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bgoodr
Asked: 2018-11-24 18:01:31 +0800 CST

Invoking GNOME Activities overview from command line

  • 772

Is there a way to invoke the Activities view of GNOME from the Linux command line? This is what the Super key invokes from GNOME. Once it is shown, I can interact with it as usual using the mouse.

I'm using Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

The reason I'm asking: I'm viewing the desktop that I need to "send" the Super key into via a TeamViewer session. TeamViewer has a way to send CTRL-ALT-DELETE, but that of course is for Windows remotes, but this is pure Ubuntu-to-Ubuntu here. Even if TeamViewer was not involved, and I was using VNC, I would have the same problem.

command-line gnome-shell activities-overview

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    A command that causes the shell to switch to the overview is:

    dbus-send --session --type=method_call --dest=org.gnome.Shell /org/gnome/Shell org.gnome.Shell.Eval string:'Main.overview.show();'

    Use Main.overview.hide(); to close the overview, or Main.overview.toggle(); to toggle between overview and normal view (with thanks to gatr and Marcelo Avila).

    • 19

  2. There might be a proper command line way to interact with various GNOME Shell components (using DBus, I suppose), but a quick and dirty way is to simulate the keypress:

    xdotool key super
    • 4

  3. From GNOME 41 onwards you need an extension.

    As of GNOME 41, the dbus method Eval() is now restricted with MetaContext:unsafe-mode property (see this commit). This extension provides unrestricted Eval() dbus method for running arbitrary code in the compositor.

    (source)

    So the solution is:

    1. Install the eval-gjs extension:

    2. Use --object-path /dev/ramottamado/EvalGjs and --method dev.ramottamado.EvalGjs.Eval, like:

       gdbus call \
   --session \
   --dest org.gnome.Shell \
   --object-path /dev/ramottamado/EvalGjs \
   --method dev.ramottamado.EvalGjs.Eval "Main.overview.show();"
    • 3