I wrote a script for resizing windows, which require orientation and value in form of fraction, like so:
resize.sh -h 1/2
and it works as expected.
I also added -k flag, which means that script require user input, like so:
resize.sh -k -h
and in the script:
read -rsn 2 fraction
which I parse to get values for numerator and denominator.
This works great from command line, but idea behind this is to bind resize.sh -k -h to some key combination, and pass following two keys as input. But when I run script from keyboard, it run as a background process which is not associated with any tty, so read could not get its input. Is there any way to redirect global input to background process, after running it from keyboard.
What I tried so far:
Redirection to /proc/$$/fd/0, which didn't work.
Redirectiong currently active tty stdin to read, like so:
read -rsn 2 fraction < /dev/pts/0
which actually worked, but problem is that not all windows are terminal, e.g. web browser.
If my question is unclear, please feel free to ask for additional clarifications or details, and thanks in advance :)
thank you both for providing very useful information. The solution is combination of both, actually.
First I modified read command in resize.sh to get input from named pipe, as Walter suggested, than I wrote a new, kinda "wrapper" script, which executes resize.sh in background, and than, since Barmar pointed I need a gui window, it starts very small terminal window running read and passing input to named pipe. Further more, using wmctrl I manage to place small terminal window right where currently active window begins, and hide it below (thanks to openbox per-application properties), so it's technically not visible at all :)
It's really too hacky for my liking, but it was really the only option I could think of at this moment, so until I find the better way, this gets the job done. Once again, thank you both for directing me toward solution, I really appreciate it, cheers :)