How to Use Zenity

Definition of Zenity

Zenity is a Linux / Unix command that uses dialog boxes to make shell script more graphical to end-users.

Here is a link to the Wikipedia definition of the Zenity command: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zenity

Features of Zenity

There are many different types of dialog boxes that the Zenity command can create. The following is a table that uses options (starting with -- symbol immediately followed by a word to indicate the type dialog box to create:

--calendar	Display calendar dialog
--entry	Display text entry dialog
--error	Display error dialog
--file-selection	Display file selection dialog
--info	Display info dialog
--list	Display list dialog
--notification	Display notification icon
--progress	Display progress indication dialog
--question	Display question dialog
--text-info	Display text information dialog
--warning	Display warning dialog
--scale	Display scale dialog

Adding the --text option provides the dialog box to contain text to provide information for the user (output, or helping guide the user when prompting for a question).

Don't Make it Complicated

Using Zenity is easy - don't make it complicated!

For example, think of Zenity as a replacement for the echo command to display output. You can use --info to display standard input, and --error to display standard error messages.

To obtain input, think of Zenity as a replacement for the read command. You can use --

Examples

Displaying Output

zenity --info --text "Here is an example of using zenity command to display text in a dialog box instead instead of a shell..."

Here is output from above command: