Possible to click *through* panel?

Ailurus · 2011-05-19 12:44:02

Hi all,

I just installed XFCE4 on my Laptop, thus far I'm very content! There is however one small thing that's bugging me. I have a panel (with some launchers) in the bottom of my screen, and using the command

xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -p /panels/panel-0/disable-struts -t bool -n -s true

I ensured that the panel is always on top of the windows. However, when using Chromium, there is the Download-bar that is approximately in the same space, and using Firefox there is the Find-bar. Because my icons are now on top, It's not possible to use these bars (unless I resize my windows of course). Therefore I was wondering, is it possible to click on some content underneath a panel, i.e. click *through* a panel? Either clicking while holding a specific key, or perhaps using the middle mouse button for this purpose would be fine.

Thanks!

Nick · 2011-05-19 15:40:57

Nope not possible.

Ailurus · 2011-05-19 16:35:45

Hm that's a pitty, but I'll have to live with it. Would it be difficult to implement such a feature? Perhaps I could look into it somewhere in my summer.

Nick · 2011-05-19 17:15:57

The problem is that the windows overlap each other, doubt there is a clean solution for that.

ComputerBob · 2011-05-19 18:36:14

Would it solve your problem if you set the panel to auto-hide? That way, you could click on Chromium buttons whenever you wanted to, and "raise" the panel whenever you wanted it.

Ailurus · 2011-05-19 19:32:03

No not really, since I like my launchers to be partially visible like this:

But thanks for your suggestion!

Ailurus · 2011-05-19 22:50:30

Hmm, I thought of a temporary solution. I can set the panel to autohide with the command

xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -p /panels/panel-0/autohide -t bool -n -s true

Now I'm able to click on the various bars in Chromium/Firefox. When done, use the command

xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -p /panels/panel-0/autohide -t bool -n -s false

The latter command reacts immediately, the former takes some time to react (between 1 and 2 seconds)...?

Instead of creating 2 shortcuts for this procedure, would it be possible to read the current value of autohide (i.e. true or false) and set it to the complementary value (so current true = set false, current false = set true)...?

Nick · 2011-05-20 06:21:28

With some bash you can do this i suppose but a toggle option for xfconf-query is on my to do.

stqn · 2011-05-20 14:02:51

You can adapt the small bash script of this blog post...

Ailurus · 2011-05-20 17:27:23

Ah merci, stqn

I changed your script a bit, in the sense that I made it more general. I created a symbolic link, so now I can just use the command

toggle "xfconf-query -c xfce4-panel -p /panels/panel-0/autohide"

[Edit]
For the sake of scripting beauty, is it possible to invert a gboolean value? I'm used to program a toggle function like: booleanproperty = !booleanproperty...

Last edited by Ailurus (2011-05-20 17:33:58)

stqn · 2011-05-22 12:21:25

Ailurus wrote:

For the sake of scripting beauty, is it possible to invert a gboolean value? I'm used to program a toggle function like: booleanproperty = !booleanproperty...

I searched but couldn't find a better/shorter way to switch between "true" and "false". I tried something with an array containing "false" and "true" and the shell commands true and false but didn't get anywhere...
I'm not an expert in bash scripting though.

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#1 2011-05-19 12:44:02