A different instance of one program on each desktop?

Configuration General Questions
1

I’d like to use conky, but for some reason w/ fvwmbacker, the desktop will flicker between the old/new wallpaper when I change it. Since I was toying w/ the idea of having different conky configs for each desktop, how could I kill and restart conky w/ a different configuration each time I moved to some other desktop?

2

This is not such a good idea. The reason for the flicking is due to the fact that conky will be redrawing itself constantly, and it would get worse as you moved around pages/desks whatever. If it piques your curiosity though (and I am assuming you’re using pages here, but it’s all a variation on the same theme), here’s one solution:

DestroyModuleConfig FE:*
*FE: Cmd Function
*FE: new_page SomeFunc

Module FvwmEvent FE

Starts up FvwmEvent under the alias of ‘FE’ and makes it listen for a change of desk, running SomeFunc as it does so.

Now, SomeFunc might either be defined by the presence of this conky window on this page, hence it could be written as:

DestroyFunc SomeFunc
AddToFuunc SomeFunc
+ I Next (conky, CurrentPage) PipeRead `Exec exec killall conky && conky -options`

Or, if it’s sticky or something and you want to make sure you’re on the right page before reloading…

DestroyFunc SomeFunc
AddToFuunc SomeFunc
+ I PipeRead `[ "$[page.nx] $[page.ny]" ] = "0 1" ] || echo break`
+ I Next (conky, CurrentPage) PipeRead `Exec exec killall conky && conky -options`

All of this is simplified though if conky accepts some sort of -name or -class option.

– Thomas Adam

3

Just to elaborate further: I’m assuming in all instances in my previous post that conky is running in its own window. if it just so happens to be apart of the root window, then detecting the window’s presence is going to be annoying – so reloading conky based on which page/desk one is on might be the only way to go. That would flicker so.

– Thomas Adam

4

You’re spot on about the flickering. I tried one of the screenshot/iconization scripts and it flickers every time I minimize something anyway. Ah well, I think running a transparent aterm would be the best bet for logs and whatnot since I an direct mouse clicks to the root window. I’ve gotta say, FVWM just seems to powerful, I can have a different wall/setup I can switch from on the fly, it’s just crazy/ Thanks a bunch btw!