Module: `wibox.widget.textclock`

Text clock widget.

The wibox.widget.textclock widget is part of the Awesome WM's widget system (see 03-declarative-layout.md).

This widget displays a text clock formatted by the GLib Date Time format and GTimeZone.

The wibox.widget.textclock inherits from wibox.widget.textbox. It means that, once created, the user will receive a derivated instance of wibox.widget.textbox associated with a private gears.timer to manage timed updates of the displayed clock.

Use a wibox.widget.textclock

Usage example

local my_textclock = wibox.widget.textclock('%a %b %d, %H:%M')

Alternatively, you can declare the textclock widget using the declarative pattern (Both codes are strictly equivalent):

The GLib DateTime format

The time displayed by the textclock widget can be formated by the GLib DateTime format.

Here is a short list with commonly used format specifiers (extracted from the Glib API references):

Format	Description
%a	The abbreviated weekday name according to the current locale
%A	the full weekday name according to the current locale
%b	The abbreviated month name according to the current locale
%B	The full month name according to the current locale
%d	The day of the month as a decimal number (range 01 to 31)
%e	The day of the month as a decimal number (range 1 to 31)
%F	Equivalent to %Y-%m-%d (the ISO 8601 date format)
%H	The hour as a decimal number using a 24-hour clock (range 00 to 23)
%I	The hour as a decimal number using a 12-hour clock (range 01 to 12)
%k	The hour (24-hour clock) as a decimal number (range 0 to 23); single digits are preceded by a blank
%l	The hour (12-hour clock) as a decimal number (range 1 to 12); single digits are preceded by a blank
%m	The month as a decimal number (range 01 to 12)
%M	The minute as a decimal number (range 00 to 59)
%p	Either \"AM\" or \"PM\" according to the given time value, or the corresponding strings for the current locale. Noon is treated as \"PM\" and midnight as \"AM\".
%P	Like %p but lowercase: \"am\" or \"pm\" or a corresponding string for the current locale
%r	The time in a.m. or p.m. notation
%R	The time in 24-hour notation (%H:%M)
%S	The second as a decimal number (range 00 to 60)
%T	The time in 24-hour notation with seconds (%H:%M:%S)
%y	The year as a decimal number without the century
%Y	The year as a decimal number including the century
%%	A literal % character

You can read more on the GLib DateTime format in the GLib documentation.

Class Hierarchy

gears.object
- wibox.widget.base
- - wibox.widget.textbox
  - - wibox.widget.textclock

Info:

Copyright: 2009 Julien Danjou
Originally authored by: Julien Danjou <julien@danjou.info>
(Full contributors list available on our github project)

Constructors

wibox.widget.textclock ([format=" %a %b %d, %H:%M "[, refresh=60[, timezone=local timezone]]])

Create a textclock widget.

Object properties

format	string	Set the clock's format.
timezone	string	Set the clock's timezone.
refresh	number	Set the clock's refresh rate.
markup	string	Set the HTML text of the textbox.	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
text	string	Set a textbox plain text.	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
ellipsize	string	Set the text ellipsize mode.	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
wrap	string	Set a textbox wrap mode.	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
valign	string	The textbox' vertical alignment.	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
align	string	Set a textbox horizontal alignment.	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
font	string	Set a textbox font.	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
children	table	Get or set the children elements.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
all_children	table	Get all direct and indirect children widgets.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
forced_height	number or nil	Force a widget height.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
forced_width	number or nil	Force a widget width.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
opacity	number	The widget opacity (transparency).	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
visible	boolean	The widget visibility.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
buttons	table	The widget buttons.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base

Object methods

:force_update ()	Force a textclock to update now.
:get_preferred_size (s) -> (number, number)	Get the preferred size of a textbox.	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
:get_height_for_width (width, s) -> number	Get the preferred height of a textbox at a given width.	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
:get_preferred_size_at_dpi (dpi) -> (number, number)	Get the preferred size of a textbox.	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
:get_height_for_width_at_dpi (width, dpi) -> number	Get the preferred height of a textbox at a given width.	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
:set_markup_silently (text) -> boolean or (boolean, string)	Set the text of the textbox.(with Pango markup).	Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox
:add_button (button)	Add a new awful.button to this widget.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
:emit_signal_recursive (signal_name, ...)	Emit a signal and ensure all parent widgets in the hierarchies also forward the signal.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
:index (widget[, recursive[, ...]]) -> (number, widget, table)	Get the index of a widget.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
:connect_signal (name, func)	Connect to a signal.	Inherited from gears.object
:weak_connect_signal (name, func)	Connect to a signal weakly.	Inherited from gears.object
:disconnect_signal (name, func)	Disonnect from a signal.	Inherited from gears.object
:emit_signal (name, ...)	Emit a signal.	Inherited from gears.object

Theme variables

beautiful.font

string

The textbox font.

Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox

Signals

widget::layout_changed	When the layout (size) change.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
widget::redraw_needed	When the widget content changed.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
button::press	When a mouse button is pressed over the widget.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
button::release	When a mouse button is released over the widget.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
mouse::enter	When the mouse enter a widget.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base
mouse::leave	When the mouse leave a widget.	Inherited from wibox.widget.base

Constructors

wibox.widget.textclock ([format=" %a %b %d, %H:%M "[, refresh=60[, timezone=local timezone]]])

Create a textclock widget. It draws the time it is in a textbox.

Parameters:

format string The time format. (default " %a %b %d, %H:%M ")
refresh number How often to update the time (in seconds). (default 60)
timezone string The timezone to use. (default local timezone)

Returns:

table

Object properties

format string

Set the clock's format.

For information about the format specifiers, see the GLib docs.

Type constraints:

format string The new time format. This can contain pango markup.

timezone string

Set the clock's timezone.

e.g. "Z" for UTC, "±hh:mm" or "Europe/Amsterdam". See GTimeZone.

refresh number

Set the clock's refresh rate.

Type constraints:

refresh number How often the clock is updated, in seconds

markup string · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox · 1 signal

Set the HTML text of the textbox.

The main difference between text and markup is that markup is able to render a small subset of HTML tags. See the Pango markup) documentation to see what is and isn't valid in this property.

Usage example

 local w = wibox.widget {
     markup = "This is some <i>text</i>, <b>HTML tags</b> <u>WILL</u> work.",
     widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
 }

The wibox.widget.textbox colors are usually set by wrapping into a wibox.container.background widget, but can also be done using the markup:

Usage example

 local w = wibox.widget {
     markup = "<span background='#ff0000' foreground='#0000ff'>Some</span>"..
       " nice <span foreground='#00ff00'>colors!</span>",
     widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
 }

Type constraints:

markup string The text to set. This can contain pango markup (e.g. <b>bold</b>). You can use gears.string.escape to escape parts of it.

Emit signals:

property::markup When the markup value changes.

self wibox.widget.textbox The object which changed (useful when connecting many object to the same callback).
new_value markup The new value affected to the property.

text string · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox · 1 signal

Set a textbox plain text.

This property renders the text as-is, it does not interpret it:

Usage example

 local w = wibox.widget {
     text   = "This is some <i>text</i>, <b>HTML tags</b> will <u>NOT</u> work.",
     widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
 }

One exception are the control characters, which are interpreted:

Usage example

 local w = wibox.widget {
     text   = "This is some text\nover\nmultiple lines!",
     widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
 }

Type constraints:

text string The text to display. Pango markup is ignored and shown as-is.

Emit signals:

property::text When the text value changes.

self wibox.widget.textbox The object which changed (useful when connecting many object to the same callback).
new_value text The new value affected to the property.

ellipsize string · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox · 1 signal

Set the text ellipsize mode.

Valid values are:

"start"
"middle"
"end"
"none"

See Pango for additional details: Layout.set_ellipsize

Usage example

Type constraints:

mode string The ellipsize mode. (default "end")

Usage:

widget{
    text = "This is a very long text, that cannot be displayed fully.",
    ellipsize = "start",
    widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
},
widget{
    text = "This is a very long text, that cannot be displayed fully.",
    ellipsize = "end",
    widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
},
widget{
    text = "This is a very long text, that cannot be displayed fully.",
    ellipsize = "middle",
    widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
},
widget{
    text = "This is a very long text, that cannot be displayed fully.",
    ellipsize = "none",
    valign = "top",
    widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
}

Click to display more

Emit signals:

property::ellipsize When the ellipsize value changes.

self wibox.widget.textbox The object which changed (useful when connecting many object to the same callback).
new_value mode The new value affected to the property.

wrap string · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox · 1 signal

Set a textbox wrap mode.

Valid values are:

word
char
word_char

Usage example

Type constraints:

mode string Where to wrap? After "word", "char" or "word_char". (default "word_char")

Usage:

for _, wrap in ipairs {"word", "char", "word_char"} do
    local w = wibox.widget {
        wrap   = wrap,
        text   = "Notable dinausors: Tyrannosaurus-Rex, Triceratops, Velociraptor, Sauropods, Archaeopteryx.",
        widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
    }
end

Click to display more

Emit signals:

property::wrap When the wrap value changes.

self wibox.widget.textbox The object which changed (useful when connecting many object to the same callback).
new_value mode The new value affected to the property.

valign string · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox · 1 signal

The textbox' vertical alignment.

Valid values are:

top
center
bottom

Usage example

Type constraints:

mode string Where should the textbox be drawn? "top", "center" or "bottom". (default "center")

Usage:

for _, valign in ipairs {"top", "center", "bottom"} do
    local w = wibox.widget {
        valign = valign,
        text   = "some text",
        widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
    }
end

Click to display more

Emit signals:

property::valign When the valign value changes.

self wibox.widget.textbox The object which changed (useful when connecting many object to the same callback).
new_value mode The new value affected to the property.

align string · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox · 1 signal

Set a textbox horizontal alignment.

Valid values are:

left
center
right

Usage example

Type constraints:

mode string Where should the textbox be drawn? "left", "center" or "right". (default "left")

Usage:

for _, align in ipairs {"left", "center", "right"} do
    local w = wibox.widget {
        align  = align,
        text   = "some text",
        widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
    }
end

Click to display more

Emit signals:

property::align When the align value changes.

self wibox.widget.textbox The object which changed (useful when connecting many object to the same callback).
new_value mode The new value affected to the property.

font string · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox · 1 signal · 1 theme variable

Set a textbox font.

There is multiple valid font string representation. The most precise is XFT. It is also possible to use the family name, followed by the face and size such as Monospace Bold 10. This script lists the fonts present on your system:

#!/usr/bin/env lua

local lgi = require("lgi")
local pangocairo = lgi.PangoCairo

local font_map = pangocairo.font_map_get_default()

for k, v in pairs(font_map:list_families()) do
    print(v:get_name(), "monospace?: "..tostring(v:is_monospace()))
    for k2, v2 in ipairs(v:list_faces()) do
        print("    ".. v2:get_face_name())
    end
end

Save this script somewhere on your system, chmod +x it and run it. It will list something like:

Sans    monospace?: false
    Regular
    Bold
    Italic
    Bold Italic

In this case, the font could be Sans 10 or Sans Bold Italic 10.

Here are examples of several font families:

Usage example

Usage example output:

Usage example:

local pango = require("lgi").Pango
local fonts = {
    "sans",
    "Roboto, Bold",
    "DejaVu Sans, Oblique",
    "Noto Mono, Regular"
}

for _, font in ipairs(fonts) do
    local w = wibox.widget {
        font   = font,
        text   = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog!",
        widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
    }

    -- Use the low level Pango API to validate the font was parsed properly.
    local desc = pango.FontDescription.from_string(w.font)
    print(w.font, desc:get_size(), desc:get_family(), desc:get_variant(), desc:get_style())
end

The font size is a number at the end of the font description string:

Usage example

for _, font in ipairs { "sans 8", "sans 10", "sans 12", "sans 14" } do
    local w = wibox.widget {
        font   = font,
        text   = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog!",
        widget = wibox.widget.textbox,
    }
end

Type constraints:

font string The font description as string. (default beautiful.font)

Click to display more

Emit signals:

property::font When the font value changes.

self wibox.widget.textbox The object which changed (useful when connecting many object to the same callback).
new_value font The new value affected to the property.

Consumed theme variables:

Theme variable	Usage
beautiful.font	The default font.

children table · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

Get or set the children elements.

Type constraints:

children table The children.

all_children table · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

Get all direct and indirect children widgets. This will scan all containers recursively to find widgets Warning: This method it prone to stack overflow if there is a loop in the widgets hierarchy. A hierarchy loop is when a widget, or any of its children, contain (directly or indirectly) itself.

Type constraints:

children table The children.

forced_height number or nil · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

Force a widget height.

Type constraints:

height number or nil The height (nil for automatic)

forced_width number or nil · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

Force a widget width.

Type constraints:

width number or nil The width (nil for automatic)

opacity number · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

The widget opacity (transparency).

Type constraints:

opacity number The opacity (between 0 and 1) (default 1)

visible boolean · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

The widget visibility.

buttons table · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

The widget buttons.

The table contains a list of awful.button objects.

Object methods

:force_update ()

Force a textclock to update now.

:get_preferred_size (s) -> (number, number) · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox

Get the preferred size of a textbox.

This returns the size that the textbox would use if infinite space were available.

Parameters:

s integer or screen The screen on which the textbox will be displayed.

Returns:

number The preferred width.
number The preferred height.

:get_height_for_width (width, s) -> number · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox

Get the preferred height of a textbox at a given width.

This returns the height that the textbox would use when it is limited to the given width.

Parameters:

width number The available width.
s integer or screen The screen on which the textbox will be displayed.

Returns:

number

:get_preferred_size_at_dpi (dpi) -> (number, number) · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox

Get the preferred size of a textbox.

This returns the size that the textbox would use if infinite space were available.

Parameters:

dpi number The DPI value to render at.

Returns:

number The preferred width.
number The preferred height.

:get_height_for_width_at_dpi (width, dpi) -> number · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox

Get the preferred height of a textbox at a given width.

This returns the height that the textbox would use when it is limited to the given width.

Parameters:

width number The available width.
dpi number The DPI value to render at.

Returns:

number

:set_markup_silently (text) -> boolean or (boolean, string) · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox

Set the text of the textbox.(with Pango markup).

Parameters:

text string The text to set. This can contain pango markup (e.g. <b>bold</b>). You can use gears.string.escape to escape parts of it.

Returns:

boolean

Or

boolean false
string Error message explaining why the markup was invalid.

:add_button (button) · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

Add a new awful.button to this widget.

Parameters:

button awful.button The button to add.

:emit_signal_recursive (signal_name, ...) · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

Emit a signal and ensure all parent widgets in the hierarchies also forward the signal.

This is useful to track signals when there is a dynamic set of containers and layouts wrapping the widget.

Note that this function has some flaws:

The signal is only forwarded once the widget tree has been built. This happens after all currently scheduled functions have been executed. Therefore, it will not start to work right away.
In case the widget is present multiple times in a single widget tree, this function will also forward the signal multiple times (once per upward tree path).
If the widget is removed from the widget tree, the signal is still forwarded for some time, similar to the first case.

Parameters:

signal_name string
... Other arguments

:index (widget[, recursive[, ...]]) -> (number, widget, table) · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

Get the index of a widget.

Parameters:

widget widget The widget to look for.
recursive boolean Recursively check accross the sub-widgets hierarchy. (optional)
... widget Additional widgets to add at the end of the sub-widgets hierarchy "path". (optional)

Returns:

number The widget index.
widget The parent widget.
table The hierarchy path between "self" and "widget".

:connect_signal (name, func) · Inherited from gears.object

Connect to a signal.

Usage example output:

In slot [obj]   nil nil nil
In slot [obj]   foo bar 42

Parameters:

name string The name of the signal.
func function The callback to call when the signal is emitted.

Usage:

local o = gears.object{}
-- Function can be attached to signals
local function slot(obj, a, b, c)
    print("In slot", obj, a, b, c)
end
o:connect_signal("my_signal", slot)
-- Emitting can be done without arguments. In that case, the object will be
-- implicitly added as an argument.
o:emit_signal "my_signal"
-- It is also possible to add as many random arguments are required.
o:emit_signal("my_signal", "foo", "bar", 42)
-- Finally, to allow the object to be garbage collected (the memory freed), it
-- is necessary to disconnect the signal or use weak_connect_signal
o:disconnect_signal("my_signal", slot)
-- This time, the slot wont be called as it is no longer connected.
o:emit_signal "my_signal"

:weak_connect_signal (name, func) · Inherited from gears.object

Connect to a signal weakly.

This allows the callback function to be garbage collected and automatically disconnects the signal when that happens. Warning: Only use this function if you really, really, really know what you are doing.

Parameters:

name string The name of the signal.
func function The callback to call when the signal is emitted.

:disconnect_signal (name, func) · Inherited from gears.object

Disonnect from a signal.

Parameters:

name string The name of the signal.
func function The callback that should be disconnected.

:emit_signal (name, ...) · Inherited from gears.object

Emit a signal.

Parameters:

name string The name of the signal
... Extra arguments for the callback functions. Each connected function receives the object as first argument and then any extra arguments that are given to emit_signal()

Theme variables

beautiful.font string · Inherited from wibox.widget.textbox: The textbox font.

Signals

widget::layout_changed · Inherited from wibox.widget.base

When the layout (size) change. This signal is emitted when the previous results of :layout() and :fit() are no longer valid. Unless this signal is emitted, :layout() and :fit() must return the same result when called with the same arguments.

Arguments:

self table The current object instance itself.
lx number The horizontal position relative to the (0,0) position in the widget.
ly number The vertical position relative to the (0,0) position in the widget.
button number The button number.
mods table The modifiers (mod4, mod1 (alt), Control, Shift)
find_widgets_result The entry from the result of wibox.drawable:find_widgets for the position that the mouse hit.
- drawable wibox.drawable The drawable containing the widget.
- widget widget The widget being displayed.
- hierarchy wibox.hierarchy The hierarchy managing the widget's geometry.
- x number An approximation of the X position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- y number An approximation of the Y position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- width number An approximation of the width that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- height number An approximation of the height that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- widget_width number The exact width of the widget in its local coordinate system.
- widget_height number The exact height of the widget in its local coordinate system.

Arguments:

self table The current object instance itself.
lx number The horizontal position relative to the (0,0) position in the widget.
ly number The vertical position relative to the (0,0) position in the widget.
button number The button number.
mods table The modifiers (mod4, mod1 (alt), Control, Shift)
find_widgets_result The entry from the result of wibox.drawable:find_widgets for the position that the mouse hit.
- drawable wibox.drawable The drawable containing the widget.
- widget widget The widget being displayed.
- hierarchy wibox.hierarchy The hierarchy managing the widget's geometry.
- x number An approximation of the X position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- y number An approximation of the Y position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- width number An approximation of the width that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- height number An approximation of the height that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- widget_width number The exact width of the widget in its local coordinate system.
- widget_height number The exact height of the widget in its local coordinate system.

Arguments:

self table The current object instance itself.
find_widgets_result The entry from the result of wibox.drawable:find_widgets for the position that the mouse hit.
- drawable wibox.drawable The drawable containing the widget.
- widget widget The widget being displayed.
- hierarchy wibox.hierarchy The hierarchy managing the widget's geometry.
- x number An approximation of the X position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- y number An approximation of the Y position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- width number An approximation of the width that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- height number An approximation of the height that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- widget_width number The exact width of the widget in its local coordinate system.
- widget_height number The exact height of the widget in its local coordinate system.

Arguments:

self table The current object instance itself.
find_widgets_result The entry from the result of wibox.drawable:find_widgets for the position that the mouse hit.
- drawable wibox.drawable The drawable containing the widget.
- widget widget The widget being displayed.
- hierarchy wibox.hierarchy The hierarchy managing the widget's geometry.
- x number An approximation of the X position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- y number An approximation of the Y position that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- width number An approximation of the width that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- height number An approximation of the height that the widget is visible at on the surface.
- widget_width number The exact width of the widget in its local coordinate system.
- widget_height number The exact height of the widget in its local coordinate system.

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Module: wibox.widget.textclock

Use a wibox.widget.textclock

The GLib DateTime format

Class Hierarchy

Info:

Constructors

Object properties

Object methods

Theme variables

Signals

Constructors

Parameters:

Returns:

Object properties

Type constraints:

Type constraints:

Type constraints:

See also:

Emit signals:

Type constraints:

See also:

Emit signals:

Type constraints:

Usage:

Emit signals:

Type constraints:

Usage:

Emit signals:

Type constraints:

Usage:

Emit signals:

Type constraints:

Usage:

Emit signals:

Type constraints:

Emit signals:

Consumed theme variables:

Type constraints:

Type constraints:

Type constraints:

Type constraints:

Type constraints:

See also:

Object methods

Parameters:

Returns:

Parameters:

Returns:

Parameters:

Returns:

Parameters:

Returns:

Parameters:

Returns:

Or

Parameters:

Parameters:

Parameters:

Returns:

Parameters:

Usage:

Parameters:

Parameters:

Parameters:

Module: `wibox.widget.textclock`