== Recoll hotkey: starting / hiding recoll with a keyboard shortcut

Type a key (ie: F12) and have recoll appear or disappear. On the first
occurrence, recoll is started if it's not already running. Further
occurrences toggle recoll between visible and minimized states. Never
thought this would be useful until someone asked for it. Can't do without
it anymore :) 

This works well with both Gnome and KDE, but is implemented using a gnome
library (*libwnck*) and its python interface, which you may have to install
on your system if you are a pure KDE user. The library most probably exists
in the package repositories for your distribution, so this should not be
too complicated. 

This should also work with other window managers, because it is based on a
standard window manager interface extension (EWMH) that most modern window
managers implement. 

=== Installing the script (all desktops):

- You will need the libwnck library and its python interface. These are
  usually part of a gnome installation, otherwise check and possibly
  install them. For OpenSuse, the library should already be there but you
  need to install gnome-python-desktop. 
- Download the
 link:https://www.recoll.org/files/hotrecoll.py[https://www.recoll.org/files/hotrecoll.py
 script]. If you have a recent recoll installation (1.14.3 and 
  further), it's already in the recoll filters directory
  ('/usr/[local/]share/recoll/filters') 
- Copy the script to some permanent place (ie: '~/bin') and make it
  executable (you can leave it in the filters dirs if it's there). In a
  shell window: `chmod +x hotrecoll.py`.
- You can check that the script works (or not) by executing it on the
  command line. It does not need an argument. Recoll should appear or
  disappear every time you execute the script. A few warning messages may
  be considered normal. If the script says that it does not find the wnck
  library or some other module, you'll have to install them. 

=== Installing the keyboard shortcut (Gnome):

- _System->Preferences->Keyboard shortcuts_, or execute
  *gnome-keybinding-properties* 
- Click add, Name, ie: StartRecoll, Action: /path/to/hotrecoll.py
- This will add the shortcut to the "Custom shortcuts" section. You can
  then click in the "Shortcut" column for "StartRecoll", and type any key
  combination (ie: push F12) to assign a key shortcut. 

=== Installing the keyboard shortcut (KDE):

Under KDE installing a global custom keyboard shortcut like we need is most
helpfully not under "Keyboard Shortcuts" but under "Input Actions". 

- _Kmenu -> Configure Desktop -> Input Actions -> Edit -> New -> Global
  Shortcut -> Command/Url_ 
- A new Action appears, named _New Action_. You can rename it something
  like +hotrecoll+ for clarity. 
- Click the _Trigger_ tab, click the input area and press your preferred
  key combination (ie: F12) 
- Click the _Action_ tab, and enter +hotrecoll.py+ (if it's in your PATH),
  or else the full path to the command (e.g.:
  '/usr/share/recoll/filters/hotrecoll.py').
- Click _Apply_.

=== Installing the keyboard shortcut (XFCE):

Open the settings manager, and add the shortcut in the 
_Application Shortcuts_ panel inside the _Keyboard_ tool.


=== Other environments

Many window managers have a way to set up a keyboard shortcut for running
an arbitrary command. You'll need to look at the documentation for yours,
or search the web for a solution.  

An alternative independant of the environment would be to use the XBindKeys
utility. See this link:http://www.linux.com/archive/feed/59494[linux.com
article] for helpful instructions.