XPOSTIT(1) X11R5(September 1991) XPOSTIT(1)
NAME
xpostit - X window system Post-it® notes
SYNOPSIS
xpostit [ -toolkitoptions ... ] [ -options ... ]
DESCRIPTION
Xpostit provides a mechanism for manipulating on-screen Post-it® notes.
All six sizes of Post-it notes may be displayed, edited, and saved to
disk files. In addition, any on-screen note may be resized to any
arbitrary size either when it is created or at a later time.
When xpostit is first invoked, it creates a small window with a plaid
background. This is the control window for xpostit. Additionally, if
any notes were stored in the save directory (see below), these will be
placed on the screen at their last locations. Each Post-it note, when
created, makes another window on the screen. Xpostit is controlled using
the mouse buttons and a menu. The Post-it notes are controlled using
buttons (Command widgets).
OPTIONS
Xpostit accepts all of the standard X Toolkit command line options along
with the additional options listed below.
-bs number
Specifies the size of the character buffer in which to save each
Post-it note. A note may not contain more than this number of
characters, including newlines. The default is 1024.
-dir path
Specifies the path name of the directory in which to store saved
Post-it notes. If path begins with a `/' it is taken as-is; if
it does not begin with a `/', the path is taken relative to the
home directory. The named directory must already exist if notes
are to be saved in it. The default is .postitnotes.
-sb Enables scroll-bars. If specified, a scroll bar will be attached
to each Post-it note.
-sv Enables save-on-exit. When specified, this option tells xpostit
to save all Post-it notes to disk files when exiting. If not
specified, notes will only be saved to disk files when saved
manually by the user.
WIDGET USAGE
Xpostit uses several widget types to construct the objects it uses.
The control window is a Plaid widget called ``Plaid''.
The menu is a pop-up shell called ``Menu'' containing a SimpleMenu
widget.
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Each Post-it note is a pop-up shell called ``PostItNote'', containing a
Form widget called ``Note'' which contains a Text widget called
``NoteText'', and four Command widgets called ``Save'', ``Erase'',
``Destroy'', and ``Title''.
The confirmation box is a pop-up shell called ``Confirm'', containing a
Form widget called ``Buttons'' which contains two Command widgets called
``Confirm'' and ``Cancel''. The title-change box is a pop-up shell
called ``Title'', containing a Dialog widget called ``Dialog''.
RESOURCES
Xpostit understands all of the core X Toolkit resource names and classes
as well as those listed below, which are all of class XPostit.
.bufSize
Specifies the size of the character buffer used to store a Post-
it note. The default is 1024.
.noteDir
Specifies the path name of the directory in which to store saved
notes. The default is .postitnotes.
.saveNotes
Controls the state of the save-on-exit option. The default is
false.
.scrollBar
Controls placing scroll bars on Post-it notes. The default is
false.
ACTIONS
It is possible to rebind the mouse buttons in the Plaid widget to perform
different functions by changing the widget's translations. The raise()
action, normally bound to the left mouse button, raises all notes. The
lower() action, normally bound to the middle mouse button, lowers all
notes. The show() action, normally bound to the middle mouse button with
the CTRL key, maps all unmapped notes. The hide() action, normally bound
to the left mouse button with the CTRL key, unmaps all notes on the
screen. The menu raising function, normally bound to the right mouse
button, is performed by calling the actions XawPositionSimpleMenu(Menu)
and MenuPopup(Menu). The quit() action, bound to the ``q'' and ``Q''
keys, is equivalent to selecting ``Exit'' from the menu.
THE CONTROL WINDOW
Xpostit allows six operations to be performed from its control window.
Pressing the left mouse button in the control window will cause all
Post-it notes on the screen to be raised to the top. Pressing the middle
mouse button in the control window will cause all Post-it notes on the
screen to be lowered to the bottom. Pressing the left mouse button in
the control window while holding down the CTRL key will cause all notes
to be mapped (shown). Pressing the middle mouse button in the control
window while holding down the CTRL key will cause all notes on the screen
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to be unmapped (hidden). Pressing the right mouse button in the control
window raises the xpostit menu. Pressing the ``q'' or ``Q'' keys in the
control window will exit the program.
THE MENU
The xpostit menu provides the following selections:
Create 1.5x2 Note
Create a new Post-it note, 1.5 inches tall by 2 inches wide. The
window will normally need to be positioned using the window
manager.
Create 2x3 Note
Create a new Post-it note, 2 inches tall by 3 inches wide.
Create 3x3 Note
Create a new Post-it note, 3 inches square.
Create 3x4 Note
Create a new Post-it note, 3 inches tall by 4 inches wide.
Create 3x5 Note
Create a new Post-it note, 3 inches tall by 5 inches wide.
Create 4x6 Note
Create a new Post-it note, 4 inches tall by 6 inches wide.
Raise All Notes
Raise all Post-it notes to the top. This is equivalent to
pressing the left mouse button in the control window.
Lower All Notes
Lower all Post-it notes to the bottom. This is equivalent to
pressing the middle mouse button in the control window.
Hide All Notes
Unmap all Post-it notes, making them disappear from the screen.
This is equivalent to pressing the middle mouse button in the
control window while holding down the CTRL key.
Show All Notes
Map all Post-it notes, making them reappear if they were hidden.
This is equivalent to pressing the left mouse button in the
control window while holding down the CTRL key.
Save All Notes
Save all Post-it notes to disk files in the save directory.
Exit Exit xpostit . If the -sv command line option was given, or the
saveNotes resource is true , all Post-it notes will be saved to
disk first.
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To select an item from the menu, drag the mouse cursor to that item and
release the mouse button.
THE POST-IT NOTE
Each Post-it note is made up of five parts (plus an optional scroll bar):
a text window where the text of the note is stored, and four buttons
labeled ``Save'', ``Erase'', ``Destroy'', and ``Title''.
The title of a Post-it note, which will be displayed by most window
managers in both a title bar and the icon name area, is by default the
string ``PostItNote #'' followed by a small integer, the number of the
note. The procedure for changing this title to something more meaningful
is described below.
To enter text into a Post-it note, simply move the mouse cursor into the
text window and start typing. Since the text window is actually a Text
widget, all the Text widget translations are accepted. Essentially, this
means you can use most of the EMACS control keys in the window.
Additionally, the various mouse buttons used for manipulating the
selections and cut buffer are understood.
After entering text in the Post-it note, you may wish to save the note in
a disk file. This way, if the machine goes down, or if you exit xpostit,
the Post-it note can be restored when you restart xpostit. (Post-it
notes are also saved automatically (if saveNotes is true) if a SIGHUP,
SIGINT, SIGTERM, or SIGQUIT signal is received.) To save the note to a
disk file, move the mouse cursor to the button labeled ``Save'' and press
the left mouse button. The note will be saved as the file ``noten'' in
your save directory, where n is some sequence number. NOTE: it is
important to remember that until you have pressed the ``Save'' button,
the data stored in the Post-it note is not saved on disk and can be lost
if the system goes down or xpostit exits.
To erase the entire contents of the text window, you can press the left
mouse button in the ``Erase'' button. This will bring up a confirmation
window, which has two buttons labeled ``Confirm'' and ``Cancel''. If you
press the ``Confirm'' button, the text will be erased. If you press the
``Cancel'' button, the operation is canceled, and nothing will happen.
NOTE: erasing the text in the window does not affect any contents of the
note you have saved on disk unless you press the ``Save'' button again.
To destroy a Post-it note, getting rid of its window on the screen and
the disk file it is saved in, move the mouse cursor to the ``Destroy''
button and press the left mouse button. This will bring up a
confirmation window as described above. If you confirm the operation,
the Post-it note will disappear from the screen and the disk file it was
saved in will be deleted.
To change the title of a Post-it note, both in any title bar on the
window as well as in the icon for the note, move the mouse cursor to the
``Title'' button and press the left mouse button. This will bring up a
dialog box with the current title in it. Change or modify the title, and
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press the ``Okay'' button with the mouse to change the title, or press
the ``Cancel'' button to discard the change.
SEE ALSO
X(1)
BUGS
The sizes of the Post-it notes are only as accurate as the display
dimension and resolution returned by the server. On the Sun server and
possibly others, this means they aren't all that accurate.
When the title of a Post-it note is changed, some window managers
(notably twm ) will not make the change in the icon name, since they only
look up this data when a window is mapped. This can be ``fixed'' by
unmapping all notes and mapping them again.
Without a color display for canary yellow notes and red plaid, the
aesthetic value of xpostit cannot be fully appreciated.
AUTHOR
David A. Curry, Purdue University
``Post-it'' and the plaid design are registered trademarks of 3M.
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