Named scratchpads that can be mutually exclusive.

For this module to work properly, you need to use XMonad.Layout.BoringWindows and XMonad.Layout.Minimize, please refer to the documentation of these modules for more information on how to configure them.

To use this module, put the following in your xmonad.hs:

import XMonad.Utils.ExclusiveScratchpads
import XMonad.ManageHook (title,appName)
import qualified XMonad.StackSet as W

Add exclusive scratchpads, for example:

exclusiveSps = mkXScratchpads [ ("htop",   "urxvt -name htop -e htop", title =? "htop")
                              , ("xclock", "xclock", appName =? "xclock")
                              ] $ customFloating $ W.RationalRect (1/4) (1/4) (1/2) (1/2)

The scratchpads don't have to be exclusive, you can create them like this (see ExclusiveScratchpad):

regularSps   = [ XSP "term" "urxvt -name scratchpad" (appName =? "scratchpad") defaultFloating [] ]

Create a list that contains all your scratchpads like this:

scratchpads = exclusiveSps ++ regularSps

Add the hooks to your managehook (see XMonad.Doc.Extending or the tutorial); e.g.,

manageHook = myManageHook <> xScratchpadsManageHook scratchpads

And finally add some keybindings (see the tutorial):

, ((modMask, xK_h), scratchpadAction scratchpads "htop")
, ((modMask, xK_c), scratchpadAction scratchpads "xclock")
, ((modMask, xK_t), scratchpadAction scratchpads "term")
, ((modMask, xK_h), hideAll scratchpads)

Now you can get your scratchpads by pressing the corresponding keys, if you have the htop scratchpad on your current screen and you fetch the xclock scratchpad then htop gets hidden.

If you move a scratchpad it still gets hidden when you fetch a scratchpad of the same family, to change that behaviour and make windows not exclusive anymore when they get resized or moved add these mouse bindings (see XMonad.Doc.Extending):

    , ((mod4Mask, button1), floatMoveNoexclusive scratchpads)
    , ((mod4Mask, button3), resizeNoexclusive scratchpads)

To reset a moved scratchpad to the original position that you set with its hook, call resetExclusiveSp when it is in focus. For example if you want to extend Mod-Return to reset the placement when a scratchpad is in focus but keep the default behaviour for tiled windows, set these key bindings:

, ((modMask, xK_Return), windows W.swapMaster >> resetExclusiveSp scratchpads)

Note: This is just an example, in general you can add more than two exclusive scratchpads and multiple families of such.