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Asked: 2014-01-03 14:40:10 +0800 CST

Setting a command to be run when switching to a virtual desktop (or an activity) in KDE

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Can a command be set to run when switching to a specific virtual desktop (or an activity) in KDE environment?

I want to run a command for a desktop (e.g. desktop2) so that when I switch to that desktop, the keyboard language layout will change to English US automatically.

command-line

3 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    You can change to virtual desktop two using the following command line argument:

    wmctrl -s 2

    Thus executing

    wmctrl -s 2 && setxkbmap en

    should switch your to desktop 2 and change your language to english as suggested in your example.

    You can use a keybinding program like autokey, or KDE custom shortcuts to set a keybinding for the above command. Alternatively, you can save the above command to a text file ending in .sh, and then make the file executable to have a clickable script that will switch desktops and change languages for you.

    should switch your to desktop 2 and change your language to english as suggested in your example.

    Switching activities is a bit more lengthy command.

    Going to go to the next activity is simple enough using:

    qdbus org.kde.kglobalaccel /component/plasma_desktop invokeShortcut "Next Activity"

    However to switch to a specific activity, you must fist know it's ID which can be obtained by:

    qdbus org.kde.kactivitymanagerd /ActivityManager/Activities ListActivities

    Once you know the activity id you can switch to that activity via:

    qdbus org.kde.kactivitymanagerd /ActivityManager/Activities SetCurrentActivity activity-key-in-previous-step

    then couple that with the '&& setxkbmap en' command as shown above when switching virtual desktops to have activity switching coupled with a language change.

    Also of note:

    export LC_ALL=C

    will change the system language to english

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    • Devil's Pie 2 lets you launch a script when that Window #n is created, which is not quite what you wanted, but simple;
    • you can use Autokey to run a script which switches the window then changes the language, and launch another script to revert to the original settings, all by hotkey, or
    • there's also a GUI-aware Scripting tool called Sikuli you might find interesting.
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  3. Thanks to virtualxtc's answer above and don_crissti's answer. To change layout download this zip file linked in this page. Extract it to a folder in home folder. Then run terminal inside the folder and run these commands:

    cmake CMakeLists.txt
make CMakeLists.txt
cmake CMakeLists.txt
sudo make install CMakeLists.txt

    (you may need to install make and cmake)

    then run this command to switch to English:

    xkb-switch -s us

    and a combination can be

    wmctrl -s 1 && xkb-switch -s us

    which one can assign a hotkey to it to switch to desktop2 and English.

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