.TH RATMENU 1 "Sep 15 2001" "Ratpoison Desktop For X"
.SH NAME
ratmenu \- create a menu to run commands
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B ratmenu
[
.BI \-display " displayname"
] [
.BI \-font " fname"
] [
.BI \-fg " foreground-color"
] [
.BI \-bg " background-color"
] [
.BI \-label " name"
] [
.BI \-shell " prog"
] [
.BI \-align " {left|center|right}"
] [
.BI \-style " {snazzy|dreary}"
] [
.B \-version
]
.IR menuitem [: command ]
\&...
.SH DESCRIPTION
.I ratmenu
is a simple program that accepts a list of menu item and command
pairs on the command line.
It creates a window that consists of nothing but a menu.
When a particular item is selected, the corresponding command is executed.
.PP
.I ratmenu
does not recognize any usage of the rodent.  You use the keys
"j" and "k" to scroll up and down the menu, just as in
.I vi.
You can get out of the menu by pressing the Escape key, and
select the currently
highlighted item by pressing Return [also know as the Enter key].
.PP
Menu items and commands are separated by a colon.  The colon and command
are optional. If they are missing, then the menu item is assumed to be
a command that can be executed directly.
.PP
.I ratmenu
accepts the following command line options.
.RS
.TP
.BI \-display " displayname"
Use the X display
.IR displayname ,
instead of the default display.
.TP
.BI \-font " fname"
Use the font
.IR fname ,
instead of the default font.
.TP
.BI \-label " name"
Change both the window and icon labels of the window to
.IR name .
The default label is the last component of the path used to run
.IR ratmenu ,
typically,
.BR ratmenu .
.TP
.BI \-fg " foreground-color"
Set the foreground color to
.IR foreground-color .
By default, the foreground color is black.
.TP
.BI \-bg " background-color"
Set the background color to
.IR background-color .
By default, the background color is white.
.TP
.BI \-style " {snazzy|dreary}"
The default style is
.IR snazzy ,
where the highlight bar, which shows the currently selected item, remains
stationary while all the menu items are rotated up or down when the cursor
keys are moved.  In
.IR dreary
mode, the highlight bar moves up and down the menu as it does on all conventional
keyboard controlled menus.
.TP
.BI \-align " {left|center|right}"
Align the text of the menu entries to the left, right, or center.
Defaults to
.IR left .
This is different from
.BR 9menu ,
which defaults to
.IR center .
.TP
.BI \-shell " prog"
Use
.I prog
as the shell to run commands, instead of
.BR /bin/sh .
A popular alternative shell is
.IR rc (1).
If the shell cannot be executed,
.I ratmenu
will
.I silently
fall back to using
.BR /bin/sh .
.TP
.B \-version
This option prints the version of
.I ratmenu
on the standard output, and then exits with an exit value of zero.
.RE
.SH EXAMPLES
.ft B
.nf
ratmenu -label Remotes xterm 'acme:rsh acme xterm' 'herman:rsh herman 9term' &
.sp
ratmenu -label 'X progs' ghostview xdvi xeyes xneko exit &
.ft
.fi
.SH SEE ALSO
.IR ratpoison (1),
.IR xvt (1),
.IR vim (1),
.IR ratpoisonrc (5),
.PP
.IR "Ratpoison Desktop Users Manual" .
.SH AUTHORS
The initial idea for this program was by Arnold Robbins, after having
worked with John Mackin's GWM Blit emulation.
Matty Farrow wrote a version using libXg, from which some ideas were borrowed.
This code was written by David Hogan and Arnold Robbins.
Rich Salz motivated the
.B \-shell
option.
Jonathan Walther modified this code to play nicely with the ratpoison window
manager by removing handling of mouse events and iconification.