Toggle on and off the touch screen in a Dell XPS 13 with Linux

toggle.py

#!/usr/bin/env python
from __future__ import print_function
from subprocess import check_output, check_call

device_name = "Synaptics Large Touch Screen"


def get_device_number():
    """
    Get the device number of the device using xinput.
    If the device is not found the returned device number
    is 0.
    """
    device_number = 0
    out = check_output("xinput list", shell=True)
    for line in out.split("\n"):
        if device_name in line:
            i = line.index("id=")
            device_number = int(line[i+3:].split("\t")[0])
            break
    return device_number

    
def get_ts_state(device_number):
    """
    Get the state of the device defined by device_number.
    If the device is enabled the output is 1, if it is 
    disabled the output is 0.
    """
    enabled = 1
    out = check_output("xinput list-props %i"%device_number, shell=True)
    #print(out)
    for line in out.split("\n"):
        if "Device Enabled" in line:
            i = line.index(":")
            enabled = int(line[i+1:])
    return enabled
    

def toggle_state(device_number):
    """
    Toggle the state of the device given by device_number
    using xinput.
    """
    enabled = get_ts_state(dn)
    new_state = (enabled+1) % 2
    #print(new_state)
    out = check_call('xinput set-prop %i "Device Enabled" %1i'
                      %(device_number, new_state), 
                     shell=True)
    # Check if there was any error
    
if __name__ == "__main__":
    dn = get_device_number()
    toggle_state(dn)