Is There A Command Line Utility

[Meanie]

before i attempt to write one of my own, is there a utility that can bring a running application such as xmms to the foreground?

what i want to do is to send xmms to the foreground if it its running when closing the Z's display. this would then allow me to control the music using the ok and slider on the back of the zaurus.

currently i need to alt tab it to the foreground before closing the display. i want to automate that

[Meanie]

never mind, I wrote a small utility called xraise to do that

[desertrat]

never mind, I wrote a small utility called xraise to do that
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Any chance of extending it so that it will check whether an app is running, if so bring to front, if not start it?

[Meanie]

never mind, I wrote a small utility called xraise to do that
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Any chance of extending it so that it will check whether an app is running, if so bring to front, if not start it?
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=156356\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

that could be possible, but the problem is that the executable name and the window name are not always the same, ie for xmms, the binary is xmms, but the window name is XMMS. For leafpad, the binary is leafpad, but the window name is (Untitled)  

it would probably be easier just to write a wrapper script say xlaunch which does a pidof to check if an app (the executable name) is running and if not, execute it, but if it is running, then use xwininfo -root -tree and parse the output to determine the window name of the running app and then use xraise to bring that window to the foreground...

[daniel3000]

Hi Meanie,

Such an xlaunch can look like this (I already wrote such a wrapper, but it is highly customized and huge, so I only post the general stuff here which is relevant to the thread):

Code: [Select]

#!/bin/bash

# Extract binary name from parameter:
BINARY=`echo "$1" | awk '{ print $1 }'`
BINARY=`basename "$BINARY"`

# Start $1 only if it does not run yet:
ps x | grep -v "$0" | awk '{print $5}' | grep "$BINARY$" > /dev/null
if  [ $? -ne 1 ]; then
  echo $1 is already running!
else
  $1
fi
If you call this script "xlaunch" then you can run e.g. "xlaunch kopi" and kopi will only be started if it is not running yet.
The binary extraction also allows that you call a program with path and parameters:

xlaunch "/opt/some/binary --withparameter1 --andevenmore"

So now, how can we determine the window name from the process name in order to marry xlaunch with xraise?

daniel

[cmpayc13]

Is there a reason, You can not use xmmscontrol?
In this case, it is no matter, if the xmms-window is in foreground or not.

Best regards

cmpayc

[Meanie]

Is there a reason, You can not use xmmscontrol?
In this case, it is no matter, if the xmms-window is in foreground or not.

Best regards

cmpayc
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xmmscontrol which is by default configured in openbox causes the Z to almost lock up since it causes xmms to spawn too many instances which the Z cannot keep up with...

besides, this is just one use for xraise

[desertrat]

So now, how can we determine the window name from the process name in order to marry xlaunch with xraise?

In my case I only need it for a few specific apps: eg sylpheed-claws, kopi, kapi, pwmanager etc, so for me maybe hardcoding it would be the easiest way.

[Antikx]

just an fyi, someone from the unix users group here responded to your orig question with:

how about dbus-send or ... eesh ?  depending upon your
wm... and yeah .. it would have to be wm specific ... at least afaik

[Meanie]

So now, how can we determine the window name from the process name in order to marry xlaunch with xraise?

In my case I only need it for a few specific apps: eg sylpheed-claws, kopi, kapi, pwmanager etc, so for me maybe hardcoding it would be the easiest way.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=156387\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

xwininfo -root -tree |grep -i appname
some smart parsing of the results from the above and then pass the result to xraise


eventually, xlaunch will:

check if app is running or not
if running use xwininfo or other method to determine app window name and use that with xraise to bring it to foreground
if not running, start app. launch fancy looking splash/throbber window
use xresizewindow to maximize app using same info (xwininfo) as was used for xraise

optionally, xlaunch can also disable dpms and restore settings when finished
also optionally, xlaunch can stop the volume applet and restart it after app has finished in case the app needs the mixer

[grog]

Pretty neat. How about a corresponding xlower utility?

[daniel3000]

In my case I only need it for a few specific apps: eg sylpheed-claws, kopi, kapi, pwmanager etc, so for me maybe hardcoding it would be the easiest way.
[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=156387\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

xwininfo -root -tree |grep -i appname
some smart parsing of the results from the above and then pass the result to xraise

the parsing would have to be smart indeed. grepping for kopi shows a LOT of lines...

desertrat: Hardcoding is difficult, because some apps change their window name depending on window content (kopi for example changes heavily, but also many other apps which print the name of the opened file into the title).


I'll think about this smart parsing, but first I'll have to understand the output myself  

daniel

[Antikx]

and if it's of interest someone posted this:

I think what you're looking for is wmctrl:

Description: control an EWMH/NetWM compatible X Window Manager
 Wmctrl is a command line tool to interact with an EWMH/NetWM compatible X
 Window Manager (examples include Enlightenment, icewm, kwin, metacity,
 and sawfish).

 Wmctrl provides command line access to almost all the features defined in the
 EWMH specification. For example it can maximize windows, make them sticky, set
 them to be always on top. It can switch and resize desktops and perform many
 other useful operations.

For instance, on my currently running desktop:

oin$ wmctrl -l
0x00c00003 -1 oin Top Panel
0x00c0002d -1 oin Bottom Panel
0x00e00021 -1 oin Desktop
0x0280001f  0 oin root@gto: ~
0x02800f75  1 oin root@lemans: ~
0x02802735  2 oin Terminal
0x02600023  3 oin Holly Cole - I Will Wait for You
0x02a00020  2 oin linux icccm raise command - Google Search
0x028048a9  0 oin root@oin: ~

To switch my current screen to RhythmBox, and raise it to foreground:

oin$ wmctrl -a "Holly Cole - I Will Wait for You"

[Meanie]

and if it's of interest someone posted this:

I think what you're looking for is wmctrl:

Description: control an EWMH/NetWM compatible X Window Manager
 Wmctrl is a command line tool to interact with an EWMH/NetWM compatible X
 Window Manager (examples include Enlightenment, icewm, kwin, metacity,
 and sawfish).

 Wmctrl provides command line access to almost all the features defined in the
 EWMH specification. For example it can maximize windows, make them sticky, set
 them to be always on top. It can switch and resize desktops and perform many
 other useful operations.

For instance, on my currently running desktop:

oin$ wmctrl -l
0x00c00003 -1 oin Top Panel
0x00c0002d -1 oin Bottom Panel
0x00e00021 -1 oin Desktop
0x0280001f  0 oin root@gto: ~
0x02800f75  1 oin root@lemans: ~
0x02802735  2 oin Terminal
0x02600023  3 oin Holly Cole - I Will Wait for You
0x02a00020  2 oin linux icccm raise command - Google Search
0x028048a9  0 oin root@oin: ~

To switch my current screen to RhythmBox, and raise it to foreground:

oin$ wmctrl -a "Holly Cole - I Will Wait for You"

[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=156439\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

now you tell me after i spend hours reading the X and wnck api

[Drake01]

I think what you're looking for is wmctrl:[div align=\"right\"][a href=\"index.php?act=findpost&pid=156439\"][{POST_SNAPBACK}][/a][/div]

I don't seem to have that command on either my Zaurus or my desktop.  Is this supposed to be a "stock" command?