Knowledge Base (Posts about xdotool)

add chapter titles to mkv automatically

bgstack15 — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 12:55:00 GMT

Here's an old one I haven't used in years apparently, because the shebang was /bin/sh but it requires bash, so from my Fedora desktop days.

files/2024/listings/chapter-titles.sh (Source)

#!/bin/bash
# utility to simplify entering chapter titles into MKVToolNix GUI
# startdate: 2019-04-07 20:26
# dependencies:
#    INFILE needs one line per chapter. Each line is the exact contents of the chapter title.
#    xdotool

test -z "${INFILE}" && INFILE=/mnt/public/Video/chapters.txt
test -n "${1}" && INFILE="${1}"

echo "Using INFILE=${INFILE} with chapter titles:"
head -n3 "${INFILE}"
printf "%s\n" "..."
tail -n3 "${INFILE}"
echo "Press enter to start the 5-second countdown, and then move the cursor to the MKVToolNix window and Name field."
read foo
sleep 5

x=0
while read -u10 line ;
do
   # in case you want to count them
   x=$(( x + 1 ))
   echo "line=${line}"
   xdotool type --delay 12ms "${line}"
   xdotool key --delay 12ms "Return" "Return"
done 10< "${INFILE}"

echo "done!"

So while it's kind of a oneliner, you have to prepare your input file with the chapter names. That is left as an exercise for the reader.

To use this, you have to have the input file prepared, and you have to be running mkvtoolnix-gui already. (I never learned how to do with with mkvtoolnix cli which probably renders this whole script moot.) Open your mkv file on the chapter tab. Then in a nearby terminal, run:

chapter-titles.sh ~/chapters.txt

It will tell you to press enter, and then you have 5 seconds to position the cursor at the chapter 1 Name field.

Ironic that I go to all this effort, but only one of my video players (vlc, and not mpv or Jellyfin) seems to show chapter titles so why do I bother? Maybe that's why I haven't touched this script in 5 years. I got the itch to add all the metadata things to a file and got carried away, and was pleasantly surprised to learn I needed to describe it here!

Flashing window on taskbar

bgstack15 — Wed, 14 Sep 2022 12:33:40 GMT

I got very interested, for probably no real reason, in knowing how to make my window titles blink or flash in the taskbar (iconbar in Fluxbox). I wanted to know if Fluxbox supports it, and it does. It's called urgency or _NET_WM_STATE_DEMANDS_ATTENTION.

A great little tool named xurgent exists and is trivial to compile. You tell it what window id (from xwininfo) to make urgent. You can accomplish the same with xdotool (upstream website) as well:

xdotool set_window --urgency 1 $( xwininfo | awk '/ id/{print $4}' )

This command lets the user use the crosshairs cursor to select a window, which will then set its window hint for urgency. Flubox and other reasonable window managers then interpret this as the need to flash the taskbar entry for that window.

If you want to have a very simple python program that can set its own urgency:

	`#!/usr/bin/env python3`
	`# Reference:`
	`# logout-manager for basic python3 gtk3 app`
	`# https://stackoverflow.com/questions/3433615/python-window-focus/3433968#3433968`
	`# timeout_add https://www.programcreek.com/python/?code=berarma%2Foversteer%2Foversteer-master%2Foversteer%2Fgtk_ui.py`
	`import gi, time`
	`gi.require_version("Gtk", "3.0")`
	`from gi.repository import Gtk, GLib`

	`class MainWindow(Gtk.Window):`
	`def __init__(self):`
	`Gtk.Window.__init__(self, title="Normal program")`
	`self.connect("notify::is-active", self.is_active_changed)`

	`self.grid = Gtk.Grid()`
	`self.add(self.grid)`
	`button0 = Gtk.Button(label="_Make urgent")`
	`button0.connect("button-press-event", self.on_button0_press_event)`
	`button0.connect("activate", self.on_button0_press_event) # activate covers ALT action if used and spacebar when selected`
	`button0.set_use_underline(True)`
	`self.grid.add(button0)`

	`def is_active_changed(self, window, param):`
	`if self.props.is_active:`
	`self.set_urgent(False)`

	`def on_button0_press_event(self, *args):`
	`print("counting to 3")`
	`GLib.timeout_add(3000, self.set_urgent, True)`

	`def set_urgent(self, *args):`
	`# should call with True or False`
	`if len(args) >= 1 and args[0]:`
	`self.set_title("Urgent notification!")`
	`self.set_urgency_hint(True)`
	`else:`
	`self.set_title("Normal program")`
	`self.set_urgency_hint(False)`

	`# MAIN LOOP`
	`win = MainWindow()`
	`win.connect("destroy", Gtk.main_quit)`
	`win.show_all()`
	`Gtk.main()`

Open directory in new tab in Thunar

bgstack15 — Thu, 25 Aug 2022 13:01:48 GMT

This is a direct rip-off of [Tutorial] Improving Thunar in XFCE by opening new tabs instead of windows with Bash. - Linux Mint Forums. A very enterprising individual named happysadhu has produced a fantastic script that will make future blog posts easier (ahem).

If you want to open multiple directories in Thunar, in tabs and not separate windows, there's not a programmatic way to do that natively. But if you set up a script named /usr/local/bin/thunartab with the following contents, you can then run the following commands.

	`#!/bin/bash`
	`# Script to open new file manager tab instead of window (e.g., Thunar) in XFCE.`
	`# Version 1. 2017-04-18`

	`# Lock script to process multiple instances consecutively when "Open All" on Desktop.`
	`if [[ $1 == "file:///home/$USER/Desktop/"* ]]; then`
	ME=`basename "$0"`;
	`LCK="/tmp/${ME}.LCK";`
	`exec 8>$LCK;`
	`flock -x 8; # lock $LCK`
	`trap 'rm -f $LCK' exit # remove $LCK regardless of exit status`
	`sleep .1 # hack to give time for each script to execute properly--weird!`
	`fi`

	`# Convert desktop file urls to thunar-friendly local paths.`
	`# Accommodates special characters in directory names (!@#$, etc).`
	`fileurl=$1`
	`filepath="$(urlencode -d ${fileurl#file://})/"`

	`# Check for running instances of $app on current desktop/workspace.`
	`app=thunar`
	`wid=( $(xdotool search --desktop $(xdotool get_desktop) --class $app) )`
	`lastwid=${wid[*]: -1} # Get PID of newest active thunar window.`

	`# If $wid is null launch app with filepath.`
	`if [ -z $wid ]; then`
	`$app "$filepath"`

	`# If app is already running, activate it and use shortcuts to paste filepath into path bar.`
	`else`
	`xdotool windowactivate --sync $lastwid key ctrl+t ctrl+l # Activate pathbar in thunar`
	`xdotool type -delay 0 "$filepath" # "--delay 0" removes default 12ms between each keystroke`
	`xdotool key Return`
	`fi`
	`exit 0`

	`# Easy Installation:`
	`# cd ~/Downloads && tar -zxvf thunartab.tar.gz && sudo chmod 755 thunartab && sudo cp thunartab /usr/local/bin/`
	`# Install dependencies: sudo apt install gridsite-clients xdotool # gridsite-clients contains urlencode`
	`# Reboot # if you want to run "thunartab" as a command in terminal`
	`# Select script in the XFCE's GUI "Preferred Applications"`
	`#`
	`# For alternatives for script location run "echo $PATH" (without quotes) in terminal`
	`# Troubleshooting: If more than one thunar window opens with "Open All", try increasing sleep value on line 12`
	`#`
	`# For other file-managers (e.g., Nemo, Caja, Nautilus), change app name on line 21`
	`# You may also have to modified the xdotool shortcuts on line 31.`
	`# For example for Nemo, change line 31 to something like`
	`# xdotool windowactivate --sync $lastwid key ctrl+t ctrl+l ctrl+v Return ctrl+l Escape`
	`# Manually test shortcuts in file manager first.`
	`#`
	`# Main sources for learning bash for this script include:`
	`# http://ryanstutorials.net/bash-scripting-tutorial/ "Bash Scripting Tutorial" (Very good for beginners like myself"`
	`# http://jdimpson.livejournal.com/5685.html "Using flock to protect critical sections in shell scripts"`
	`# https://askubuntu.com/questions/55656/open-nautilus-as-new-tab-in-existing-window (the starting idea for this script)`
	`#`
	`# Bug reports or suggestions, please email me, Sam, at sampub@islandroots.ca`

The commands to open multiple directories would then be:

thunar /path/to/first
thunartab /path/to/second
thunartab /here/is/another