New Skill: desktop window tool and dictation

[auwsom]

Alright, moving along faster than I can follow the procedure to submit into the marketplace, I now have a skill that can use xdotool on Ubuntus for desktop window manipulation, so far minimze and activate (restore). It also has a rudimentary dictation function through the xdotool Type.

from mycroft import MycroftSkill, intent_file_handler
import subprocess

class xdotoolSkill(MycroftSkill):
    def __init__(self):
        MycroftSkill.__init__(self)

    @intent_file_handler('testa.intent')
    def handle_testa(self, message):
        utterance = message.data.get('utterance')
        print(utterance)
        if not ' '  in utterance: self.speak('too short'); return True
        utteranceList = utterance.split(' ')
        self.log.info("utteranceList: "+str(utteranceList))
        command = ''
        if 'minimize' in utterance:
            command = 'xdotool search --onlyvisible --classname '+utteranceList[utteranceList.index("minimize")+1]+' windowminimize'
        if 'activate' in utterance:
            command = 'xdotool search --onlyvisible --classname '+utteranceList[utteranceList.index("activate")+1]+' windowactivate'
            print(command)
        if 'type' in utterance:
            command = 'xdotool type "'+utterance.split(' ', 1)[1]+'"'
            print(command)

        try:
            process = subprocess.Popen(command, stdout=subprocess.PIPE, shell=True)
            output, error = process.communicate()
        except Exception as e:
            #self.speak('window not found') # no way to implement because no error from xdotool search when finding nothing
            self.log.exception('error: '+e)

def create_skill():
    return xdotoolSkill()

todo: https://mycroft-ai.gitbook.io/docs/skill-development/marketplace-submission

[auwsom]

This skill has similar functions to https://github.com/MycroftAI/skill-desktop-launcher, except will run using xdotool (a necessary requirement) instead of using PyGObject for application launch() for example as this seems to be GTK specific. Correct me if Im wrong..

[ChanceNCounter]

Personally, I'd rather not see a bunch of small skills for individual desktop features. That'll end in a very cluttered marketplace.

I think it's fine if there are multiple "desktop suites," like maybe extensions to the desktop launcher for specific distros or WMs/DEs. I'd even be okay if there were several basic desktop skills (I've got one I haven't published, and probably won't =P) But I think things like this would be better as part of a suite.

[auwsom]

@ChanceNCounter , sure, makes sense. I was about to post an issue in mycoft-core about resolving overlapping intent words by context..

Id like to see the mycroft-skills page on GitHub divided into categories like the marketplace is. I agree, clutter is counterproductive. Speaking of, which other desktop skills are there? No need for me to reinvent the wheel. Also, please just create a post (maybe here) for your code, as I said no reason to reinvent the wheel =P.

Im fine with merging this with skill-desktop-launcher, but I think in the interim, it can be delineated maybe if I put 'xdotool' in the skill name. Then users will have a general sense of its capability and distro compatibility.

[auwsom]

Also, being able to sort by the number of downloads (maybe using this https://github.blog/2014-08-12-clone-graphs/ but it looks like info only the repo owner can see) or maybe on number of stars the repo has. That would cut down on the clutter tremendously. @ChanceNCounter