i3blocks-arrows

Example

command=~/.config/i3blocks/scripts/$BLOCK_NAME
full_text=
align=center
color=#ffffff
background=#073642
separator=false
separator_block_width=0
markup=pango 

[brightness]
icon=
background=#ffffff
color=#000000
format=%s%%
markup=pango
interval=5

[disk]
background=#657b83
icon= /home
interval=30
markup=pango

[volume]
instance=Master
background=#cb4b16
icon=
interval=once
signal=10
format=%s%%
markup=pango

[time]
background=#dc322f
icon=
interval=5

Here's what this config produces:

Installation

git clone https://github.com/tiger31/i3blocks-arrows
cd i3blocks-arrows
ln -s $PWD/i3* /usr/local/bin

Scripts are working under zsh, not bash or sh

If i won't be lazy, AUR package coming soon

Configuration

i3-arrows is a script that translates default i3blocks config into one another, needed to make it looks like arrows. If you already have a config from i3blocks, you're in half way.

i3bar

i3arows requires two arguments:

-c Path to your actual i3blocks config

-o Path to i3-arrows generated config

bar {
  status_command i3arrows -c ~/.config/i3blocks/config -o /tmp/i3arrows.conf
}

blocks

i3arrows requires just one must-have parameter, defined in a global part of config: backgound. This parameter shows an actual color of i3bar, defined in i3 config. Without this property, i3-arrows won't work properly at all.

Also clearing some mechanics: i3blocks takes output from command property, but i3arrows not. When generating config, i3arrows rewrites all command properties into script property and adds just one command property on top of the config Note: If you have scpirt property in your i3blcoks config, it will be removed before generating i3arrows config!

Now let's take a look at new properies we have to describe our arrows:

Property	Value	Description
background	string (hex-color)	Defines background of an arrow
edge	array	edge is an array of "points" used to change color/icon depends on script output. For example you can change battary icon depends of how much charge it has. Can be an array of int's or string's (explained further)
mode	compare|*	Defines how exactly icons/colors depends on edge. If set to "compare", output from script will be compared with edge by "<=". If set to anything but "compare", values compared strictly with "=="
color	array(string) (hex-color)	Array of font colors, arrow can have
icon	array(string)	Array of string/char (I prefer using font-awesome icons) arrow can have. It's like label property in i3blocks
format	string	Format of output string, used by printf. For example "%s%%" to add "%" sign after number

Note: arrays format different from .ini format, but similar to bash one: color=(#ff0000 #00ff00 #0000ff)

How exactly edge works:

Let's imagin you have some script that outputs random number from 1 to 100 and you want i3-arrows to set icons depends on value it returs. For example if value <= 15 you want icon to be "1", if 15 < value <= 80, then "2", else "3". So here's properties you need:

edge=(15 80)
icon=(1 2 3)

If none of edge values mathes, it uses last one array element.

Complete example, my battary config:

Script:

#!/bin/sh
now=$(cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_now);
full=$(cat /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/charge_full);
echo "$((now * 100 / full))"

Config:

[battary]
edge=(10 25 50 75)
icon=(    )
color=(#dc322f #b58900 #ffffff)
format=%s%%
mode=compare
background=#2aa198
markup=pango
interval=30

Here we can see, that if battary-level will be over 25, then font color alway be white. Same mechanic with icons

My curent i3bar look, using i3-arrows: