How to get X Window id from within Emacs?

How to get X Window id from within Emacs?

[Jean Louis]

The standard shell commend `xwininfo' gives me the Window id, such as
0x2e000ac and then I can run shell command like `xdotool' to activate
the Emacs window:

$ xwininfo 

xwininfo: Please select the window about which you
          would like information by clicking the
          mouse in that window.

xwininfo: Window id: 0x2e000ac "*shell* - GNU Emacs at lco2"

after switching to other workspace, then I can still do:

$ xdotool windowactivate 0x2e000ac

and I would return to Emacs X Window.

Is there a way to get the Window ID from within Emacs?

That will be useful to return to Emacs upon some notifications and
jobs done, during the watching of the movie.

Jean

Re: How to get X Window id from within Emacs?

[Eli Zaretskii]

> Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2024 20:52:13 +0300
> From: Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>
> 
> The standard shell commend `xwininfo' gives me the Window id, such as
> 0x2e000ac and then I can run shell command like `xdotool' to activate
> the Emacs window:
> 
> $ xwininfo 
> 
> xwininfo: Please select the window about which you
>           would like information by clicking the
>           mouse in that window.
> 
> xwininfo: Window id: 0x2e000ac "*shell* - GNU Emacs at lco2"
> 
> after switching to other workspace, then I can still do:
> 
> $ xdotool windowactivate 0x2e000ac
> 
> and I would return to Emacs X Window.
> 
> Is there a way to get the Window ID from within Emacs?

There's the window-id frame parameter, although I'm not sure it is
universally available.  Try

  M-: (frame-parameter nil 'window-id) RET

Re: How to get X Window id from within Emacs?

[Alain.Cochard]

Jean Louis writes on Sun 15 Dec 2024 20:52:

 > The standard shell commend `xwininfo' gives me the Window id, such as
 > 0x2e000ac and then I can run shell command like `xdotool' to activate
 > the Emacs window:
 > 
 > $ xwininfo 
 > 
 > xwininfo: Please select the window about which you
 >           would like information by clicking the
 >           mouse in that window.
 > 
 > xwininfo: Window id: 0x2e000ac "*shell* - GNU Emacs at lco2"
 > 
 > after switching to other workspace, then I can still do:
 > 
 > $ xdotool windowactivate 0x2e000ac
 > 
 > and I would return to Emacs X Window.
 > 
 > Is there a way to get the Window ID from within Emacs?

Wouldn't 'xwininfo' (or 'wmctrl'), from an Emacs shell, be enough?


 > That will be useful to return to Emacs upon some notifications and
 > jobs done, during the watching of the movie.

-- 
EOST (École et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre) 
ITE (Institut Terre & Environnement) | alain.cochard@unistra.fr
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Re: How to get X Window id from within Emacs?

[Jean Louis]

* Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> [2024-12-15 21:28]:
> There's the window-id frame parameter, although I'm not sure it is
> universally available.  Try
> 
>   M-: (frame-parameter nil 'window-id) RET

I think that ID is something Emacs related. Or I do not know how to convert it.

Result such as "46153928" I do not know how to use here:

$ sleep 3; xdotool windowactivate 46137524
XGetWindowProperty[_NET_WM_DESKTOP] failed (code=1)

is it is supposed to look this way:

sleep 3; xdotool windowactivate 0x2e000ac

So do I need to convert it somehow?

(format "%x" 46137524) ➜ "2c000b4"

But it failed:

$ xdotool windowactivate 0x2c000b4
XGetWindowProperty[_NET_WM_DESKTOP] failed (code=1)

I had to get: 0x2c040c4 instead as that was X Window ID, so I am not sure how this works.

Jean

Re: How to get X Window id from within Emacs?

[Jean Louis]

* Alain.Cochard@unistra.fr <Alain.Cochard@unistra.fr> [2024-12-15 22:02]:
> Wouldn't 'xwininfo' (or 'wmctrl'), from an Emacs shell, be enough?

- if I would know how to get result from `xwininfo` at the moment when it is fired out of Emacs, without me clicking on it, then fine.

- wmctrl I do not know how, do you know?

I need it programmatically, without user's interaction.

But now I am thinking to use `(select-frame-set-input-focus (selected-frame))` instead, to bring the user back to Emacs, let me try...

(progn
(sleep-for 10)
(select-frame-set-input-focus (selected-frame)))

So that worked well, I think I must use that method, and case is resolved now.

-- 
Jean Louis

Re: How to get X Window id from within Emacs?

[Po Lu]

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2024 20:52:13 +0300
>> From: Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>
>> 
>> The standard shell commend `xwininfo' gives me the Window id, such as
>> 0x2e000ac and then I can run shell command like `xdotool' to activate
>> the Emacs window:
>> 
>> $ xwininfo 
>> 
>> xwininfo: Please select the window about which you
>>           would like information by clicking the
>>           mouse in that window.
>> 
>> xwininfo: Window id: 0x2e000ac "*shell* - GNU Emacs at lco2"
>> 
>> after switching to other workspace, then I can still do:
>> 
>> $ xdotool windowactivate 0x2e000ac
>> 
>> and I would return to Emacs X Window.
>> 
>> Is there a way to get the Window ID from within Emacs?
>
> There's the window-id frame parameter, although I'm not sure it is
> universally available.  Try
>
>   M-: (frame-parameter nil 'window-id) RET

This is the ID of Emacs's "inner window", where it displays buffer text
and decorations.  The `outer-window-id' frame parameter supplies a
window ID that is suitable for external programs such as xdotool.

Re: How to get X Window id from within Emacs?

[Jean Louis]

* Po Lu <luangruo@yahoo.com> [2024-12-16 03:42]:
> This is the ID of Emacs's "inner window", where it displays buffer text
> and decorations.  The `outer-window-id' frame parameter supplies a
> window ID that is suitable for external programs such as xdotool.

(format "0x%x" (string-to-number (frame-parameter nil 'outer-window-id))) ➜ "0x2c0506f"

This way now it works well, thank you much for looking into it.

-- 
Jean Louis