Applications launching over two monitors

mtta · 2018-11-14 15:15:30

Hello All,

When launching an application it seems to launch on the monitor my cursor is on.

This is causing us issues with certain applications that spawn windows across multiple monitors. The application is meant to load one window on the left monitor and one on the right monitor. If my cursor is on the left monitor when opening the application the windows open as intended, however if my cursor is on the right monitor the windows stack on top of each other on the right monitor (my left monitor is my primary). Is there any way to stop this behavior and default applications to opening with the primary?

Thank you

ToZ · 2018-11-14 17:40:08

Hello and welcome.

Which distro, version of Xfce and most importantly, version of xfce4-settings are you using?

You can get the xfce4-settings version easily via:

xfsettingsd -V

mtta · 2018-11-14 17:49:49

Hello and thank you,

We are using CentOS Linux release 7.4.1708 (Core), Xfce4 4.12 and xfce4-settings 4.12.1

Thank you

ToZ · 2018-11-14 19:07:03

Primary support has just been recently added/fixed. See https://simon.shimmerproject.org/2018/1 … play-land/ - though still pending for xfdesktop.

As a workaround for that specific application, you can use a utility like devilspie to force startup window coordinates.

mtta · 2018-11-15 12:11:38

Ahh okay, that is a very recent post so I assume it won't be released for a while?

I have never used devilspie and my current attempts to force an applications location has not been fruitful. I am just testing forcing firefox onto my second monitor with:

(if (is (application_name) "Firefox") (geometry "1920x1149+1920+0"))

Firefox is still opening on the monitor my cursor is on

ToZ · 2018-11-15 14:55:14

mtta wrote:

Ahh okay, that is a very recent post so I assume it won't be released for a while?

It will be released as part of the new 4.14 Xfce version. Some distros do make development releases of Xfce available - I'm not sure about CentOS though.

I have never used devilspie and my current attempts to force an applications location has not been fruitful. I am just testing forcing firefox onto my second monitor with:
(if (is (application_name) "Firefox") (geometry "1920x1149+1920+0"))
Firefox is still opening on the monitor my cursor is on

I don't have dual monitors available right now to test, but a few suggestions:

1. Try running devilspie with the "-d" parameter to get debug info. (note you can also use "-a" to apply to existing windows so you don't need to restart the app all the time).
2. Try just changing the shape of the firefox window to see if that works.
3. Try with another application, like mousepad.

Basically, try to get it working first with a simple example then move onto your second screen firefox example. I wil ltry to test this later tonight when I have access to an external monitor.

mtta · 2018-11-16 12:19:28

Toz wrote:

It will be released as part of the new 4.14 Xfce version. Some distros do make development releases of Xfce available - I'm not sure about CentOS though.

Okay, I will wait for that to be released. I don't know if CentOS do either, I don't think they do.

ToZ wrote:

1. Try running devilspie with the "-d" parameter to get debug info. (note you can also use "-a" to apply to existing windows so you don't need to restart the app all the time).

I was running the command with a (debug ... ) around it all to see the output but it didn't seem to match the application name even though that was what was printed out as the application name, it was just printing out this

Window Title: 'Mozilla Firefox'; Application Name: 'Firefox'; Class: 'Firefox'; Geometry: 1920x1148+0+26

ToZ wrote:

Basically, try to get it working first with a simple example then move onto your second screen firefox example.

Haha that was what I was going for, firefox was the application I was testing with. I want to get it working for an application called Nuke. But I will try with something else like mousepad.

Thank you

ToZ · 2018-11-16 13:35:30

mtta wrote:

I was running the command with a (debug ... ) around it all to see the output but it didn't seem to match the application name even though that was what was printed out as the application name, it was just printing out this
Window Title: 'Mozilla Firefox'; Application Name: 'Firefox'; Class: 'Firefox'; Geometry: 1920x1148+0+26

Can you post the full debug info? Mine looks like this:

Devil's Pie 0.23 starting...
Loading /etc/devilspie
Loading /etc/devilspie/example.ds
Loading /home/toz/.devilspie
Loading /home/toz/.devilspie/jetbrains-toolbox.ds
Loading /home/toz/.devilspie/firefox.ds
3 s-expressions loaded.
Window Title: 'Desktop'; Application Name: 'xfdesktop'; Class: 'Xfdesktop'; Geometry: 1920x1080+0+0
Window Title: 'Terminal - toz@arch:~/.local/share/applications'; Application Name: 'Xfce Terminal'; Class: 'Xfce4-terminal'; Geometry: 484x339+718+381
Window Title: 'Applications launching over two monitors / Desktop / Xfce Forums - Mozilla Firefox'; Application Name: 'Firefox'; Class: 'Firefox'; Geometry: 1049x854+244+80
Setting geometry '1047x829+536+80'
Window Title: 'Pictures - File Manager'; Application Name: 'Thunar'; Class: 'Thunar'; Geometry: 642x505+685+426
Window Title: 'Terminal - toz@arch:~/.local/share/applications'; Application Name: 'Xfce Terminal'; Class: 'Xfce4-terminal'; Geometry: 484x339+145+59
Window Title: 'Terminal - toz@arch:~/.devilspie'; Application Name: 'Xfce Terminal'; Class: 'Xfce4-terminal'; Geometry: 484x339+67+479
Window Title: 'xfce4-panel'; Application Name: 'xfce4-panel'; Class: 'Xfce4-panel'; Geometry: 960x22+480+0

...and my firefox.ds file simply changes the screen location:

(if (is (application_name) "Firefox") (geometry "1047x829+536+80"))

You can see that 3 expressions were loaded (including firefox.ds) and right after acknowledging the firefox window, it sets the geometry as per the directive:

Window Title: 'Applications launching over two monitors / Desktop / Xfce Forums - Mozilla Firefox'; Application Name: 'Firefox'; Class: 'Firefox'; Geometry: 1049x854+244+80
Setting geometry '1047x829+536+80'

mtta · 2018-11-16 16:01:24

ToZ wrote:

Can you post the full debug info?

Here is the full debug output

[matta@union18:]$devilspie -d
Devil's Pie 0.22 starting...
Loading /etc/devilspie
Loading /home/users/matta/.devilspie
Loading /home/users/matta/.devilspie/firefox.ds
1 s-expressions loaded.
Window Title: 'Gnote'; Application Name: 'gnote'; Class: 'Gnote'; Geometry: 910x693+108+371
Window Title: 'Terminal - matta@union18:~/.devilspie'; Application Name: 'Xfce Terminal'; Class: 'Xfce4-terminal'; Geometry: 816x506+2184+457
Window Title: 'Terminal - matta@union18:~'; Application Name: 'Xfce Terminal'; Class: 'Xfce4-terminal'; Geometry: 2120x506+1959+214
Window Title: 'root@sol-ldn-sn-001:~'; Application Name: 'terminator'; Class: 'Terminator'; Geometry: 931x783+293+206
Setting geometry '1920x1149+1920+0'
Window Title: 'Custom graphs [refreshed every 30 sec.] - Mozilla Firefox'; Application Name: 'Firefox'; Class: 'Firefox'; Geometry: 1920x1148+0+26
Window Title: 'Applications launching over two monitors / Desktop / Xfce Forums - Google Chrome'; Application Name: 'Applications launching over two monitors / Desktop / Xfce Forums - Google Chrome'; Class: 'Google-chrome'; Geometry: 1920x1174+1920+0
Window Title: 'Desktop'; Application Name: 'xfdesktop'; Class: 'Xfdesktop'; Geometry: 3840x1200+1920+0
Window Title: 'xfce4-panel'; Application Name: 'xfce4-panel'; Class: 'Xfce4-panel'; Geometry: 1920x26+1920+1174
Window Title: 'xfce4-panel'; Application Name: 'xfce4-panel'; Class: 'Xfce4-panel'; Geometry: 1920x26+0+0
Window Title: 'xfce4-panel'; Application Name: 'xfce4-panel'; Class: 'Xfce4-panel'; Geometry: 1920x26+0+1174
Setting geometry '1920x1149+1920+0'
Window Title: 'Mozilla Firefox'; Application Name: 'Firefox'; Class: 'Firefox'; Geometry: 1920x1148+0+26

ToZ wrote:

...and my firefox.ds file simply changes the screen location:

That's what I'm trying to do as well

(if (is (application_name) "Firefox") (geometry "1920x1149+1920+0"))

ToZ wrote:

You can see that 3 expressions were loaded (including firefox.ds) and right after acknowledging the firefox window, it sets the geometry as per the directive:

Mine is giving the acknowledgements but before the window is loading, setting the geometry and then setting it wrong?

Setting geometry '1920x1149+1920+0'
Window Title: 'Mozilla Firefox'; Application Name: 'Firefox'; Class: 'Firefox'; Geometry: 1920x1148+0+26

ToZ · 2018-11-16 18:11:19

That is weird. Try adding a delay in the script - maybe the script is processing faster than the window is drawing:

(if (is (application_name) "Firefox") (begin (spawn_sync "sleep 5") (geometry "1047x829+536+80")))

...adjust the sleep value to suit.

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#1 2018-11-14 15:15:30

Applications launching over two monitors

#2 2018-11-14 17:40:08

Re: Applications launching over two monitors

#3 2018-11-14 17:49:49

Re: Applications launching over two monitors

#4 2018-11-14 19:07:03

Re: Applications launching over two monitors

#5 2018-11-15 12:11:38

Re: Applications launching over two monitors

#6 2018-11-15 14:55:14

Re: Applications launching over two monitors

#7 2018-11-16 12:19:28

Re: Applications launching over two monitors

#8 2018-11-16 13:35:30

Re: Applications launching over two monitors

#9 2018-11-16 16:01:24

Re: Applications launching over two monitors

#10 2018-11-16 18:11:19

Re: Applications launching over two monitors

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