NOTE Due to either the state of current Rust GUI libs being a little incomplete I need to test out some libs to see which support the feature-set I need. It can't be that hard to automatically focus an input field. Or can it?

Idea

Emacs / Spacemacs like runner, where you hit one key and get send down a tree of successive keys to execute a command / shortcut you have previously configured.

Setup

• Clone it
• cargo build --release inside the cloned directory
• Copy config.json to your users config directory (for example to ~/.config/spacerun/config.json for linux)
• Create a keyboard shortcut in your system to start <spacerun-dir>/target/release/spacerun
• Edit the JSON file with your shortcuts
• Have fun 🚀

Configuration

Edit config.json in your configuration path to change spaceruns behaviour.

• commands contains your shortcuts and the action it should execute.
• font_size sets the displayed fonts size (default is 14).
• position specifies the position of spaceruns window. Its value can be one of:
  • centered for a centered window with automatic width (default).
  • top for a full-width window positioned at the top of your screen.
  • bottom for a full-width window positioned at the bottom of your screen.

Principles

• Spacerun should be fast to use.
• Spacerun is not only a task runner, but a productivity tool.
• Automation is awesome; Automation is both documenting and time saving. Therefore, spacerun broadens the possible applications of automation by enabling rapid changes to it.

ToDos

• Blocking Switch to a framework that supports input focusing, as I am unable to do so with the current one. (Maybe try Azul, as its the cool new kid on the block?)

• Generate default config file if it is missing

• Replace unwrap()s with real error handling & good error messages

  • Errors
    • On config missing / unreadable
  • Show errors in window, it should not fail to show at least something when run

• Add styling config options

  • Font config
    • Size
  • colors

• Global command layer for configurable hotkeys

  • Backspace to go back up one layer
  • Escape exits

• Refactor code & add some tests

Cool & shiny things to implement

• Auto-generate a form by placeholders in the command (e.g. ${'My Field Name': default val})
• Context sensitive commands
  • Prev focused window. I could have added a "class": "^chromium" to the commands config. This option will only show if chromium was focused previous to spacerun being opened. For more usability we could add placeholders in the command for window_id & more.
• Replace placeholders by data / vars (e.g. ${clipboard} / ${clipboard_selection}) (Although this is a bit redundant with scripts being able to fetch the same information)
• Better / cooler / easier to edit format instead of a json file?
• Form to add / edit commands in-program
• Repeating- / multi-mode, where multiple commands can be executed once
• CLI interface to start from specific subtree / specify different config path
• Async mode, where the window pops up again after a command has finished to give more options (Also solvable by using a CLI interface (not yet implemented), but not as cool?)
• Server mode, instance is constantly running in background so the JSON won't need to be parsed each time the window should be displayed.
• Breadcrumbs, showing the path you went down.
• Show name and description of the current tree as a title / subtitle of the window
• Radial menu instead of list as option (Because radial menus are awesome!)
• Unicode / emoticons / ligatures / FontAwesome support
• More key-value pairs for command leafs!
  • "description" to find / understand your nodes & commands, even after a long night.
  • "clip" copying a string to clipboard.
  • "repeat" Repeating last command. Values include:
    • "global" - Repeat last command, regardless which command it was
    • "subtree" - Repeat last command executed in the subtree of the command node
    • "siblings" - Repeat last command executed only in the direct children of the command node