Module: wibox.container.background

A container capable of changing the background color, foreground color and widget shape.

Class Hierarchy

Info:

  • Copyright: 2010 Uli Schlachter
  • Originally authored by: Uli Schlachter
    (Full contributors list available on our github project)

Constructors

wibox.container.background (widget, bg, shape) Returns a new background container.

Object properties

widget widget or nil The widget displayed in the background widget.
stretch_horizontally boolean Stretch the background gradient horizontally.
stretch_vertically boolean Stretch the background gradient vertically.
bg color The background color/pattern/gradient to use.
fg color The foreground (text) color/pattern/gradient to use.
shape shape The background shape.
border_width number Add a border of a specific width.
border_color color Set the color for the border.
border_strategy string How the border width affects the contained widget.
children table Get or set the children elements. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
all_children table Get all direct and indirect children widgets. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
forced_height number or nil Force a widget height. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
forced_width number or nil Force a widget width. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
opacity number The widget opacity (transparency). Inherited from wibox.widget.base
visible boolean The widget visibility. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
buttons table The widget buttons. Inherited from wibox.widget.base

Deprecated object properties

shape_border_width number When a shape is set, also draw a border. Deprecated
shape_border_color color When a shape is set, also draw a border. Deprecated
bgimage string or surface or function The background image to use. Deprecated

Object methods

:set_shape (shape) Set the background shape.
:add_button (button) Add a new awful.button to this widget. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
:emit_signal_recursive (signal_name, ...) Emit a signal and ensure all parent widgets in the hierarchies also forward the signal. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
:index (widget, recursive, ...) -> (number, widget, table) Get the index of a widget. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
:connect_signal (name, func) Connect to a signal. Inherited from gears.object
:weak_connect_signal (name, func) Connect to a signal weakly. Inherited from gears.object
:disconnect_signal (name, func) Disconnect from a signal. Inherited from gears.object
:emit_signal (name, ...) Emit a signal. Inherited from gears.object

Signals

widget::layout_changed When the layout (size) change. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
widget::redraw_needed When the widget content changed. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
button::press When a mouse button is pressed over the widget. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
button::release When a mouse button is released over the widget. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
mouse::enter When the mouse enter a widget. Inherited from wibox.widget.base
mouse::leave When the mouse leave a widget. Inherited from wibox.widget.base


Constructors

🔗 wibox.container.background (widget, bg, shape)
Returns a new background container.

A background container applies a background and foreground color to another widget.

Parameters:

Name Type(s) Description
widget Optional widget The widget to display.
bg Optional color The background to use for that widget.
shape Optional gears.shape or function A gears.shape compatible shape function

Object properties

🔗 widget widget or nil
The widget displayed in the background widget.

Constraints:

Default value : nil
Valid values : The widget to be disaplayed inside of the background area.
🔗 stretch_horizontally boolean · 1 signal
Stretch the background gradient horizontally.

This only works for linear or radial gradients. It does nothing for solid colors, bgimage or raster patterns.

Constraints:

Default value : false
Valid values : true or false.

See also:

stretch_vertically Stretch the background gradient vertically. object properties
bg The background color/pattern/gradient to use. object properties
gears.color This module simplifies the creation of cairo pattern objects. module

Usage:

    local gradients = {
    gears.color {
        type  = "linear",
        from  = { 0  , 0 },
        to    = { 100, 0 },
        stops = {
            { 0  , "#0000ff" },
            { 0.8, "#0000ff" },
            { 1  , "#ff0000" }
        }
    },
    gears.color {
        type = "radial",
        from  = { 30, 98, 20  },
        to    = { 30, 98, 120 },
        stops = {
            { 0  , "#ff0000" },
            { 0.5, "#00ff00" },
            { 1  , "#0000ff" },
        }
    }
}

for k, stretch in ipairs { false, true } do
    for __, grad in ipairs(gradients) do
        for idx, width in ipairs { 50, 100, 150, 200 } do
            local w = wibox.widget {
                {
                    {
                        text   = "  Width: " .. width .. "  ",
                        valign = "center",
                        align  = "center",
                        widget = wibox.widget.textbox
                    },
                    bg                   = grad,
                    stretch_horizontally = stretch,
                    forced_width         = width,
                    fg                   = "#ffffff",
                    shape                = gears.shape.rounded_rect,
                    widget               = wibox.container.background
                },
                forced_width  = 200,
                widget        = wibox.container.place
            }
        end
    end
end

Click to display more

Emit signals:
🔗 stretch_vertically boolean · 1 signal
Stretch the background gradient vertically.

This only works for linear or radial gradients. It does nothing for solid colors, bgimage or raster patterns.

Constraints:

Default value : false
Valid values : true or false.

See also:

stretch_horizontally Stretch the background gradient horizontally. object properties
bg The background color/pattern/gradient to use. object properties
gears.color This module simplifies the creation of cairo pattern objects. module

Usage:

    local gradients = {
    gears.color {
        type  = "linear",
        from  = { 0, 0   },
        to    = { 0, 100 },
        stops = {
            { 0  , "#0000ff" },
            { 0.8, "#0000ff" },
            { 1  , "#ff0000" }
        }
    },
    gears.color {
        type = "radial",
        from  = { 30, 98, 20  },
        to    = { 30, 98, 120 },
        stops = {
            { 0  , "#ff0000" },
            { 0.5, "#00ff00" },
            { 1  , "#0000ff" },
        }
    }
}

for k, stretch in ipairs { false, true } do
    for _, gradient in ipairs(gradients) do
        for idx, height in ipairs { 10, 50, 100, 150 } do
            local w = wibox.widget {
                {
                    {
                        text   = "  Height: " .. height .. "  ",
                        valign = "center",
                        align  = "center",
                        widget = wibox.widget.textbox
                    },
                    bg                 = gradient,
                    stretch_vertically = stretch,
                    forced_height      = height,
                    fg                 = "#ffffff",
                    shape              = gears.shape.rounded_rect,
                    widget             = wibox.container.background
                },
                forced_height = 150,
                widget        = wibox.container.place
            }
        end
    end
end

Click to display more

Emit signals:
🔗 bg color · 1 signal
The background color/pattern/gradient to use.

Constraints:

Default value : When unspecified, it will inherit the value from an higher level wibox.container.background or directly from the wibox.bg property.
Type description:
string : An hexadecimal color code, such as "#ff0000" for red.
string : A color name, such as "red".
table : A gradient table.
cairo.pattern : Any valid Cairo pattern.
cairo.pattern : A texture build from an image by gears.color.create_png_pattern

See also:

gears.color This module simplifies the creation of cairo pattern objects. module

Usage:

    local text_widget = {
    text   = "Hello world!",
    widget = wibox.widget.textbox
}
parent : setup {
    {
        text_widget,
        bg     = '#ff0000',
        widget = wibox.container.background
    },
    {
        text_widget,
        bg     = '#00ff00',
        widget = wibox.container.background
    },
    {
        text_widget,
        bg     = '#0000ff',
        widget = wibox.container.background
    },
    spacing = 10,
    layout  = wibox.layout.fixed.vertical
}

Click to display more

Emit signals:

  • property::bg When the bg value changes.
    • self wibox.container.background The object which changed (useful when connecting many object to the same callback).
    • new_value bg The new value affected to the property.
🔗 fg color · 1 signal
The foreground (text) color/pattern/gradient to use.

Constraints:

Default value : When unspecified, it will inherit the value from an higher level wibox.container.background or directly from the wibox.fg property.
Type description:
string : An hexadecimal color code, such as "#ff0000" for red.
string : A color name, such as "red".
table : A gradient table.
cairo.pattern : Any valid Cairo pattern.
cairo.pattern : A texture build from an image by gears.color.create_png_pattern
Valid values : A color string, pattern or gradient

See also:

gears.color This module simplifies the creation of cairo pattern objects. module

Usage:

    local text_widget = {
    text   = "Hello world!",
    widget = wibox.widget.textbox
}
parent : setup {
    {
        text_widget,
        fg     = '#ff0000',
        widget = wibox.container.background
    },
    {
        text_widget,
        fg     = '#00ff00',
        widget = wibox.container.background
    },
    {
        text_widget,
        fg     = '#0000ff',
        widget = wibox.container.background
    },
    spacing = 10,
    layout  = wibox.layout.fixed.vertical
}

Click to display more

Emit signals:

  • property::fg When the fg value changes.
    • self wibox.container.background The object which changed (useful when connecting many object to the same callback).
    • new_value fg The new value affected to the property.
🔗 shape shape
The background shape.

Use set_shape to set additional shape paramaters.

Constraints:

Default value : gears.shape.rectangle
Type description:
gears.shape : Like gears.shape.circle
function: : This can be used for custom shapes or to set parameters of existing shapes.
Function prototype:
Parameters:
cr (cairo.context) : A Cairo context
width (number) : The area width.
height (number) : The area height.
Return : The function returns nothing.

See also:

gears.shape Module dedicated to gather common shape painters. module
set_shape Set the background shape. object methods

Usage:

    parent : setup {
    {
        -- Adding a shape without margin may result in cropped output
        {
            text   = "Hello world!",
            widget = wibox.widget.textbox
        },
        shape              = gears.shape.hexagon,
        bg                 = beautiful.bg_normal,
        shape_border_color = beautiful.border_color,
        shape_border_width = beautiful.border_width,
        widget             = wibox.container.background
    },
    {
        -- To solve this, use a margin
        {
            {
                text   = "Hello world!",
                widget = wibox.widget.textbox
            },
            left   = 10,
            right  = 10,
            top    = 3,
            bottom = 3,
            widget = wibox.container.margin
        },
        shape        = gears.shape.hexagon,
        bg           = beautiful.bg_normal,
        border_color = beautiful.border_color,
        border_width = beautiful.border_width,
        widget       = wibox.container.background
    },
    spacing = 10,
    layout  = wibox.layout.fixed.vertical
}
🔗 border_width number · 1 signal
Add a border of a specific width.

If the shape is set, the border will also be shaped.

Constraints:

Default value : 0
Unit : pixel
Negative allowed : false

See also:

border_color Set the color for the border. object properties

Usage:

    for _, width in ipairs {0, 1, 3, 10 } do
    local w = wibox.widget {
        {
            {
                text          = "  Content  ",
                valign        = "center",
                align         = "center",
                widget        = wibox.widget.textbox
            },
            margins = 10,
            widget  = wibox.container.margin
        },
        border_color = beautiful.bg_normal,
        border_width = width,
        shape        = gears.shape.rounded_rect,
        widget       = wibox.container.background
    }
end

Click to display more

Emit signals:
🔗 border_color color · 1 signal · 1 theme variable
Set the color for the border.

Constraints:

Default value : wibox.container.background.fg if set, otherwise beautiful.fg_normal.
Type description:
string : An hexadecimal color code, such as "#ff0000" for red.
string : A color name, such as "red".
table : A gradient table.
cairo.pattern : Any valid Cairo pattern.
cairo.pattern : A texture build from an image by gears.color.create_png_pattern

See also:

gears.color This module simplifies the creation of cairo pattern objects. module
border_width Add a border of a specific width. object properties

Usage:

    local colors = {
    beautiful.bg_normal,
    "#00ff00",
    gears.color {
        type  = "linear",
        from  = { 0 , 20 },
        to    = { 20, 0  },
        stops = {
            { 0, "#0000ff" },
            { 1, "#ff0000" }
        },
    },
}

for _, color in ipairs(colors) do
    local w = wibox.widget {
        {
            {
                text          = "  Content  ",
                valign        = "center",
                align         = "center",
                widget        = wibox.widget.textbox
            },
            margins = 10,
            widget  = wibox.container.margin
        },
        border_color         = color,
        border_width         = 3,
        stretch_vertically   = true,
        stretch_horizontally = true,
        shape                = gears.shape.rounded_rect,
        widget               = wibox.container.background
    }
end

See wibox.container.background.shape for an usage example.

Click to display more

Emit signals:

Consumed theme variables:

Theme variable Usage
beautiful.fg_normalFallback when 'fg' and border_color aren't set.
🔗 border_strategy string · 1 signal
How the border width affects the contained widget.

Constraints:

Default value : "none"
Valid values:
"none" : Just apply the border, do not affect the content size (default).
"inner" : Squeeze the size of the content by the border width.

Usage:

    for k, strategy in ipairs { "none", "inner" } do
    for idx, width in ipairs {0, 1, 3, 10 } do
        local w = wibox.widget {
            {
                {
                    text          = "border_width = "..width,
                    valign        = "center",
                    align         = "center",
                    widget        = wibox.widget.textbox
                },
                border_color    = beautiful.bg_normal,
                border_width    = width,
                border_strategy = strategy,
                shape           = gears.shape.rounded_rect,
                widget          = wibox.container.background
            },
            widget = wibox.container.place
        }
    end
end

Click to display more

Emit signals:
🔗 children table · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
Get or set the children elements.

Constraints:

Default value : {}
Table content : A list of wibox.widget.

See also:

wibox.widget.base.all_children
🔗 all_children table · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
Get all direct and indirect children widgets. This will scan all containers recursively to find widgets Warning: This method it prone to stack overflow if there is a loop in the widgets hierarchy. A hierarchy loop is when a widget, or any of its children, contain (directly or indirectly) itself.

Constraints:

Default value : {}
Table content : A list of wibox.widget.

See also:

wibox.widget.base.children
🔗 forced_height number or nil · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
Force a widget height.

Constraints:

Default value : nil
Type description:
nil : Let the layout decide the height. Usually using the widget native height.
number : Enforce a number of pixels.
Unit : pixel
Negative allowed : false

See also:

wibox.widget.base.forced_width
🔗 forced_width number or nil · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
Force a widget width.

Constraints:

Default value : nil
Type description:
nil : Let the layout decide the width. Usually using the widget native width.
number : Enforce a number of pixels.
Unit : pixel
Negative allowed : false

See also:

wibox.widget.base.forced_height
🔗 opacity number · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
The widget opacity (transparency).

Constraints:

Default value : 1.0
Unit : A gradient between transparent (0.0) and opaque (1.0).
Minimum value : 0.0
Maximum value : 1.0

See also:

wibox.widget.base.visible
🔗 visible boolean · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
The widget visibility.

Constraints:

Default value : true
Valid values : true or false.

See also:

wibox.widget.base.opacity
🔗 buttons table · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
The widget buttons.

The table contains a list of awful.button objects.

Constraints:

Default value : {}
Table content : A list of awful.button.

See also:

awful.button Create easily new buttons objects ignoring certain modifiers. module

Deprecated object properties

🔗 shape_border_width number
When a shape is set, also draw a border.

See wibox.container.background.shape for an usage example.

Type constraints:

Name Type(s) Description
width number The border width

See also:

border_width Add a border of a specific width. object properties
🔗 shape_border_color color · 1 theme variable
When a shape is set, also draw a border.

See wibox.container.background.shape for an usage example.

Type constraints:

Name Type(s) Description
fg color The border color, pattern or gradient

See also:

gears.color This module simplifies the creation of cairo pattern objects. module
border_color Set the color for the border. object properties

Click to display more

Consumed theme variables:

Theme variable Usage
beautiful.fg_normalFallback when 'fg' and border_color aren't set.
🔗 bgimage string or surface or function
The background image to use.

This property is deprecated. The wibox.container.border provides a much more fine-grained support for background images. It is now out of the wibox.container.background scope. wibox.layout.stack can also be used to overlay a widget on top of a wibox.widget.imagebox. This solution exposes all availible imagebox properties. Finally, if you wish to use the function callback support, implement the before_draw_children method on any widget. This gives you the same level of control without all the bgimage corner cases.

If image is a function, it will be called with (context, cr, width, height) as arguments. Any other arguments passed to this method will be appended.

Type constraints:

Name Type(s) Description
bgimage string, surface or function A background image or a function.

See also:

gears.surface Utilities to integrate and manipulate Cairo drawing surfaces. module
wibox.container.border Place widgets or images on the sides, corner and back of another widget. module
wibox.widget.imagebox A widget to display an image. module
wibox.layout.stack Place multiple widgets on top of each other. module

Object methods

🔗 :set_shape (shape) · 1 signal
Set the background shape.

Any other arguments will be passed to the shape function.

Parameters:

Name Type(s) Description
shape gears.shape or function A function taking a context, width and height as arguments

See also:

gears.shape Module dedicated to gather common shape painters. module
shape The background shape. object properties

Click to display more

Emit signals:

  • property::set_shape When the set_shape value changes.
    • self wibox.container.background The object which changed (useful when connecting many object to the same callback).
    • new_value shape The new value affected to the property.
🔗 :add_button (button) · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
Add a new awful.button to this widget.

Parameters:

Name Type(s) Description
button awful.button The button to add.
🔗 :emit_signal_recursive (signal_name, ...) · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

Emit a signal and ensure all parent widgets in the hierarchies also forward the signal.

This is useful to track signals when there is a dynamic set of containers and layouts wrapping the widget.

Note that this function has some flaws:

  1. The signal is only forwarded once the widget tree has been built. This happens after all currently scheduled functions have been executed. Therefore, it will not start to work right away.
  2. In case the widget is present multiple times in a single widget tree, this function will also forward the signal multiple times (once per upward tree path).
  3. If the widget is removed from the widget tree, the signal is still forwarded for some time, similar to the first case.

Parameters:

Name Type(s) Description
signal_name string
... Other arguments
🔗 :index (widget, recursive, ...) -> (number, widget, table) · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
Get the index of a widget.

Parameters:

Name Type(s) Description
widget widget The widget to look for.
recursive Optional boolean Recursively check accross the sub-widgets hierarchy.
... Optional widget Additional widgets to add at the end of the sub-widgets hierarchy "path".

Returns:

  1. number The widget index.
  2. widget The parent widget.
  3. table The hierarchy path between "self" and "widget".
🔗 :connect_signal (name, func) · Inherited from gears.object

Connect to a signal.

Usage example output:

In slot [obj]   nil nil nil
In slot [obj]   foo bar 42

Parameters:

Name Type(s) Description
name string The name of the signal.
func function The callback to call when the signal is emitted.

Usage:

    local o = gears.object{}
-- Function can be attached to signals
local function slot(obj, a, b, c)
    print("In slot", obj, a, b, c)
end
o:connect_signal("my_signal", slot)
-- Emitting can be done without arguments. In that case, the object will be
-- implicitly added as an argument.
o:emit_signal "my_signal"
-- It is also possible to add as many random arguments are required.
o:emit_signal("my_signal", "foo", "bar", 42)
-- Finally, to allow the object to be garbage collected (the memory freed), it
-- is necessary to disconnect the signal or use weak_connect_signal
o:disconnect_signal("my_signal", slot)
-- This time, the slot wont be called as it is no longer connected.
o:emit_signal "my_signal"
🔗 :weak_connect_signal (name, func) · Inherited from gears.object
Connect to a signal weakly.

This allows the callback function to be garbage collected and automatically disconnects the signal when that happens. Warning: Only use this function if you really, really, really know what you are doing.

Parameters:

Name Type(s) Description
name string The name of the signal.
func function The callback to call when the signal is emitted.
🔗 :disconnect_signal (name, func) · Inherited from gears.object
Disconnect from a signal.

Parameters:

Name Type(s) Description
name string The name of the signal.
func function The callback that should be disconnected.
🔗 :emit_signal (name, ...) · Inherited from gears.object
Emit a signal.

Parameters:

Name Type(s) Description
name string The name of the signal
... Extra arguments for the callback functions. Each connected function receives the object as first argument and then any extra arguments that are given to emit_signal()

Signals

🔗 widget::layout_changed · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
When the layout (size) change. This signal is emitted when the previous results of :layout() and :fit() are no longer valid. Unless this signal is emitted, :layout() and :fit() must return the same result when called with the same arguments.

See also:

widget::redraw_needed When the widget content changed. signals
🔗 widget::redraw_needed · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
When the widget content changed. This signal is emitted when the content of the widget changes. The widget will be redrawn, it is not re-layouted. Put differently, it is assumed that :layout() and :fit() would still return the same results as before.

See also:

widget::layout_changed When the layout (size) change. signals
🔗 button::press · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
When a mouse button is pressed over the widget.

Arguments:

Name Type(s) Description
self table The current object instance itself.
lx number The horizontal position relative to the (0,0) position in the widget.
ly number The vertical position relative to the (0,0) position in the widget.
button number The button number.
mods table The modifiers (mod4, mod1 (alt), Control, Shift)
find_widgets_result table The entry from the result of wibox:find_widgets for the position that the mouse hit.
drawable wibox.drawable The drawable containing the widget.
widget widget The widget being displayed.
hierarchy wibox.hierarchy The hierarchy managing the widget's geometry.
x number An approximation of the X position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
y number An approximation of the Y position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
width number An approximation of the width that the widget is visible at on the surface.
height number An approximation of the height that the widget is visible at on the surface.
widget_width number The exact width of the widget in its local coordinate system.
widget_height number The exact height of the widget in its local coordinate system.

See also:

mouse Manipulate and inspect the mouse cursor. module
🔗 button::release · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
When a mouse button is released over the widget.

Arguments:

Name Type(s) Description
self table The current object instance itself.
lx number The horizontal position relative to the (0,0) position in the widget.
ly number The vertical position relative to the (0,0) position in the widget.
button number The button number.
mods table The modifiers (mod4, mod1 (alt), Control, Shift)
find_widgets_result table The entry from the result of wibox:find_widgets for the position that the mouse hit.
drawable wibox.drawable The drawable containing the widget.
widget widget The widget being displayed.
hierarchy wibox.hierarchy The hierarchy managing the widget's geometry.
x number An approximation of the X position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
y number An approximation of the Y position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
width number An approximation of the width that the widget is visible at on the surface.
height number An approximation of the height that the widget is visible at on the surface.
widget_width number The exact width of the widget in its local coordinate system.
widget_height number The exact height of the widget in its local coordinate system.

See also:

mouse Manipulate and inspect the mouse cursor. module
🔗 mouse::enter · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
When the mouse enter a widget.

Arguments:

Name Type(s) Description
self table The current object instance itself.
find_widgets_result table The entry from the result of wibox:find_widgets for the position that the mouse hit.
drawable wibox.drawable The drawable containing the widget.
widget widget The widget being displayed.
hierarchy wibox.hierarchy The hierarchy managing the widget's geometry.
x number An approximation of the X position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
y number An approximation of the Y position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
width number An approximation of the width that the widget is visible at on the surface.
height number An approximation of the height that the widget is visible at on the surface.
widget_width number The exact width of the widget in its local coordinate system.
widget_height number The exact height of the widget in its local coordinate system.

See also:

mouse Manipulate and inspect the mouse cursor. module
🔗 mouse::leave · Inherited from wibox.widget.base
When the mouse leave a widget.

Arguments:

Name Type(s) Description
self table The current object instance itself.
find_widgets_result table The entry from the result of wibox:find_widgets for the position that the mouse hit.
drawable wibox.drawable The drawable containing the widget.
widget widget The widget being displayed.
hierarchy wibox.hierarchy The hierarchy managing the widget's geometry.
x number An approximation of the X position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
y number An approximation of the Y position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
width number An approximation of the width that the widget is visible at on the surface.
height number An approximation of the height that the widget is visible at on the surface.
widget_width number The exact width of the widget in its local coordinate system.
widget_height number The exact height of the widget in its local coordinate system.

See also:

mouse Manipulate and inspect the mouse cursor. module
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