14.10 gnome classic metacity unable to hook up keyboard shortcut to binary

Question

I am trying to get the Aero Snap effect working on an Ubuntu 14.10 using Gnome Classic Metacity.

I found a command that works if I execute in on a terminal window:

wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b remove,maximized_vert,maximized_horz && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,0,0,`xwininfo -root | grep Width | awk '{ print (($2/2))}'`,`xwininfo -root | grep Height | awk '{ print $2 }'`

And I can run it with a sleep 1 to have time to switch to the window I want to resize:

sleep 1 && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b remove,maximized_vert,maximized_horz && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,0,0,`xwininfo -root | grep Width | awk '{ print (($2/2))}'`,`xwininfo -root | grep Height | awk '{ print $2 }'`

It works well.

I can also run it as a bash script in my $HOME/bin/left.sh and $HOME/bin/right.sh, or shorter, Alt+F2 then $HOME/bin/aaa for left and $HOME/bin/fff for right. It also works on the active window behind the Alt+F2 menu.

Now I want to hook up this command to a keyboard shortcut. I tried:

System Settings -> Keyboard -> Shortcuts -> Custom Shortcuts -> "Aero Left" - Super+Left

which I link to a /bin/bash /home/myusername/bin/aero_left.sh with the command line above. But it has no effect. Again, running the bash command in a terminal window does work, but the keyboard shortcut does not.

In fact, not much happens for any of the Custom Shortcuts I try to set up:

/usr/bin/mplayer /usr/share/aisleriot/sounds/splat.ogg

or

/bin/bash -c "/usr/bin/mplayer /usr/share/aisleriot/sounds/splat.ogg"

and try to hook it to any kind of keyboard combination, it doesn't work...

UPDATE: I tried xbindkeys and none of my examples are working. Still mesmerized as to why the Custom Shortcuts do not do much. Looking forward to a solution.

[hpenvy15 ~] $ mkdir ~/bin ; ls -l -d1 ~/bin | wc -l
1
[hpenvy15 ~] $ cat > ~/bin/left.sh
#!/bin/bash
sleep 0.1 && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b remove,maximized_vert,maximized_horz && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,0,0,`xwininfo -root | grep Width | awk '{ print (($2/2))}'`,`xwininfo -root | grep Height | awk '{ print $2 }'`
^C
[hpenvy15 ~] $ cat > ~/bin/right.sh
#!/bin/bash
sleep 0.1 && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -b remove,maximized_vert,maximized_horz && wmctrl -r :ACTIVE: -e 0,`xwininfo -root | grep Width | awk '{ print (($2/2)+5) ",0," (($2/2)) }'`,`xwininfo -root | grep Height | awk '{ print $2 }'`
^C

[hpenvy15 ~] $ sudo apt-get install xbindkeys
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
xbindkeys is already the newest version.
0 to upgrade, 0 to newly install, 0 to remove and 0 not to upgrade.

printf '"bash $HOME/bin/left.sh"\n Mod4+Super_L+Left\n' > ~/.xbindkeysrc
printf '"bash $HOME/bin/right.sh"\n Mod4+Super_L+Right\n' >> ~/.xbindkeysrc
xbindkeys

If I then type control+alt+b I can hear a drum sound, but nothing happens.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

Here the steps:

1. Create a script file that starts the line #!/bin/bash followed by your command given in the question.
2. sudo apt-get install xbindkeys

3. Type:

   printf '"bash $HOME/bin/left.sh"\n Control+Alt+A\n' > ~/.xbindkeysrc 
   printf '"bash $HOME/bin/right.sh"\n Control+Alt+F\n' >> ~/.xbindkeysrc
   
   xbindkeys
   

Now, check out if it does work.

I hope it will work.