Suggestion: Add path for screenshots

[TheKingOfLight]

The path for screenshots was discussed in PR #117.

A possible solution could be to define the path for the file location as a variable in the config and then pass it to grim. Example of how it would be saved: $XDG_PICTURES_DIR/2024-02-09_13-51-47.png instead of $XDG_PICTURES_DIR/20240209_13h51m47s_grim.png.

Advantages:

• The directory and name of the screenshots can be easily changed.
• Would give the possibility to further manipulate the name

  e.g. focused window is saved with window name:

  set $screenshot_dir $(xdg-user-dir PICTURES)/$(date +%Y-%m-%d_%H-%M-%S)
  set $screenshot_focused_window $focused_window | grim -g- $screenshot_dir_$(swaymsg -t get_tree | jq -j '.. | select(.type?) | select(.focused).app_id').png

This would still not save the images in the screenshots subdirectory, because it is not clear whether the user has this directory.

Not sure if you are interested in this change.

[FilippoBonazziSUSE]

Hi, thanks for the contributions. A couple of comments here.

I think the two issues of destination folder and screenshot name are separate.

I still believe that the best default screenshot destination folder we could achieve would be to set the XDG folder variables (they are currently unset in openSUSEway), create a $XDG_PICTURES_DIR/screenshots folder, and set GRIM_DEFAULT_DIR to this folder. This would take care of localization and would work in the general case.

The best overall option for a screenshot destination folder would be to advise the user to set GRIM_DEFAULT_DIR to their preference. The simplest way would be to document how to do this, ideally via environment.d as we already use that in openSUSEway (https://github.com/openSUSE/openSUSEway/pull/82). I'm not sure this could be achieved in a turn-key fashion. We could have something like a openSUSEway first launch wizard, which could ask the user to set this variable (and possibly others we come up with) but that sounds like a quite ambitious project for a very limited return. And 99% of users would set ~/Pictures/screenshots anyway ;)

Naming the screenshot with the window name sounds neat, but it could be problematic (long titles, invalid filenames, duplicate filenames if saved without a timestamp, ...). I'm not sure I would want it to be the default.

[TheKingOfLight]

I understand that you would prefer to set the directory via the environment variable. Especially in view of the fact that the directory may be customizable. This was just a suggestion for a "simpler" implementation.

I think the two issues of destination folder and screenshot name are separate.

As far as I know, you cannot change the name of the screenshot if the environment variable GRIM_DEFAULT_DIR is used. In this case you would be bound to the format "DATE_TIME_grim.png".

[FilippoBonazziSUSE]

As far as I know, you cannot change the name of the screenshot if the environment variable GRIM_DEFAULT_DIR is used. In this case you would be bound to the format "DATE_TIME_grim.png".

Huh, from the manpage it appears you're right. I haven't tried it. I see what you mean that if you want to specify a custom name, you would have to specify the output path in the filename as well, making the environment variable kind of pointless.

I am not convinced that customising the screenshot name is a good default for all users. Also, to undo that change, they would need to redefine all screenshot commands. If we just set a default GRIM_DEFAULT_DIR, they would just need to override that.

[TheKingOfLight]

You're right, that sounds like a more sensible solution. As the xdg directorys have not yet been configured, this would probably have to be solved first.

I no longer believe that the approach I presented makes sense.

[FilippoBonazziSUSE]

Thanks for the discussion. Perhaps we can take the opportunity to set up the XDG directories and carry the solution forward