RATMENU(1)						      General Commands Manual							RATMENU(1)

NAME

       ratmenu - create a menu to run commands

SYNOPSIS

       ratmenu	[  -display  displayname ] [ -font fname ] [ -fg foreground-color ] [ -bg background-color ] [ -io item-offset ] [ -label name ] [
       -shell prog ] [ -align {left|center|right} ] [ -style {snazzy|dreary} ] [ -persist ] [ -version ] [ menuitem command ] ...

DESCRIPTION

       ratmenu is a simple program that accepts a list of menu item and command pairs on the command line.  It creates a window that  consists	of
       nothing but a menu.  When a particular item is selected, the corresponding command is executed.

       ratmenu does not recognize any usage of the rodent.  It is entirely keystroke operated.

       Menu items must be followed by a command.  The syntax is based on that of the dialog program.

       ratmenu accepts the following command line options.

	      -display displayname
		     Use the X display displayname, instead of the default display.

	      -font fname
		     (X Resource: font) Use the font fname, instead of the default font.

	      -label name
		     Change  both  the	window and icon labels of the window to name.  The default label is the last component of the path used to
		     run ratmenu, typically, ratmenu.

	      -fg foreground-color
		     (X Resource: fgcolor) Set the foreground color to foreground-color.  By default, the foreground color is black.

	      -bg background-color
		     (X Resource: bgcolor) Set the background color to background-color.  By default, the background color is white.

	      -io item-offset
		     Set the first selected item to item-offset.  By default, the first item is the top-most one, or item-offset 1.  The next item
		     down would be at item-offset 2.

	      -style {snazzy|dreary}
		     (X  Resource:  style)  The default style is snazzy, where the highlight bar, which shows the currently selected item, remains
		     stationary while all the menu items are rotated up or down when the cursor keys are moved.  In dreary mode, the highlight bar
		     moves up and down the menu as it does on all conventional keyboard controlled menus.

	      -align {left|center|right}
		     (X  Resource:  align) Align the text of the menu entries to the left, right, or center.  Defaults to left.  This is different
		     from 9menu, which defaults to center.

	      -shell prog
		     Use prog as the shell to run commands, instead of /bin/sh.  A popular alternative shell is rc(1).	If  the  shell	cannot	be
		     executed, ratmenu will silently fall back to using /bin/sh.

	      -back prevmenu
		     prevmenu is a command or shell script to run when the back key is pressed, usually a script that has ratmenu showing the pre-
		     vious menu.  Used to create nested menus, it gives the user a way to back out and return to the previous menu.  Note that you
		     can  use  this  option for other things too.  The command specified by the -back option is executed when the user hits one of
		     the "back" keys.

	      -persist
		     (X Resource: persist) Ordinarily, ratmenu exits if a new window pops up on top of it, or if you  switch  to  another  window.
		     This option tells ratmenu to hang around, like a regular window.

	      -version
		     This option prints the version of ratmenu on the standard output, and then exits with an exit value of zero.

KEYSTROKES

       The  Up	keystrokes move the selection to the next item up.  The Down keystrokes move the selection to the next item down.  When the selec-
       tion reaches the top or bottom, it scrolls around to the other side on pressing of the appropriate keystroke. The Select keystrokes execute
       the command corresponding to the currently selected menu item, and exit ratmenu.  The Exit keystrokes quit ratmenu without doing anything.

	      Up
		      'k', Up_arrow, BackSpace, '-', C-p

	      Down
		      'j', Down_arrow, Space, Tab, '+', C-n, C-i

	      Select
		      'l', Right_arrow, Return, C-f, C-m, C-j

	      Back
		      'h', Left_arrow, C-b

	      Exit
		      'q', Escape, C-g

CONFIGURATION USING X RESOURCES

       You can configure some items using xrdb to load appropriate X resources.  There is an example configuration in the file /usr/share/doc/rat-
       menu/Xresources.ratmenu which shows all possible configuration items.  Give it a look; it is fairly easy to figure out.

EXAMPLES

       ratmenu -label "Remotes xterm" acme "rsh acme xterm" herman "rsh herman 9term" &

       ratmenu -label 'X progs' ghostview ghostview xdvi xdvi xeyes xeyes xneko xneko &

       ratmenu -back ~/bin/mypreviousmenu "X Eyes" xeyes &

SEE ALSO

       ratpoison(1), ratpoisonrc(5), dialog(1) xrdb(1)

       Ratpoison Desktop Users Manual.

AUTHORS

       The initial idea for this program was by Arnold Robbins, after having worked with John Mackin's GWM Blit emulation.  Matty Farrow  wrote  a
       version	using  libXg,  from which some ideas were borrowed.  This code was written by David Hogan and Arnold Robbins.  Rich Salz motivated
       the -shell option.  Jonathan Walther modified this code to play nicely with the ratpoison window manager  by  removing  handling  of  mouse
       events  and  iconification.  Zrajm  C  Akfohg  made many improvements in his ratmen fork, including X resource handling, some of which were
       folded back in.

Ratpoison Desktop For X 					    Oct 10 2001 							RATMENU(1)