Through a simple key-binding (shift+ctrl+d) I can quickly launch or focus reference documentation (using devdocs).
So, how are we going to do this?
- We're going to install some software to facilitate the mechanics:
wmctrl
,nativefier
anddevdocs
- We're going to write a bash script that launches or focuses the devdocs
- We're going to bind the bash script to a key-binding
(nb: This guide was tested on Ubuntu 18.04)
π Installing wmctrl
(1 of 3)
What's wmctrl
and why do we need it?
$ man wmctrl
NAME
wmctrl - interact with a EWMH/NetWM compatible X Window Manager.
...
DESCRIPTION
wmctrl is a command that can be used to interact with an X Window manager that is compatible with the EWMH/NetWM specification. wmctrl can query the window manager for information, and it can request that certain window
management actions be taken.
We'll use wmctrl
to check if our API reference application is running, and focus on it. If it's not running, we'll start it. wmctrl
is easily installed on Ubuntu through the package manager:
# Installs wmctrl
sudo apt install wmctrl
π‘ Installing nativefier
(2 of 3)
Nativefier is a tool to make a native wrapper for any web page. We'll use it to get a local version of DevDocs installed, in case we're ever without Wi-fi.
It's quite easy to install, just run the following npm
command to install it as a global dependency:
# Install nativefier globally
npm install nativefier -g
π Installing devdocs
(3 of 3)
This is the actual documentation tool we'll be using. You can insert your own if you like.
We'll use nativefier
to install a local version of DevDocs:
# Create software folder
mkdir ~/Software && cd ~/Software
# Generate local electron version of devdocs
nativefier --name "DevDocs" "https://devdocs.io/"
We also want to have a .desktop
file installed, so we can launch the application and save it in our favorites sidebar:
echo "[Desktop Entry]" \
"Type=Application" \
"Terminal=false" \
"Exec=/home/<your-username>/Software/dev-docs-linux-x64/dev-docs" \
"Name=DevDocs" > \
"# Icon=/path-to-optional-icon.png" \
> ~/.local/share/applications/devdocs.desktop
(If you're having an issue with adding the application to your favorites in a later stage, add the following to this file: StartupWMClass=dev-docs-nativefier-49fe5b
. Where dev-docs-nativefier-49fe5b
is the name you see when you hover over the running app icon in your application bar).
π Implementing the launch script
# Create a folder to store our script
mkdir ~/bin
# Create launch/focus script
echo "#!/bin/bash" \
(wmctrl -l | grep -q DevDocs) && wmctrl -a DevDocs || gtk-launch devdocs" \
> `~/bin/devdocs.sh`
# Make the script executable for the user
chmod u+x ~/bin/devdocs.sh
What exactly does this script do? Let's break it down:
-
(wmctrl -l | grep -q DevDocs)
: List all applications and findDevDocs
-
wmctrl -a DevDocs
: If found, focus on applicationDevDocs
-
gtk-launch devdocs
if not found, launch applicationdevdocs
β¨οΈ Adding key-binding
Adding the key-binding is easy in Ubuntu, go to Settings
-> Keyboard
and hit the +
icon to add a new key-binding:
π That's it!
Test your key-binding by hitting shift+ctrl+d
(or your chosen binding). The devdocs application should launch, and if it's already running it should focus when using the key-binding.
If you want to run all of the above commands in one go, use the following gist:
bash <(curl -s https://gist.githubusercontent.com/flipflopsandrice/07d84567f4197ef253055066669078b3/raw/6976125db4d5b7b22ba69e5ed3206be223f1ea68/install-devdocs.sh)
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