Hit Command+L and type a glyph to throw it into the background layer very quickly.

throw_glyph_bg.py

# menuTitle : Throw Glyph in Background
# shortCut  : command + l


from vanilla import Window, TextBox, ComboBox, Button, HorizontalLine
from mojo.UI import AskString, StatusInteractivePopUpWindow, CurrentGlyphWindow
from mojo.events import addObserver, removeObserver
from defconAppKit.windows.baseWindow import BaseWindowController
from AppKit import NSColor, NSObject

if __name__ == "__main__":
    from lib.tools.debugTools import ClassNameIncrementer
else:
    def ClassNameIncrementer(clsName, bases, dct):
        return type(clsName, bases, dct)

f = CurrentFont()
g = CurrentGlyph()
throw_to_lname = 'background'

# def getGlyphEditorRectAndScreen(editorWindow):
#     screen = editorWindow.w.getNSWindow().screen()
#     nsWindow = editorWindow.w.getNSWindow()
#     scrollView = editorWindow.getGlyphView().enclosingScrollView()
#     rectInWindowCoords = scrollView.convertRect_toView_(scrollView.frame(), None)
#     rectInScreenCoords = nsWindow.convertRectToScreen_(rectInWindowCoords)
#     (screenX, screenY), (screenWidth, screenHeight) = screen.frame()
#     (x, y), (w, h) = rectInScreenCoords
#     y = -(y + h)
#     return (x, y, w, h), screen

def sortedByLength(lst):
    lst2 = sorted(lst, key=len)
    return lst2

class GlyphThrower(BaseWindowController):
    
    def __init__(self):
    
        f = CurrentFont()
        
        margin = 8
        text_height = 20
        text_width = 120
        
        gutter = 2
        button_width = text_width
        button_height = text_height
        window_height = margin * 2 + text_height * 2 + gutter * 3
        window_width = margin * 2 + text_width
        
        # editorWindow = CurrentGlyphWindow()
        # (editorX, editorY, editorW, editorH), screen = getGlyphEditorRectAndScreen(editorWindow)
        # x = editorX + ((editorW - window_width) / 2)
        # y = editorY + ((editorH - window_height) / 2)
        
        self.w = StatusInteractivePopUpWindow((window_width, window_height))
        self.w.center()
        
        self.w.text_box = TextBox(
            (margin, margin, text_width, text_height), 
            text='Throw Glyph', 
            alignment='center', 
            selectable=False, 
            sizeStyle='small'
            )
            
        self.w.line = HorizontalLine((margin, margin + text_height + gutter/2, text_width, 1))
        
        self.chosen_glyph = str(g.name)
        self.w.glyph_input = ComboBox(
            (margin, margin + text_height + gutter*3, text_width, text_height), 
            sortedByLength(f.glyphOrder),  # redundant now?
            completes=True, 
            # continuous=True, 
            callback=self.throwCallback,
            )
        
        g_i_NS = self.w.glyph_input.getNSComboBox()
        g_i_NS.setAlignment_(0)
        g_i_NS.setFocusRingType_(1)
        # g_i_NS.setAutomaticTextCompletionEnabled_(True)
        g_i_NS.becomeFirstResponder()
        g_i_NS.setNumberOfVisibleItems_(10)
        g_i_NS.setButtonBordered_(False)
        # g_i_NS.setHasVerticalScroller_(False)
        
        self._sourceGlyphNameComboBoxDataSource = comboBoxDataSource.alloc().init()
        g_i_NS.setUsesDataSource_(True)
        g_i_NS.setDataSource_(self._sourceGlyphNameComboBoxDataSource)
        self._sourceGlyphNameComboBoxDataSource.setGlyphNames_(sortedByLength(f.glyphOrder))
        
        self.w.glyph_input.set(self.chosen_glyph)
        
        # invisible "close button"
        self.w.close_button = Button((window_width + 20, window_height + 20, 1, 1), "", callback=self.closeCallback)
        self.w.close_button.bind(chr(27), []) # make "escape" work
        
        self.w.open()

        
    def throwCallback(self, sender):
        
        self.chosen_glyph = str(sender.get())
        
        if not self.chosen_glyph in f:
            for glyph_name in f.glyphOrder:
                if self.chosen_glyph in glyph_name:
                    if glyph_name.split(self.chosen_glyph)[0] == '':
                        self.chosen_glyph = glyph_name
        
        if g != None:
            try:
                cl = CurrentLayer()
                fro = f.defaultLayer[self.chosen_glyph]
                if self.chosen_glyph in cl.keys():
                    if cl[self.chosen_glyph].contours or cl[self.chosen_glyph].components:
                        fro = cl[self.chosen_glyph]
                    else:
                        fro = f.defaultLayer[self.chosen_glyph]
                    
                back = g.getLayer(throw_to_lname)
                with back.undo(f'Throw glyph {g.name} in {throw_to_lname}'):
                    back.clear()
                    get_g = fro.copy()
                    fro.decompose()
                    back.appendGlyph(fro)
                    back.width = fro.width
                    fro.clear()
                    fro.appendGlyph(get_g)
                    back.changed()

                # f.removeLayer('temp')
                f.changed()
                self.w.close()
            except ValueError:
                self.w.close()
        else:
            self.w.close()
            
        f.getLayer(throw_to_lname).setDisplayOption({'Fill': True})
            
            
    def closeCallback(self, sender):
        self.w.close()
        

# code from Tal to improve auto-complete behavior
class comboBoxDataSource(NSObject, metaclass=ClassNameIncrementer):

    def init(self):
        self = super(comboBoxDataSource, self).init()
        self._glyphNames = []
        return self

    def setGlyphNames_(self, names):
        self._glyphNames = names

    def comboBox_completedString_(self, comboBox, text):
        if text in self._glyphNames:
            return text
        for name in self._glyphNames:
            if name.startswith(text):
                return name
        return text

    def comboBox_indexOfItemWithStringValue_(self, comboBox, text):
        if text not in self._glyphNames:
            return -1
        return self._glyphNames.index(text)

    def comboBox_objectValueForItemAtIndex_(self, comboBox, index):
        return self._glyphNames[index]

    def numberOfItemsInComboBox_(self, comboBox):
        return len(self._glyphNames)


if __name__ == "__main__":
    GlyphThrower()