xdotool cannot send key combinations to Qt-based applications

[cepamoi]

I am running xdotool 3.20211022.1 on Kubuntu 22.04 (with X11).
xdotool works fine with X11/Motif and GTK-based applications.

However, with Qt-based applications, sending key combinations does not work: xdotool key --window 0x04000006 ctrl+o
Sending function keys does not work neither: xdotool key --window 0x04000006 "F5"
But sending normal keys/chars works fine: xdotool key --window 0x04000006 q

Is there something wrong? Or am I missing something?

Thanks.

[FascinatedBox]

A couple questions come to mind:

• How are you finding this window? By name? Id? Classname? Class?
• Can you paste the result of xprop on the window you're trying to send keys to.

[cepamoi]

I find the window for example with the PID (xdotool search --pid XYZ).
The window ID is most probably correct because sending normal keys/chars works fine.
Only sending key combinations or function keys does not work.

Below is the output of xprop:

_NET_WM_USER_TIME(CARDINAL) = 0
_NET_WM_ICON_GEOMETRY(CARDINAL) = 443, 2104, 64, 56
_NET_WM_ALLOWED_ACTIONS(ATOM) = _NET_WM_ACTION_MOVE, _NET_WM_ACTION_RESIZE, _NET_WM_ACTION_MINIMIZE, _NET_WM_ACTION_SHADE, _NET_WM_ACTION_MAXIMIZE_VERT, _NET_WM_ACTION_MAXIMIZE_HORZ, _NET_WM_ACTION_FULLSCREEN, _NET_WM_ACTION_CHANGE_DESKTOP, _NET_WM_ACTION_CLOSE
_KDE_NET_WM_FRAME_STRUT(CARDINAL) = 0, 0, 41, 0
_NET_FRAME_EXTENTS(CARDINAL) = 0, 0, 41, 0
_NET_WM_DESKTOP(CARDINAL) = 0
_KDE_NET_WM_ACTIVITIES(STRING) = "69948556-27b6-40d0-a20c-9ff567d66f7d"
WM_STATE(WM_STATE):
window state: Normal
icon window: 0x0
_NET_WM_STATE(ATOM) =
_NET_WM_ICON_NAME(UTF8_STRING) =
XdndAware(ATOM) = BITMAP
WM_NAME(STRING) = "untitled.txt*"
_NET_WM_NAME(UTF8_STRING) = "untitled.txt*"
_KDE_NET_WM_USER_CREATION_TIME(CARDINAL) = 30992558
_MOTIF_WM_HINTS(_MOTIF_WM_HINTS) = 0x3, 0x3e, 0x7e, 0x0, 0x0
_NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE(ATOM) = _NET_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_NORMAL
_XEMBED_INFO(_XEMBED_INFO) = 0x0, 0x1
WM_CLIENT_LEADER(WINDOW): window id # 0x5000008
WM_HINTS(WM_HINTS):
Client accepts input or input focus: True
window id # of group leader: 0x5000008
WM_CLIENT_MACHINE(STRING) = "kobaia"
_NET_WM_PID(CARDINAL) = 69546
_NET_WM_SYNC_REQUEST_COUNTER(CARDINAL) = 83886087
WM_CLASS(STRING) = "application", "Application Example"
WM_PROTOCOLS(ATOM): protocols WM_DELETE_WINDOW, WM_TAKE_FOCUS, _NET_WM_PING, _NET_WM_SYNC_REQUEST
WM_NORMAL_HINTS(WM_SIZE_HINTS):
user specified location: 908, 494
user specified size: 1364 by 785
program specified minimum size: 252 by 279
program specified resize increment: 2 by 2
program specified base size: 0 by 0
window gravity: Static

[FascinatedBox]

You're definitely hitting the right window. Suppose you go into xdo.c, specifically _xdo_send_key, and do this:

-  int use_xtest = 0;

-  if (window == CURRENTWINDOW) {
-    use_xtest = 1;
-  } else {
-    Window focuswin = 0;
-    xdo_get_focused_window(xdo, &focuswin);
-    if (focuswin == window) {
-      use_xtest = 1;
-    }
-  }

+  int use_xtest = 1;

On my system, the non-xtest path doesn't even show keycodes being sent to the application. I can tell because I'm having xev watch the window, and it's getting straight nada. The xtest path, however, results in the app seeing keypresses and they don't show up as synthetic. The latter being particularly important because some applications will straight up ignore synthetic keys.

That is, unfortunately, my only guess for it.

[jordansissel]

@FascinatedBox If you want to explicitly use XTEST, you shouldn't need to patch xdotool. Instead, setting the window to 0 should suffice with most commands supporting this via --window 0 which will override anything in the window stack (from previous commands) and set it back to the default. (I don't think this is documented, though, and may be something to improve in the docs at some point)

[cepamoi]

@FascinatedBox
I tried to patch the code as you suggested. But the key I send is just entered in my terminal instead of the requested window.

@jordansissel
I tried the following command line:
xdotool windowfocus 60817414 key --window 0 ctrl+o
But this does not work neither: the window gets the focus as expected, but the key combination is not sent.

But maybe I did something wrong. Any idea?
Thanks.