Set workspace name through wmctrl

[wavexx]

I don't see a way to programmatically set the workspace name starting from a workspace index. Is there a way through some other custom method?

[MaMiMa81]

This is what I do to do this very thing for Firefox

I have 4 small executable scripts in my $PATH in my ~/.local/bin/ directory:

ff_launch, ff & ff_wsid

which is for launching Firefox & setting the workspace name

and:

ff_kill

to kill Firefox & removing the workspace name.

Here are the files:

#### ff_launch ####
#!/bin/sh

~/.local/bin/ff

while true;
        do
        app_run=$(wmctrl -l | awk '/Firefox/ { print $2 }')
                if [ "$app_run" != '' ]; then
                        break
                else
                        sleep 0.2
                fi
done

~/.local/bin/ff_wsid

#### ff ####
#!/bin/sh

wmctrl -a firefox || exec firefox &

#### ff_wsid ####
#!/bin/sh

app_run=$(wmctrl -l -x | awk '/Firefox/ { print $2 }')

if [ "$app_run" != '' ]; then
        wmctrl -s "$app_run"
        echo '+@fg=8;FF +@fg=2;' | xclip -i
        xdotool key super+shift+slash
        xdotool key ctrl+y
        xdotool key return
fi

#### ff_kill ####
#!/bin/sh

curr_deskt="$(wmctrl -d | awk '/*/ { print $1 }')"
dsktp=$(wmctrl -d | awk '/FF/ { print $1 }')
if [ "$dsktp" != '' ]; then
wmctrl -s "$dsktp"
echo '' | xclip -i
xdotool key super+shift+slash
xdotool key ctrl+y
xdotool key return
fi

sleep 0.5

WID=$(xdotool search --name "Mozilla Firefox")
xdotool windowactivate --sync "$WID"
xdotool key --clearmodifiers ctrl+q
wmctrl -s "$curr_deskt"

I invoke ff_launch which in turn calls ff & then ff_wsid via key bindings that I have set & then when I shutdown Firefox & clear the workspace name I invoke ff_kill also via key bindings that I have set.

I also have set a quirk to always spawn Firefox on the same workspace.

HTH

[wavexx]

I see you're basically using xdotool to "interactively" do the rename.. would work indeed (and I didn't realize you could sneak control codes in there), but kind of ugly.

Just to share my experience, I'm working on a project which requires so much setup that I've wrote a script to launch a set of terminals/editors/tools split into various desktops on demand. I already couldn't find a nice way to spawn a new window into a dedicated workspace when already using IGNORESPAWNWS, so I already use wmctrl/xdotool to move windows by pid into the desktop I want after starting them. I guess adding a few more hacks on top doesn't hurt (too much)...