pmconfirm - Man Page

pmconfirm [-c] [-b button-name] [-B default-button-name] [-t string] [-file filename] [-icon icontype] [-font font] [-header titlebar-string] [-useslider] [-noslider] [-noframe] [-exclusive]

pmmessage [-buttons label1[:value1][,label2[:value2][,...]]] [-center] [-nearmouse] [-default button] [-file filename] [-print] [-timeout sec] message...

pmquery [-input] [all above options...] [message...]

pmquery provides a command-line-option compatible implementation of the xconfirm and xmessage tools, using a look-and-feel that is consistent with pmchart. Several extensions to the functionality of the original tools have been made, in order to improve their specific utility for pmchart, but wherever possible the original semantics remain.

pmconfirm displays a line of text for each -t option specified (or a file when the -file option is used), and a button for each -b option specified. When one of the buttons is pressed, the label of that button is written to pmquery's standard output. This provides a means of communication/feedback from within shell scripts and a means to display useful information to a user from an application.

pmmessage displays a window containing a message from the command line, a file, or standard input. It additionally allows buttons to be associated with an exit status, and only optionally will write the label of the button to standard output.

pmquery extends the above tools to additionally support limited user input, as free form text. In this -input mode, any text entered will be output when the default button is pressed. A default text can be entered using the same mechanisms as the other tools.

Command line options are available to specify font style, frame style, modality and one of several different icons to be presented for tailored visual feedback to the user.

The available command line options are:

-c,  -center

Center the window on the display.

-nearmouse

Pop up the window near the mouse cursor.

-b button-name

Displays a button with the label button-name. If button-name is the empty string, the button in that position is not displayed. If no -b options are present, the default is a button with the label Continue. The exit status associated with button-name is zero.

-B button-name

Displays a button with the label button-name and specifies it as the button to be activated when enter is pressed. The exit status associated with button-name is zero.

-buttons button,button,...

This option will create one button for each comma-separated button option. Each button consists of a label optionally followed by a colon and an exit value. The exit value will be returned if that button is selected. The default exit value is 100 plus the button number. Buttons are numbered from the left starting with one.

-default label

Defines the button with a matching label to be the default. If not specified there is no default. The corresponding resource is defaultButton. Pressing Return anywhere in the xmessage window will activate the default button. The default button has a wider border than the others.

-t message

Displays message. Any number of strings can be listed on the command line (each must be preceded with the -t option).

-file filename

Displays the file filename. All -t options will be ignored. A filename of `-' reads from standard input.

-icon icontype

Displays the icon icontype where icontype is one of: info, error, question, warning, critical. action is also accepted as a synonym for error for backward compatibility. pmquery introduces the additional archive and host icon types as well as the original xconfirm types listed earlier.

-font fontname

Use fontname as the font. This option is only available when using the X Window System.

-header string

Use string as the window title.

-print

This causes the program to write the label of the button pressed to standard output. It is the default behaviour for pmconfirm and pmquery.

-noprint

This causes the program to not write the label of the button pressed to standard output. It is the default behaviour for pmmessage.

-geometry geometry-string

This provides the tool with an X-compatible geometry string specification. This option is only available when using the X Window System.

-useslider

When displaying a file, always use a slider instead of determining automatically whether a slider is necessary.

-noslider

Do not create a slider, and clip text to the window size, instead of determining automatically whether a slider is necessary..

-noframe

Do not display a frame around the contents.

-exclusive

Grab the keyboard/pointer and do not allow further input until a button is pressed.

-timeout secs

Exit with status 0 after secs seconds if the user has not clicked on a button yet. The corresponding resource is timeout.

-?,  -h,  -help

Display usage message and exit.

The following shell script will display a window with an information icon, asking the user a yes or no question with "Yes" as the default.

 #! /bin/sh
 case `pmquery -t "Really power down?" -b No -B Yes -icon question
 in
   Yes) shutdown;;
   No) ;;
 esac

A second example, which prompts for a hostname then starts a terminal with an ssh session connected to the requested host.

 #! /bin/sh
 host=`pmquery -input -icon host -b Cancel -B OK \
               -header "Remote Terminal - Secure Shell"
 [ "$host" = "Cancel" -o -z "$host" ] && exit
 gnome-terminal -e "ssh $host"

pmquery is an excellent choice of utility for the PCP_XCONFIRM_PROG Performance Co-Pilot configuration parameter (refer to pcp.conf(5) for details).

Note that PCP_XCONFIRM_PROG will be automatically set to pmquery inside tools like pmchart, unless PCP_XCONFIRM_PROG is already set in the environment.

If it detects an error, pmquery always returns 1, so this value should not be associated with a button. Unless -button option has not been used, the return code will be zero on success.

pmchart(1) and pcp.conf(5).

pmchart(1), pmie(1), pmRecord(3).

The man pages pmmessage(1) and pmquery(1) are aliases of pmconfirm(1).