Linux window activation by hotkey

.xbindkeysrc

# Meta c brings Chrom(e|ium) to foreground
"~/.dotfiles/window-activator.sh -a Chrom"
   Mod4+c

# Meta k brings Konsole to foreground
"~/.dotfiles/window-activator.sh -a Konsole"
   Mod4+k

# Meta k brings WebStorm to foreground
"~/.dotfiles/window-activator.sh -a WebStorm"
   Mod4+s
   
# Meta d brings Dolphin to foreground
"~/.dotfiles/window-activator.sh -a Dolphin"
   Mod4+d
   
# Meta e brings Thunderbird to foreground
"~/.dotfiles/window-activator.sh -a Thunderbird"
   Mod4+e

README.md

Bring a window to foreground using a hotkey

A helper script for Linux (xorg) to bring a window to foreground when hitting a hotkey.
It respects the recent used window so if you have 5 Chromium instances, it will bring up the recently used one.

How

It uses xprop -spy to listen for window focus changes and persists the window-id to a temporaray file if the window title includes a given app name.

wmctrl brings the recently used window-id for a given app name to foreground.

xbindkeys listes for the hotkey to trigger window-activator.sh

Setup

1. download the window-activator.sh and make it executeable (chmod +x window-activator.sh)
2. create any kind of autostart for the daemon, ie ~/.config/autostart/window-activator.desktop

   [Desktop Entry]
   Exec=~/.dotfiles/window-activator.sh -d Chrom Thunderbird Dolphin WebStorm
   StartupNotify=false
   Terminal=false
   Type=Application
   

   PS: Adjust the list of monitored apps
3. Add some .xbindkeysrc config to trigger window-activator.sh -a <app> using a hotkey see the example below

window-activator.sh

#!/bin/bash
TMPDIR=/tmp/app-hotkeys


if ! command -v wmctrl >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
  echo >&2 "Error: wmctrl not found. You need to install wmctrl."
  exit 1
fi
if ! command -v xprop >/dev/null 2>&1 ; then
  echo >&2 "Error: xprop not found. You need to install xorg-xprop."
  exit 1
fi

function activate() {
  if [ -z "$1" ] ; then
    >&2 echo "Error: app param not specified"
    exit 1
  fi
  if [ ! -e "$TMPDIR/$1" ]; then
    >&2 echo "$TMPDIR/$1 not found. Is the daemon runnung and $1 a monitored app and was focues at least one time?"
    exit 1
  fi
  wmctrl -i -a $(cat $TMPDIR/$1) &>/dev/null
}


function daemon() {
  mkdir -p $TMPDIR

  while read WID ; do
    WID=$(echo $WID | awk -F '# ' '{print $2}')
    APP=$(xprop -notype -id $WID _NET_WM_NAME | awk -F '"' '{print $2}')
    for i in "${APPS[@]}"; do
      if echo $APP | grep -qF $i ; then
        echo $WID > $TMPDIR/$i
      fi
    done
  done < <(xprop -spy -root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW)
}



case "$1" in
  "-d")
    shift
    APPS=( "$@" )
    daemon
  ;;
  "-a")
    activate $2
  ;;

  *)
    echo "Linux app activator"
    echo "Usage:"
    echo "  $0 -d <app1> <app2> ...    Start daemon and monitor Apps"
    echo "  $0 -a <app>                Activate <app> window"
esac