River tags: only show occupied tags

[fritzrehde]

I am coming from polybar on X11, where I enjoyed the following behaviour regarding tags/workspaces/desktops (on bspwm): I only see the workspaces that are occupied, AND, importantly, if I switch to a new desktop, there will not be a large piece of space between the new desktop and the previously occupied ones. This sounds quite complex, so here is an example of what I mean:
Currently, I have workspaces 1 and 2 occupied, so waybar shows sth like: 1 2.
If I were to switch to workspace 6 now, then waybar shows 1 2 <space> <space> <space> 6. I don't find this very intuitive, and would prefer waybar to display this instead: 1 2 6, without any "empty" workspaces displayed between 2 and 6.
Is this possible in waybar? Thanks for your help!

[alrayyes]

Would be handy if

#tags button:not(.occupied) {
    visibility: hidden;
}

could be implemented in the styling. The selector works but the visibility tag isn't accepted.

[orfeasxyz]

As @alrayyes pointed out, a handy method for obtaining vacant tags would be to define button visibility within the styling. Since this functionality is managed by the Gtk library, this feature should likely be addressed there.

I came up with a hackish solution involving the addition of a few extra lines in waybar's river module. I presume that for other window managers, a similar approach may be feasible.

diff --git a/src/modules/river/tags.cpp b/src/modules/river/tags.cpp
index baa6b7ec..613edfc2 100644
--- a/src/modules/river/tags.cpp
+++ b/src/modules/river/tags.cpp
@@ -191,8 +191,12 @@ void Tags::handle_focused_tags(uint32_t tags) {
   for (size_t i = 0; i < buttons_.size(); ++i) {
     if ((1 << i) & tags) {
       buttons_[i].get_style_context()->add_class("focused");
+      buttons_[i].show();
     } else {
       buttons_[i].get_style_context()->remove_class("focused");
+      if (!buttons_[i].get_style_context()->has_class("occupied")) {
+        buttons_[i].hide();
+      }
     }
   }
 }
@@ -207,8 +211,12 @@ void Tags::handle_view_tags(struct wl_array *view_tags) {
   for (size_t i = 0; i < buttons_.size(); ++i) {
     if ((1 << i) & tags) {
       buttons_[i].get_style_context()->add_class("occupied");
+      buttons_[i].show();
     } else {
       buttons_[i].get_style_context()->remove_class("occupied");
+      if (!buttons_[i].get_style_context()->has_class("focused")) {
+        buttons_[i].hide();
+      }
     }
   }
 }

[Cornelius-Figgle]

I would have to compile waybar myself to use this, correct?

[orfeasxyz]

Yes, you can move the patch in the base directory of the repo and appliy it using git apply.

[bitterhalt]

I would love to see this too.

[rickalex21]

Opened #3839

[bitterhalt]

This works, kinda (Not my work but don't remember where I find it)

/* Dirty hack to hide vacant tags in River */
#tags button:not(.occupied):not(.focused) {
  font-size: 0;
  min-width: 0;
  min-height: 0;
  margin: -17px;
  padding: 0;
  border: 0;
  opacity: 0;
  box-shadow: none;
  background-color: transparent;
}

Clicking is still buggy.

[rickalex21]

Thanks, I ended up doing something similar. I just changed the color to the background.

#tags button.occupied {
  color: @yourBGcolor;
}