click OK in bash script to dismiss message box

Question

houndhen 4 Light Poster

10 Years Ago

I am using a bash script to toggle the touchpad on my laptop. I didn't write the script and know almost nothing about bash scripts. I have the script run when the laptop boots because I never want to use the touchpad and want it disabled. The script does the job and then displays a message that the touchpad was toggled off. The message has an OK button that I click to dismiss the message. I would like to alter the script to do something like delay for 5 seconds and then close. I have searched and found how to add the delay for 5 seconds, but would like to know how to dismiss the message window without having to click the OK button. Thanks in advance.

shell-scripting:bash

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Latest Post 10 Years Ago Latest Post by Gribouillis

Dani AI

Generated 9 Months Ago

The dialog XML you posted stops showing because gtkdialog expects a well‑formed, containerized description — a stray or mismatched tag will make the whole GUI definition fail. was right to ask about placement: every widget (including <timer>) must sit inside a container such as a <vbox> or <hbox>, and the dialog language is strict about matching open/close tags. (xpt.sourceforge.net)

Quick checklist to fix the script (in order of what actually breaks things):

Remove any stray characters after the </timer> close (your /window> at the end is exactly the sort of syntax error that prevents display).
Put the <timer> element as a child inside the same box that contains your button (i.e. before the </vbox>), so it’s parsed as a widget rather than dangling outside the window. Examples in the gtkdialog docs show timers used this way; many examples also use a milliseconds="true" attribute and an interval of 5000 to mean five seconds. (xpt.sourceforge.net)

If it still won’t show, test the dialog definition outside the script so you can see parse errors:

printf '%s\n' "$MAIN_DIALOG" > /tmp/dialog.gtkd
gtkdialog --file=/tmp/dialog.gtkd 2>/tmp/gtkdialog.err || cat /tmp/gtkdialog.err

Running gtkdialog --file=... or gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG 2>/tmp/err isolates parsing/runtime errors and prevents service/boot scheduling from hiding problems. The examples/docs show both approaches. (xpt.sourceforge.net)

If you only want a short, non‑blocking notification (no OK button at all) consider notify-send -t 5000 "Touchpad toggled off", which uses the desktop notification system (timeout in milliseconds). That avoids dialog XML entirely and integrates with KDE’s notification daemon. (manpages.debian.org)

Notes: keep the outer shell quote style consistent (export MAIN_DIALOG='...') and avoid unescaped single quotes inside that block. Also remember that a GUI tool run “at boot” must have an X/desktop session available (DISPLAY/DBUS session) to actually appear.

All 8 Replies

Gribouillis 1,391 Programming Explorer

10 Years Ago

Can you post the bash script ?

Edit: depending on your system, the libraries for popup dialogs are different. In
KDE, for example, kdialog has an option --passivepopup that does exactly what you want.

Edited 10 Years Ago by Gribouillis

Gribouillis 1,391 Programming Explorer

10 Years Ago

Apparently, you should be able to add a <timer> widget to the gtkdialog code, see http://code.google.com/p/gtkdialog/wiki/timer this timer can have an action which could
dismiss the dialog, perhaps something like

<timer interval="5">
<action>EXIT:ok</action>
</timer>

See also this example http://code.google.com/p/gtkdialog/source/browse/trunk/examples/timer/timer_advanced

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houndhen 4 Light Poster · Answer 1 · 2015-10-13T20:14:46+00:00

I am running PCLOS KDE. Not sure how to wrap the script code so here it is:

#! /bin/bash

PATH=${PATH}:/usr/sbin:/sbin

T=0
M=0

lsusb -v |grep "Mouse" &> /dev/null

if [ "$?" -ne "$M" ]; then


    export MAIN_DIALOG='
        <window title="TouchPad Toggle" icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
        <frame WARNING>
        <vbox>
        <hbox>
        <pixmap>
            <input file stock="gtk-dialog-warning"></input>
        </pixmap>
        <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
            <label>"You are attempting to run Touchpad Toggle 
without a USB Mouse being attached or detected."</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
            <label>" "</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text wrap="true" width-chars="35">
        <label>"Unless you have an alternate poiniting device (e.g., 
keyboard based mouse stick), please plug in a USB Mouse. Otherwise, you may not 
have access to a pointing device. Re-run Touchpad Toggle to toggle the state of 
your touchpad."</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text>
            <label>" "</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <button ok></button>
        </hbox>
        </vbox>
        </frame>
        </window>
        '

    gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi
fi

synclient -l |grep "TouchpadOff             = 0" &> /dev/null

if [ "$?" -eq "$T" ]; then
#   then
        synclient TouchpadOff=1

    if [ "$1" != "--no-gui" ]; then
        export MAIN_DIALOG='
            <window title="Touchpad Toggle" 
icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
            <frame>
            <vbox>
            <hbox>
            <pixmap>
                <input file stock="gtk-info"></input>
            </pixmap>
            <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
                <label>"Your Touchpad has been turned 
<b>OFF</b>."</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text>
                <label>" "</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text use-markup="true">
                <label>"<i>Re-run this program to turn your 
touchpad on again.</i>"</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
                <button ok></button>
            </hbox>
            </vbox>
            </frame>
            </window>
            '

        gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi

#       exit 0
    else
        synclient TouchpadOff=0

    if [ "$1" != "--no-gui" ]; then
        export MAIN_DIALOG='
            <window title="Touchpad Toggle" 
icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
            <frame>
            <vbox>
            <hbox>
            <pixmap>
                <input file stock="gtk-info"></input>
            </pixmap>
            <text use-markup="true" width-chars="35">
                <label>"Your Touchpad has been turned 
<b>ON</b>."</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text>
                <label>" "</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text use-markup="true">
                <label>"<i>Re-run this program to turn your 
touchpad off again.</i>"</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
                <button ok></button>
            </hbox>
            </vbox>
            </frame>
            </window>
        '

        gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi
fi
#fi
exit 0

houndhen 4 Light Poster · Answer 2 · 2015-10-14T14:28:53+00:00

Thanks. I will give it a try. Since I know nothing about writing scripts I will be sure and make a copy of the script before I start. The links seem very complicated to me. I will try your example and try to figure out where to put it.

houndhen 4 Light Poster · Answer 3 · 2015-10-19T21:07:35+00:00

I put your timer code into the script and now nothing is displayed. I was hoping to display the OK window for a few seconds (say 5 seconds) and then close the window. Here is where I put it in:

#! /bin/bash

PATH=${PATH}:/usr/sbin:/sbin

T=0
M=0

lsusb -v |grep "Mouse" &> /dev/null

if [ "$?" -ne "$M" ]; then
    if [ "$1" != "--no-gui" ]; then

    export MAIN_DIALOG='
        <window title="TouchPad Toggle" icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
        <frame WARNING>
        <vbox>
        <hbox>
        <pixmap>
            <input file stock="gtk-dialog-warning"></input>
        </pixmap>
        <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
            <label>"You are attempting to run Touchpad Toggle without a USB Mouse being attached or detected."</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
            <label>" "</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text wrap="true" width-chars="35">
        <label>"Unless you have an alternate poiniting device (e.g., keyboard based mouse stick), please plug in a USB Mouse. Otherwise, you may not have access to a pointing device. Re-run Touchpad Toggle to toggle the state of your touchpad."</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text>
            <label>" "</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <button ok></button>
        </hbox>
        </vbox>
        </frame>
        </window>
        '

    gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi
fi

synclient -l |grep "TouchpadOff             = 0" &> /dev/null

if [ "$?" -eq "$T" ]; then
#   then
        synclient TouchpadOff=1

    if [ "$1" != "--no-gui" ]; then
        export MAIN_DIALOG='
            <window title="Touchpad Toggle" icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
            <frame>
            <vbox>
            <hbox>
            <pixmap>
                <input file stock="gtk-info"></input>
            </pixmap>
            <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
                <label>"Your Touchpad has been turned <b>OFF</b>."</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text>
                <label>" "</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text use-markup="true">
                <label>"<i>Re-run this program to turn your touchpad on again.</i>"</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
                <button ok></button>
            </hbox>
            </vbox>
            </frame>

here <timer interval="5">
here <action>EXIT:ok</action>
here </timer>/window>
'

        gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi

#       exit 0
    else
        synclient TouchpadOff=0

    if [ "$1" != "--no-gui" ]; then
        export MAIN_DIALOG='
            <window title="Touchpad Toggle" icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
            <frame>
            <vbox>
            <hbox>
            <pixmap>
                <input file stock="gtk-info"></input>
            </pixmap>
            <text use-markup="true" width-chars="35">
                <label>"Your Touchpad has been turned <b>ON</b>."</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text>
                <label>" "</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text use-markup="true">
                <label>"<i>Re-run this program to turn your touchpad off again.</i>"</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
                <button ok></button>
            </hbox>
            </vbox>
            </frame>
            </window>
        '

        gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi
fi
#fi
exit 0

Now the OK window doesn't show.

Gribouillis 1,391 Programming Explorer Team Colleague · Answer 4 · 2015-10-19T21:39:52+00:00

The closing </window> tag is incorrect in your example above. Can you post the code with the timer included ? Did you try to put the timer before the </vbox> ?

houndhen 4 Light Poster · Answer 5 · 2015-10-21T20:45:16+00:00

Below is the script code as I have it saved in my system.

#! /bin/bash

PATH=${PATH}:/usr/sbin:/sbin

T=0
M=0

lsusb -v |grep "Mouse" &> /dev/null

if [ "$?" -ne "$M" ]; then
    if [ "$1" != "--no-gui" ]; then

    export MAIN_DIALOG='
        <window title="TouchPad Toggle" icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
        <frame WARNING>
        <vbox>
        <hbox>
        <pixmap>
            <input file stock="gtk-dialog-warning"></input>
        </pixmap>
        <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
            <label>"You are attempting to run Touchpad Toggle without a USB Mouse being attached or detected."</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
            <label>" "</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text wrap="true" width-chars="35">
        <label>"Unless you have an alternate poiniting device (e.g., keyboard based mouse stick), please plug in a USB Mouse. Otherwise, you may not have access to a pointing device. Re-run Touchpad Toggle to toggle the state of your touchpad."</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text>
            <label>" "</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <button ok></button>
        </hbox>
        </vbox>
        </frame>
        </window>
        '

    gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi
fi

synclient -l |grep "TouchpadOff             = 0" &> /dev/null

if [ "$?" -eq "$T" ]; then
#   then
        synclient TouchpadOff=1

    if [ "$1" != "--no-gui" ]; then
        export MAIN_DIALOG='
            <window title="Touchpad Toggle" icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
            <frame>
            <vbox>
            <hbox>
            <pixmap>
                <input file stock="gtk-info"></input>
            </pixmap>
            <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
                <label>"Your Touchpad has been turned <b>OFF</b>."</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text>
                <label>" "</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text use-markup="true">
                <label>"<i>Re-run this program to turn your touchpad on again.</i>"</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
                <button ok></button>
            </hbox>
            </vbox>
            </frame>
            <timer interval="5">
            <action>EXIT:ok</action>
            </timer>/window>

            '

        gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi

#       exit 0
    else
        synclient TouchpadOff=0

    if [ "$1" != "--no-gui" ]; then
        export MAIN_DIALOG='
            <window title="Touchpad Toggle" icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
            <frame>
            <vbox>
            <hbox>
            <pixmap>
                <input file stock="gtk-info"></input>
            </pixmap>
            <text use-markup="true" width-chars="35">
                <label>"Your Touchpad has been turned <b>ON</b>."</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text>
                <label>" "</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text use-markup="true">
                <label>"<i>Re-run this program to turn your touchpad off again.</i>"</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
                <button ok></button>
            </hbox>
            </vbox>
            </frame>
            </window>
        '

        gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi
fi
#fi
exit 0

Gribouillis 1,391 Programming Explorer Team Colleague · Answer 6 · 2015-10-21T21:13:51+00:00

Try this version perhaps ...

#! /bin/bash

PATH=${PATH}:/usr/sbin:/sbin

T=0
M=0

lsusb -v |grep "Mouse" &> /dev/null

if [ "$?" -ne "$M" ]; then
    if [ "$1" != "--no-gui" ]; then

    export MAIN_DIALOG='
        <window title="TouchPad Toggle" icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
        <frame WARNING>
        <vbox>
        <hbox>
        <pixmap>
            <input file stock="gtk-dialog-warning"></input>
        </pixmap>
        <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
            <label>"You are attempting to run Touchpad Toggle without a USB Mouse being attached or detected."</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
            <label>" "</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text wrap="true" width-chars="35">
        <label>"Unless you have an alternate poiniting device (e.g., keyboard based mouse stick), please plug in a USB Mouse. Otherwise, you may not have access to a pointing device. Re-run Touchpad Toggle to toggle the state of your touchpad."</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <text>
            <label>" "</label>
        </text>
        </hbox>
        <hbox>
        <button ok></button>
        </hbox>
        </vbox>
        </frame>
        </window>
        '

    gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi
fi

synclient -l |grep "TouchpadOff             = 0" &> /dev/null

if [ "$?" -eq "$T" ]; then
#   then
        synclient TouchpadOff=1

    if [ "$1" != "--no-gui" ]; then
        export MAIN_DIALOG='
            <window title="Touchpad Toggle" icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
            <frame>
            <vbox>
            <hbox>
            <pixmap>
                <input file stock="gtk-info"></input>
            </pixmap>
            <text use-markup="true" wrap="true" width-chars="35">
                <label>"Your Touchpad has been turned <b>OFF</b>."</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text>
                <label>" "</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text use-markup="true">
                <label>"<i>Re-run this program to turn your touchpad on again.</i>"</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
                <button ok></button>
            </hbox>
            <timer interval="5">
                <action>EXIT:ok</action>
            </timer>
            </vbox>
            </frame>
            </window>
            '

        gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi

#       exit 0
    else
        synclient TouchpadOff=0

    if [ "$1" != "--no-gui" ]; then
        export MAIN_DIALOG='
            <window title="Touchpad Toggle" icon-name="gtk-dialog-info">
            <frame>
            <vbox>
            <hbox>
            <pixmap>
                <input file stock="gtk-info"></input>
            </pixmap>
            <text use-markup="true" width-chars="35">
                <label>"Your Touchpad has been turned <b>ON</b>."</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text>
                <label>" "</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
            <text use-markup="true">
                <label>"<i>Re-run this program to turn your touchpad off again.</i>"</label>
            </text>
            </hbox>
            <hbox>
                <button ok></button>
            </hbox>
            </vbox>
            </frame>
            </window>
        '

        gtkdialog --program=MAIN_DIALOG
    fi
fi
#fi
exit 0

click OK in bash script to dismiss message box

Dani AI

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