How not to parse the modeline in stumpwm:

This is one of those where you look back on what you've written and cringe. 

(defparameter *strip-newline* " | xargs echo -n"
  "command to strip newline from shell commands")
(defparameter *mode-line-spacer* " | "
  "string that seperates *mode-line-contents*")
(defparameter GRP-WIN-ML-FMT "%g %v^>"
  "group & window mode-line format")
(defparameter DATE-COMMAND "date"
  "date mode-line shell-command")
(defparameter POWER-COMMAND "acpi | awk '{print $4}'"
  "power mode-line shell-command")
(defparameter MUSIC-COMMAND "mpc status | head -n 1"
  "music mode-line shell-command")
(defparameter *mode-line-contents* (list GRP-WIN-ML-FMT DATE-COMMAND POWER-COMMAND MUSIC-COMMAND)
  "list of mode-line variables and shell-commands") 

(defmacro parse-mode-line (mode-text)
  "macro for applying shell command wrapper to *mode-line-contents*. Strip newline with *strip-newline*"
  `(eval (stumpwm:run-shell-command (concatenate 'string ,mode-text *strip-newline*) t)))

(setf stumpwm:*screen-mode-line-format*
      `(:eval (mapcar #'(lambda (x) (concatenate 'string x *mode-line-spacer*)) 
                      (cons (car *mode-line-contents*) 
                            (mapcar (lambda (x) (macroexpand-1 (parse-mode-line x)))
                                    (cdr *mode-line-contents*))))))
Tags: lisp stumpwm