Open a program in a window with specified height and width.

stf92 · 08-24-2011, 12:16 AM

kernel 2.6.21.5, slackware 12.0
KDE 2.0.0.4

Hi:
I'd like to open a program in a window whose dimensions, height and width are given by me. The program synopsis gives no other parameters than a filename. How could I do this, if at all possible? Thanks in advance.

saulgoode · 08-24-2011, 12:40 AM

Many programs written for the X Window System support command line options for the window's geometry. If your program is such then, as an example, adding "-geometry 800x600+0+0" to the command line arguments would place a window 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels tall at the upper left of the screen.

Unfortunately, not all programs honor this convention.

NoStressHQ · 08-24-2011, 12:52 AM

Unless you know exactly on which application you want to do this AND that particular application handle arguments to drive the 'window geometry' (as mentioned by saulgoode)... You should be able to do it programatically (Write a X program that communicate with the window)...

Or... look for some tool that would assist you in this task. Haven't tried any, but a quick google search point me to this one...

Code:

windowsize [options] [window] width height
Set the window size of the given window. If no window is given, %1 is the default. See WINDOW STACK and COMMAND CHAINING for more details.
 [...]
       xdotool windowsize I<window> 100% 50%

http://www.semicomplete.com/projects/xdotool/

Hope this will help.

Edit: Maybe this one too: http://tomas.styblo.name/wmctrl/

stf92 · 08-24-2011, 04:39 AM

Many thanks for all this information. Perhaps the case is not so desperate, as I think it must depend on the GUI. The first time I opened the program, I could freely resize the window. One day, though, the window couldn't be resized vertically. Instead it was occupying the whole height of the physical screen.

It must be noticed, however, that I have /etc/X11/xorg.conf customized to produce a virtual screen, that is, a screen that is larger than the physical one.

Keith Hedger · 08-24-2011, 06:16 AM

Sounds daft I know but you havn't got the window maximized have you? because you can't resize a maximized window ( at least under metacity )

stf92 · 08-24-2011, 09:27 AM

Of course not.