Technology blog oriented towards good design and impressive web applications.

IdleTogether Home

Tile Windows in OS X Leopard

by Nicolas Noben

ASAppIcon.pngOne thing that I really missed when moved from XP to OS X was the ability to tile windows and make use of them fullscreen.

Yes, it’s not for everyone, and it’s not for every apps but it’s damn handy when you are working on 2 or 3 different files in TextMate.

That’s where applescript black magic comes out. I found a few script, most of them were shit, except one.

bbs.macscripter.net -> use the second one, it has settings.

All you need to do is copy and paste that in SCRIPT EDITOR, save it as a script scpt in your documents folders or applications folders.

Then in Quicksilver, add a triggers to call that script. Mine is Control+` and VOILA, TextMate has wicked Tiled Windows now.

here are my settings

property horizontalSpacing : -4 — sets the horizontal spacing between windows
property verticalSpacing : -4 — sets the vertical spacing between windows
property maxRows : 1
property maxCols : 3

-4 because otherwise, there is gap, even at 0 (due to drop shadows).

Note: it doesn’t work well with Finder or Flex Builder ;-)

tiled windows textmate osx.jpg

I attach the script for archiving purposes and in case that site falls off the earth.

All credits go to isherman and dennis from bbs.macscripter.net for the following:

--tile windows of frontmost applications in a grid
--this script is useful for
--multiple window chatting
--working side by side of several windows of the same app

--make need to make it as a stay open application later
--for now assume that it is opened and closed per invokation

property horizontalSpacing : -4 -- sets the horizontal spacing between windows
property verticalSpacing : 0 -- sets the vertical spacing between windows
property maxRows : 1
property maxCols : 3

on run {}
	local a
	set userscreen to my getUserScreen()

	--display dialog (getFrntApp() as string)
	try
		set applist to getFrntApp()
		if length of applist = 0 then
			return
		end if
		set a to item 1 of getFrntApp()
	on error the error_message number the error_number
		display dialog "Error: " & the error_number & ". " & the error_message buttons {"OK"} default button 1
	end try

	try
		tileScriptable(a, userscreen)
	on error the error_message number the error_number
		--display dialog "Error: " & the error_number & ". " & the error_message buttons {"OK"} default button 1
		try
			tileUnscriptable(a, userscreen)
		on error the error_message number the error_number
			display dialog "Error: " & the error_number & ". " & the error_message buttons {"OK"} default button 1
		end try
	end try

end run

on tileScriptable(a, screen)
	local i, c
	set i to 1
	tell application named a
		set theWindows to every window of application a whose visible is true and floating is false and ¬
			modal is false -- and miniaturized is false
		set c to count theWindows
		if c = 0 then
			return
		end if
		set tiles to calTileBounds(c, screen, 1)
		repeat with theWindow in theWindows
			my tileScriptableWindow(a, theWindow, item i of tiles)
			set i to i + 1
		end repeat
	end tell
end tileScriptable

on tileUnscriptable(a, screeninfo)
	-- unscriptable app
	local i, c
	set i to 1
	tell application "System Events"
		set theWindows to (every window of application process a)
		--set theWindows to my filterUnscriptableInvisible(theWindows)

		set c to count theWindows

		if c = 0 then
			return
		end if

		--display dialog screeninfo as string giving up after 5
		set tiles to my calTileBounds(c, screeninfo, 1)
		repeat with theWindow in theWindows
			--display dialog (class of visible of theWindow)
			my tileUnScriptableWindow(a, theWindow, item i of tiles)
			set i to i + 1
		end repeat

	end tell
end tileUnscriptable

on filterUnscriptableInvisible(ws)
	-- filter out from ws windows that are docked
	set newws to {}
	set docklist to getNamesDocked()
	--display dialog (docklist as string)
	repeat with theWindow in ws
		if name of theWindow is not in docklist then
			set end of newws to theWindow
		end if
	end repeat

	--display dialog (count newws)
	return newws
end filterUnscriptableInvisible

on getNamesDocked()
	tell application "System Events" to tell process "Dock"'s list 1
		set l to name of UI elements whose subrole is "AXMinimizedWindowDockItem"
	end tell

	return l
end getNamesDocked

on tileScriptableWindow(a, w, bound)
	tell application a
		set bounds of w to bound
	end tell
end tileScriptableWindow

on tileUnScriptableWindow(a, w, bound)
	tell application "System Events"
		--display dialog (count position of w)
		set AppleScript's text item delimiters to " "

		set position of w to {(item 1 of bound), (item 2 of bound)}

		-- why the -5?
		set size of w to {(item 3 of bound) - (item 1 of bound) - 5, ¬
			(item 4 of bound) - (item 2 of bound) - 5}
		--display dialog (count properties of w)
	end tell
end tileUnScriptableWindow

on calTileBounds(nWindows, screen, direction)
	-- return a list of lists of window bounds
	-- a simple tile algo that tiles along direction (current only 1=horizontal)

	local nRows, nColumns, irow, icolumn, nSpacingWidth, nSpacingHeight, nWindowWidth, nWindowHeight
	set {x0, y0, availScreenWidth, availScreenHeight} to screen
	set ret to {}

	set nRows to (nWindows div maxCols)
	if (nWindows mod maxCols) ≠ 0 then
		set nRows to nRows + 1
	end if

	if nRows < maxRows then
		set nSpacingHeight to (nRows - 1) * verticalSpacing
		set nWindowHeight to (availScreenHeight - nSpacingHeight) / nRows
	else
		set nSpacingHeight to (maxRows - 1) * verticalSpacing
		set nWindowHeight to (availScreenHeight - nSpacingHeight) / maxRows
	end if

	repeat with irow from 0 to nRows - 1
		if nRows ≤ maxRows and irow = nRows - 1 then
			set nColumns to nWindows - irow * maxCols
		else
			set nColumns to maxCols
		end if
		set nSpacingWidth to (nColumns - 1) * horizontalSpacing
		set nWindowWidth to (availScreenWidth - nSpacingWidth) / nColumns
		set nTop to y0 + (irow mod maxRows) * (verticalSpacing + nWindowHeight)
		--display dialog "Top: " & nTop buttons {"OK"} default button 1
		repeat with icolumn from 0 to nColumns - 1
			set nLeft to x0 + (icolumn) * (horizontalSpacing + nWindowWidth)
			set itile to {¬
				nLeft, ¬
				nTop, ¬
				nLeft + nWindowWidth, ¬
				nTop + nWindowHeight}
			set end of ret to itile
			--display dialog item 3 of itile as string
			--set itile to {x0 + (icolumn - 1) * wgrid, y0, wgrid, hgrid}
			--set item 3 of itile to ((item 1 of itile) + (item 3 of itile))
			--set item 4 of itile to ((item 2 of itile) + (item 4 of itile))
		end repeat
	end repeat

	return ret
end calTileBounds

on getFrntApp()
	tell application "System Events" to set frntProc to ¬
		name of every process whose frontmost is true and visible ≠ false
	return frntProc
end getFrntApp

on getUserScreen()
	-- size of the menubar
	tell application "System Events"
		set {menuBarWidth, menuBarHeight} to size of UI element 1 of application process "SystemUIServer"
		--display dialog "Menubar width: " & menubarWidth & ", height: " & menubarHeight
		set dockApp to (application process "Dock")
		set {dockWidth, dockHeight} to size of UI element 1 of dockApp
		--display dialog "Dock width: " & dockWidth & ", height: " & dockHeight
		set dockPos to position of UI element 1 of dockApp
		--display dialog "Dock x: " & (item 1 of dockPos) & ", y: " & (item 2 of dockPos)
	end tell

	-- size of the full screen
	(*
{word 3 of (do shell script "defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver | grep -w Width") as number, ¬
word 3 of (do shell script "defaults read /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver | grep -w Height") as number}
*)
	tell application "Finder"
		set screenSize to bounds of window of desktop
		set screenWidth to item 3 of screenSize
		set screenHeight to item 4 of screenSize
	end tell
	--display dialog "Screen width: " & screenWidth & ", height: " & screenHeight

	-- by default, set the available screen size to the full screen size
	set availableWidth to screenWidth
	set availableHeight to screenHeight - menuBarHeight
	set availableX to 0
	set availableY to menuBarHeight

	--determine the userscreen origin and size

	-- case 0: hidden dock
	-- if (item 1 of dockPos < 0 or item 1 of dockPos ≥ screenHeight) then
	-- no need to change anything
	-- end if

	-- case 1: bottom dock
	if ((item 2 of dockPos) + dockHeight = screenHeight) then
		set availableHeight to availableHeight - dockHeight
	end if

	-- case 2: left dock
	if (item 1 of dockPos = 0) then
		set availableWidth to availableWidth - dockWidth
		set availableX to dockWidth
	end if

	-- case 3: right dock
	if ((item 1 of dockPos) + dockWidth = screenWidth) then
		set availableWidth to availableWidth - dockWidth
	end if

	return {availableX, availableY, availableWidth, availableHeight}
end getUserScreen


Related Posts





5 Responses


  1. caleb Says:

    Thanks for posting this!

  2. Gus Says:

    I was just looking for a script like this so I was happy to find this, unfortunately I can’t get this to work. It hangs on getUserScreen() when trying to get the size of dock and menubar, so I tried to just set those to static values, then it ran through the script but failed at the end instead and threw error code 25211.

    Any ideas?

  3. Dave Sawyer Says:

    Great script. Note that this will not work as expected for folks with dual displays - the script seems to use the combined width of both displays to determine the size and positioning of the windows. So you end up with really wide windows that span multiple displays.

  4. ycc2106 Says:

    Looks good, I wished this longtime ago, had a look at ‘Finder Window Manager’ scripts (http://www.jonn8.com/fwm/)but I got an error at ’size’ of the line ’set {menuBarWidth, menuBarHeight} to size of UI element 1 of application process “SystemUIServer”‘ : says “acces for assistive device disabled” and I can’t find what to do to enable ‘it’. Leopard 10.5.6, display 1920×1600 any ideas how I could fix it?

  5. ycc2106 Says:

    Sorry - I didn’t see that checkbox at the bottom I had forgotten about that one !
    –If anybody has the same problem as me, try this alone
    tell application “System Preferences”
    activate
    set current pane to pane “com.apple.preference.universalaccess”
    display dialog “Make sure \”Enable access for assistive devices\” the the very bottom is checked.”
    end tell
    –:p

Leave a Comment







  Please note: Comments are reviewed before going public.