If we limit the setup to have a different set of launchers per desktop it is not very complicated. What we need is a script, running in the background to keep track of the current workspace and automatically alter the set of launchers accordingly.
1. A set of launchers per workspace
Let's say I have four workspaces, I want the following launchers to be available on the different workspaces:
workspace 1 > workspace 2 > workspace 3 > workspace 4 >
- Workspace 1: Firefox / Idle
- Workspace 2: Gcolor2 / Gimp Image Editor / Inkskape
- Workspace 3: Abiword / Gnumeric / Mail Reader
- Workspace 4: Mines / Sudoku
How to set up
The script uses wmctrl
:
sudo apt-get install wmctrl
In your home directory (not in a subdirectory, but on the "first" level), create a directory (exactly) named:
desktop_data
inside this directory, create for each of your desktops, a folder named (exactly):
desktop_1
desktop_2
desktop_3
desktop_4
Create launchers for all applications (for all workspaces) on your desktop and copy them to the corresponding folders.
Copy the script below into an empty file, save it as change_launchers.py
. Test-run it by running in a terminal window the command:
python3 /path/to/change_launchers.py
If all works fine, add it to your startup applications
The script
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import os
import time
import shutil
home = os.environ["HOME"]
desktop_dir = home+"/"+"Desktop"
data_dirstr = home+"/desktop_data/desktop_"
get = lambda cmd: subprocess.check_output(["/bin/bash", "-c", cmd]).decode("utf-8")
def get_desktop():
return [l for l in get("wmctrl -d").splitlines() if "*" in l][0].split()[-1]
while True:
curr_dt1 = get_desktop()
time.sleep(1)
curr_dt2 = get_desktop()
# alter the set of launchers when workspace changes
if not curr_dt1 == curr_dt2:
datafolder = data_dirstr+curr_dt2
for f in [f for f in os.listdir(desktop_dir)if f.endswith(".desktop")]:
subject = desktop_dir+"/"+f
os.remove(subject)
for f in os.listdir(datafolder):
subject = datafolder+"/"+f; target = desktop_dir+"/"+f
shutil.copyfile(subject, target)
subprocess.call(["/bin/bash", "-c", "chmod +x "+target])
Note
In different localized versions of Ubuntu, the name of the "Desktop" folder may differ (In Dutch: "Bureaublad"). If in your Ubuntu version the name of the desktop folder is not "Desktop", change it in the line:
desktop_dir = home+"/"+"Desktop"
2. Extending possibilities, launchers and links
If we add a few lines to the script, the setting-per-workspace options can be extended with a altering set of links to directories:
On one workspace we have a e.g. a link to the Documents folder, combined with launchers of office applications:
On another workspace we have a link to the Pictures folder, combined with launchers of Image editors:
How to setup
The setup is pretty much the same as in option 1, but additionally, in the data folders (see option 1), create links to folders (using ln -s <source> <destination>
) you'd like to be available on the corresponding workspace:
The script
#!/usr/bin/env python3
import subprocess
import os
import time
import shutil
home = os.environ["HOME"]
desktop_dir = home+"/"+"Desktop"
data_dirstr = home+"/desktop_data/desktop_"
get = lambda cmd: subprocess.check_output(["/bin/bash", "-c", cmd]).decode("utf-8")
def get_desktop():
return [l for l in get("wmctrl -d").splitlines() if "*" in l][0].split()[-1]
while True:
curr_dt1 = get_desktop()
time.sleep(1)
curr_dt2 = get_desktop()
# alter the set of launchers & links when workspace changes
if not curr_dt1 == curr_dt2:
datafolder = data_dirstr+curr_dt2
for f in os.listdir(desktop_dir):
subject = desktop_dir+"/"+f
if os.path.islink(subject) or subject.endswith(".desktop") :
os.remove(subject)
for f in os.listdir(datafolder):
subject = datafolder+"/"+f; target = desktop_dir+"/"+f
if os.path.islink(subject):
os.symlink(os.readlink(subject), target)
else:
shutil.copy(subject,target)