raiseorlaunch 0.2.3

A run-or-raise-application-launcher for i3 window manager.

A run-or-raise-application-launcher for i3 window manager.

Features

• If a provided application is running, focus it’s window, otherwise run it

• Provide a regex for window class, instance and/or title to compare with running windows

• Optionally enable case-insensitive comparison

• Optionally provide a workspace to use for raising and running

• Optionally use the scratchpad for raising and running

• workspace_auto_back_and_forth (if enabled) remains functional

Installation

Repositories

raiseorlaunch is in PyPI, so you can just

pip install raiseorlaunch

For Arch Linux users it’s also available in the AUR.

Manual

Dependencies

• i3-py

Install

Installing it directly with the setup.py creates a script-entry-point that adds ~150ms delay. That’s not acceptable for this kind of application.

This can be prevented, if creating a wheel first and installing that (needs wheel and pip):

python setup.py bdist_wheel
pip install ./dist/raiseorlaunch-${VERSION}-py2.py3-none-any.whl

Run without installation

You can also just run raiseorlaunch without installing it:

python -m raiseorlaunch ${OPTIONS}

or:

./raiseorlaunch/__main__.py ${OPTIONS}

Usage and options

usage: raiseorlaunch [-h] [-c WM_CLASS] [-s WM_INSTANCE] [-t WM_TITLE]
                     [-e COMMAND] [-w WORKSPACE] [-r] [-i] [-d] [-v]

A run-or-raise-application-launcher for i3 window manager.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -c WM_CLASS, --class WM_CLASS
                        the window class regex
  -s WM_INSTANCE, --instance WM_INSTANCE
                        the window instance regex
  -t WM_TITLE, --title WM_TITLE
                        the window title regex
  -e COMMAND, --exec COMMAND
                        command to execute. If omitted, -c, -s or -t will be
                        used (lower-case). Careful: The command will not be
                        checked prior to execution!
  -w WORKSPACE, --workspace WORKSPACE
                        workspace to use
  -r, --scratch         use scratchpad
  -i, --ignore-case     ignore case when comparing
  -d, --debug           display debug messages
  -v, --version         show program's version number and exit

Examples

CLI

Run or raise Firefox:

raiseorlaunch -c Firefox -s Navigator

Use the workspace SL for sublime text:

raiseorlaunch -w SL -c "^Sublime" -s sublime_text -e subl

Raise or launch SpeedCrunch and use the scratchpad:

raiseorlaunch -r -c SpeedCrunch

i3 bindsym

In i3 config you can define a bindsym like that:

bindsym ${KEYS} exec --no-startup-id raiseorlaunch ${OPTIONS}

e.g.

bindsym $mod+s exec --no-startup-id raiseorlaunch -w SL -c "^Sublime" -s sublime_text -e subl

for binding $mod+s to raise or launch sublime text.

Known problems

Keybindings steal focus when fired. This can have a negative impact with applications that listen to FocusOut events and hide. This is due to how X works.

Example:

When using Guake Terminal with “Hide on lose focus” enabled, raiseorlaunch behaves as if the underlying window is focused.