In KDE3 it was possible to access the desktop (i.e. minimize all windows) with a dcop call. What's the equivalent in KDE4 to access the desktop (from a script or servicemenu or so)? I took a look at qdbusviewer but I couldn't figure it out.

Type

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qdbus org.kde.plasma-desktop

(replace plasma-desktop with plasma, if you use a KDE-version before 4.3.0) (You can see other applications by executing qdbus)
You'll get a list of strings like:

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/
/App
/FileUndoManager
/JobViewServer
/KIO
/KIO/Scheduler
/MainApplication
/VisualNotifications


Take one of these and add it to the command:

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qdbus org.kde.plasma-desktop /App

Execute it and you'll get a list of other strings:

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method void local.PlasmaApp.toggleDashboard()
method int org.kde.KUniqueApplication.newInstance()
method int org.kde.KUniqueApplication.newInstance(QByteArray asn_id)
method int org.kde.KUniqueApplication.newInstance(QByteArray asn_id, QByteArray args)
method QDBusVariant org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get(QString interface_name, QString property_name)
method QVariantMap org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.GetAll(QString interface_name)
method void org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Set(QString interface_name, QString property_name, QDBusVariant value)
method QString org.freedesktop.DBus.Introspectable.Introspect()


Add (for example) local.PlasmaApp.toggleDashboard

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qdbus org.kde.plasma-desktop /App local.PlasmaApp.toggleDashboard


Execute it and the dashboard will the toggled.
I hope it is useful.

Jan

Thanks for your detailed answer, now I know at least a little how to deal with the structure of qdbus. Is it always the /App part? I tried searching for something that has to do with showing the desktop or minimizing windows but either there is nothing which I cannot imagine or the problem sits between chair and keyboard... Any idea?

BTW: Do you know how to deal with such things in brackets?

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method void org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Set(QString interface_name, QString property_name, QDBusVariant value)

Edit: I found a command to switch to the next desktop:

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qdbus org.kde.kwin /KWin org.kde.KWin.nextDesktop

That could do the job if I knew that the next desktop is empty...
But the real show/toogle desktop would be better. Do I look in the wrong direction? I'd expect it to be something with "toggle".

The things in brackets are arguments and you use them like this (I'll take another method)

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qdbus org.kde.kwin /KWin org.kde.KWin.setCurrentDesktop 2


The description looks like this

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method bool org.kde.KWin.setCurrentDesktop(int desktop)


int means integer and is a number like 1 40 5. desktop is the name of the variable (in this case it means the desktop to go to). If there's something like you wrote

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method void org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Set(QString interface_name, QString property_name, QDBusVariant value)

The arguments are separated with whitspaces (" "):

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qdbus org.kde.kwin /KWin org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Set "first string" "the next string" "a variant: a number, a string or something else"


I see, thanks. Is there a way to search for specific elements in qdbus?

I wrote a script (I didn't know any other way).
Use:
pathToScript searchterm
pathToScript --kde searchterm

If you add --kde it only searches in paths which start with org.kde (all of the KDE applications, I think).
Here's the code:

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#!/bin/sh
#Searchs for a search term
#If the option --kde is set, it only searchs paths that start with org.kde
#It uses qdbus
usage="Usage: dbussearch [--kde] <search term>"
filter=""

if [ "x$1" = "x" ];then
  echo $usage
  exit 1
fi

if [ "$1" = "--kde" ];then
  filter="org.kde"
  shift
fi

#qdbus command
qdbus="qdbus 2> /dev/null"
#Get the programm list
programms=""
if [ "$filter" ]; then
  programms=`bash -c "$qdbus" | grep $filter | sed -e 's/\n/ /g'`
else
  programms=`bash -c "$qdbus" | sed -e 's/\n/ /g'`
fi

for program in $programms; do
  paths=`bash -c "$qdbus $program" | sed -e 's/\n/ /g'`
  for path in $paths; do
    methods=`bash -c "$qdbus $program $path" | grep -i $1`
    if [ "x$methods" != "x" ];then
      echo $methods
    fi
  done
done


Save it and set the x-bit (execute-bit) by
chmod +x pathToScript

That's great - thanks!

No problem
It is fun to do tasks like this and I like helping