ShowRun – Focus Application Window or Launch

Posted on 2012-09-07 by Tero Karvinen

Showrun – show window, or run the program if it has no window. Download now.
Use showrun in

  • Launchers in your panel
  • Easygest mouse gestures
  • Keyboard shortcuts, such as xbindkeys, or your favourite desktop: XFCE, KDE, GNOME or even .icewm/keys.

As far as I know, showrun is the only program that can do show/run without having to make user guess the window title when launching. Showrun even works for progams it did not launch itself.

Examples

First run starts Firefox

$ showrun firefox

Second one notices the existing window and brings it to front

$ showrun firefox

Install

Install Ubuntu deb package.
Free software under GNU General Public License 2.

Learn

ShowRun is pure Python. It shows how to view X windows with wnck and list processes with psutil. Makefile creates signed deb package from single file python script. Manual page automatically created from –help.
Download sources to learn or see all showrun downloads.

Notes

Works perfectly with firefox, thunderbird, xclock, xfce4-terminal, vlc, okular and most other programs.
Update: 0.3.9 Handles even programs launched from scripts. Automatically handles weird symlinks, like /usr/bin/thunar -> Thunar on Xubuntu.

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5 Responses to ShowRun – Focus Application Window or Launch

  1. Niko says:
    2012-09-10 at 07:44

    Dependency is not satisfiable: python-psutil
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ grep DESC /etc/lsb-release
    DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION=”Ubuntu 12.04 LTS”
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$
    ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ uname -m
    i686

  2. Antti-Ville Jokela says:
    2012-09-10 at 07:43

    Näkyville tuotu ikkuna ei ole valmiiksi aktiivinen. Käytetty Xubuntu 12.04 LTS kokeiluun.

  3. Petri Mäki says:
    2012-09-10 at 07:39

    Hyvä ohjelma.
    Parannusehdotus: Mahdollisuus selata ruutujen välillä, eli jos auki esimerkiksi useampi terminaali niin mahdollisuus selata näiden välillä

  4. Sami Nisonen says:
    2012-09-10 at 07:30

    Ohjeet showrunin käyttöön olisivat kätevät. Aloittelija ei voi tietää, että käyttäjän täytyy mennä Settings Manageriin tekemään asetuksia.

  5. Tom Himanen says:
    2012-09-10 at 07:29

    Unity tekee jotain niin uniikisti, ettei showrun toimi sillä. Käytössä on Ubuntu 12.04.
    Alla on showrunin antamaa tulostetta. Käynnistettävistä esimerkeistä xclock ei ole päällä, kun taas firefox on päällä.
    erkkimon@ubuntu:~$ showrun xclock
    which command: '/usr/bin/xclock'
    W: pid<1, still trying...
    Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/bin/showrun", line 78, in
    sys.exit(main())
    File "/usr/bin/showrun", line 75, in main
    showRun(args.command, args.verbose)
    File "/usr/bin/showrun", line 48, in showRun
    if cmdwhich == p.exe or cmd == p.name:
    File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/psutil/__init__.py", line 173, in exe
    exe = self._platform_impl.get_process_exe()
    File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/psutil/_pslinux.py", line 355, in get_process_exe
    raise AccessDenied(self.pid, self._process_name)
    psutil.error.AccessDenied: (pid=0)
    erkkimon@ubuntu:~$ showrun firefox
    which command: '/usr/lib/firefox/firefox.sh'
    W: pid<1, still trying...
    Traceback (most recent call last):
    File "/usr/bin/showrun", line 78, in
    sys.exit(main())
    File "/usr/bin/showrun", line 75, in main
    showRun(args.command, args.verbose)
    File "/usr/bin/showrun", line 48, in showRun
    if cmdwhich == p.exe or cmd == p.name:
    File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/psutil/__init__.py", line 173, in exe
    exe = self._platform_impl.get_process_exe()
    File "/usr/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/psutil/_pslinux.py", line 355, in get_process_exe
    raise AccessDenied(self.pid, self._process_name)
    psutil.error.AccessDenied: (pid=0)