i3status_ext

This is a crate which lets you extend the i3status display as described here.

How to use

First add this crate to your dependencies in you Cargo.toml file:

[dependencies]
i3status_ext = "0.0.3"

Then add the external crate into you extension's source file and call i3status_ext::begin() once and i3status_ext::update() in a loop:

extern crate i3status_ext;

fn main() {

    // read arguments
    let args = App::new("myext").args(&[
        Arg::new("position")
            .short('p')
            .takes_value(true),
        Arg::new("reverse")
            .short('r'),
    ]);

    // get arguments (with minimal plausibility check)
    let position = args
        .value_of("position")
        .unwrap_or("0")
        .parse::<usize>()
        .unwrap_or(0);
    let reverse = args.is_present("reverse");

    // start reading i3status' output from stdin
    i3status_ext::begin();

    // prepare some text to insert
    let my_text = "Hello, World!";

    loop {
        // insert your part into i3status
        i3status_ext::update("my_text", position, reverse, my_text);
    }
}

The i3status process will keep sending you status updates via stdin in which you continue to insert your status item at the wished position.

If you are interested in a more complex example take a look at i3owm which inserts information about the current weather into the i3status.

add your extension to i3 status bar

To activate your extension find the bar definition in your i3 configuration file which usually is placed at ~/.config/i3/config:

bar {
  status_command i3status | my_own_i3status_extension -rp1"
}

Reference

i3status_ext::begin()

Just call this function once at program start so that i3status_ext can read the header which comes initially from i3status.

Definition:

pub fn begin()

i3status_ext::update()

Place this call into a loop like in the example above to continuously add your custom item into the json data from i3status.

Definition:

pub fn update(name: &str, position: usize, reverse: bool, what: &str)

Parameters:

• name : Names your added status item in the json output
• position : Position (beginning with 0) of which your item will be placed at within the orignal i3status.
• reverse : If true the position will be counted backwards from the end.