document and cleanup SpawnNamedPipe

XMonad/Util/SpawnNamedPipe.hs

@@ -10,13 +10,16 @@
 -- Stability   :  unstable
 -- Portability :  not portable
 --
--- A module for spawning a pipe whose handle lives in the Xmonad state. This
+-- A module for spawning a pipe whose "Handle" lives in the Xmonad state.
--- makes is possible to start dzen in the startup hook and pipe stuff to it in
--- the logHook cleanly. 
 --
 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-module XMonad.Util.SpawnNamedPipe (spawnNamedPipe, getNamedPipeHandle) where
+module XMonad.Util.SpawnNamedPipe (
+  -- * Usage
+  -- $usage
+    spawnNamedPipe
+  , getNamedPipe
+  ) where
 
 import XMonad
 import XMonad.Util.Run
@@ -25,12 +28,39 @@ import qualified XMonad.Util.ExtensibleState as XS
 import Control.Monad
 import qualified Data.Map.Strict as Map
 
+-- $usage
+-- This module makes it possible to spawn a pipe to Dzen2 in the startupHook
+-- and write to it from inside the logHook without the need for global
+-- variables.
+--
+-- > import XMonad.Util.SpawnNamedPipe
+-- > import Data.Maybe
+-- > 
+-- > -- StartupHook
+-- > startupHook' = spawnNamedPipe "dzen2" "dzenPipe" 
+-- > 
+-- > -- LogHook
+-- > logHook' = do
+-- >     mh <- getNamedPipeHandle "dzenPipe" 
+-- >         dynamicLogWithPP $ defaultPP {
+-- >             ppOutput = maybe (\s -> return ()) (hPutStrLn) mh}
+-- >
+-- > -- Main
+-- > main = xmonad $ defaultConfig {
+-- >                      startupHook = startupHook'
+-- >                    , logHook = logHook'}
+--
+
 data NamedPipes = NamedPipes { pipeMap :: (Map.Map String Handle) }
     deriving (Show, Typeable)
 
 instance ExtensionClass NamedPipes where
     initialValue = NamedPipes Map.empty 
 
+-- | When 'spawnNamedPipe' is executed with a command "String" and a name
+-- "String" respectively.  The command string is spawned with 'spawnPipe' (as
+-- long as the name chosen hasn't been used already) and the "Handle" returned
+-- is saved in Xmonad's state associated with the name "String". 
 spawnNamedPipe :: String -> String -> X ()
 spawnNamedPipe cmd name = do
   b <- XS.gets (Map.member name . pipeMap) 
@@ -38,5 +68,9 @@ spawnNamedPipe cmd name = do
     h <- spawnPipe cmd 
     XS.modify (NamedPipes . Map.insert name h . pipeMap)   
 
-getNamedPipeHandle :: String -> X (Maybe Handle)
+-- | Attempts to retrieve a "Handle" to a pipe previously stored in Xmonad's
-getNamedPipeHandle name = XS.gets (Map.lookup name . pipeMap)
+-- state associated with the given string via a call to 'spawnNamedPipe'. If the
+-- given string doesn't exist in the map stored in Xmonad's state Nothing is
+-- returned.   
+getNamedPipe :: String -> X (Maybe Handle)
+getNamedPipe name = XS.gets (Map.lookup name . pipeMap)