new wallpaper on startup

paperplane · 12-28-2007, 07:16 PM

hello,

there is a particular comic strip i like, and ive got a folder full of strips in .gif format. i want to be able to set a new strip as wallpaper each time i start my machine, and im looking to use a script and keep everything as simple as possible. im using slackware+fluxbox.

the wallpapers need to be set in the correct order (2007.001.gif, then 2007.002.gif, 2007.003.gif etc) to follow the natural progression of the comic strip.

im thinking i need to list the folder of .gif's and send that info to a text file, then write a script that:

A. reads the first line of the text file and sends that information to FBsetbg (fluxbox's wallpaper setter).

B. then comments out that line, so that the next time the file is read on startup, it skips down to the next gif.

ive got the feeling this may be slightly more complicated than it first appears. im guessing i need to use something like sed? or is there a simpler way of achieving the same result? i have limited experience with shell scripts, but i know about a few things, such as piping and variables (kind of

fuzzyworm · 12-28-2007, 09:04 PM

This should do it:

Code:

#!/bin/bash

#
#Get previous background
#
touch .lastbg
read LASTBG < <(cat .lastbg)

#
#Get next in folder
#
acom="/${LASTBG}/{getline; print}"
read NEWBG < <( ls *.gif | awk "$acom" /dev/stdin)

#
#Update file
#
echo $NEWBG > .lastbg

#
#In next line, replace 'echo' with appropriate syntax for FBSetBG, or whatever
#
echo $NEWBG

It's not especially pretty, but it should do the job, working through a folder of .gif files, and in this case, echoing their filename.

Edit:
This script assumes it will be running in the same folder as the files, you may need to tweak it a bit to help it deal with not being.

Edit:
You may also like to tweak the way that it handles the very first file in the list. I'm afraid I'm off to bed now and don't have any more time to look at it, but at the moment it ignores the first file. Anyone feel free to post any suggestions, and I will amend accordingly.

Hope this is of some help

paperplane · 12-29-2007, 09:17 AM

cant get it to work, when i execute the script from within a terminal it just hangs there and wont give me the console back. however, its given me food for thought

thanks fuzzy.

fuzzyworm · 12-30-2007, 03:00 PM

That's odd, I thought maybe I'd made a typo, but I downloaded from my post and ran it, and it worked ok.

Hmmm...

Let me know if you find out why it's not working