it works now without them, and the man pages have
> no comment on the mysterious colon apearance.

  % man fvwm2
  /MODULE COMMANDS

I enhanced the syntax with a colon separator to avoid name conflicts.
The old syntax is still supported. Also search for "colon" in NEWS file.

It was a short signed decision in the past not to use any delimiter
between a module name and a module config resource. Adding a support for
aliases only worsen the situation. Anyone activelly using module aliases
sooner or later comes to name conflict problems with the old syntax.
The new syntax using a colon avoids any conflicts (i.e. a config resource
is never messed up with a module name since there is a delimiter).

The old module config syntax is:

  *FvwmModuleConfigDirective Parameters

The ideal module config syntax (in theory) would be:

  _at_ FvwmModule ConfigDirective Parameters

The new module config syntax (while keeping compatibility) is:

  *FvwmModule: ConfigDirective Parameters

I would suggest to use a new syntax, which is also more readable.

> I also noticed the use of ` vs. ' which the man pages seem to indicate
> doesn't really matter unless you're using a preprocessor like FvwmCpp
> which I'm not so I should be fine with those...right?

All 3 quote chars ("), (') and (`) are functionaly equivalent (the same
char is used for starting and ending quote). You may use all 3 to write
complex nested strings. Backquotes are good with PipeRead and other shell
strings, where the string itself does not contain a backquote, but may
contain a single or double quote. Preprocessors (FvwmM4 and FvwmCpp) are
another story, they use their own starting and ending quote chars.

Regards,
Mikhael.
--
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Received on Mon Dec 17 2001 - 10:16:05 GMT

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