Overview

The Openbox Window Manager is designed to be highly configurable and customisable. This includes the ability to create your own custom keybindings - that is combinations of key presses - to undertake virtually any action. This includes the ability to create keybindings that can be used to manually control the brightness of your screen.

Although the Manjaro Openbox flavour provides a user-friendly graphical interface that may be used to alter or create custom keybindings, as the intention is to bind control of the screen brightness to the actual keys designed for this purpose, in this instance it will be necessary to manually edit the Openbox rc.xml file. This file - amongst other essential functions - serves to store and enable keybindings in the Openbox environment.

Step 1: Opening the rc.xml File

Note

It is not necessary to use the 'sudo' or 'gksu' commands, as you already have full permission to edit and amend the rc.xml file. It is also strongly recommended to use a text editor to amend the file, as it is quite large, and they provide search functions.

You will need to first open your terminal in order to edit the rc.xml file. The syntax of the command to edit this is:

[text editor] ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml

For example, if you wish to edit the file within the terminal using nano (a standard terminal-based text editor) then enter:

nano ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml

Otherwise - if you have installed the full version of Manjaro (i.e. not the NET-Edition) - you may find it easier to use a text editor like Gedit or Leafpad instead. This will create and open the rc.xml file up as a document, making it easier to read and edit. To use Gedit instead, the command is:

gedit ~/.config/openbox/rc.xml

Step 2: Editing the rc.xml file

Tip

If you know what you are doing, then feel free to change the intended keys. Just ensure that they are not already being used for another purpose.

Once the file has been opened, you will be presented with a substantial amount of commands contained within it. Don't worry about this, as you will only need to add a new block of code, rather than amend anything that is there. The code that must be added to enable full manual control over the screen brightness is as follows:

    <keybind key="XF86MonBrightnessUp">
      <action name="Execute">
        <command>xbacklight +10</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>
    <keybind key="XF86MonBrightnessDown">
      <action name="Execute"> 
        <command>xbacklight -10</command>
      </action>
    </keybind>

Warning

This code cannot just be placed anywhere in the file. It must be placed in a particular section in order to work. Please follow the instructions below to do so.

To find the correct place in order to insert the above commands, it is recommended to use the find or Search functions provided by Gedit or Leafpad. Otherwise - if using nano - it will be necessary to manually scroll down to about the mid-way point (perhaps using the Page-Down key) to locate the following code:

</keyboard>

The overall section of the code should look like this:

    </keybind>
  </keyboard>
  <mouse>

Once located, the new code above can be inserted between the </keybind> and </keyboard> codes. Press <enter> after the </keybind> code to provide a space to do so. Below is an example where this has taken place. The new code inserted has been highlighted in green for illustrative purposes:

    </keybind>
     <keybind key="XF86MonBrightnessUp">
       <action name="Execute">
         <command>xbacklight +10</command>
       </action>
     </keybind>
     <keybind key="XF86MonBrightnessDown">
       <action name="Execute">
         <command>xbacklight -10</command>
       </action>
    </keybind>
  </keyboard>
  <mouse>

Once you have made the necessary amendments to the file, save the changes and close it by:

nano: Press CTRL and 'x' to exit, 'y' to save, and <enter> to finish, or
Gedit or Leafpad: Select the 'save' option and then close the window.

Now logout and back in again for the changes to take effect.