Description:

ueberzugbak 18.2.1

NOTE: This is a fork of the original ueberzug project. I did not write this code.
Überzug
Überzug is a command line util
which allows to draw images on terminals by using child windows.
Advantages to w3mimgdisplay:

no race conditions as a new window is created to display images
expose events will be processed,
so images will be redrawn on switch workspaces
tmux support (excluding multi pane windows)
terminals without the WINDOWID environment variable are supported
chars are used as position - and size unit
no memory leak (/ unlimited cache)

Overview

Dependencies
Installation
Communication

Command formats
Actions

Add
Remove


Libraries

Bash (deprecated)
Python
Python Urwid


Examples



Dependencies
Libraries used in the c extension:

python
X11
Xext
XRes

There are also other direct dependencies,
but they will be installed by pip.
Installation
$ pip install ueberzug-bak

Note: You can improve the performance of image manipulation functions
by using pillow-simd instead of pillow.
Communication
The communication is realised via stdin.
A command is a request to execute a specific action with the passed arguments.
(Therefore a command has to contain a key value pair "action": action_name)
Commands are separated with a line break.
Command formats

json: Command as json object
simple:
Key-value pairs seperated by a tab,
pairs are also seperated by a tab
:warning: ONLY FOR TESTING!
Simple was never intended for the usage in production!
It doesn't support paths containing tabs or line breaks
which makes it error prone.
bash: dump of an associative array (declare -p variable_name)

Actions
Add
Name: add
Description:
Adds an image to the screen.
If there's already an image with the same identifier
it will be replaced.



Key
Type
Description
Optional




identifier
String
a freely choosen identifier of the image
No


x
Integer
x position
No


y
Integer
y position
No


path
String
path to the image
No


width
Integer
desired width; original width will be used if not set
Yes


height
Integer
desired height; original width will be used if not set
Yes


max_width
Integer
Deprecated: replaced by scalers (this behavior is implemented by the default scaler contain)image will be resized (while keeping it's aspect ratio) if it's width is bigger than max width
Yes


max_height
Integer
Deprecated: replaced by scalers (this behavior is implemented by the default scaler contain)image will be resized (while keeping it's aspect ratio) if it's height is bigger than max height
Yes


draw
Boolean
redraw window after adding the image, default True
Yes


synchronously_draw
Boolean
redraw window immediately
Yes


scaler
String
name of the image scaler(algorithm which resizes the image to fit into the placement)
Yes


scaling_position_x
Float
the centered position, if possibleSpecified as factor of the image size,so it should be an element of [0, 1].
Yes


scaling_position_y
Float
analogous to scaling_position_x
Yes



ImageScalers:



Name
Description




crop
Crops out an area of the size of the placement size.


distort
Distorts the image to the placement size.


fit_contain
Resizes the image that either the width matches the maximum width or the height matches the maximum height while keeping the image ratio.


contain
Resizes the image to a size <= the placement size while keeping the image ratio.


forced_cover
Resizes the image to cover the entire area which should be filledwhile keeping the image ratio.If the image is smaller than the desired sizeit will be stretched to reach the desired size.If the ratio of the area differsfrom the image ratio the edges will be cut off.


cover
The same as forced_cover but images won't be stretchedif they are smaller than the area which should be filled.



Remove
Name: remove
Description:
Removes an image from the screen.



Key
Type
Description
Optional




identifier
String
a previously used identifier
No


draw
Boolean
redraw window after removing the image, default True
Yes



Libraries
Just a reminder: This is a GPLv3 licensed project, so if you use any of these libraries you also need to license it with a GPLv3 compatible license.
Bash
The library is deprecated.
Dump associative arrays if you want to use ueberzug with bash.
First of all the library doesn't follow the posix standard,
so you can't use it in any other shell than bash.
Executing ueberzug library will print the path to the library to stdout.
Functions:

ImageLayer starts the ueberzug process and uses bashs associative arrays to transfer commands.
Also there will be a function named ImageLayer::{action_name} declared for each action.
Each of this function takes the key values pairs of the respective action as arguments.
Every argument of these functions has to be an associative key value pair.
ImageLayer::{action_name} [{key0}]="{value0}" [{key1}]="{value1}" ...
Executing such a function builds the desired command string according to the passed arguments and prints it to stdout.

Python
First of all everything which isn't mentioned here isn't safe to use and
won't necessarily shipped with new coming versions.
The library is included in ueberzug's package.
import ueberzug.lib.v0 as ueberzug

Classes:


Visibility:
An enum which contains the visibility states of a placement.

VISIBLE
INVISIBLE



Placement:
A placement to put images on.
Every key value pair of the add action is an attribute (except identifier).
Changing one of it will lead to building and transmitting an add command if the placement is visible.
The identifier key value pair is implemented as a property and not changeable.
Constructor:



Name
Type
Optional
Description




canvas
Canvas
No
the canvas where images should be drawn on


identifier
String
No
a unique string used to address this placement


visibility
Visibility
Yes
the initial visibility state(if it's VISIBLE every attribute without a default value needs to be set)


**kwargs
dict
Yes
key value pairs of the add action



Properties:



Name
Type
Setter
Description




identifier
String
No
the identifier of this placement


canvas
Canvas
No
the canvas this placement belongs to


visibility
Visibility
Yes
the visibility state of this placement- setting it to VISIBLE leads to the transmission of an add command- setting it to INVISIBLE leads to the transmission of a remove command



Warning:
The transmission of a command can lead to an IOError.
(A transmission happens on assign a new value to an attribute of a visible Placement.
The transmission is delayed till leaving a with-statement if lazy_drawing is used.)


ScalerOption:
Enum which contains the useable scaler names.


Canvas:
Should either be used with a with-statement or with a decorated function.
(Starts and stops the ueberzug process)
Constructor:



Name
Type
default
Description




debug
bool
False
suppresses printing stderr if it's false



Methods:



Name
Returns
Description




create_placement
Placement
prevents the use of the same identifier multiple times,takes the same arguments as the Placement constructor (excluding canvas parameter)


__call__
Function
Decorator which returns a function which calls the decorated function with the keyword parameter canvas=this_canvas_object.Of course other arguments are also passed through.


request_transmission
-
Transmits queued commands if automatic_transmission is enabled or force=True is passed as keyword argument.



Properties / Attributes:



Name
Type
Setter
Description




lazy_drawing
context manager factory
No
prevents the transmission of commands till the with-statement was leftwith canvas.lazy_drawing: pass


synchronous_lazy_drawing
context manager factory
No
Does the same as lazy_drawing. Additionally forces the redrawing of the windows to happen immediately.


automatic_transmission
bool
Yes
Transmit commands instantly on changing a placement. If it's disabled commands won't be transmitted till a lazy_drawing or synchronous_lazy_drawing with-statement was left or request_transmission(force=True) was called. Default: True





Examples
Command formats:

Json command format: {"action": "add", "x": 0, "y": 0, "path": "/some/path/some_image.jpg"}
Simple command format: action add x 0 y 0 path /some/path/some_image.jpg
Bash command format: declare -A command=([path]="/some/path/some_image.jpg" [action]="add" [x]="0" [y]="0" )

Bash:
# process substitution example:
ueberzug layer --parser bash 0< <(
declare -Ap add_command=([action]="add" [identifier]="example0" [x]="0" [y]="0" [path]="/some/path/some_image0.jpg")
declare -Ap add_command=([action]="add" [identifier]="example1" [x]="10" [y]="0" [path]="/some/path/some_image1.jpg")
sleep 5
declare -Ap remove_command=([action]="remove" [identifier]="example0")
sleep 5
)

# group commands example:
{
declare -Ap add_command=([action]="add" [identifier]="example0" [x]="0" [y]="0" [path]="/some/path/some_image0.jpg")
declare -Ap add_command=([action]="add" [identifier]="example1" [x]="10" [y]="0" [path]="/some/path/some_image1.jpg")
read
declare -Ap remove_command=([action]="remove" [identifier]="example0")
read
} | ueberzug layer --parser bash

Python library:

curses (based on https://docs.python.org/3/howto/curses.html#user-input):

import curses
import time
from curses.textpad import Textbox, rectangle
import ueberzug.lib.v0 as ueberzug


@ueberzug.Canvas()
def main(stdscr, canvas):
demo = canvas.create_placement('demo', x=10, y=0)
stdscr.addstr(0, 0, "Enter IM message: (hit Ctrl-G to send)")

editwin = curses.newwin(5, 30, 3, 1)
rectangle(stdscr, 2, 0, 2+5+1, 2+30+1)
stdscr.refresh()

box = Textbox(editwin)

# Let the user edit until Ctrl-G is struck.
box.edit()

# Get resulting contents
message = box.gather()
demo.path = ''.join(message.split())
demo.visibility = ueberzug.Visibility.VISIBLE
time.sleep(2)


if __name__ == '__main__':
curses.wrapper(main)


general example:
import ueberzug.lib.v0 as ueberzug
import time

if __name__ == '__main__':
with ueberzug.Canvas() as c:
paths = ['/some/path/some_image.png', '/some/path/another_image.png']
demo = c.create_placement('demo', x=0, y=0, scaler=ueberzug.ScalerOption.COVER.value)
demo.path = paths[0]
demo.visibility = ueberzug.Visibility.VISIBLE

for i in range(30):
with c.lazy_drawing:
demo.x = i * 3
demo.y = i * 3
demo.path = paths[i % 2]
time.sleep(1/30)

time.sleep(2)



Scripts:

fzf with image preview: https://github.com/seebye/ueberzug/blob/master/examples/fzfimg.sh
Mastodon viewer: https://github.com/seebye/ueberzug/blob/master/examples/mastodon.sh
Fzf Mpd User Interface: https://github.com/seebye/fmui

License

For personal and professional use. You cannot resell or redistribute these repositories in their original state.

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