Virtual Desktop Bar Original

Plasma 5 Add-Ons 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

5
Score 81.5%
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. Those actions can be accessed through applet's context menu or user-defined global keyboard shortcuts. There are also some automated features.

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. The intention is to keep it simple.

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 it, either get the applet as a distro specific package, or follow some simple instructions and build it from source by yourself.

Packages

Arch Linux users can get the applet as an AUR package (thanks cupnoodles).

Currently, there are no preconfigured or prebuilt packages for other distributions.

From source

First, you need to install some required dependencies.

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

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

For openSUSE, run: ./install-opensuse-deps.sh

For 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

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

If you want to remove the applet, sudo make uninstall will do.


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

  • Multi monitor behavior is in unknown state (untested)
  • 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 sensible rewrite
  • There are some occasional glitches with applet layout on Kubuntu 18.04 (Qt 5.9.5)
  • Dynamic virtual desktop management doesn't play nice with KWin tiling scripts (see below)

Compatibility with KWin tiling scripts

If you want to use this applet with some KWin 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 which are interested in providing support for the plasmoid.

Compatible KWin tiling scripts

Last changelog:

0.5.1 4 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

19 comments
 Comments

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10

keyran

27 days ago

10 10 the best

Report

10

ouranikos

2 months ago

10 10 the best

Report

10

xiep

2 months ago

10 10 the best

Report

10

s4bba7

3 months ago

10 this rocks

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9

pdiptan

5 months 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

5 months ago

9 9 excellent

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9

maverick74

5 months 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

5 months 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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9

maverick74

5 months ago

Considering your comments bellow I have submitted a bug report on this :)

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=411553

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10

4ty2

6 months ago

10 10 the best!

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9

rokre22

6 months ago

9 how can I open a specific program automatically when switching desktops?

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C

wsdfhjxc

6 months ago

I'm not sure I understand that use case. Launch a program on a given workspace if it's not there yet? Or something like that? Anyway, this applet doesn't provide such a thing and it's out of its scope. Maybe a KWin script would be better for that.

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lemane

7 months ago

That is a great feature. Can it be installed on Arch Linux? I see only install scripts for Ubuntu and Opensuse.

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C

wsdfhjxc

6 months ago

Yes, check out the updated archive file and read description.

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9

palacio

7 months ago

It needs desktop switching with the mouse wheel. Same order as the official Plasma pager addon, please.

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C

wsdfhjxc

7 months ago

I'll take a look into it.

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9

palacio

7 months ago

9 9 excellent

Report

9

palacio

7 months ago

9 This is great, thank you! Have you considered upstreaming these features to KWin/Plasma so that the native bits are unnecessary?

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C

wsdfhjxc

7 months ago

KWin supports static virtual desktops and you can only alter the number of them. In recent Plasma versions there is a new Virtual Desktops Settings Module and you can actually remove intermediate desktops through its UI, but it also uses some custom code to shift and synchronize virtual desktops.

So, I don't know about Wayland and upcoming features related to it, but at the moment, I'm pretty sure that additional features provided by this applet aren't something KWin maintainers would consider implementing, especially on X11.

Dynamic virtual desktop management is a thing I missed in Plasma, so I made this little applet mainly for personal purposes. However, it's coded so terribly, it better stays a third-party addon. I'd be glad if Plasma got some additional, officially supported features regarding virtual desktops, though.

Report

0.5.1 4 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 5 months 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 5 months 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 6 months ago

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

0.4.4 6 months ago

  • Fixed initially missing empty desktop indicator after loading the applet

0.4.3 6 months 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 6 months 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 6 months ago

  • Added support for mouse wheel desktop switching

12345678910
45
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
m0ji
Sep 09 2019
pdiptan
Sep 09 2019
truckerzer0
Aug 17 2019
jasonwood
Aug 06 2019
palacio
Jul 21 2019
File (click to download) Version Description Downloads Date Filesize DL OCS-Install MD5SUM
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wsdfhjxc
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Details
license
GPLv3
version
0.5.1
updated Sep 30 2019
added Jul 20 2019
downloads 24h
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mediaviews 24h 0
pageviews 24h 37
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