Graphical messages to the world

Often we write shell scripts and at one point we would like to display messages or otherwise interact with the user using a graphical way, without rewriting all our script in C.

A small program called gtk-shell was created for that purpose. It is a GTK-based program meant to be used in shell scripts, that can interact with the user, and even return values to the script. Let's see a very simple example:

xv -quit -root `gtk-shell -t "Which file do you want me to use?" -fs`

This will display a graphical browsing box with the specified title, where the user can select a file, and the file path will be returned to xv which will display it as background.

Gtk-shell can be used in many ways including displaying a message, asking for input, and more. Here is an output of "gtk-shell --help":

This program will use the GTK library (www.gtk.org) to ask for user input, and can be used in scripts or called from other programs.

Command line options:

--help, -h This help text

--version, -v Show gtk-shell's version

--output <file>, -o Set the output file, default is stdout

--title <title>, -t Set the window title

--label <label>, -l Show a label to the user

--file-selection, -fs Display a file selection box

--size <x> <y>, -s Set the size of the window

--position <x> <y>, -p Set the position of the window on the screen

--query, -q Display a query box

--query-value, -qv Set a value in the query box

--append-eol, -eol Appends an EOL char at output time

--exit-code <str>, -ec String to display if user press Cancel

--view-file <file>, -vf View a file in a text box

--edit-file <file>, -ef Edit a file in a text box

--button <str>, -b Add a button to quit

--choice <c1> <c2>.., -c Display a choice box with the specified choices

Example: gtk-shell -l "Pick a choice" -c 1 2 3 4 -b Ok -eol Example: xv -quit -root `gtk-shell -t "Which image?" -fs`

Gtk-shell is available at http://devplanet.fastethernet.net/files.html.