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reidprichard / window_tools

Some simple tools to add lots of functionality to Kanata (and potentially other hotkey tools). This project is on hold for now, but after some life changes are complete I will pick this back up (est. June 2024).
GNU General Public License v3.0
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hotkeys kanata keyboard keymap win32 windows

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Note: Development is paused for now as I finish up my PhD. I have a lot of plans for this as soon as I have time. If you use the project and have issues, please open an issue for me to address when I have time.

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Window Tools

This project consists of two simple tools for interacting with windows. The first, window_manager, allows you to save (and later refocus) any window with a single command. The second communicates with Kanata's TCP server to set application-specific keybinds.
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Table of Contents
  1. About The Project
  2. Getting Started
  3. Usage
  4. Roadmap
  5. Contributing
  6. License
  7. Contact
  8. Acknowledgments

About The Project

Product Name Screen Shot

This project consists of two simple tools for interacting with windows. The first, window_manager, allows you to save (and later refocus) any window with a single command. The second communicates with Kanata's TCP server to set application-specific keybinds.

This is a work in project (especially when it comes to documentation), but the binaries are fully-functional, and their --help sections should tell you all you need.

I am actively working to get these tools working in Linux. See below.

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Getting Started

Installation

  1. Download the project executables from the latest release.
  2. Run via the command line.
  3. That's it! No config file needed.

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Usage

kanata_helper_daemon

To get started, all you need to do is run: .../path/to/kanata_helper_daemon.exe --port=<kanata-port-number>

For example, if you had launched Kanata with: kanata.exe -p 1337

You would run: .../path/to/kanata_helper_daemon.exe --port=1337

When you switch your application focus, kanata_helper_daemon will send a message to Kanata telling it to switch layers. The requested layer name is the name of the window's process. For example, if you opened Firefox, kanata_helper_daemon would attempt to switch to the layer named "firefox". If you're not sure what a window's process name is, take a look at kanata_helper_daemon's console output. Note that layer names are case-sensitive.

For full functionality, you'll want to point kanata_helper_daemon to your Kanata config file, like so: . 

.../path/to/kanata_helper_daemon.exe --port=1337 --config-file=.../path/to/config/file.kbd

The daemon will parse your config file to gather a list of all your layer names. If a process name does not match one of your layer names, it will return to the layer named "default". WARNING: kanata_helper_daemon currently only supports single-file configurations, so any layers defined in files added with include will not be parsed. If you don't have a layer named "default", or you just want to use a different layer for this, you can specify the name like so:

.../path/to/kanata_helper_daemon.exe --port=1337 --config-file=.../path/to/config/file.kbd --default-layer=my-default-layer

You will likely want to run this daemon in the background so that you don't need to keep a console window open. To do so, you can use the following syntax in PowerShell:

Start-Process .../path/to/kanata_helper_daemon.exe --port=1337 --config-file=.../path/to/config/file.kbd --default-layer=my-default-layer -WindowStyle Hidden

If you wish to kill this background process, you can do so (again in PowerShell) with: Stop-Process -Name kanata_helper_daemon

window_manager

This tool allows you to programatically activate specific windows. Do you often find yourself searching through a million icons on your taskbar to find that one browser window? This is the tool for you.

Usage is relatively straightforward. The command: /path/to/window_manager.exe --save-window=0 saves the currently-focused window to index 0, and: /path/to/window_manager.exe --load-window=0 will later bring that window to the front and focus it. The window's index can be any number from 0-999.

Saved windows are stored in a .ini file. By default, this will be "saved_windows-.ini". If you wish to change this file, you can do so with the --path argument:

`/path/to/window_manager.exe --path=.../path/to/your/file.ini --save-window=0`

Both window title and handle (basically, a number that is a unique identifier for that particular window) are stored. This allows window_manager to activate a window after it has been closed and reopened (handle changed, but title hopefully remained the same) or if the window title changes (e.g. you change tabs in your browser). Since this utility is run on-demand, and there is no background daemon, it is limited in what it can do to keep track of your windows. Each time you activate a window it will update the saved handle and title, but if a window's handle and title change between activations window_manager won't know where to find the window.

Obviously, running this utility directly from the terminal isn't very useful. It is intended to be bound to your keyboard. You can see a Kanata configuration that does this in examples.

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Roadmap

See the open issues for a full list of proposed features (and known issues).

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Building

Building the project should be pretty straightforward. However, I'm new to Win32 development, so these instructions may be incomplete. Please open an issue if you have problems.

  1. Install the Windows SDK.
  2. Clone the project (git clone https://github.com/reidprichard/window_tools.git) or download its zip.
  3. Move to the next section depending on whether you're building with CMake or GCC.

Bulding with CMake

CMake is the easiest way to build. You may need to have a recent version of Visual Studio installed to get access to MSVC.

  1. Create a "build" folder in the project's root directory.
  2. Open a terminal in "build".
  3. Run cmake ..
  4. Run cmake --build .
  5. If all went well, project binaries should be in /build/Debug.

Building with GCC

Alternatively, if you don't have CMake installed, you can build with GCC (tested with mingw64):

  1. Open a terminal in the project's root directory.
  2. Run gcc ./src/kanata_helper_daemon.c ./src/utils.c -lWs2_32 -o kanata_helper_daemon.exe to build _kanata_helperdaemon. If you get errors along the lines of undefined reference to '__imp_WSAStartup', it's not finding the Ws2_32 library. (This shouldn't be an issue if you're using mingw64.) You'll have to use your Google-Fu here.
  3. Run gcc ./src/window_manager.c ./src/utils.c -o window_manager.exe to build _windowmanager.
  4. If all went well, project binaries will be in the root directory.

If built with a method other than CMake, --version will output 0.0.0.

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Linux Implementation

Since the Windows implementation relies on the win32 API, adding Linux will entail a full rewrite. It seems that KDE Plasma's API doesn't provide ways to get/set the focused window, but that functionality is available in KWin scripting. I've previously written a KWin script to set the focused window, but I'm not sure about listening to the active window (for _kanata_helperdaemon) or about calling KWin scripts from C.

Here is how KWin scripts can be called from the command line.

This looks like a good starting point, though I don't know Rust. I would appreciate any help here. I have no plans to implement this in Gnome, but I would love a collaborator to make that happen.

Perhaps this is doable with the Wayland protocols? Or KWayland? Way out of my league here.

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Contributing

I'm brand new to git, brand new to the Win32 API, and not the most experienced C programmer, so I would love any improvements or critiques that could be made.

Contributions are what make the open source community such an amazing place to learn, inspire, and create. Any contributions you make are greatly appreciated.

If you have a suggestion that would make this better, please fork the repo and create a pull request. You can also simply open an issue with the tag "enhancement". Don't forget to give the project a star! Thanks again!

  1. Fork the Project
  2. Create your Feature Branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
  3. Commit your Changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
  4. Push to the Branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
  5. Open a Pull Request

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License

Distributed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. See LICENSE.txt for more information.

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Contact

Project Link: https://github.com/reidprichard/window_tools

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