#+title: i3-like multihead in bspwm
#+date: <2015-04-28 00:00>
#+OPTIONS: ^:nil

i3 has fantastic focus and window handling for multiple monitors out of
the box in my opinion. I didn't realize that I missed this until I was
on campus and used i3 on a multihead setup there, so I set out to make
my bspwm setup act the same.

** [[#h-f5e9511f-6cf0-48bc-bb99-b5ace54affb4][Initial]]
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: h-f5e9511f-6cf0-48bc-bb99-b5ace54affb4
:END:

In the example sxhkd in the bspwm repo, the main window focus keybind is
set up as such:

#+begin_src bash
super + {_,shift + }{h,j,k,l} bspc node -{f,s}
    {west,south,north,east}
#+end_src

I'm going to separate this into 2 parts, a focus part and a movement
part.

** [[#h-0469c988-ab08-4684-afb2-708743a574aa][Focus]]
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: h-0469c988-ab08-4684-afb2-708743a574aa
:END:

So taking the focus part out of the above we get:
#+begin_src
super + {h,j,k,l}
    bspc node -f {west,south,north,east}
#+end_src

So, This will focus on a window in a direction determined by keypress,
which are vi-like here. However, lets say you have 2 monitors, and one
is empty:

[[http://i.imgur.com/5VBlIjn.png]]

the command =bspc node -f east= will fail, as there is no window to the
right, and no action occurs as a result.

*** [[#h-ee4ac00a-9b3f-48cd-8e9e-bfbdc247c75b][Desired behavior]]
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: h-ee4ac00a-9b3f-48cd-8e9e-bfbdc247c75b
:END:

In the above, on a focus right, I want the cursor to appear in the
middle of the right monitor as well as focus on that monitor.

#+begin_src bash
super + {h,j,k,l}
    dir={west,south,north,east}; \
    bspc config pointer_follows_monitor true; \
    bspc config pointer_follows_focus true; \
    if ! bspc node -f $dir; then \
        bspc monitor -f $dir; \
    fi; \
    bspc config pointer_follows_monitor false; \
    bspc config pointer_follows_focus false
#+end_src

When the node right command fails in the above scenario, the monitor to
the right will be focused, and the pointer will be there.

#+begin_quote
Why is half of this binding setting =pointer_follows_*= values?
#+end_quote

So let's say you are moving a floating window with your mouse across the
2 screens - with either of the two pointer options above enabled, when
you cross the border the cursor will move, and the window with it. This
window snapping out from under you can be quite annoying.

** [[#h-cc243055-0839-4d72-8471-2319a4d41e20][Movement]]
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: h-cc243055-0839-4d72-8471-2319a4d41e20
:END:

Movement part of the example sxhkd:

#+begin_src bash
super + shift + {h,j,k,l}
    bspc node -s {west,south,north,east}
#+end_src

Alright, so what this does is switch the currently focused window with
another window by direction, although the focus remains on the original
window spot, which I've found to be quite annoying. It feels more
natural to keep focus on the same window and 'carry' it around your
workspaces/monitors.

*** [[#h-1915bc68-2afc-4d9f-ba88-c00ad1915867][Desired behavior]]
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: h-1915bc68-2afc-4d9f-ba88-c00ad1915867
:END:

When a window is switched, retain focus on the original window that was
moved. If switching to an empty monitor, move the window to that
monitor. If switching to an occupied monitor, move the window to that
monitor instead of switching windows.

Under this behavior, the keypress =super + shift + l= would yield the
following results:

[[http://i.imgur.com/ofjhFSP.png]] [[http://i.imgur.com/HyahZTU.png]]

Here is an implementation:

#+begin_src bash
super + shift + {h,j,k,l}
    dir={west,south,north,east}; \
    wid=$(bspc query -N -n); \
    mon=$(bspc query -M -m); \
    bspc config pointer_follows_focus true; \
    if ! bspc node -f $dir; then \
        bspc node -m $dir; \
        bspc monitor -f $dir; \
    else \
        new_mon=$(bspc query -M -m); \
        if [ $new_mon -eq $mon ]; then \
            bspc node -s $wid; \
        else \
            bspc node $wid -m $new_mon; \
        fi; \
        bspc node -f $wid; \
    fi; \
    bspc config pointer_follows_focus false
#+end_src

You can see from this I used the same strategy as above - check if the
window focus command failed and act accordingly - if it does not fail,
then check if we are on a new monitor - if so, move the original window
to the new monitor.

wooo.

-----

This was initially authored in 2015, and nowaways I would recommend putting your focus/move/resize logic into scripts and then binding sxhkd keybinds to that -- so that the sxkhd can be clean, and you can enjoy editing shell without having to do the =;\;\;\= dance.