Command to toggle languages?

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1

I have enabled 2 keyboard layouts. KDE Connect with a german keyboard. sends the wrong keys when using en layout

So I want a command to toggle the available keyboard layouts through KDE Connect. Not a keyboard shortcut, but a command.

I could find nothing, only X11 stuff years ago

Using Plasma 6, Wayland

2

I’m confused - does Ctrl+Shift, or Alt+CapsLock not work on a German layout?

3

For some reason people mix “command” and “keyboard shortcut”.

I edited the post

4

I assumed the REASON for this was that the keyboard layout changed…

So now we have a situation where you wish to use KDE Connect to change the language for your desktop keyboard remotely?

kcmshell6 kcm_keyboard will pull up the relevant setting.

The config file is ~/.config/kxxbrc and contains a LayoutList.

For X11 setxkbmap -layout (us | th) would do the trick.

Sadly Wayland lacks a few key functions - so I reverted to X11 already.

It does seem strange that you’d refuse mention of a keyboard shortcut to change keyboard layout - when it’s useless without having a keyboard.

Maybe my brain isn’t up to this task :rofl:

5

You likely never used KDE connect and tried to control your desktop through a phone keyboard :wink:

But thx, I will try that command!

6

So in Plasma there are at least two quick ways to change the current keyboard layout, a keyboard shortcut and a click on the Keyboard Layout widget

Finding if the widget calls a D-Bus method we can use

By running clear;dbus-monitor --session --monitor | grep -iE 'keyb' we can see there is a dbus method that the widget seems to be calling

method call time=1736761239.718680 sender=:1.81013 -> destination=org.kde.keyboard serial=30984 path=/Layouts; interface=org.kde.KeyboardLayouts; member=switchToNextLayout
signal time=1736761239.718889 sender=:1.13 -> destination=(null destination) serial=172313 path=/Layouts; interface=org.kde.KeyboardLayouts; member=layoutChanged
   string "keyboard-layout"

Now we try to call it ourselves… it works

qdbus6 org.kde.keyboard /Layouts org.kde.KeyboardLayouts.switchToNextLayout

Finding if the shortcut calls a D-Bus method we can use

By running again clear;dbus-monitor --session --monitor | grep -iE 'keyb' we can see there is a dbus method that the keyboard shortcut calls (or any other keyboard shortcut for that matter, found about that when working in a widget to call shortcuts from the panel)

signal time=1736761838.229075 sender=:1.13 -> destination=(null destination) serial=184476 path=/component/KDE_Keyboard_Layout_Switcher; interface=org.kde.kglobalaccel.Component; member=globalShortcutPressed
   string "KDE Keyboard Layout Switcher"
   string "Switch to Next Keyboard Layout"

Now we try to call it ourselves… it also works

qdbus6 org.kde.kglobalaccel /component/KDE_Keyboard_Layout_Switcher org.kde.kglobalaccel.Component.invokeShortcut "Switch to Next Keyboard Layout"

There are also other shortcuts but I haven’t tried those

qdbus6 org.kde.kglobalaccel /component/KDE_Keyboard_Layout_Switcher org.kde.kglobalaccel.Component.shortcutNames
3 Likes
7

I use KDE Connect - but I’ll admit I never bothered using the remote mouse or keyboard function, I hate typing on the phone.

However, qdbus is the way to go, and kudos to @luisbocanegra:
qdbus6 org.kde.keyboard /Layouts org.kde.KeyboardLayouts.switchToNextLayout does work.

8

thanks, great trick!

On Fedora it is

qdbus-qt6 org.kde.keyboard /Layouts org.kde.KeyboardLayouts.switchToNextLayout