Quad terminal laser!

I find, not too infrequently, that I need to perform operations across several directories, or across several servers, at once. To best facilitate this, I usually open 3-5 terminals, and then move them around so that I can see them all at once. Why not automate this, I thought. Instead of hard coding sizes and positions for the terminals and assigning the sequence to a keypress, I thought I would do something more useful and write a Python script to find out this information based on the current display, and launch the terminals appropriately.

This has been completed, but the script still has a lot to be desired. You still have to set as a variable whether dual monitors are being used (could not find a way to determine this programatically yet), and it only works with single monitor or TwinView in Linux. You can also set what sort of terminal you want to use (gnome-terminal is default), what side you want them to open on for dual monitor setups (right is default), and what directory they should be in (user's home dir is default). It gets your screen's dimensions, calculates where the terminals should be and how they should be separated, and launches them.

I then added this to my .fluxbox/keys file:

Mod1 q :ExecCommand python /home/sam/code_homerepo/code/userextensions/quadterm.py

So now I just press "Alt + q", and four gnome-terminals launch perfectly spaced on my right monitor!

The code is quite ugly right now, but as it stands:

#/usr/bin/python
#####################################################
# Creates 4 terminals evenly quartering a screen
#
# Linux only right now. Map it to a keystroke for
# maximum convenience.
#
# If you don't want to use gnome-terminal, change the
# next variable. Warning: The width and height
# specified are in characters and rows for gnome-
# terminal; they might have to be in pixels for other
# apps.
#####################################################
terminal = "gnome-terminal"
#####################################################
# If you are not using TwinView, toggle the following:
#####################################################
twinview = True
#####################################################
# Which monitor (if Dual) you want them on:
#####################################################
side = "right"
#####################################################
# Dir the terminals will be in:
#####################################################
workingdir = "~"
#####################################################
import commands
# Get the screen dimensions:
dimeninfo = commands.getoutput("xdpyinfo | grep dimensions")
# Read out the needed numbers:
dimeninfosplit = dimeninfo.split()
dimensions = dimeninfosplit[1]
prex = dimensions.split("x")
x = int(prex[0])
prey = dimensions.split("x")
y = int(prey[1])
# Take some visual buffers into account:
widthsansborder = x - 50
heightsansborder = y - 50
# Calculate dimensions in pixels:
termwidthpixels = widthsansborder / 2
termheightpixels =  heightsansborder / 2
# Convert to characters/rows for most apps (like gnome-terminal).
# No idea what the conversion rate should be...
termwidth = termwidthpixels / 16
termheight = termwidthpixels / 60
# Constant width/height for all 4.
t1width = t2width = t3width = t4width = termwidth
t1height = t2height = t3height = t4height = termheight
# Find the offset position for appropriate pairs (in pixels):
t1posx = t3posx = 50
t2posx = t4posx = (50 * 2) + termwidthpixels
t1posy = t2posy = 50
t3posy = t4posy = 50 + termheightpixels
# If TwinView is being used, we need to halve some offsets:
if twinview is True:
   t2posx = (((50 * 2) + termwidthpixels) / 2)
   t4posx = (((50 * 2) + termwidthpixels) / 2)
   if side == "right":
       t1posx = 50 + (x / 2)
       t2posx = x * .75
       t3posx = 50 + (x / 2)
       t4posx = x * .75
# Spawn the 4 terminals, with needed positions and sizes, then exit quietly:
commands.getoutput("%s --geometry=%dx%d+%d+%d --working-directory=%s" % \
   (terminal, t1width, t1height, t1posx, t1posy, workingdir))
commands.getoutput("%s --geometry=%dx%d+%d+%d --working-directory=%s" % \
   (terminal, t2width, t2height, t2posx, t2posy, workingdir))
commands.getoutput("%s --geometry=%dx%d+%d+%d --working-directory=%s" % \
   (terminal, t3width, t3height, t3posx, t3posy, workingdir))
commands.getoutput("%s --geometry=%dx%d+%d+%d --working-directory=%s" % \
   (terminal, t4width, t4height, t4posx, t4posy, workingdir))
# For debugging, print what we have calculated:
#print "%s at: %d x %d + %d + %d" % (terminal, t1width, t1height, t1posx, t1posy)
#print "%s at: %d x %d + %d + %d" % (terminal, t2width, t2height, t2posx, t2posy)
#print "%s at: %d x %d + %d + %d" % (terminal, t3width, t3height, t3posx, t3posy)
#print "%s at: %d x %d + %d + %d" % (terminal, t4width, t4height, t4posx, t4posy)