Notification Bubble – Message Overflow in Notification Bubble

command linegtknotificationnotify-osdpython

I am learning how to use gtk notifications, and it seems that any output display via the notification bubble has a maximum overflow size, probably 10 lines or so. So, if the message I want to show is more than that, it gets suppressed. Is there any way to force display the entire message without anything getting suppressed?

I am using notifyOSD, by the way.

Best Answer

I posted this a while ago on a (now) deleted Q/A. Maybe it is useful to you.

A patch to allow (very) long messages

The "patch" below will allow you to have notifications as long as it takes on your desktop:

In case of (very) long notifications, instead of this:

enter image description here

you will see this:

enter image description here

The duration of the message is automatically set to the length of the text.

What it does

Notifications, send by notify-osd (notify-send), are limited to appr. 120 characters.
The solution "listens" to sent messages, using dbus-monitor. If a message exceeds the 120 characters, it takes over the messages and uses "its own" message window to display the notification, as shown above.

The scripts

  1. The setup exists of two sections; de "listen-" script, which intercepts the notifications:

    #!/bin/bash

currdir="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"

dbus-monitor "interface='org.freedesktop.Notifications'" |\
 grep --line-buffered "string" |\
 grep --line-buffered -e method -e ":" -e '""' -e urgency -e notify -v |\
 grep --line-buffered '.*(?=string)|(?<=string).*' -oPi |\
 grep --line-buffered -v '^\s*$' |\
 xargs -I '{}' $currdir/message {}

    Copy the script into an empty file and save it as catch_notifs.sh

  2. The script that creates the replacement- notifications:

    #!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import os
import gi
gi.require_version('Gtk', '3.0')
from gi.repository import GObject, Gtk, Gdk, Pango
from threading import Thread
import time
import sys

text = sys.argv[1]
length = len(text)
showtime = length/20

def get_screen():
    scr = [s.split("x") for s in subprocess.check_output([
        "xrandr"]).decode("utf-8").split() if "+0+0" in s][0]
    return int(scr[0]) -450

class Splash(Gtk.Window):

    def __init__(self):
        Gtk.Window.__init__(self, title="splashtitle")
        maingrid = Gtk.Grid()
        self.add(maingrid)
        maingrid.set_border_width(20)
        label = Gtk.Label(text)
        label.set_line_wrap(True)
        label.set_max_width_chars(45)
        label.modify_font(Pango.FontDescription('Ubuntu 11'))
        maingrid.attach(label, 0, 0, 1, 1)
        self.stop = Thread(target=self.close_window)
        self.stop.start()

    def close_window(self):
        time.sleep(showtime)
        Gtk.main_quit()

def splashwindow():
    window = Splash()
    window.set_decorated(False)
    window.set_resizable(False)
    window.override_background_color(Gtk.StateType.NORMAL, Gdk.RGBA(0,0,0,1))
    window.modify_fg(Gtk.StateFlags.NORMAL, Gdk.color_parse("white"))
    # window.set_opacity(0.8)
    window.move(get_screen(), 80)
    window.set_keep_above(True)
    window.show_all()
    window.set_default_size(200, 500)
    GObject.threads_init()
    Gtk.main()

if len(text) > 120:
    subprocess.Popen(["pkill", "notify-osd"])
    splashwindow()

    Copy the script above into an empty file, save it as (exactly!) message (no extension) and make it executable.

  3. Store both scripts in one and the same directory.

  4. Test- run the script by the command (from a terminal window):

    /bin/bash /path/to/catch_notifs.sh

    (keep it running)

    You can test the setup by running (in another terminal):

    notify-send '<long_text>'

  5. If all works fine, add it to Startup Applications: Dash > Startup Applications > Add. Add the command:

    /bin/bash /path/to/catch_notifs.sh

And it should work :)

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