Running multiple xdtool commands from activateResult

Question

I'm creating a gnome shell extension and implementing the search provider. In the activateResult method I want to run some code like

GLib.spawn_command_line_sync('xdotool windowactivate ' + window_id);
GLib.spawn_command_line_sync('xdotool key "ctrl+r"');
GLib.spawn_command_line_sync('xdotool type ' + some_text);

The problem is that only the first command works, and I get some errors like:

Jul 27 20:05:09 comp org.gnome.Shell.desktop[3334]: Window manager warning: Received a NET_CURRENT_DESKTOP message from a broken (outdated) client who sent a 0 timestamp
Jul 27 20:05:09 comp org.gnome.Shell.desktop[3334]: Window manager warning: Buggy client sent a _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW message with a timestamp of 0 for 0x2e00001 (somestuff)
Jul 27 20:05:09 comp org.gnome.Shell.desktop[3334]: Window manager warning: last_focus_time (93207838) is greater than comparison timestamp (93207584).  This most likely represents a buggy client sending inaccurate timestamps in messages such as _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW.  Trying to work around...
Jul 27 20:05:09 comp org.gnome.Shell.desktop[3334]: Window manager warning: last_user_time (93207838) is greater than comparison timestamp (93207584).  This most likely represents a buggy client sending inaccurate timestamps in messages such as _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW.  Trying to work around...
Jul 27 20:05:09 comp org.gnome.Shell.desktop[3334]: Window manager warning: 0x2e00001 (somestuff) appears to be one of the offending windows with a timestamp of 93207838.  Working around..

One thing I tried was to combine all the xdotool commands with bash -c "... ... ..." with no luck.

After selecting a search result, how can I switch to a window and simulate key presses?

(I'm brand new to gnome stuff, gjs stuff, and even JS, but, do write python daily)

edit: Just tried spawn_command_line_async and it works. Feels sloppy, someone with more experienced might have a better answer.

Answer 1

If you are writing a GNOME Shell extension, it's worth noticing that there are a number of GNOME platform libraries that you can rely on being available.

For simulating mouse and keyboard event, Atspi will work in most situations. As a simple example of simulating pressing the a key:

const Atspi = imports.gi.Atspi;

Atspi.generate_keyboard_event(0, 'a', Atspi.KeySynthType.STRING);

Activating a window, on the other hand, is probably something best done with the built-in window manager functions, however these aren't documented and you'd have to inspect the GNOME Shell JavaScript source or the source of another extension that does this.