Option to execute command instead of keybind for buttons

[seg-faulty]

Currently, you can only have Rofi perform functions using buttons by setting them to perform a specific keybind, e.g. a button to paste the contents of the keyboard would have the action property set to kb-primary-paste. When clicked, it would perform the same function as the keybind it was set to.

In dmenu mode, custom keybinds (kb-custom-X) terminate Rofi and return a value when pressed, starting from 10. For example, when "ALT-1" (the default keybind for kb-custom-1) is pressed when in dmenu, a value of 10 is returned. This allows for the creation of scripts that execute commands on pressing these keybinds, e.g.

#!/bin/bash
rofi -dmenu
output=$?
if [[ $output -eq 10  ]]; then
  echo "Custom keybind 1"
elif [[ $output -eq 11 ]]; then
  echo "Custom keybind 2"
else 
  "Something else"
fi

In the above script, if you press ALT-1 you would get the output "Custom keybind 1", ALT-2 "Custom keybind 2", and any other keybind "Something else". You can map a button to a keybind using the action property and then make a script that executes a command on that keybind, and hence when the button is clicked that command will be run.

However, this does not seem to be the case in drun mode. When I press ALT-1 in drun, it just switches to window mode and ALT-2 takes me back to drun mode. This means those who want to add custom buttons to their drun menus, e.g. a lock button or a power off button, cannot do so.

My commit fixes this by adding a new string property for buttons, known as exec. If action is not set on a button, Rofi instead looks for the exec property which contains a command, such as a program or shell script. When the button is clicked, Rofi will run the command using stdlib's system function.

An optional boolean property (default set to false) exit-after-command, if true, will close Rofi upon the command's completion.

For example:

button-terminal {
	content: "Terminal";
	exec: "xterm &";
	exit-after-command: true;
}

When the button is clicked, xterm is launched in the background and Rofi will close.

[DaveDavenport]

I need to discuss if this is something we want to add, but a few remarks looking at the patch:

• Don't use system but use the helper_execute_command* methods rofi provide for launching.
• Handle errors and check for NULL pointers.
• Update documentation.

[seg-faulty]

I need to discuss if this is something we want to add, but a few remarks looking at the patch:

* Don't use `system` but use the `helper_execute_command*` methods rofi provide for launching.

* Handle errors and check for NULL pointers.

* Update documentation.

Hi, thanks for your response, I have updated my patch to use helper_execute_command instead of system and added relevant documentation to doc/rofi-theme.5.markdown.

What do you mean by "handle errors" and "check for NULL pointers"? If you attempt to run a non-existent command using helper_execute_command, it already shows an error in the Rofi window. Unless you mean I should display any non-zero exit code in Rofi.

I've added a check in the textbox_button_trigger_action function that the value of exec is not NULL before attempting to execute.

[DaveDavenport]

yeah, helper_* does a lot of the error handling for free 😄