Custom hotkeys in dwm

Question

I'm trying to create an array of simple hotkeys on my desktop, running OpenSuse with dwm. Things like:

Ctrl+E    /opt/eclipse/eclipse

Can this be configured from within dwm? If not is there an external application which I can run (in the background) to listen for these hotkeys.

Also, is it possible for the hotkeys to only work when I an not hovering over a window (so that the windows doesn't grab my input by accident)?

Solution

You can configure hotkeys in your config.h. To use your eclipse example (with a rule to have it open in a specific tag¹ when you hit Ctrle:

static const Rule rules[] = {
{ "Eclipse",     NULL,       NULL,       1 << 0,       False,       -1 }, 

...
/* commands */
static const char  *eclipsecmd[] = { "/opt/eclipse/eclipse",  NULL };
...

static Key keys[] = {
{ ControlMask,         XK_e,      spawn,          {.v = eclipsecmd } },

The window will not grab the input, irrespective of where the focus is.

_{1. Ignore the rule if you don't want to assign eclipse to the first tag...}