Virtual Desktop Bar Original

Plasma 5 Applets desktops kde plasma virtual workspaces

Source (link to git-repo or to original if based on someone elses unmodified work): https://github.com/wsdfhjxc/virtual-desktop-bar

15
8 .6
Description:

This is an applet for KDE Plasma panel that lets you switch between virtual desktops and also invoke some actions to dynamically manage them in a convenient way. In order to do it, you can use the applet's context menu or user-defined keyboard shortcuts. There are also some automated features, like in the GNOME Shell.

The plasmoid displays virtual desktops as text labels (numbers, names, both) with indicators (various styles). That means there's no icons* or window previews like in the Plasma's default Pager applet. Although the intention is to keep it simple, the applet has some options regarding its behavior and visuals, which should be more than enough for desktop customization enthusiasts and folks at /r/unixporn who want to make their panels aesthetically-pleasant.

* However, it's possible to use symbols provided by FontAwesome (or any other Unicode glyphs) as desktop names.

Features

  • switching to a desktop
  • switching to a recent desktop
  • creating a new desktop
  • removing last desktop
  • removing current desktop
  • moving current desktop to left
  • moving current desktop to right
  • renaming current desktop

Automated features

  • keeping at least one empty desktop
  • removing redundant empty desktops
  • renaming desktops once they become empty
  • switching to a manually added desktop
  • prompting to rename a manually added desktop
  • executing a command after manually adding a desktop


Installation

Installing the applet directly from the Plasma Add-On Installer will NOT work.

To install the applet, either get it as a distro specific package, or build it from source by yourself.

Packages

Arch Linux users can get the applet as an AUR package made by cupnoodles.

From source

First, you need to install some required dependencies:

• On Kubuntu or KDE neon, run: 
./install-ubuntu-deps.sh

• On Arch or Manjaro, run: 
./install-arch-deps.sh

• On openSUSE, run: 
./install-opensuse-deps.sh

• On Fedora, CentOS or RHEL, run: 
./install-redhat-deps.sh


Then, compile the source code and install the applet:

mkdir build
cd build
cmake ..
make
sudo make install


Note: If you want to remove the applet, use 
sudo make uninstall
.

Note: These steps also apply if you want to upgrade to a newer version.

After that, you should be able to find Virtual Desktop Bar in the Widgets menu.


Configuration

The applet has some options regarding its behavior and visuals. You'll find them in the configuration dialog.

Don't get fooled by an empty Keyboard Shortcuts section though. It's an imposed thing, common for all plasmoids.

There are global keyboard shortcuts, but you have to define them in the Global Shortcuts System Settings Module. They should be available under KWin, Plasma or Latte Dock component, depending on the shell's mood and where have you placed the applet. The shortcuts are named like this:

  • Switch to Recent Desktop
  • Add New Desktop
  • Remove Last Desktop
  • Remove Current Desktop
  • Move Current Desktop to Left
  • Move Current Desktop to Right
  • Rename Current Desktop


Known issues

  • "Error loading QML file" (see here for a possible solution)
  • Virtual desktops are shared by all monitors (KWin's limitation)
  • Support for Plasma Wayland session isn't there yet (maybe some day)
  • The code behind this applet is a hot mess that begs for a rewrite (I'm a moron)
  • Dynamic virtual desktop management doesn't play nice with KWin scripts (see below)

Compatibility with KWin scripts

If you want to use this applet with some KWin scripts (especially tiling scripts), they may not work correctly. However, this is only related to some non-standard features that Virtual Desktop Bar provides. I recommend reading this document for more details and tips for KWin script developers who are interested in providing support for the plasmoid.

Compatible scripts


And that's it. It's a very niche applet, so don't expect more scripts to follow.

Note: You also need to tick a checkbox in the Advanced section of the configuration dialog.
Last changelog:

0.9 6 months ago

  • Optional bold label for current desktop
  • Some changes regarding default configuration
  • Some irrevelant changes to the configuration dialog

36 comments
Comments/Ratings

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8

chrislynch8

22 days ago

8 There is one feature that it could do with, maybe its already possible. How can I set the location of new Virtual Desktops, in my setup, I move up and down between Virtual Desktops, so I have one row per desktop, but I have no control over adding additional Desktops?

Report

10

glalev

2 months ago

10 Really well build widget. Works fine on Debian testing

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10

piotrintes

2 months ago

10 It's a must-have widget. Nice work :-)

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6

tix79

3 months ago

6 6 okay

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10

shakir85

4 months ago

10 10 the best

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10

shakir85

4 months ago

Thanks for the awesome applet

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10

visika

5 months ago

10 10 the best

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10

truckerzer0

7 months ago

Just another small question, is there any chance of having translations? If you need help (at least for my language) you just have to ask; Thanks again for this wonderful piece of software!

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C

wsdfhjxc

7 months ago

Maybe some day, but not anytime soon.

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10

truckerzer0

7 months ago

10 10 the best In the end I found out what my problem was! To put it simply, I found that what was missing was the entire "large" subset of Unicode characters; Looking around I found out that that subset is part of the Chinese / Japanese / Korean part of the Unicode characters, which were clearly missing in my Linux box, I only had the western part, so I installed the whole set and voila! Everything worked like a charm! I can say I am very happy now.

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10

truckerzer0

7 months ago

(In response to wsdfhjxc)

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10

truckerzer0

7 months ago

This is far better than the default virtual desktop manager, really love it; The only thing that bugs me is that i can't understand why instead of having the + (plus) button i have an rectangle, ant this even on the "Appearance -> Show â–¯ button for adding new desktops"...

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C

wsdfhjxc

7 months ago

The plus symbol is a a Unicode character (https://www.fileformat.info/info/unicode/char/ff0b/index.htm). It's supposed to be correctly displayed regardless of the used font, as long as you have standard fonts with Unicode support installed on your system, for example Noto Sans. So, the issue shouldn't happen, unless you're missing the standard system fonts, or have them misconfigured. Can you see other Unicode characters, or they are rectangles as well?

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10

truckerzer0

7 months ago

I have Noto Sans and other Noto variants installed and i can see others Unicode characters...

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10

truckerzer0

7 months ago

So, as ignorant on the subject I discovered this: even in KCharSelect looking for "Wide Plus" and typing in Konsole: printf "\uFF0B" I actually get the display of the character â–¯, Could it be a problem in my locale, it_IT.UTF-8?

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C

wsdfhjxc

7 months ago

Sorry, I have no idea. What I can do, is to add some options in the next version, so the plus button can be customizable. Then, you'll be able to use a custom character, either Unicode, or just plain ASCII.

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10

alex-l

7 months ago

10 10 the best

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10

keyran

9 months ago

10 10 the best

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10

ouranikos

10 months ago

10 10 the best

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10

xiep

10 months ago

10 10 the best

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10

s4bba7

11 months ago

10 this rocks

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9

pdiptan

1 year ago

Awesome, can confirm works great with 2 monitors.
Would love to have drag and drop support for rearranging desktops when the widgets are unlocked.
Also would be awesome to drag and drop windows from current task manager to a different workspace.

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9

pdiptan

1 year ago

9 9 excellent

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9

maverick74

1 year ago

9 9 excellent

Awesome!!!
But... Why "Installing the applet directly from the Plasma Add-On Installer will not work"???

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C

wsdfhjxc

1 year ago

The Plasma Add-On Installer can only extract files from an archive and copy them to appropriate places. That's not enough to make the applet work, as it uses some native C++ code, that must be compiled against your system libraries.

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0.9 6 months ago

  • Optional bold label for current desktop
  • Some changes regarding default configuration
  • Some irrevelant changes to the configuration dialog

0.8 7 months ago

  • Plus button (new desktop button) has now some customization options
  • Advanced section of the configuration dialog now contains the applet version

0.7.1 7 months ago

  • Added an option to show only current desktop

0.7.0 7 months ago

  • Added more desktop label styles
  • Added partial support for vertical panel layout
  • Changed default desktop label style
  • Changed default value for vertical margins
  • Plus button position and size has been arguably improved
  • Plus button is no longer displayed when it can't be even used
  • Fixed a bug with mouse wheel desktop switching after using a touchpad
  • Some minor label and checkbox changes to the configuration dialog

0.6.0 7 months ago

  • It's now possible to precisely set button dimensions and spacing in pixels
  • Plus button for adding new desktops is no longer displayed as a yellow emoji
  • Improved responsiveness by making KWin scripts compatibility mode disabled by default

0.5.1 7 months ago

  • Added a new indicator style that just colors the desktop label
  • Added an option to not override the opacity of custom indicator colors
  • Fixed broken desktop button animation when removing a desktop
  • Fixed black color desktop label flashing when adding or removing a desktop
  • Changed the plus button opacity to follow the idle desktop label dimming option
  • Changed the renaming desktop popup to be more compact

0.5.0 1 year ago

  • Added an option to execute a command after adding a desktop
  • Added an option to set no spacing between desktop buttons
  • Added an option to disable desktop label dimming for idle desktops
  • Added an option to choose a different desktop indicator style (line, side, block, rounded, full)
  • Added an option to set custom desktop indicator color for idle desktops (or hide, if alpha = 0)
  • Changed the plus button symbol to be better aligned with the rest of used font's characters
  • Fixed broken empty desktop indicators when moving some shell related dialogs between desktops
  • Fixed broken compilation on older systems (Kubuntu 18.04)

0.4.6 1 year ago

  • Fixed broken empty desktop indicators once again...
  • Fixed broken automatic desktop creation when moving a window to an empty desktop
  • Added an option to automatically rename desktops once they become empty (disabled by default)

0.4.5 1 year ago

  • Added some things regarding KWin scripts compatibility
  • Fixed some race conditions related to async signal handling

0.4.4 1 year ago

  • Fixed initially missing empty desktop indicator after loading the applet

0.4.3 1 year ago

  • Added an option to decrease or increase desktop entry width
  • Fixed default spacing between desktop entries to be medium instead of large
  • Fixed some context menu actions and keyboard shortcuts to be disabled when using GNOME-like features

0.4.2 1 year ago

  • Fixed unwanted margin at the right side of the applet
  • Added an option to decrease or increase spacing between desktop entries
  • Added an option to distinct desktop indicator for occupied idle desktops (enabled by default)
  • Added an option to set custom desktop indicator color for occupied idle desktops
  • Changed desktop indicator color for desktops other that the current one to match label color

0.4.1 1 year ago

  • Added support for mouse wheel desktop switching

12345678910
11411
product-maker chrislynch8 Oct 05 2020 8 great
There is one feature that it could do with, maybe its already possible. How can I set the location of new Virtual Desktops, in my setup, I move up and down between Virtual Desktops, so I have one row per desktop, but I have no control over adding additional Desktops?
product-maker glalev Aug 20 2020 10 the best
Really well build widget. Works fine on Debian testing
product-maker piotrintes Aug 20 2020 10 the best
It's a must-have widget. Nice work :-)
product-maker tix79 Jul 15 2020 6 okay
6 okay
product-maker shakir85 Jun 20 2020 10 the best
10 the best
product-maker visika May 18 2020 10 the best
10 the best
product-maker truckerzer0 Mar 24 2020 10 the best
10 the best In the end I found out what my problem was! To put it simply, I found that what was missing was the entire "large" subset of Unicode characters; Looking around I found out that that subset is part of the Chinese / Japanese / Korean part of the Unicode characters, which were clearly missing in my Linux box, I only had the western part, so I installed the whole set and voila! Everything worked like a charm! I can say I am very happy now.
product-maker alex-l Mar 04 2020 10 the best
10 the best
product-maker keyran Jan 25 2020 10 the best
10 the best
product-maker ouranikos Dec 22 2019 10 the best
10 the best
product-maker xiep Dec 09 2019 10 the best
10 the best
product-maker s4bba7 Oct 31 2019 10 the best
this rocks
product-maker pdiptan Sep 09 2019 9 excellent
9 excellent
product-maker maverick74 Sep 03 2019 9 excellent
9 excellent Awesome!!! But... Why "Installing the applet directly from the Plasma Add-On Installer will not work"???
product-maker 4ty2 Aug 07 2019 10 the best
10 the best!
product-maker rokre22 Jul 26 2019 9 excellent
how can I open a specific program automatically when switching desktops?
product-maker palacio Jul 21 2019 9 excellent
9 excellent
product-maker Base: 4 x 5.0 Ratings

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Apr 08 2020
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Aug 17 2019
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Aug 06 2019
palacio
Jul 21 2019
File (click to download) Version Description Downloads Date Filesize DL OCS-Install MD5SUM
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license
GPLv3
version
0.9
updated Apr 10 2020
added Jul 20 2019
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