---
category: en
type: paper
hastr: true
layout: paper
tags: awesome-widgets, pytextmonitor
title: Awesome Widgets 2.1: bells and whistles
short: aw-2.1-bells-and-whistles
description: The paper deals with settings of a custom scripts and graphical bars in the new version of Awesome Widgets (2.1).
---
<h2><a href="#intro" class="anchor" id="intro"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>Introduction</h2>
<p>For a start it is highly recommended copy file <code>$HOME/.kde4/share/config/extsysmon.conf</code> after widget update before you open widget settings, because old and new script settings are incompatible. Also I should note that these features can be configured from graphical interface, but I will describe how it can be done by simply editing the desktop file.</p>

<h2><a href="#bars" class="anchor" id="bars"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>Bars</h2>
<p>Bars are stored in the two directories: <code>/usr/share/apps/plasma_applet_awesome-widget/desktops/</code> and <code>$HOME/.kde4/share/apps/plasma_applet_awesome-widget/desktops/</code> (path may be differ in depend from your distro). Settings in the home directory have a higher priority that global ones. Configuration files have the following fields:</p>

<table>
  <tr>
    <th>Field</th>
    <th>Required</th>
    <th>Value</th>
    <th>Default</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>Name</th>
    <td>yes</td>
    <td>bar name. It should be as <code>barN</code> and should be unique</td>
    <td>none</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>Comment</th>
    <td>no</td>
    <td>comment</td>
    <td>empty</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-Value</th>
    <td>yes</td>
    <td>bar value. The following tags are available <code>cpu*</code>, <code>gpu</code>, <code>mem</code>, <code>swap</code>, <code>hdd*</code>, <code>bat</code></td>
    <td>cpu</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-ActiveColor</th>
    <td>yes</td>
    <td>active part fill in format <code>R,G,B,A</code></td>
    <td>0,0,0,130</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-InactiveColor</th>
    <td>yes</td>
    <td>inactive part fill in format <code>R,G,B,A</code></td>
    <td>255,255,255,130</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-Type</th>
    <td>yes</td>
    <td>bar type. The following types are supported <code>Horizontal</code>, <code>Vertical</code>, <code>Circle</code></td>
    <td>Horizontal</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-Direction</th>
    <td>yes</td>
    <td>the fill direction. The following variants are supported <code>LeftToRight</code>, <code>RightToLeft</code></td>
    <td>LeftToRight</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-Height</th>
    <td>yes</td>
    <td>height, pixels</td>
    <td>100</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-Width</th>
    <td>yes</td>
    <td>width, pixels</td>
    <td>100</td>
  </tr>
</table>

<h2><a href="#scripts" class="anchor" id="scripts"><span class="octicon octicon-link"></span></a>Scripts</h2>
<p>Scripts are stored in the two directories: <code>/usr/share/apps/plasma_engine_extsysmon/scripts/</code> and <code>$HOME/.kde4/share/apps/plasma_engine_extsysmon/scripts/</code> (path may be differ in depend from your distro). Settings in the home directory have a higher priority that global ones. To enable script you should type it on the output field. Configuration files have the following fields:</p>

<table>
  <tr>
    <th>Field</th>
    <th>Required</th>
    <th>Value</th>
    <th>Default</th>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>Name</th>
    <td>yes</td>
    <td>script name</td>
    <td>none</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>Comment</th>
    <td>no</td>
    <td>comment</td>
    <td>empty</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>Exec</th>
    <td>yes</td>
    <td>path to executable file</td>
    <td>/usr/bin/true</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-Prefix</th>
    <td>no</td>
    <td>prefix to executable file. Usually it's not required, but in other you may want to specify interpretor for example.</td>
    <td></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-Active</th>
    <td>no</td>
    <td>whether or not the script is active</td>
    <td>true</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-Output</th>
    <td>no</td>
    <td>whether or not the script has output to console. You may set it to <code>false</code> if you want use the script as cron jobs</td>
    <td>true</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-Redirect</th>
    <td>no</td>
    <td>stream redirection. The following variants are available <code>stderr2stdout</code>, <code>nothing</code>, <code>stdout2stderr</code>. stderr will be enabled, if you run application with <code>DEBUG=yes</code></td>
    <td>nothing</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <th>X-AW-Interval</th>
    <td>no</td>
    <td>update interval in standard widget intervals</td>
    <td>1</td>
  </tr>
</table>