Override the window title for an arbitrary window in KDE and set a custom window title
I had this exact same problem.
So I wrote a shell script that I bound to a hotkey.
When I hit the hotkey, it gets the window id of the currently active window (the one that has focus).
Then it gives you a popup dialog where you enter the title you want that window to have.
Then every time that window changes its name, it changes it back to the title you want.
To use the script, you need:
the
fishshell
(I wrote it in fish rather than bash cuz bash gives me a headache)kdialogsome way to bind the script to a hotkey
(I usexbindkeys, cuz all I had to do to get it to work was add:
"[PATH TO SCRIPT]/[NAME OF SCRIPT]"
Mod4 + t
(that is, window key + t)
to my /home/o1/.xbindkeysrc)
Thanks to this dude, who gave me the info on the magic xprop stuff.
(Like, a year ago, and then I never got around to writing the script til today. xD )
P.S. If any newbie finds this answer and doesn't know how to use it, just ask me and I'll walk you through it. ^^
EDIT: I updated it so that you can use it from the command line with the switches -t for title_i_want and -w for window_id.
Here's the script:
#!/usr/local/bin/fish
# this block is so you can use it from the command line with -t and -w
if test "$argv" != "" -a (math (count $argv)%2 == 0)
for i in (seq 1 (count $argv))
if test $argv[$i] = '-t'
set title_i_want $argv[(math 1 + $i)]
else if test $argv[$i] = '-w'
set window_id $argv[(math 1 + $i)]
end
end
if not test $window_id
echo "YOU DIDN'T ENTER A `window_id` WITH `-w`,
SO MAKE SURE THE WINDOW YOU WANT HAS FOCUS
TWO SECONDS FROM NOW!"
sleep 2
end
end
# get the id of the currently focused window
if not test $window_id
set window_id (xprop -root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW | grep -P -o "0x\w+")
end
# get the title to force on that window
if not test $title_i_want
set title_i_want (kdialog --title "entitled" --inputbox "type the title you want and hit enter.
to stop renaming,
just enter nothing and hit esc")
end
# this bit is needed for a kludge that allows window renaming
set has_renamed_before "FALSE"
set interrupt_message "WAIT WAIT I WANT A TURN BLOO BLOO BLEE BLUH BLOO" # hopefully i never want to actually use that as a title xD
xprop -f _NET_WM_NAME 8u -set _NET_WM_NAME $interrupt_message -id $window_id
# take the output of xprop
# pipe it into a while loop
# everytime it outputs a new line
# stuff it into a variable named "current_title"
xprop -spy _NET_WM_NAME -id $window_id | while read current_title
# cut off extraneous not-the-title bits of that string
set current_title (echo $current_title | grep -P -o '(?<=_NET_WM_NAME\(UTF8_STRING\) = ").*(?="\z)')
# if the current title is the interrupt message
# AND
# this script has renamed the window at least once before
# then we wanna let the new name take over
if test $current_title = $interrupt_message -a $has_renamed_before = "TRUE"
exit
# if title_i_want is an empty string, exit
else if test $title_i_want = ""
xprop -f _NET_WM_NAME 8u -set _NET_WM_NAME "WIDNOW WILL START RENAMING ITSELF AS NORMAL" -id $window_id
exit
# otherwise just change the title to what i want
else if test $current_title != $title_i_want
xprop -f _NET_WM_NAME 8u -set _NET_WM_NAME "$title_i_want" -id $window_id
set has_renamed_before "TRUE"
end
end
EDIT: I actually don't use this Fish script anymore;
I rewrote it in Ruby:
#!/usr/bin/env ruby
# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
require 'trollop'
opts = Trollop.options do
opt :title_i_want, "title_i_want", default: ""
opt :bluh, "write to bluh", default: nil
opt :copy_title, "copy_title", default: nil
# TODO - AUTO OPTION
opt :auto, "auto", default: nil
end
title_i_want = opts[:title_i_want]
def get_current_wid
`xprop -root _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW`[/0x\w+/]
end
def with_current_title wid, &block
IO.popen("xprop -spy _NET_WM_NAME _NET_WM_ICON_NAME -id #{wid}") do |io|
loop do
line = io.gets
exit if line.nil?
line = line.strip
# cut off extraneous not-the-title bits of that string
current_title = line[/(?:_NET_WM_(?:ICON_)?NAME\(UTF8_STRING\) = ")(.*)("$)/, 1]
block.call current_title unless current_title.nil?
end
end
end
def get_current_title wid
IO.popen("xprop _NET_WM_NAME _NET_WM_ICON_NAME -id #{wid}") do |io|
line = io.gets.strip
# cut off extraneous not-the-title bits of that string
current_title = line[/(?:_NET_WM_(?:ICON_)?NAME\(UTF8_STRING\) = ")(.*)("$)/, 1]
return current_title unless current_title.nil?
end
end
if opts[:copy_title]
# require "muflax"
p 1
wid = get_current_wid
`echo -n '#{get_current_title wid}(WID: #{wid})'|xclip -selection c`
exit
end
if opts[:bluh]
require "muflax"
loop do
# p 1 #db
wid = get_current_wid
# p 2 #db
File.open "bluh", "a+" do |f| f.puts get_current_title wid end
while wid == get_current_wid
# puts "..." #db
sleep 1
end
end
exit
end
#> 1A - from terminal - give title_i_want
if not title_i_want.empty?
#> 1A.1 - get current wid - assume it's the terminal_wid
terminal_wid = get_current_wid
#> 1A.2 - wait for wid to change
while get_current_wid == terminal_wid
puts "focus the window you want to title «#{title_i_want}»..."
sleep 1
end
#> 1A.3 - set new wid to target TWID
TWID = get_current_wid
#> 1B - from hotkey (or just sleeping) - no give title_i_want
else
#> 1B.1 - set current wid to target TWID
TWID = get_current_wid
#> 1B.2 - get title_i_want (with kdialog)
#> 1B.2.1 - default to current title
with_current_title TWID do |current_title|
# v :current_title #db
default_title = current_title
sublime_match = /
(?<beginning>.*?) # beginning might be...
# path
# untitled, find results, other useless junk
# dired
(?<dirty>\s•)? # dirty?
(?:\s\(\.?(?<projname>[^()]*)\))? # project name, preceded by "." (i name them that way), and in rkaks (sublime does that)
# or, sans dot, it's the dir, if the window was opened as a dir
(?<issub>\s-\sSublime\sText\s2\s\(UNREGISTERED\)) # garbage at the end that marks it as a sublime window
/x =~ current_title
#if it's a sublime window...
if sublime_match
dummy = beginning.split("/")
if dummy.length > 1
taildir = dummy[-2]
end
/ (?<direddir>.*)/ =~ beginning
default_title =
if projname ; projname
elsif taildir ; taildir
elsif direddir ; direddir
else ; beginning
end
end
if opts[:auto]
title_i_want = default_title
else
title_i_want = `kdialog --title "entitled" --inputbox "type the title you want and hit enter.\nto stop renaming,\njust enter nothing and hit esc" '#{default_title}'`.chomp
end
break
end
end
# v :terminal_wid #db
# v :TWID #db
# v :ARGV #db
# v :title_i_want #db
def set_title wid, title
`xprop -f _NET_WM_NAME 8u -set _NET_WM_NAME "#{title}" -id #{wid}`
`xprop -f _NET_WM_ICON_NAME 8u -set _NET_WM_ICON_NAME "#{title}" -id #{wid}`
end
#> 2 - apply title to TWID
#> 2.1 - allow de-naming
#> 2.2 - allow renaming
# this bit is needed for a kludge that allows window renaming
has_renamed_before = false
interrupt_message = "WAIT WAIT I WANT A TURN BLOO BLOO BLEE BLUH BLOO" # hopefully i never want to actually use that as a title xD
`xprop -f _NET_WM_NAME 8u -set _NET_WM_NAME '#{interrupt_message}' -id #{TWID}`
with_current_title TWID do |current_title|
# if title_i_want is an empty string, exit
if title_i_want.empty?
# p 1 #db
set_title TWID, "WINDOW WILL START RENAMING ITSELF AS NORMAL"
exit
# if the current title is the interrupt message
# AND
# this script has renamed the window at least once before
# then we wanna let the new name take over
elsif current_title == interrupt_message and has_renamed_before
# p 2 #db
exit
# otherwise just change the title to what i want
elsif current_title != title_i_want
# p 3 #db
set_title TWID, title_i_want
has_renamed_before = true
end
end
What you're looking for sounds like a window tagging facility. I doubt KDE has support for this, other WMs (like XMonad or DWM etc) do.
Thus one possibility to achieve this productivity boost would be to trade kwin in for XMonad and configure XMonad to do tagging. The XMonad tagging mechanism as described in the second link would be to bind a key combination to open a prompt that let's you tag the focused window. (XMonad's config is actually a Haskell-program, so don't hesitate to ask for help in #xmonad.
Edit: While I'd advise everyone to at least try a tiling WM some time, I forgot to point out that while XMonad is commonly referred to as a tiling WM, there is a "simple float"-mode. There surely are other WMs that support tagging and non-tiling layouts, but I don't know about their interoperability with KDE.