Multiple meta screens on one monitor

Most of the example configurations combine multiple screens to a contiguous meta screen. However, the XmetaX proxy may also display multiple meta screens on one monitor.

This example does not use one single configuration file, but each meta screen and screen is configured by its own configuration file. Thus, a certain screen configuration file can be used in three ways:

Definition of a screen of the initial XmetaX configuration,

Later definition of an additional screen during runtime,

Modification of the screen configuration.

Four meta screens have to be displayed on one monitor. The meta screens are exactly as large as the monitor and arranged in a 2×2 matrix:

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta0
metaScreen meta0
width 1278 height 1022

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta1
metaScreen meta1
width 1278 height 1022
eastOf meta0

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta2
metaScreen meta2
width 1278 height 1022
southOf meta0

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta3
metaScreen meta3
width 1278 height 1022
southOf meta1

A meta screen can be in one of three states, which are expressed through the configuration of the associated screen.

Fullscreen means that the meta screen covers the whole display area:

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/fullscreen0
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta0
window fullscreenPanning0 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta0
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 1278 displayHeight 1022
displayX 0 displayY 0
borderWidth 0

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/fullscreen1
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta1
window fullscreenPanning1 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta1
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 1278 displayHeight 1022
displayX 0 displayY 0
borderWidth 0

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/fullscreen2
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta2
window fullscreenPanning2 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta2
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 1278 displayHeight 1022
displayX 0 displayY 0
borderWidth 0

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/fullscreen3
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta3
window fullscreenPanning3 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta3
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 1278 displayHeight 1022
displayX 0 displayY 0
borderWidth 0

Each configuration file includes the definition of the associated meta screen (Configuration file).

In the case of a panning meta screen only a part of the meta screen is displayed in the corresponding quadrant of the monitor:

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/panning0
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta0
window fullscreenPanning0 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta0
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 632 displayHeight 504
displayX 4 displayY 4
borderWidth 4
followPointerX 16 followPointerRestrict control

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/panning1
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta1
window fullscreenPanning1 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta1
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 632 displayHeight 504
displayX 644 displayY 4
borderWidth 4
followPointerX 16 followPointerRestrict control

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/panning2
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta2
window fullscreenPanning2 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta2
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 632 displayHeight 504
displayX 4 displayY 516
borderWidth 4
followPointerX 16 followPointerRestrict control

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/panning3
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta3
window fullscreenPanning3 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta3
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 632 displayHeight 504
displayX 644 displayY 516
borderWidth 4
followPointerX 16 followPointerRestrict control

These configurations differ from the fullscreen configurations in the screen border (Border width of a screen), in the dimensions and positions of the screen on the corresponding quadrant of the monitor (Dimensions of a screen), and in the dynamic position of the displayed part of the meta screen (Dynamic position of a screen). The same window type screen is used for both the fullscreen and the panning display.

A zoomed meta screen is totally displayed, but scaled down to fit into the corresponding quadrant of the monitor (Zooming a screen):

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/zoomed0
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta0
window zoomed0 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta0
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 632 displayHeight 504
clipWidth 1278 clipHeight 1022
minimumTextSize 9
displayX 4 displayY 4
borderWidth 4

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/zoomed1
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta1
window zoomed1 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta1
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 632 displayHeight 504
clipWidth 1278 clipHeight 1022
minimumTextSize 9
displayX 644 displayY 4
borderWidth 4

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/zoomed2
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta2
window zoomed2 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta2
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 632 displayHeight 504
clipWidth 1278 clipHeight 1022
minimumTextSize 9
displayX 4 displayY 516
borderWidth 4

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/zoomed3
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta3
window zoomed3 display :1.0
ofMetaScreen meta3
clipX 0 clipY 0
tags notManaged onTop displayWidth 632 displayHeight 504
clipWidth 1278 clipHeight 1022
minimumTextSize 9
displayX 644 displayY 516
borderWidth 4

Since the zooming factors of a screen cannot be dynamically changed, a zoomed meta screen needs its own window type screen. As soon as the state of a meta screen goes from fullScreen or panning to zoomed or vice versa two screens are configured. Only the screen of a meta screen which was least recently raised using the screen tag onTop (Screen tags) is actually visible.

The screen configuration files are used when starting the XmetaX proxy. Each of the following files configure all meta screens in a certain state:

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/fullscreen.conf
options +DynamicServer +InWindow +Vario
maximumNumberOfScreens 8
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/fullscreen0
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/fullscreen1
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/fullscreen2
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/fullscreen3
serverCommand /usr/bin/X11/X :1

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/panning.conf
options +DynamicServer +InWindow +Vario
maximumNumberOfScreens 8
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/panning0
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/panning1
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/panning2
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/panning3
serverCommand /usr/bin/X11/X :1

# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/zoomed.conf
options +DynamicServer +InWindow +Vario
maximumNumberOfScreens 8
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/zoomed0
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/zoomed1
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/zoomed2
/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/zoomed3
serverCommand /usr/bin/X11/X :1

The following shell script modifies the state of a meta screen:

#!/bin/sh
# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/shiftState

usage="Usage: $0 fullscreen|panning|zoomed"
if [ $# != 1 ]
then
    echo $usage 1>&2; exit 1
fi
state=$1
number=`echo $DISPLAY | sed s/.*\.\([0-9][0-9]*\)/\1/``
if [ $number = "" ]
then
    number=0
fi
if [ $state = zoomed ]
then
    /opt/XSOXmetaX/bin/xmetaxtool -nogui /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/
panning$number
fi
/opt/XSOXmetaX/bin/xmetaxtool -nogui /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/$state$number

The state transition from fullscreen to zoomed must go through the panning state, because otherwise the corresponding fullscreen meta screen would obscure the meta screens on the other quadrants. The shell script may be bound to window manager actions like hot keys:

Ctrl<Key>F10 root|icon|window f.exec \
    "/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/shiftState fullscreen&"
Ctrl<Key>F11 root|icon|window f.exec \
    "/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/shiftState panning&"
Ctrl<Key>F12 root|icon|window f.exec \
    "/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/shiftState zoomed&"

The regular structure of the configuration files points to their automatic generation using a shell script:

#!/bin/sh
# /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/createConfigurations

usage="Usage: $0 width height borderWidth serverCommand"
if [ $# != 4 ]
then
    echo $usage 1>&2; exit 1
fi
width=$1
height=$2
borderWidth=$3
serverCommand="$4"
width2=`expr $width / 2`
offsetX=`expr $width2 + $borderWidth`
width2=`expr $width2 - 2 \* $borderWidth`
width=`expr $width - 2`
height2=`expr $height / 2`
offsetY=`expr $height2 + $borderWidth`
height2=`expr $height2 - 2 \* $borderWidth`
height=`expr $height - 2`

for number in 0 1 2 3
do
    echo \# \/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta$number > meta$number
    echo metaScreen meta$number >> meta$number
    echo width $width height $height >> meta$number
    case $number
    in 0)
        positionX=$borderWidth
        positionY=$borderWidth
    ;; 1)
        positionX=$offsetX
        positionY=$borderWidth
        echo eastOf meta0 \
            >> meta$number
    ;; 2)
        positionX=$borderWidth
        positionY=$offsetY
        echo southOf meta0 \
            >> meta$number
    ;; 3)
        positionX=$offsetX
        positionY=$offsetY
        echo southOf meta1 \
            >> meta$number
    ;; esac
    for state in fullscreen panning zoomed
    do (
        echo \# \/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/$state$number
        echo \/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/meta$number
        case $state
        in fullscreen | panning)
            window=fullscreenPanning$number
        ;; zoomed)
            window=zoomed$number
        ;; esac
        echo window $window display :1.0
        echo ofMetaScreen meta$number
        echo clipX 0 clipY 0
        echo tags notManaged onTop
        case $state
        in fullscreen)
            echo displayWidth $width displayHeight $height
            echo displayX 0 displayY 0
            echo borderWidth 0
        ;; panning)
            echo displayWidth $width2 displayHeight $height2
            echo displayX $positionX \
		displayY $positionY
            echo borderWidth $borderWidth
            echo followPointerX 16 \
		followPointerRestrict control
        ;; zoomed)
            echo displayWidth $width2 displayHeight $height2
            echo clipWidth $width clipHeight $height
            echo minimumTextSize 9
            echo displayX $positionX \
		displayY $positionY
            echo borderWidth $borderWidth
        ;; esac
        ) > $state$number
    done
done

for state in fullscreen panning zoomed
do (
    echo \# \/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/$state.conf
    echo options +DynamicServer +InWindow +Vario
    echo maximumNumberOfScreens 8
    for number in 0 1 2 3
    do
        echo \/etc/opt/XSOXmetaX/${state}$number
    done
    echo serverCommand "$serverCommand"
    ) > $state.conf
done

The configuration files above were generated using the commands

cd /etc/opt/XSOXmetaX
./createConfigurations 1280 1024 4 "/usr/X11/bin/X :1"