Quick switching of input method and touchpad

This is a GNOME shell extension which allows us to set up custom keyboard shortcuts for:

• quick switching of input method (first 10 available ones) and
• quick switching of touchpad.

This can make keyboard input experiences quick (pop-up-less), non-interfering, stateless and deterministic while keeping the original behavior available (if you wish). This shortcut can automatically sets xkb to the first one before entering ibus input method. (This default setting fixes issues of ibus with non-latin inputs such as xkb=ru etc. This is a configurable feature.)

I found "Disable While Typing" (in GNOME "Tweaks" -> "Keyboard & Mouse" -> "Touchpad") is not perfect solution. Keyboard shortcuts can ensure you to avoid touchpad interferences with minimal user efforts.

If you happen to have more than 10 input methods, they can be used through the normal center selection panel if you don't intentionally disable pertinent shortcuts. If you intentionally disable such shortcuts, these convenient keys can be used by this extension.

Due to the difference of support for use_markup, I make 2 packages depending on target GNOME versions: one for GNOME 40-42, another for GNOME 43 and 44.

Due to the major change in GNOME 45, this source code was ported to standard JavaScript modules (ESM) by Álan Crístoffer to support GNOME 45 and after.

Usage

First, you must set up all your input methods from GNOME GUI:

• Settings -> Keyboard -> Input Sources etc.

Then install this GNOME extensions using your browser from the GNOME extensions site:

• https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/6066/shortcuts-to-activate-input-methods/

Afterwards, restart the GNOME shell by log-out and log-in from GUI. You can also use CLI killall gnome-shell to log out. This is essential process to get GNOME shell extensions to function as expected.

Then, enable this extension from GUI, e.g., gnome-extensions-app (Extensions) in GNOME 43 or later; or from GNOME Tweaks menu in older GNOME. You must set up each shortcut first to use this extension.

The pre-exiting shortcut key can't be reused. You must disable their usage first, elsewhere.

If you change installed input methods, you must restart this extension.

Input Method Shortcuts (example screenshot)

Here, I disabled <Super>Space and <Super><Shift>Space usages in "Settings" -> "Keyboard" -> "Keyboard shortcuts" -> "Typing" before setting up as above.

Please note that, if an ibus can offer its internal shortcuts to activate input method engine (IME) and to deactivate IME by using direct input mode just with xkb for latin character set, switching between IME and direct input mode within ibus is quicker than using Desktop based input method switching functionality handled by this extension.

Touchpad Shortcuts (example screenshot)

Please note that you don't need to set all shortcut bindings.

Operation Preference (example screenshot)

Ideas for other shortcut keys

Here are other ideas for shortcut keys.

• <Super>u (u for US)
• <Super>i (i for International)
• <Super>j (j for Japanese)
• <Super>k (k for Korean)
• <Super>c (c for Chinese)
• <Super>z (z for Chinese=zh)

Even unusual key combos of Modifierkeys can be used as shortcuts.

• <Shift>Shift_R -- Press Shift_L then press Shift_R
• <Shift>Shift_L -- Press Shift_R then press Shift_L
• <Shift>Caps_Lock
• <Control>Shift_R
• <Control>Shift_L
• <Control>Caps_Lock
• <Alt>Shift_R
• <Alt>Shift_L
• <Alt>Caps_Lock
• <Super>Shift_R
• <Super>Shift_L
• <Super>Caps_Lock ...

If some other program already binds a key combination for shortcut, that key combination can't be registered. (Using Alt_R key as the 2nd key part for these combos of Modifierkeys is not a good idea due to many complications.)

For example, I ended up keeping original input method switching with <Super>space by using:

Here, I use "US, intl., with AltGr dead keys" (us+altgr-intl) to enter accented latin characters. This is less stressful method than "US, intl., with dead keys" which functions like the default Windows international environment.

Ways to reorder input methods

If you have multiple xkb methods, you may need to reorder input methods so the first xkb method may be set as the preferred one for ibus input methods via quick CLI.

$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources
[('xkb', 'ru'), ('xkb', 'us'), ('ibus', 'anthy'), ('ibus', 'mozc-jp'), ('xkb', 'us+altgr-intl')]
$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources "[('xkb', 'us'), ('ibus', 'mozc-jp'), ('xkb', 'us+altgr-intl'), ('ibus', 'anthy'), ('xkb', 'ru')]"
$ gsettings get org.gnome.desktop.input-sources sources
[('xkb', 'us'), ('ibus', 'mozc-jp'), ('xkb', 'us+altgr-intl'), ('ibus', 'anthy'), ('xkb', 'ru')]

Development

The latest development version is available at:

• GITHUB repository
  • branch main: support for GNOME 45 and after (version 23, 24, ...)
  • branch backport43: support for GNOME 43 - 44 (version 21)
  • branch backport: support for GNOME 40 - 42 (version 20) GNOME site:
• GNOME extension download
• GNOME extension upload

You can install this extension for testing by:

$ git clone https://github.com/osamuaoki/inputmethod-shortcuts
$ cd inputmethod-shortcuts
$ make install

This will install files into your ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/inputmethod-shortcuts@osamu.debian.org directory.

Afterwards, restart the GNOME shell by log-out and log-in from GUI. You can also use CLI killall gnome-shell to log out. This is essential process to get GNOME shell extension to function as expected.

This code was started to be based on similar GNOME shell extensions and previous method to switch input methods:

• https://github.com/matthijskooijman/gnome-shell-more-keyboard-shortcuts
• https://gitlab.com/paddatrapper/shortcuts-gnome-extension (IGNORE_AUTOREPEAT)
• https://www.mail-archive.com/gnome-shell-list@gnome.org/msg08988.html (previous method)

Resulting extension code was useful and functional for me but it had many rough edges since this was my first javascript program without even reading its references. Prior to getting this accepted by GNOME extension site, JustPerfection guided me to fix such rough edges by making me to rewrite practically the whole code. Then, I rewrote whole code using ES6 style and added touchpad controls.

For touchpad, I wanted to have 2 independent shortcuts to turn it on and off. So I added them to this extension. Since making toggling available was trivial, I added it, too. But I am not using it.

See Keyboard shortcut customization (Input Method) and GNOME shell extension for input methods for how I came to this extension.

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Osamu Aoki osamu@debian.org

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.

GPL2+