Spawn: Libxfce4ui Reference Manual

## Spawn Spawn — spawn a command with startup notification |

## Stability Level

Stable, unless otherwise indicated

## Functions

gboolean | xfce_spawn_on_screen_with_child_watch ()
gboolean | xfce_spawn_on_screen ()
gboolean | xfce_spawn_command_line_on_screen ()

## Includes

    #include <libxfce4ui/libxfce4ui.h>

## Description

Functions to spawn a command with startup notification support.

## Functions

### xfce_spawn_on_screen_with_child_watch ()

    gboolean
    xfce_spawn_on_screen_with_child_watch (GdkScreen *screen,
                                           const gchar *working_directory,
                                           gchar **argv,
                                           gchar **envp,
                                           GSpawnFlags flags,
                                           gboolean startup_notify,
                                           guint32 startup_timestamp,
                                           const gchar *startup_icon_name,
                                           GClosure *child_watch_closure,
                                           GError **error);

Like `xfce_spawn_on_screen()`, but allows to attach a closure to watch the child's exit status. This because only one `g_child_watch_add()` is allowed on Unix (per PID) and this is already internally needed for a proper startup notification implementation.

Example 2. Spawning with a child watch

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    static void
    child_watch_callback (GObject *object,
                          gint     status)
    {
      g_message ("Child exit status is %d", status);
    }

    static void
    spawn_something (void)
    {
      GClosure *child_watch;

      child_watch = g_cclosure_new_swap (G_CALLBACK (child_watch_callback),
                                         object, NULL);
      xfce_spawn_on_screen_with_child_watch (...,
                                             child_watch,
                                             ...);
    }

#### Parameters

screen | a GdkScreen or `NULL` to use the active screen, see `xfce_gdk_screen_get_active()`. | [allow-none]
working_directory | child's current working directory or `NULL` to inherit parent's. | [allow-none]
argv | child's argument vector. |
envp | child's environment vector or `NULL` to inherit parent's. | [allow-none]
flags | flags from GSpawnFlags. G_SPAWN_DO_NOT_REAP_CHILD is not allowed, you should use the `child_watch_closure` for this. |
startup_notify | whether to use startup notification. |
startup_timestamp | the timestamp to pass to startup notification, use the event time here if possible to make focus stealing prevention work property. If you don't have direct access to the event time you could use `gtk_get_current_event_time()` or if nothing is available 0 is valid too. |
startup_icon_name | application icon or `NULL`. | [allow-none]
child_watch_closure | closure that is triggered when the child exists or `NULL`. | [allow-none]
error | return location for errors or `NULL`. | [out][allow-none][transfer full]

#### Returns

`TRUE` on success, `FALSE` if `error` is set.

### xfce_spawn_on_screen ()

    gboolean
    xfce_spawn_on_screen (GdkScreen *screen,
                          const gchar *working_directory,
                          gchar **argv,
                          gchar **envp,
                          GSpawnFlags flags,
                          gboolean startup_notify,
                          guint32 startup_timestamp,
                          const gchar *startup_icon_name,
                          GError **error);

Like `gdk_spawn_on_screen()`, but also supports startup notification (if Libxfce4ui was built with startup notification support).

#### Parameters

screen | a GdkScreen or `NULL` to use the active screen, see `xfce_gdk_screen_get_active()`. | [allow-none]
working_directory | child's current working directory or `NULL` to inherit parent's. | [allow-none]
argv | child's argument vector. |
envp | child's environment vector or `NULL` to inherit parent's. | [allow-none]
flags | flags from GSpawnFlags. G_SPAWN_DO_NOT_REAP_CHILD is not allowed, use `xfce_spawn_on_screen_with_child_watch()` if you want a child watch. |
startup_notify | whether to use startup notification. |
startup_timestamp | the timestamp to pass to startup notification, use the event time here if possible to make focus stealing prevention work property. If you don't have direct access to the event time you could use `gtk_get_current_event_time()` or if nothing is available 0 is valid too. |
startup_icon_name | application icon or `NULL`. | [allow-none]
error | return location for errors or `NULL`. | [out][allow-none][transfer full]

#### Returns

`TRUE` on success, `FALSE` if `error` is set.

### xfce_spawn_command_line_on_screen ()

    gboolean
    xfce_spawn_command_line_on_screen (GdkScreen *screen,
                                       const gchar *command_line,
                                       gboolean in_terminal,
                                       gboolean startup_notify,
                                       GError **error);

Executes the given `command_line` and returns `TRUE` if the command terminated successfully. Else, the `error` is set to the standard error output.

#### Parameters

screen | a GdkScreen or `NULL` to use the active screen, see `xfce_gdk_screen_get_active()`. | [allow-none]
command_line | command line to run. |
in_terminal | whether to run `command_line` in a terminal. |
startup_notify | whether to use startup notification. |
error | location for a GError or `NULL`. | [out][allow-none][transfer full]

#### Returns

`TRUE` if the `command_line` was executed successfully, `FALSE` if `error` is set.