CrunchBang - Code, Design & GNU/Linux

tablaunch Application Launch Bar

tablaunch is a simple, cool-looking x application launchbar written in c, based on yeahlaunch 0.2. tablaunch displays user-specified applications as tabs along the top of screen and becomes hidden after a delay. The remainder of this page details how to install and set-up tablaunch under Openbox on Ubuntu / CrunchBang Linux.

Install tablaunch

Use one of the methods below to download and install tablaunch:

1. Download the tarball from project page on sourceforge.net and build/install from source.
2. Download tablaunch_0.6-crunchbang1_i386.deb directly from the CrunchBang Linux repository and install with gdebi.
3. Install via the CrunchBang Linux repository with APT using the following command:

sudo apt-get install tablaunch

tablaunch Configuration File

By default, when tablaunch starts it will look for a configuration file in the users home directory: ~/.tablaunch

The contents of the configuration file are fairly straightforward and contain a list of user defined applications and their associated labels. See the example below:

# file format: label command icon big_icon
# label and command are required
Terminal xterm
"Web Browser" epiphany-browser
"File Manager" rox
Editor gedit
Rhythmbox rhythmbox
"IRC Client" xchat
IM pidgin
GIMP gimp
Lock "gnome-screensaver-command -l"

You can download the above example with the following terminal command:

wget http://crunchbang.org/misc/tablaunch.example && mv tablaunch.example ~/.tablaunch

Starting tablaunch

tablaunch can be started with a range of arguments to customise both behaviour and visual appearance. One such example:

tablaunch -x 20 -fg "#CCCCCC" -pfg "#CCCCCC" -sfg "#FFFFFF" -bg "#31353A" --pulldown 0 -t

Insert the above command into ~/.config/openbox/autostart.sh to start tablaunch when Openbox starts.

A list of available options can be viewed with the following terminal command:

tablaunch --help

tablaunch version 0.6 
usage:  tablaunch [option] [option] ...
where options include:
  (Note: X resource should be prepended with 'tablaunch.')
  descriptions refer default 'top' docking position
  option               X resource             description
  ------               ----------             -----------
  -h, --help                                  displays this help
  --settings                                  lists current settings
                                              (a good way to see default values)
  --ignoreXRM                                 ignore X resources
  -c configfile        configfile             config file listing tabs
  -fg color            foreground             foreground text color
  -sfg color           selected_foreground    foreground text color of selected tab
  -pfg color           pressed_foreground     foreground text color of pressed tab
  -bg color            background             background color of tab
  -fn fontname         font                   name of font for tab
  -sfn fontname        selected_font          name of font for selected tab
  -x xoffset           xoffset                x offset of tabs from left/right of screen
  -y yoffset           yoffset                y offset of tabs from top/bottom of screen
  -r                   rightalign             align tabs to right of screen
  -d hideDelay         hide_delay             seconds until tabs auto-hide
  -l                   always_show_label      always show text label
  -t                   text_only              don't use icons
  -k                   keep_selected_on_hide  selected tab is apparent when hidden
  -e float             expand_factor          expand factor
  --iconMaskOff        use_icon_mask          allows images to be transparent
  --fit_text           fit_text               makes icons wider to fit text
  --s_yoffset pixels   selected_yoffset       y offset of selected tab from adjacent tabs
  --limit_y pixels     limit_y                y coordinate of highest tab
                                              (negative value means above screen)
  --hidden pixels      hidden_height          pixels that are visible when auto-hidden
  --bottom pixels      margin_bottom          space below text label
  --top pixels         margin_top             space above text label
  --sides pixels       margin_sides           extra space left and right of text label
  --pulldown pixels    pulldown_height        how far down to pulldown the selected tab
  --opts.bevel pixels  opts.bevel             size of bevel around tab
  --overlap pixels     tab_overlap            pixels that tab overlap each other
                                              (negative value means tab separation) 
  --step pixels        step_factor            step factor of tab offset as it gets
                                              farther from the selected tab
  --height pixels      same_height            use this height for all icons
  --caption_y pixels   caption_yoffset        y offset for captions under icons
  --no_caption         no_caption             turn off caption under icons
                         or show_caption      
  --no_label           no_label               turn off all labels for icons
                         or show_label        
  --iconhome dir       iconhome               set dir to search for icons
                                              expects 48x48 and 64x64 subdirs
  --no_iconhome        no_iconhome            don't use icon home
                         or use_iconhome      
  --blinks int         blinks                 number of blinks when tab is pressed
  --brightness float   brightness             brightness of pressed icon
  --dock [top|bottom]  dock_position          screen position of launchbar