About

I3-grid is a python script that organizes i3 Window Manager workspaces into a customizable (logical) grid.

It can be run from the command line or bound to hotkeys through the i3 configuration file. Forked from Luke Shimanuki.

1 Interfaces

There recommended two possible ways to use this extension is via communication with the current controller.py script. This can be done by simply appending

exec_always --no-startup-id starti3Grid.sh 

to the i3 configuration script (after running setup.sh as root or manually changing the PATH). Communication with this controller is achieved via the i3Grid script which receives the operation as its paramter. For example:

bindsym $mod+Ctrl+Mod1+h exec --no-startup-id i3Grid moveWorkspaceLeft

2 Features

Available

• moveWindow{Left, Right, Up, Down}
  • move currently active window {Left, Right, Up, Down} a workspace.
• moveWorkspace{Left, Right, Up, Down}
  • let the current monitor display the workspace {Left, Right, Up, Down} (in relation to the current position). This also spawns new workspaces if the requested element does not exist yet.
• moveWorkspaceExisting{Left, Right, Up, Down}
  • as moveWorkspace{...}, but only taking into consideration existing workspaces (just like in the original implementation of left and right commands in i3, but two-dimensional.

TODOs and Drawbacks

Drawbacks

• works as supposed, but might be a little bit confusing due to missing visual feedback.
• In case the workspaces are named, the naming is to be inserted into the scritp grid.py for now.

TBD

• write and read configuration
• possibility to alter the grid configuration otf. E.g. start with rows = cols = 1, Add new row / column in case the move*{[Left, ..., Down]} is evoked and the 'next' screen is not existing + outside the range of the current grid.
  • do that on special key combination reorganize existing windows in position.
• visual feedback

+---+
| e |
|e  |
|xe |
+---+ (3, 1), 

• display the current location and the currently active workspaces

3 Setup

3a) Setup scripts

Step 1

Check out where your python3 is located. E.g. exchange the paths in the python scripts.

Step 2)

For setting up simply have a look at the setup.sh script, which does only create symbolic links for finding the scripts in the bash folder if executed as root.

Initialization as submodule (in case your i3 config is version controlled) or simply cloning this script into your .config/i3 folder and adapting the paths to the scripts might be preferrable.

Possibility A) Execute setup script

sudo ./setup.sh

Possibility B)

Clone

> mkdir -p ~/.config/i3/
> cd ~/.config/i3/
# in case your configuration directory is version controlled using git
> git submodule add git@github.com:juliusHuelsmann/i3-grid.git
> git submodule init
> git submodule update #< for getting the latest changes
# otherwise
> git clone git@github.com:juliusHuelsmann/i3-grid.git
# then keep in mind that the location to the scripts mentioned below is
# ~/.config/i3/scripts/[NAME]

Check if the script is working

Launch starti3Grid.sh. If keybindings are set up, this script shows debug output. Try 'em out or quit via Ctrl+c.

3b Configuration

For launching the execution daemon, add

exec_always --no-startup-id starti3Grid.sh 

to your i3config.

Configuration for workspace switch

bindsym $mod+Ctrl+Mod1+h exec --no-startup-id i3Grid moveWorkspaceLeft
bindsym $mod+Ctrl+Mod1+l exec --no-startup-id i3Grid moveWorkspaceRight
bindsym $mod+Ctrl+Mod1+j exec --no-startup-id i3Grid moveWorkspaceDown
bindsym $mod+Ctrl+Mod1+k exec --no-startup-id i3Grid moveWorkspaceUp

bindsym $mod+Ctrl+h exec --no-startup-id i3Grid moveWorkspaceExistingLeft
bindsym $mod+Ctrl+l exec --no-startup-id i3Grid moveWorkspaceExistingRight
bindsym $mod+Ctrl+j exec --no-startup-id i3Grid moveWorkspaceExistingDown
bindsym $mod+Ctrl+k exec --no-startup-id i3Grid moveWorkspaceExistingUp

Afa the configuration for window switching is concerned, just use the commands: provided above, switching Workspace with Window.