some applications ignoring ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml

[Lew_Rockwell_fan]

Happy 2014, y'all!
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ADDED LATER BY EDIT: I've restated the problem more accurately in a new thread here:
http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=36635
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Background:
System was created with an installation CD made from the Ubuntu Saucy 13.10, 32 bit, mini.iso. (or maybe it was Precise or Raring at the time and I've since upgraded to Saucy, I forget) to get a basic tty-only system. I installed x, a display manager and greeter, openbox, lxterminal, lxpanel (though I do NOT have it set to start up automatically and use it rarely), thunar, Mirage (pic viewer), vlc, and a little of this and that. I do NOT "manage the desktop" with thunar or anything else. PCmanfm is not installed. So this is not strictly an lxde system but a plain openbox one. As far as I know there is no forum for plain openbox systems, nor one for minimalist hybrids. There is however, a lot of openbox expertise in the denizens of this forum, which is my excuse for asking a (strictly speaking) non-lxde question in an lxde forum.

A lot of my aps ignore my ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml applications section. In fact, the only ap that I know for sure does honor it is Mirage. Gedit, thunar, and firefox definitely ignore the

Code: Select all

<application name="*" type="normal">

section and open at sizes and postitions of their own choosing. I haven't been able to figure out why.

Here is a copy of the relevant portion at the end containing the application section[NOTE: Revised,after I belatedly absorbed the implications of Rex's comment on the edit button] :

Code: Select all

  .  .  . [starting near the bottom] . . .
  </menu>
  <applications>
    <!--
  # this is an example with comments through out. use these to make your

 .  .  . [skipping some commented out stuff]

  # end of the example
-->
<!--*************************************-->
<!--
This should correspond to the wmctrl menu line for "very big":
            <position force="yes">
                <x>0</x>
                <y>60</y>
                <width>1912</width>
                <height>970</height>
            </position>
            <maximized>no</maximized>
but doesn't work.
-->
<!--=====================================-->
        <application title="*">
            <position force="yes">
                <x>0</x>
                <y>60</y>
                <width>1912</width>
                <height>150</height>
            </position>
            <maximized>no</maximized>
        </application>
<!--=====================================-->
        <application name="XScreenSaver: StarWars Settings">
            <position force="yes">
                <x>0</x>
                <y>200</y>
                <width>1800</width>
                <height>1080</height>.
            </position>
            <maximized>no</maximized>
        </application>
<!--=====================================-->
        <!-- I want height 970 but I have it set 
            noticeably low so if this finally works
            I'll know it.-->
        <application name="thunar" type="normal">
            <position force="yes">
                <x>0</x>
                <y>60</y>
                <height>150</height>
                <width>1912</width>
            </position>
            <maximized>no</maximized>
        </application>
<!--=====================================-->
        <application title="*File Manager*" type="normal">
            <position force="yes">
                <x>0</x>
                <y>60</y>
                <height>97</height>
                <width>1912</width>
            </position>
            <maximized>no</maximized>
        </application>
<!--=====================================-->
<!--=====================================-->
    <application name="*gedit*">
      <position force="yes">
        <x>2</x>
        <y>60</y>
        <width>1912</width>
        <height>970</height>.
      </position>
      <maximized>no</maximized>
    </application>
<!--=====================================-->
<!--=====================================-->
    <application name="LXTerminal">
      <position force="yes">
        <x>2</x>
        <y>60</y>
        <width>1912</width>
        <height>970</height>.
      </position>
      <maximized>no</maximized>
    </application>
<!--=====================================-->
        <application name="CLEO Options">
            <position force="yes">
                <x>0</x>
                <y>200</y>
                <width>1800</width>
                <height>1080</height>.
        </position>
            <maximized>no</maximized>
        </application>
<!--=====================================-->
        <application name="Conky">
            <decor>no</decor>
            <desktop>all</desktop>
            <layer>above</layer>
            <skip_taskbar>yes</skip_taskbar>
        </application>
<!--=====================================-->
<!--=====================================-->
        <application title="Mirage">
            <position force="yes">
                <x>2</x>
                <y>1</y>
                <width>1912</width>
                <height>1025</height>
            </position>
            <maximized>no</maximized>
        </application>
<!--=====================================-->
    </applications>
<!--*****************************************-->

</openbox_config>
<!-- extra lines to force gedit to show 
     the line numbers correctly 
 . . . [skipping a lot of commented out blank lines]
   extra lines to force gedit to show 
   the line numbers correctly 

-->

Thanks for reading. Any suggestions?

[Rex Bouwense]

I believe that you are correct. There is no Openbox forum that I have been able to find. There may be a wealth of openbox expertise here but you may have to wait for a response because as you can see we are not a large forum and an even smaller number of active members. Hopefully, one or more of them can provide you some information that may help.

[Lew_Rockwell_fan]

Darn, there is no edit-the-post-you-showed-the-world-you're-an-idiot-in-before-anyone-notices button. . . . [edited later to remove further evidence when I finally found the button after toggling my Firefox colors]

Actually, there is, as Rex kindly pointed out. I couldn't see it because I use Firefox extension "Blank Your Monitor" and occasionally it will make buttons invisible, depending on the site's color scheme. So when I finally caught on I went back and edited the first post to incorporate the correction and update it a little. Incidentally, if anyone reading this finds white on black easier to read than dark on light BYM is a pretty good extension and unlike some similar ones it CAN be easily toggled if you remember to do it.

Thanks for the thought, Rex. I quite understand. I've been here before.

[Rex Bouwense]

Yes. I need one of those buttons as well. There is always the edit button and if you are quick enough perhaps no one will notice since there are so few people on this forum daily. Anyway, I found a web site that I am not sure if you have looked at
http://lxlinux.com/openbox.html
It along with a few other web sites have been created and are maintained by seppalta, a member and contributor to this forum.

[Lew_Rockwell_fan]

Yes. Thank you, Rex. I studied that site quite a bit back this past summer (Northern hemisphere summer, like August maybe) when Seppalta and Drooly went way above and beyond in helping me get the openbox menu to behave sanely on a Lubuntu system. That particular page you link to especially as it is about the menu. Once I got that working right as my main system I started tinkering with this simpler system and now IT'S become my main system. The menu works great, even better than it did on the stripped down Lubuntu system. Without all the extra layers put on by LXDE and Lubuntu it was easy to make it work, complete with the semiautomatic debian submenu which I don't think I ever got running on the Lubuntu.

Anyway, the menu isn't a problem at all. I've got a slew of wmctrl statements on it that minimise the annoyance of the window placement and size of most aps ignoring my rc.xml despite the force line. So right click for a menu, again for the resize submenu, again for the particular size/position I want, and finally on the window in question. But it would be nicer if they behaved properly to begin with. That's my objective now.

[Lew_Rockwell_fan]

. . . There is always the edit button . . .

I was slow to catch on. You're serious. There is a button. I just couldn't see it because of my color settings. Thanks. I made corrections.
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ADDED LATER BY EDIT: I've restated the problem more accurately in a new thread here:
http://forum.lxde.org/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=36635
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