Excluding hidden windows with --match

[crazygolem]

I am trying to match all visible windows in the active tab with send-text and ultimately broadcast (the former is easier to test with so I'll explain with it).

After looking at the documentation of both kittens, and also the discussion #5834, I think this window matcher should do the trick:

state:parent_focused and not state:overlay_parent and not state:self

• state:parent_focused correctly selects only windows in the current tab
• state:overlay_parent and state:self, to my surprise, seem to match nothing (so the expression above matches everything)

For example, running the following command:

kitten @send-text --match 'state:parent_focused and not state:overlay_parent and not state:self' 'date\n'

executes the date command in all windows of the current tab, including the window where the command was run, and another window that is hidden under an overlay.

kitty-match.webm

Running it as a key binding:

map f3 launch --type overlay --allow-remote-control kitty @ send-text --match 'state:parent_focused and not state:overlay_parent and not state:self' 'date\n'

still correctly targets windows in the current tab only, but also executes the command in the window where F3 was pressed, and

map f3 launch --type overlay --allow-remote-control kitty @ send-text --match 'state:overlay_parent or state:self' 'date\n'

outputs nothing.

I think I don't get what state:overlay_parent and state:self are supposed to match, can anyone clear this up for me?
And if you have any hint for achieving what I'm trying to do that would be swell =)

Thanks for your help 🙏

[kovidgoyal]

overlay_parent IIRC matches a window if it is under the self window when the self window is an overlay. So not overlay_parent will match all windows except the window under self if there is one. not state:self should be working however. Try that in isolation without overlay_parent. I dont think there is a way to match visible windows excluding ones that are below in an overlay stack. Would likely need a new state variable for that, or you can always do the matching yourself by using kitten @ ls and selecting the windows based on whatever criteria you need.

[crazygolem]

Thanks a lot for your answer.

overlay_parent IIRC matches a window if it is under the self window when the self window is an overlay. So not overlay_parent will match all windows except the window under self if there is one. not state:self should be working however. Try that in isolation without overlay_parent. I dont think there is a way to match visible windows excluding ones that are below in an overlay stack. Would likely need a new state variable for that, or you can always do the matching yourself by using kitten @ ls and selecting the windows based on whatever criteria you need.

Ah got it, I think I skipped over some words from the documentation 😅

not state:self should be working however. Try that in isolation without overlay_parent.

Somehow it doesn't for me :(

1. I launch a kitty with remote-control enabled: kitty --config NONE -o remote_control=yes
2. I open a split: ctrl+shift+enter
3. Call send-text matching not state:self: all windows receive the text (in the screenshot: execute the date command)
4. Call send-text matching state:self: no window receive the text, including the one running the kitten.

I tried with a build from main with the same results, then I tried it in a freshly installed VM (with a version from the official repo) also with the same results. Could it be a GNOME+Wayland issue?
Would you like me to open a bug ticket to investigate further?

I dont think there is a way to match visible windows excluding ones that are below in an overlay stack. Would likely need a new state variable for that, or you can always do the matching yourself by using kitten @ ls and selecting the windows based on whatever criteria you need.

Thanks for the hint.
It looks like the groups element under the tabs is what I'm looking for, where the visible windows would correspond to the last item of its windows element. I think I can work with that 👍

By the way it looks that the --self option to kitten @ ls also doesn't work for me, probably related to the match issue >.<

[kovidgoyal]

958ad0d

[crazygolem]

Fixes --self and -m state:self, thanks!

[crazygolem]

For posterity, the following jq query returns all the visible windows as a match expression:

kitten @ ls \
| jq -r '
  [ .[] | select(.is_focused)
  | .tabs[] | select(.is_focused)
  | .groups[].windows[-1]
  | "id:" + (. | tostring)
  ] | join(" or ")
  '

The result can then be incorporated into the --match option for send-text:

"state:parent_focused and not state:self and ($tops)"

or for broadcast (the self window is automatically excluded by the kitten, and the previously visible window must now be additionally excluded if launched in an overlay):

"state:parent_focused and not state:overlay_parent and ($tops)"