====== GUI Scripting from the Shell ======

Give shell scripts dialogs and notifications without a real GUI app.
''notify-send'' and ''zenity'' are usually already installed; ''yad'' (zenity fork)
is in the repos and much more capable for forms.

===== Notifications =====

<code bash>
notify-send "Backup done"                          # transient, doesn't steal focus
notify-send -u critical "Fan failure!"             # sticky/urgent
notify-send -i dialog-information "Hi" "body text"
</code>

From cron/timer scripts, notifications need the session bus:

<code bash>
export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS="unix:path=/run/user/$(id -u)/bus"
notify-send "timer fired"
</code>

===== zenity: simple dialogs =====

<code bash>
name=$(zenity --entry --text="Name:")              # text input
zenity --question --text="Continue?" && do_thing   # yes/no via exit code
zenity --info --text="Done."                       # OK box
zenity --error --text="It broke."
file=$(zenity --file-selection)                    # file picker
zenity --calendar                                  # date picker → prints date
zenity --password                                  # masked entry
zenity --list --column=A a b c                     # pick from list → prints
seq 100 | zenity --progress --auto-close           # progress bar from a pipe
</code>

Every dialog's exit code: 0 = OK/accept, 1 = cancel/closed. Capture output on
stdout for input-type dialogs.

===== yad: when zenity isn't enough =====

<code bash>
sudo apt install yad
</code>

<code bash>
# multi-field form
yad --form --title="Add user" \
    --field="Name" --field="Email" --field="Admin:CHK" \
    "Ada" "ada@x" FALSE
# prints pipe-separated values: Ada|ada@x|TRUE|

# pick a file, show a text view, menu dialog…
yad --file --directory                      # dir picker
cat log.txt | yad --text-info --width=600 --height=400
yad --list --column=Pkg --column=Size pkg1 1M pkg2 2M
</code>

===== Choosing =====

  * Toast/status updates → ''notify-send''
  * One input or a yes/no → ''zenity''
  * A real form, multi-select list, or embedded widgets → ''yad''
  * Terminal-only dialogs → ''dialog'' / ''whiptail'' (ncurses menus)

===== A small pattern =====

<code bash>
#!/usr/bin/env bash
# ask, act, report: all GUI
target=$(yad --entry --title="Backup" --text="Backup to which dir?" \
        --entry-text="/media/$USER/TRANSFER") || exit 0
if rsync -a ~/Documents/ "$target/Documents/"; then
  notify-send "Backup" "Done → $target"
else
  zenity --error --text="rsync failed: check disk space"
fi
</code>

Bind scripts like this to a hotkey in LXQt → Shortcut Keys, or drop a
''.desktop'' launcher in ''~/.local/share/applications/'' to get a menu entry.


===== See Also =====

  * [[terminal:scripting:start|Scripting Index]]
  * [[terminal:tools:start|CLI Tools]]
  * [[terminal:start|Return to terminal]]
  * [[start|Return to wiki home]]