Making Wallch auto-resume after log-out and screen switch

Hey Jim! Thanks for your kind words :)

If you have set Wallch to start on PC startup, it will indeed start when you relogin each time.

I am not sure about your other requests. Can you explain them better to me ? What exactly do you mean by "screen switching"? Do you change OS/DE by doing so?

Greetings Alexsol!

What I poorly meant by screen switching was running Wallch in a XFCE environment then logging out/or switch user into a MATE environment where Wallch stops. You have to manually reset and restart Wallch 4.0 beta to operate in each different environment every time you switch between them or it doesn't operate. Is there any way it can automatically sense and adjust to desktop environment changes?

Okay, just want to be sure; I have Wallch displaying a set of images of a morphing sequence. If I log out in the middle or any phase of the sequence, will Wallch resume from that point when I log back in or re-start from the beginning?

Keep up the great work!

Jim in NYC

P.S.

Can the slideshow change period be brought down to five seconds?

Jim in NYC

Unfortunately, Wallch cannot auto detect your DE. We could make it to distinguish between your DE (for example, Wallch 3.0 would automatically distinguish between GNOME 2 and GNOME 3). The problem is that we want to make Wallch available in many different DEs. Theoretically, every Linux DE with its own command that changes the Desktop Background supports Wallch 4.0. But, if we were to auto-detect the DE, then a lot of checks had to be done for the simplest task, like changing the background once on user login.

Consider the following:

if using gnome -> use this command
else if using xfce -> use this command
else if using lxde -> use this command
else if using mate -> use this command

Now, if you are using GNOME, it will detect it with one simple step, but, if you are using e.g. MATE, then it has to check for GNOME, XFCE, LXDE and then MATE. Saving the user's DE at a configuration file is not an option either, because different DEs for the same user share same configuration files. So, if you login to GNOME and Wallch detects it and saves it to the configuration file, and then you relogin to MATE, then the Wallch will erroneously still read GNOME from the configuration file.

So no, there's no way to start Wallch correctly while switching DEs.

As for your second question: No - Wallch does not save the point where it stopped so as to start from where it stopped in case you haven't selected the random image selection. It starts again from the beginning. You can make a custom command though that in the end it will remove from the list the already shown images (using some 'sed' trick probably) and thus, the next time, Wallch will begin from where it stopped.

You can make a lot of nice things with the custom command!

Seasons Greetings!

Alexsol, you made me very interested in your custom command suggestion, but where can I find info on how to use it with wallch? When I Googled it I got millions of citations above thousands of different programing subjects. I'm just a tech newbie playing it by ear and struggling to learn!

Keep up the great work!

Jim in NYC

The Wallch 4.0 (3+) testing versions that are being released through the PPA contain a 'Set Custom Command' dialog which contains a listing with lots of popular DEs. There you can select your DE and Wallch's main functions (anything that has to do with wallpaper changing), will work out of the box.

Alternatively, if your DE isn't listed there, you can set your very own command for the wallpaper changing process.

That's why I said that "Theoretically, every Linux DE with its own command that changes the Desktop Background supports Wallch 4.0"

Got the Wallch 3.10 beta and like how it preserves sequential listings of images through reboots and Bleach Bit! May I suggest also preserving in wallch albums timing and view settings with the files like Crebs does! If there's a way, can you allow third parties to manipulate a file as to create say, three second image changes settings or fade in/outs?

Keep up the great work!

Jim in NYC