Keyboard shortcut to minimize all windows but the active (focused) one (so called "shake it" action)

[piotr_dobrogost]

Looking in the KWin’s keyboard shortcuts in System Settings I don’t see a keyboard shortcut to minimize all windows but the active (focused) one.
Is there a way to add one?

I’m using Krohnkite tiling window manager (KWin’s script) and such a shortcut would enable comfortable workflow.
At Shortcut to minimize all windows but the focused (current) one · Issue #151 · anametologin/krohnkite · GitHub is my suggestion to add it directly to Krohnkite which has been declined as out of scope of Krohnkite and in the scope of KWin.

KWin’s issue a hotkey to minimize everything except active window raised in 2009 (16 years ago…).

Searching for minimize all but current I found this thread – Minimize all but current • KDE Community Forums – where someone was looking for this feature in KDE and this thread – Is there a keyboard shortcut for minimizing all windows except the active one? - Ask Ubuntu – where someone was looking for this feature in Gnome.

[dzon]

Should be doable with a little script. On 5-ish and x I use xdotool.
So I guess something similar with kdotool ( if wayland) could do the job.

Something like:

Servicemenu, desktop app or shortcut…

[piotr_dobrogost]

Thanks!
Based on your code I came up with this:

#!/bin/bash
# Minimize all but focused window (so called "shake it" action)
active_window_id=$(kdotool getactivewindow)
for window_id in $(kdotool search ".*")
do
    if [ $window_id != $active_window_id ]; then
        kdotool windowminimize $window_id
    fi
done

I also suggested adding a feature to add/remove window to/from windows stack at Multiple commands / stack manipulation · Issue #19 · jinliu/kdotool · GitHub and asked How to assign a keyboard shortcut to kdotool script in a file? · Issue #22 · jinliu/kdotool · GitHub

[piotr_dobrogost]

@luisbocanegra pointed me to minimizeall KWin script in KWin’s source code (ksrc/plugins/minimizeall/package/contents/code/main.js) which after slight modification should work as a native solution (avoiding the need for kdotool).

[dzon]

Yep, would do the trick. Not sure how you’d assign a shortcut, but yeah. A corner binding would also work.

[piotr_dobrogost]

@dzon

Not sure how you’d assign a shortcut

There’s this line at the end:
registerShortcut("MinimizeAll", "MinimizeAll", "Meta+Shift+D", minimizeAllWindows);

[dzon]

O that’s right, it has a shortcut.

[dzon]

Found yet another one.

[piotr_dobrogost]

Where do these entries come from (I don’t have them)?
Have you installed some scripts/plugins?

[dzon]

I stumbled upon https://github.com/ArneBab/kwin-minimize-others, edited the file a bit and there you go. No kdotool, xdotool..whatever. And, no altering the minimize all file. Of course, no corner binding option.

[piotr_dobrogost]

The script after changes from @luisbocanegra and me:

var lastActiveClient;

function isRelevant(client) {
    return client.minimizable &&
           client !== workspace.activeWindow &&
           (!client.desktops || client.desktops.indexOf(workspace.currentDesktop) != -1) &&
           (!client.activities || client.activities.indexOf(workspace.currentActivity.toString()) > -1);
}

function minimizeAllWindowsButActive() {
    var allClients = workspace.windowList();
    var relevantClients = [];
    var minimize = false;

    for (var client in allClients) {
        if (!isRelevant(clien)) {
            continue;
        }
        if (!client.minimized) {
            minimize = true;
        }
        relevantClients.push(client);
    }
    if (minimize) {
        lastActiveClient = workspace.activeWindow
    }

    for (var client in relevantClients) {
        var wasMinimizedByScript = client.minimizedByScript;
        delete client.minimizedByScript;

        if (minimize) {
            if (client.minimized) {
                continue;
            }
            client.minimized = true;
            client.minimizedByScript = true;
        } else {
            if (!wasMinimizedByScript) {
                continue;
            }
            client.minimized = false;
        }
    }
    workspace.activeWindow = lastActiveClient
}

registerShortcut("MinimizeAllButActive", "MinimizeAllButActive", "Meta+R", minimizeAllWindowsButActive);

Simple metadata.json needed to install it:

{
    "KPackageStructure": "KWin/Script",
    "KPlugin": {
        "Authors": [ ],
        "Description": "Adds a shortcut to minimize and restore all windows",
        "Icon": "preferences-system-windows-script-test",
        "Id": "minimizeallbutactive",
        "License": "GPL",
        "Name": "MinimizeAllButActive"
    },
    "X-KDE-ConfigModule": "kcm_kwin4_genericscripted",
    "X-KWin-Border-Activate": "false",
    "X-Plasma-API": "javascript"
}

The layout of directories and files:

.
├── contents
│   └── code
│       └── main.js
└── metadata.json

and the command to install (when being in the root of above tree):
kpackagetool6 -t KWin/Script -i .
Replace -i with -u when upgrading after making changes.

[dzon]

Well, if it works, it works.
Gave that github script a swing and it works fine without loosing the default minimize all feature. On 5-ish that is. But like I said, a corner binding option could actually be nice.

And since I’m not exactly a keyboard fan, I made a desktop app using…xdotool