Runner-Bar v.0.1 was good but since I love styling I just made a new better release. Runner-Bar v.0.2  comes with a CSS support – now CSS actually handles all the styling. I also added tooltips, removed some obsoleted code and cleared some unneeded module importing while I was add it. I decided to keep the Runner-Bar v.0.1 page onboard as a reference.  You can find it here.

Also, a  “new release” of Power Manager 3 is now available. This bug fix release only fixes a minor spacing issue.Gentoo distribution complained about the spacing and did not want to start the program at all. On Debian base there was not even an error. Here is a screenshot from the new Runner-Bar. Now, the buttons will also highlight when you move mouse cursor on top of them.

Runner-Bar 0.2 with CSS.

About Runner-Bar.

If you do not want dark colors then check out the light theme for Runner-Bar

Dependencies:

The python meta-package along with python-gi should be installed to use Runner-Bar. Depending on your distribution you might also need to install something else. The terminal output usually gives you a pretty good hint what you will need. I would guess that if the above packages are not enough then you should (perhaps?) check pygtk related packages. If you need more help then check this post.

Install instructions:

Download:Runner-0.2-CSS (as a zip)

Copy or move it to /usr/share

Copying example: sudo cp -R /home/Tester/Downloads/Runner /usr/share
Moving example: sudo mv /home/Tester/Downloads/Runner /usr/share

Make the program executable: sudo chmod +x /usr/share/Runner/runner.py

Execute the program like this: python /usr/share/Runner/runner.py

For easier launching you should create a new symbolic link for the runner.py:
For example:
sudo ln -s /usr/share/Runner/runner.py /usr/local/bin/runner

The command above will create a link called runner. So, when the link is created and you type runner to a command prompt then Runner-Bar should appear. To remove the created link replace ln -s with rm -r (See the example command above). You can also use xbindkeys or any other program or just the native Openbox, Fluxbox etc. functions to bind Runner-Bar to your favorite shortkey for easier and faster startup.

Installing to a custom path:

Note. The CSS file coming with Runner-Bar v.0.2 uses absolute path, which points to /usr/share/Runner If you wish to install Runner-Bar to another location be sure to change the absolute path of the CSS file before proceeding. Somewhere around line 127 within the Runner-Bar program you should find:

css = open(‘/usr/share/Runner/runner.css’, ‘rb’)
Change the pathway of the above to the one you wish to use.

Note. Runner-Bar uses gksudo on keyword commands sudo and synaptic. You can still use the program even if you do not use sudo at all. If you wish to use Runner-Bar with su instead then you might want to change all gksudo entries to gksu. Of course, make sure that you have gksudo or gksu installed. On some distributions this is not the case by default.