Images stack on each other

[ABlueDruid]

I'm basically using chafa as fzf preview for some script of mine. But there is the issue of image staking on one another.

Here is the code snippet

selected_files="$(fzf --multi --height=50% --layout=reverse --preview-window=right:60%:wrap \
    --preview='
        mimetype=$(file --mime-type -b {})
        case "$mimetype" in
            image/*)
                chafa --clear --view-size 22x40 {}
                ;;
            text/*)
                batcat --style=numbers --color=always --line-range :500 {}
                ;;
            *)
                echo "No preview available"
                ;;
        esac
    '
)"

here the output looks like this in my suckless st

untitled.mp4

In st there is no over staking of pictures (picture previews are rather cancerous here though LOL. (Just kidding, Great Project)) & the hello text is also visible. Also when closed the preview also vanishes as expected.

But with kitty its a different story

untitled-kitty.mp4

Here the pictures stack even after --clear flag is added. And the hello text in the end also gets covered up by the stacked previews. And the pictures stay in that same place even after script is finished or overruled.

Same story with Konsole.

Is there any solution to this?
I can use it with st (it does not have any graphics patch applied) but if you give me a snippet to make it look a little better it'll be damn helpful.

Thank You in advance for this great project. (Love it and Use it a lot)

CHAFA VERSION:
Chafa version 1.14.0

Loaders: AVIF GIF JPEG PNG QOI SVG TIFF WebP XWD
Features: mmx sse4.1 popcnt avx2
Applying: mmx sse4.1 popcnt avx2

OS INFO:
Linux Mint 22.1

[ABlueDruid]

I Just tested the same code snippet with foot terminal (waylad) (Uses sixel graphics) and it behaved just like I wanted. There were no restacking, the hello text also showed. no jitter, and when I terminated that script there were no hanging preview in the middle of the screen. So I guess the sixel using terminals are just fine (At least in wayland I guess).

But I don't know if Konsole use sixel or not, there were wanky behaviour there. like Kitty or other in wayland also.

TL;DR: Only foot in wayland is not having this bug. Others have

And Mint still does not support wayland screenrecording; that's why only verbal proof is provided (Trust me man ;) )

[hpjansson]

I trust you :-)

This is likely due to Kitty images persisting after exit, and there is no way for the application to clear the image area without knowing the image ID. With sixels you can overwrite with spaces, and previewers do this.

We have at least two possibilities:

• Add a way to specify the image ID to use, causing the previous image with the same ID to be retired.
• Allow filling the entire view area with the background color.

The first option sounds better to me, especially since we already track Kitty image IDs between invocations.

Edit:

Having refreshed my memory, there are actually more ways to retire a Kitty image, but you have to do it explicitly using its protocol: https://sw.kovidgoyal.net/kitty/graphics-protocol/#deleting-images

So we could e.g. issue a "delete placements at position" or "delete all placements" (with --clear, perhaps?).

[hpjansson]

See also #219.

[ABlueDruid]

Can't make it work. Help

[AnonymouX47]

This should solve your issue:

echo -en "\e_Ga=d,d=C;\e\\"; chafa ...

In the long run, we'll look into implementing something like what @hpjansson suggested earlier.

[ABlueDruid]

This should solve your issue:

echo -en "\e_Ga=d,d=C;\e\\"; chafa ...

No; It remains the same; thanks for help though.

[AnonymouX47]

Interesting 🤔...

Use d=A in place of d=C. This should definitely work but I was being careful initially because it deletes all images on the terminal screen.

One more thing... The image delete command will have to be executed before every preview command (not just the one for images), so it should be somewhere before the case statement in your script. It should like:

echo -en "\e_Ga=d,d=A\e\\"
mimetype=...
case ...

[ABlueDruid]

Doing this a bit different thing happen.

The Image stacking is still there in kitty i.e the images are staking on each other but when moved to the Text file the text showed fine and the images are not there.

TL;DR --> Images still stacks on each other and preview of non m=image files are good.

[AnonymouX47]

Do you mind sharing your current script and a recording showing the behavior?

[ABlueDruid]

Yeah basically the code is same though.

selected_files="$(fzf --bind='alt-j:down,alt-k:up' --multi --height=50% --layout=reverse --preview-window=right:60%:wrap \
    --preview='
echo -en "\e_Ga=d,d=A\e\\"
mimetype=$(file --mime-type -b {})
case "$mimetype" in
    image/*)
        case "$TERM" in
            xterm-kitty)
                echo -en "\e_Ga=d,d=C;\e\\"; chafa -f kitty --clear --view-size 22x60 {}
                ;;
            *)
                chafa --clear --view-size 22x40 {}
                ;;
        esac
        ;;
    text/*)
        batcat --style=numbers --color=always {}
        ;;
    *)
        echo "No preview available"
        ;;
esac
'
)"

It is a basic script which I impose on different other scripts for more functionality.

And for the screen recording, Linux Mint does not let screen to be recorded in any wayland session.
The Foot preview is just fine and expected. (just like the first video (of st terminal) (with clear view of the pictures) above in the parent query)
The kitty preview will be posted when I switch to a X11 session, may take some time but basically no change at all though.

I appreciate your patience. I'll post that recording surely in some time.

[AnonymouX47]

I see. I'll gladly wait.

You're welcome.

[ABlueDruid]

Apologies for the delay from my end. Appreciate your patience. Nevertheless here is the recording of kitty terminal Emulator with the last script.

kitty-chafa-2.mp4

[AnonymouX47]

Apologies for the delay from my end. Appreciate your patience.

It's totally okay. 👍

Nevertheless here is the recording of kitty terminal Emulator with the last script.

Hmm... Interesting and confusing. I really wish I could test on my end but unfortunately, I can't for now.

For the last time (hopefully), would you mind trying this (just tweaked and corrected a few things):

selected_files="$(fzf --bind='alt-j:down,alt-k:up' --multi --height=50% --layout=reverse --preview-window=right:60%:wrap \
    --preview='
echo -en "\e_Ga=d,d=A;\e\\"
mimetype=$(file --mime-type -b {})
case "$mimetype" in
    image/*)
        case "$TERM" in
            xterm-kitty)
                chafa -f kitty --clear --view-size 22x60 {}
                ;;
            *)
                chafa --clear --view-size 22x40 {}
                ;;
        esac
        ;;
    text/*)
        batcat --style=numbers --color=always {}
        ;;
    *)
        echo "No preview available"
        ;;
esac
'
)"