slop ==== slop (Select Operation) is an application that querys for a selection from the user and prints the region to stdout. It grabs the mouse and turns it into a crosshair, lets the user click and drag to make a selection (or click on a window) while drawing a pretty box around it, then finally prints the selection's dimensions to stdout. features -------- * Hovering over a window will cause a selection rectangle to appear over it. * Clicking on a window makes slop return the dimensions of the window. * Clicking and dragging causes a selection rectangle to appear, renders pretty well (compared to scrot). And will return the dimensions of that rectangle in absolute screen coords. * On startup it turns your cursor into a crosshair, then adjusts the cursor into angles as you drag the selection rectangle. * Supports simple arguments: * Change selection rectangle border size. * Select X display. * Set padding size, even negative padding sizes! * Set click tolerance for if you have a shaky mouse. * Set the color of the selection rectangles to match your theme! (Even supports transparency!) * Remove window decorations from selections. practical applications ---------------------- slop can be used to create a video recording script in only two lines of code. ```bash #!/bin/bash eval `slop` ffmpeg -f x11grab -s "$W"x"$H" -i :0.0+$X,$Y -f alsa -i pulse ~/myfile.webm ``` slop lets you select a region or window and ffmpeg will record it in the format of your choice! Combined with keybinds and a server on your filesystem you can make a really neat and unobtrusive screenshooter. You can also take images using imagemagick like so: ```bash #!/bin/bash eval `slop` import -window root -crop $G ~/myimage.png ``` If you don't like ImageMagick's import: Check out [maim](https://github.com/naelstrof/maim) for a better screenshot utility. You can see my implementation of slop in a screenshooter here: https://gist.github.com/naelstrof/6530959 lets see some action -------------------- Ok. Here's a comparison between 'scrot -s's selection and slop's: ![scrotbad](http://farmpolice.com/content/images/2014-10-14-12:08:24.png) ![slopgood](http://farmpolice.com/content/images/2014-10-14-12:14:51.png) You can see scrot leaves garbage lines over the things you're trying to screenshot! While slop not only looks nicer, it's impossible for it to end up in screenshots or recordings because it waits for DestroyNotify events before completely shutting down. Only after the window is completely destroyed can anything take a screenshot. help ---- ```text slop v3.1.3 Copyright (C) 2014 Dalton Nell, GPLv3 Usage: slop [options] slop (Select Operation) is an application that queries for a selection from the user and prints the region to stdout. -h, --help Print help and exit -V, --version Print version and exit Options --xdisplay=hostname:number.screen_number Sets the x display. (default=`:0') --nokeyboard Disables the ability to cancel selections with the keyboard. (default=off) -b, --bordersize=INT Set the selection rectangle's thickness. Does nothing when --highlight is enabled. (default=`5') -p, --padding=INT Set the padding size of the selection. Can be negative. (default=`0') -t, --tolerance=INT How far in pixels the mouse can move after clicking and still be detected as a normal click instead of a click and drag. Setting this to 0 will disable window selections. (default=`2') -g, --gracetime=FLOAT Set the amount of time before slop will check for keyboard cancellations in seconds. (default=`0.4') -c, --color=FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT,FLOAT Set the selection rectangle's color. Supports RGB or RGBA values. (default=`0.5,0.5,0.5,1') -n, --nodecorations Attempt to select child windows in order to avoid window decorations. (default=off) --min=INT Set the minimum output of width or height values. This is useful to avoid outputting 0. Setting min and max to the same value disables drag selections. (default=`0') --max=INT Set the maximum output of width or height values. Setting min and max to the same value disables drag selections. (default=`0') -l, --highlight Instead of outlining selections, slop highlights it. This is only useful when --color is set to a transparent color. (default=off) Examples $ # Gray, thick, transparent border for maximum visiblity. $ slop -b 20 -c 0.5,0.5,0.5,0.8 $ # Remove window decorations. $ slop --nodecorations $ # Disable window selections. Useful for selecting individual pixels. $ slop -t 0 $ # Classic Windows XP selection. $ slop -l -c 0.3,0.4,0.6,0.4 ```