cutview(1) cutview(1)
Linux Linux
NAME
cutview - displays X-Windows paste buffer
SYNOPSIS
cutview [ options ]
DESCRIPTION
The utility cutview displays the current contents of the X-Windows
paste buffer, or the current selection. Since both the paste buffer
and the current selection are monitored, cutview will automatically
update one if the other changes. This allows applications which use
one mechanism to work with other applications which use the other
mechanism exclusively.
The window is updated using the interval specified by the -time option
(default is 1 second).
By specifying a positive integer greater than 1 with the -buffers
option or the buffers option in the .Xdefaults file, cutview will
create multiple buffers which will contain the contents of previous
cut operations, in effect providing a history mechanism for the X-
Windows paste buffer/selection. The buffers are updated in a least
recently used manner, so that the buffer replaced with new data is the
least recently used buffer.
The windows used to display the contents of the buffers are Motif text
edit widgets, which allow the user to move around within the buffer to
see parts not visible because of the size, or even edit the contents.
The widgets may also be resized dynamically to suit the user's needs.
Menu Operation
cutview has a menu that allows adding or deleting buffers, changing
views, modifying cutview behavior, or actions with buffer contents.
More information is in the Menu Items section below.
To access the menu a menu bar is provided on the multi buffer view and
a menu button is provided on the single buffer view.
Single buffer
An up arrow and a down arrow will appear at the side of the text, as
well as a key or padlock symbol. To see the other buffers, place the
mouse cursor on one of the arrows, and press the left mouse button.
This will cause the next (or previous) buffer to be displayed. The
buffer displayed in the window is the buffer that will be pasted in
the next time the paste operation is performed.
A padlock symbol next to the text signifies that the buffer is
"locked", that is, it will not be overwritten by a subsequent cut
operation, until it is unlocked, in which case a key symbol will
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replace the lock. To lock or unlock a buffer simply place the mouse
cursor on the area with the key or lock and press the left mouse
button, which will toggle the lock on the buffer. The contents of the
buffers are automatically saved to the buffers file when a buffer is
locked by the user, or when a locked buffer is edited (either within
the text edit widget, or by selecting "edit buffer" in the menu).
A button to access the menu is on the left-most position of the single
buffer window.
Multiple buffer
Another way to view the buffers is to select the "multi buffer" item
from the menu. This will cause a window showing all of the buffers to
be created. The current buffer is displayed with an arrow pointing to
it. To choose a new buffer, simply place the mouse cursor on the
'ghost' arrow next to the desired buffer and press the left mouse
button. To close this window select the "single buffer" menu item.
Operations
cutview will by default attempt to read the buffers file. This file
contains the contents of the buffers of the last invocation of
cutview. The current contents of the buffers may be saved to the file
by selecting the "save buffers" menu item. The contents of the
buffers are automatically dumped to the buffers file upon exit from
cutview. The default location for the buffers file is $HOME/.cutview.
The user may specify an alternate name for the buffers file with the
-file option on the command line, or buffersFile entry in the X-
Windows defaults file.
If the buffers file is not writable, then cutview will allow the user
to select a buffer in cutview but not modify any of the contents of
the buffers. If the user does attempt to modify the contents of a
buffer, cutview will reset the buffer to the contents from the buffers
file.
To edit the current buffer, select the "edit buffer" menu item. The
specified editCommand will be executed (the default is xterm -e vi
%s). The %s is required in the command string, since it specifies the
filename in the command syntax. This command execution will only
function properly if the edit operation is blocking (that is, does not
return until the operation is completed).
The current buffer may also be printed using the specified
printCommand by selecting the "print buffer" menu item. (The default
print command is lp %s).
To exit cutview, select the "quit" menu item.
Sometimes it is useful to turn off buffer update (both reading from
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the global buffer, and setting the global buffer from cutview). It is
possible to turn off updating on startup with the -update option, or
the update entry in the X-Windows default file. Interactively, buffer
updating can be turned off by selecting the menu item "update off".
Selecting "update on" will turn buffer updating on.
Some widgets/applications handle text selections which can cause
partial selections to be made available, which causes multiple buffers
to get cluttered. To provide a solution for some applications,
cutview has a menu item which can be used to toggle detection of this
event. The reason this is not simply a standard behavior is that not
all applications interact with cutview well when cutview performs this
checking. Another way to deal with this is to increase the time
interval for checking for changed selections (see -time ).
To turn off window decoration (borders not supplied by the
application), use the clientDecoration directive in the .Xdefaults
file (e.g., Mwm*CutView.clientDecoration: none). Autoraise is also a
function of the window manager, and with the Motif Window Manager
autoraise may be turned on by setting the focusAutoRaise directive in
the .Xdefaults file (i.e., Mwm*CutView.focusAutoRaise: true).
By default the Motif text edit widgets have relatively large margins
around the text being displayed. To minimize this, and to maximize
the number of buffers displayed in a given space, the resource
MarginHeight can be set to zero, for example:
cutview*MarginHeight: 0
OPTIONS
The following are options specific to cutview:
-buffers number
Specifies the number of buffers to start with. Associated
resource: ``*buffers''.
-file file_name
Specifies a file for reading/storing the contents of the
buffers in cutidsp. If no path (absolute or relative) is
specified, the file will be in the user's home directory. The
default value is .cutview. Associated resource:
``*buffersFile''.
-read Do not read the buffers file on startup. Associated resource:
``*readFile''.
-resize Resize single buffer window automatically according to
contents. Associated resource: ``*resize''.
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-small Starts cutview with the small window. Associated resource:
``*small''.
-subset Turns on subset checking of selection. Associated resource:
``*subset''.
-time number
Time interval for checking the paste buffer in seconds
(default is 1 second). Associated resource: ``*time''.
-toggle Specifies that the windows are not to be toggled, that is,
that when the multi-buffers window is visible, the small
window is also visible. Default is for toggle to be enabled.
Associated resource: ``*toggle''.
-smallGeometry geometry
The geometry of the window, of the form =WIDTHxHEIGHT[+-]x[+-
]y, where WIDTH and HEIGHT are the width and height of the
single buffer window in characters, and "x" and "y" are the
positions on the screen. Associated resource:
``*smallGeometry''.
-bigGeometry geometry
Specifies the geometry of the multi-buffer window (if
different). Associated resource: ``*bigGeometry''.
-help Displays usage information.
--version
Displays version information.
Options used by the toolkit are:
-display display
Specifies the display to use.
-font font
Specifies the font to use. Associated resource:
``*fontList''.
-fg color
Specifies the color to be used for the foreground. Associated
resource: ``*foreground''.
-bg color
Specifies the background color. Associated resource:
``*background''.
-rv Reverse the foreground and background. Associated resource:
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``*reverseVideo''.
-title string
Specifies the name of the window and icon. Default value is
cutview. Associated resource: ``*title''.
-n string
Specifies the name of the icon. Default value is cutview.
Associated resource: ``*iconName''.
-name string
Specifies the name to be used when looking for resources in
the X-Windows defaults database. The default value is
cutview.
Menu Items
multi buffer/single buffer
Create the window described.
add buffer
Add a buffer
delete buffer
Delete the current buffer (if unlocked).
edit buffer
Edit the current buffer.
print buffer
Print the current buffer.
save buffers
Save the buffers to the file.
subset check on/subset check off
Check if selection is a subset of a recent new selection. May
not interact well with all applications when turned on.
update off/update on
Set the update mode to that indicated. quit Quit (exit) from
cutview.
RESOURCES
The resources specific to cutview are as follows:
buffers
Specifies the number of buffers cutview is to retain (this may be
superseded if the geometry specifies a height greater than this
value).
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buffersFile
Specifies the name of the file to read/store the contents of the
buffers (default is .cutview).
smallGeometry
Specifies the geometry of the small (single buffer) window.
bigGeometry
Specifies the geometry for the multi-buffers window (if different
from the small window).
editCommand
Specifies the command for editing a buffer (default is "xterm -e
vi %s").
printCommand
Specifies the command for printing a buffer (default is "lp %s").
readFile
Specifies whether cutview is to read the buffers file upon
startup (default is yes).
resize
Specifies whether single buffer window should resize
automatically according to the contents. Default is off.
small
If true, starts cutview with the small window when toggle is set
and the number of buffers is greater than 1 (default is false).
subset
Specifies is subset checking is to be turned on or off. The
default is off.
time Specifies the time interval in seconds for checking the paste
buffer.
toggle
Specifies whether the single-buffer window and multi-buffer
window are to be shown one at a time (on) or together (off). The
default is on.
Options used by the toolkit are as follows:
fontList
The font to be used by cutview.
background
Identifies the background color of the window.
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Linux Linux
borderColor
Identifies the color of the border of the window.
borderWidth
Specifies the width of the border around the windows.
foreground
Identifies the foreground color of the window.
iconName
Specifies the name of the icon (default is cutview).
title
Specifies the name of the window (default is cutview).
EXAMPLES
Typical entries for cutview in a .Xdefaults file would look like the
following.
Mwm*CutView.focusAutoRaise: true
Mwm*CutView.clientDecoration: resize
cutview*smallGeometry: =30x10-150+0
cutview*bigGeometry: =30x10-0+0
cutview*foreground: white
cutview*background: navy
cutview*fontList: 9x15
WARNINGS
The window position may change when the windows are toggled if the
windows have been moved from the original startup position. This is
because cutview unmaps the windows when switching between the small
and the large windows. This will be corrected sometime in the future.
Since there is at this time no reliable way to detect the X-Windows
server going away, it is recommended practice to save buffers
immediately when there is data the user wishes to save. (Buffers are
automatically saved when locked.)
Applications have been known to have memory leaks in their code to
handle requests for the selection. Since cutview issues requests for
the selection often (according to the setting for time), it can seem
that cutview is causing a problem with the other application. This
problem can be observed using top or ps to observe the size of the
suspected process. If its size is growing while no other activities
are occurring, it is likely experiencing a memory leak. Notify the
owner of that code of the problem. It is possible to reduce the
symptoms of this problem by increasing the interval between updates of
cutview (see -time). This does not fix the problem in the other
application.
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Linux Linux
FILES
~/.cutview buffers file (see description)
AUTHORS
cutview was written by Hugh Mahon.
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