Nova Flow OS
KDE Developer Platform
KDE Developer Platform
  • KDE Developer Platform
    • Getting started
      • Building KDE software
        • KDE software
        • Where to find the development team
        • Learning more
        • Choose what to work on
        • Source code cross-referencing
        • Installing build dependencies
        • Set up a development environment
        • Building KDE software with kdesrc-build
        • Basic troubleshooting
        • Tips and tricks
        • IDE Configuration
          • Setting up an IDE for KDE development
          • Visual Studio Code
          • Qt Creator
          • Kate
          • KDevelop
          • CLion
          • Sublime Text
        • Building KDE software manually
        • Building KDE software with distrobox and podman
      • Kirigami
        • KDE is ours
        • Setting up and getting started
        • Explaining pages
        • Layouts, ListViews, and Cards
        • Adding actions
        • Adding a dialog
        • Using separate files
        • Next steps
        • Colors and themes in Kirigami
        • Typography
        • Actions based components
        • Page rows and page stacks
        • Scrollable pages and list views
        • Cards
        • Drawers
        • Chips
        • Dialog types
        • Controls and interactive elements
        • Form layouts
        • Inline messages
        • Action toolbars
        • Progress bars and indicators
        • List views
        • Understanding CMakeLists
        • Figuring out main.cpp
        • Connect logic to your QML user interface
        • Connect models to your QML user interface
        • About page
        • Introduction to Kirigami Addons
        • FormCard About pages
        • Form delegates in your settings pages
      • KXmlGui
        • Getting started with KXmlGui
        • Hello World!
        • Creating the main window
        • Using actions
        • Saving and loading
        • Command line interface
      • Python with Kirigami
        • Apps with QML and Python
        • Your first Python + Kirigami application
        • Creating a Python package
        • Creating a Flatpak
      • Common programming mistakes
      • Adding a new KDE project
    • Features
      • Icons
      • Configuration
        • The KConfig Framework
        • Introduction to KConfig
        • Using KConfig XT
        • KDE Frameworks 6 porting guide
        • Settings module (KCM) development
        • KConfigDialog
      • D-Bus
        • What is D-Bus practically useful for?
        • Introduction to D-Bus
        • Accessing D-Bus interfaces
        • Intermediate D-Bus
        • Creating D-Bus interfaces
        • Using custom types with D-Bus
        • D-Bus autostart services
      • Create your own mouse cursor theme
      • Session management
      • Archives
      • Desktop file
      • KAuth
        • Privilege Escalation
        • Using actions in your applications
      • KIdleTime
      • Akonadi: personal information management
        • Debugging Akonadi Resources
        • Using Akonadi in applications
      • Concurrent programming
      • Solid
      • Sonnet
    • Plasma themes and plugins
      • Getting started
      • Plasma Widget tutorial
        • How to create a plasmoid
        • Setup
        • Porting Plasmoids to KF6
        • Testing
        • QML
        • Plasma's QML API
        • Widget Properties
        • Configuration
        • Translations / i18n
        • Examples
        • C++ API
      • KWin Effects
      • Plasma Desktop scripting
        • Javascript Interaction With Plasma Shells
        • Templates
        • Examples
        • API documentation
        • Configuration keys
      • Plasma Style tutorial
        • Creating a Plasma Style quickstart
        • Understanding Plasma Styles
        • SVG elements and Inkscape
        • Background SVG format
        • System and accent colors
        • Theme elements reference
        • Porting themes to Plasma 5
        • Porting themes to Plasma 6
      • Aurorae window decorations
      • KWin scripting tutorial
        • Quick start
        • KWin scripting API
      • Wallpapers
      • Plasma comic
        • Tutorial
        • Testing and debugging
        • Examples
      • Create a custom Window Switcher
      • KRunner C++ Plugin
        • Basic Anatomy of a Runner
        • KRunner metadata format
    • Applications
      • Creating sensor faces
      • Dolphin
        • Creating Dolphin service menus
      • Kate
        • Kate plugin tutorial
      • KMines
        • Making a KMines theme
      • Writing tests
        • Appium automation testing
    • Packaging
      • Android
        • KDE on Android
        • Building applications for Android
        • Packaging and publishing applications for Android
        • Publishing on Google Play
          • Introduction
          • Packaging your app
          • Adding your app to Google Play
          • Publishing your app
          • Releasing new versions of old apps
        • Porting applications to Android
          • Basic porting
          • Making applications run well on Android
          • Metadata
      • Windows
        • Packaging and publishing applications for Windows
        • Publish your app in the Microsoft Store
          • Packaging your app for the Microsoft Store
          • Submitting your app to the Microsoft Store
      • Plasma Mobile
        • KDE on mobile devices
        • Porting a new device to Plasma Mobile
        • KDE Telephony stack
          • General Overview
          • Kernel layer
          • System daemons
            • General overview
            • Developing Telephony functionality
            • ModemManager Telephony functions
          • Session daemons
          • QML declarative plugin layer
          • KDE application layer
        • Execute applications
      • Distributing KDE software as Flatpak
        • Your first Flatpak
        • Extending your package
        • Nightly Flatpaks and Flathub
        • Testing your Flatpak
    • System administration
      • Shell scripting with KDE dialogs
      • Kiosk: Simple configuration management for large deployment
        • Abstract
        • Introduction to Kiosk
        • Kiosk keys
    • Contribute to the documentation
    • About
      • Readme
      • License
        • Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
        • GNU General Public License 3.0 or later
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On this page
  • Introduction
  • KWin.Switcher QML element
  • Model
  • Thumbnails
  • Installation
  1. KDE Developer Platform
  2. Plasma themes and plugins

Create a custom Window Switcher

Introduction

The Window Switcher (Alt+Tab) can be custom styled using layouts written in QML since KDE Plasma Workspaces (now Plasma) in version 4.8. The window manager supports multiple Window Switchers and exchanges the loaded layout at runtime. Additionally the underlying Model is recreated each time the switcher is invoked and some properties might change due to screen changes and different settings for the multiple switchers. To support this the QML loader can set properties in the custom QML component if available.

All the QML API is available with import org.kde.kwin 2.0 as KWin.

KWin.Switcher QML element

KWin.Switcher is the base element of a window switcher and doesn't provide any visual representation. It provides 5 properties to its users:

  • QAbstractItemModel *model: (read only) The model listing all windows. More on that later.

  • QRect screenGeometry: (read only) Contains the height, width, x and y positions of the primary screen. This property can be used to restrain the dimension and position of the switcher to the current screen.

  • bool visible: (read only) True, if the switcher is currently visible.

  • bool allDesktops: (read only) Whether the Model includes windows from all desktops or only the current desktop. This property can be used to e.g. hide the desktop a window is on when the switcher only shows windows of the current desktop. Do not use this property to filter the list. This is done by the Model.

  • int currentIndex: Current selected item in the model. Updating currentIndex will switch to the selected window.

Model

The Model is available as a property model from our Switcher object. It's a standard QAbstractItemModel and can be used in a ListView/Repeater.

The Model provides the following roles:

  • string caption: the window title

  • bool minimized: whether the window is minimized

  • string desktopName: the name of the desktop the window is on

  • ulonglong windowId: the window Id (XId) of the window

  • string icon: the icon name for the window

Thumbnails

The window manager provides a QML component to render a live thumbnail of the window. It is important to know that this thumbnail is not rendered in QML's scene graph, but by the compositor after the window has been rendered. Because of that it is not possible to put other visual components on top of the thumbnail. If compositing is not available an icon will be rendered instead of the thumbnail.

The component is called ThumbnailItem and has one required property wId. Example

import QtQuick 2.0
import org.kde.kwin 2.0 as KWin
KWin.Switcher {
    id: tabBox
    currentIndex: thumbnailListView.currentIndex
    ListView {
        model: tabBox.model
        delegate: KWin.ThumbnailItem {
            wId: windowId
            width: 200
            height: 200
        }
    }
}

Installation

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Last updated 8 months ago

The QML file(s) has to be stored in ~/.local/share/kwin/tabbox/ and are using KPackage. Some examples Tab Switchers can be found on .

A Tab Switcher can also be bundled in a Global Theme .

Gitlab
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