User:Xterminus/Perl Background Rotation/Tips
Here are some tips and tricks to both using the wallpaper script, and organizing your wallpapers in a sane manner.
Table of Contents
- Introduction : What this does.
- Installation : Getting the basics handled.
- Using Extensions : Optional feature setup.
- Script Extras : Related Software
- Tips and Tricks : Fun for the whole family!
- Hacking : How to create your own extensions
- Code : Code Walkthrough and some design notes
- FAQ : Frequently Asked Questions
- Screenshot Gallery : If you use these scripts, show off!
- Resources : A comprehensive wallpaper list.
Commandline Parameters
--status
Involking status prints the current "run" status of the stript.
The run status can be toggled with the --toggle command.
--toggle
Involking toggle changes the current "run" status of the script. This allows you to quickly disable the use of the --next command which is typically called by a cron job. Executing --toggle again re-enables the --next command.
You can retrieve the current status with the --status parameter.
--next
Next commands the daemon to process the next photos in the queue right away.
This should normally be called by cron, but you might consider binding this command to a hotkey for quick background generation.
--photo
Photo preselects the next image to render, and adds it to the queue. It requires one parameter, the photo to enqueue. Prefix the complete pathname to the wallpaper with an optional displayname to pick a monitor render to. For example:
wallie --photo:/path/to/wallpaper.png wallie --photo:0.1:/path/to/wallpaper.png
This command does NOT start a render process. use --next to begin that process. If you wish to select a wallpaper and render it right away, try:
wallie --photo:/path/to/wallpaper.png ; wallie --next
--photodir
Photodir preselects a random image from a provided directory. This allows a onetime over-ride of the time-based directory based randomization selection found in the configuration file. It requries one parameter, the complete pathname to a directory to pick a random file for. Prefix the filename with an optional displayname no pick a monitor to queue for. For example:
wallie --photodir:/path/to/wallpapers wallie --photodir:0.1:/path/to/wallpapers
--current
Current displays the photograph (with path) that the currently displayed photo was originally rendered from. This is useful for outside scripts usually.
A parameter of the display to return a photo for is optional. Otherwise the current photo for display 0.0 will be returned. For example:
wallie --current wallie --current:0.1
--scheme
This returns the current color scheme in human readable format. A parameter of the display to return a scheme for is optional. The default is to return the color scheme for the 0.0 display. For example:
wallie --scheme wallie --scheme:0.1
--schemedata
This returns the color scheme, each value delimited by a ":". A parameter of the display to return a scheme for is optional. The default is to return the color scheme for the 0.0 display.
wallie --schemedata wallie --schemedata:0.1
For a description of each color returned, try --scheme
--version
Version shows the current versions of all the pieces which when put together form this program. The version number is basicly a simple conversion between the subversion revision number, and a CPAN style version. So a subversion revision of 350 would result in a module version of 1.350. When the subversion revision hits 1000, the CPAN version will roll over to 2.0. This should NOT indicate that any major functionality has been added.
In general, the version information is useful for debugging purposes only. If you are experiencing problems, I'll need the version numbers...
--die
This kills the daemon process. You should use this command to terminate the daemon rather than just killing it off.
If you wish to restart the daemon because (for example, your configuration has changed), try:
wallie die ; wallpaper