playerctl VS xdotool

if you dont mind setting up command shortcuts, look into playerctl https://github.com/altdesktop/playerctl

The latest nwg-shell-config update brings a new tab, to configure idle and lock screen settings. Under the hood, it provides the nwg-lock command, which is a wrapper around gtklock or swaylock. It adds a random image background, either local, or downloaded from https://unsplash.com. You may also display an overlay window to control mpris media player with playerctl.

Yes it would be possible to pipe the output into a script/program and parse it to extract the information, but in my opinion not the best solution. Instead you can query information from media players that support MPRIS https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/MPRIS via tools like playerctl https://github.com/altdesktop/playerctl

Playerctl can control the currently active media player.

I think both firefox and vlc support MPRIS, which can be controlled from the command line using playerctl, if you have that installed: ssh name@host playerctl play-pause

You can use playerctl for browsers, spotify and similar players.

VLC (and therefore cvlc as well, I suppose) can be controlled via MPRIS (using playerctl, for example).

My super-duper simple playerctl script that works flawlessly for years to prioritize my media keys to work on Spotify or ncspot over anything else. If I'm listening to Spotify or ncspot, why do I need to control any other stuff with my media keys, right?! Without it, if I have any other mpris player open, which can be a lot of things some not even related to media, my keyboard media keys won't focus on the music players I use for actually listening to music. ncspot doesn't respond to playerctl --player=ncspot play-pause, so I have to detect if it is playing or paused, so I can run playerctl --player=ncspot play or playerctl --player=ncspot pause separately. Script.

Try playerctl.

Have a look at this: https://github.com/jordansissel/xdotool

Maybe not AHK exactly, but it essentially does the same: xdotool

Use an external tool, like xdotool.

In a gtk-rs application, I'm running a xdotool command to get the id of the application's window. I'm running the command in a connect_show closure (after the window has been shown):

Eventually, I needed to find the ID of windows, move them, and bring them to the front—I realized I couldn't do that with gtk-rs. I needed to interact with the window manager (X11 server). So from inside my application, I ran commands that called xdotool.

You might be able to use audacity in the background by setting up an application launcher in the gnome panel that executes xdotool, which can send keyboard signals (like R for record) to running applications: https://github.com/jordansissel/xdotool

Right now, I'm focusing (switching) X11 windows with a shell command (xdotool) from inside my Rust program:

Maybe xdotool [0] is what you're looking for.

[0] https://github.com/jordansissel/xdotool/

I often create screen recordings for my classes, but it's very boring and time consuming. I'm a perfectionist, and if I mistype a command I prefer to re-record everything. Moreover, every time one of the tools used in the videos gets a significant update, I feel compelled to redo the video.

I have started using xdotool [1] to create bash scripts that send mouse clicks and keystrokes to apps. Interleaving calls to xdotool with the "sleep" command [2] produce a convincing effect. If I need to redo a video to fix typos or after a program update, I just fix the bash script and restart the recording.

Alas, the only thing that is missing in my videos is the sound of keyboard clicks… But nothing is perfect!

[1] https://github.com/jordansissel/xdotool

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_(command)