Xfce Forum

Aldebaraan

Member

Registered: 2020-07-22

Posts: 6

Open current wallpaper

Is there a way to open the current wallpaper that the xfdesktop chose randomly? Or at least get the path to the file?

eriefisher

Wanderer

From: ON, Canada

Registered: 2008-10-25

Posts: 988

Re: Open current wallpaper

Most are in /usr/share/backgrounds or /usr/share/wallpapers.

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But it's all right, when you're all in pain and you feel the rain come down
It's alright, when you find your way, then you see it disappear
It's alright....
Chris Cornell

Misko_2083

Member

Registered: 2015-10-13

Posts: 232

Website

Re: Open current wallpaper

Run this in terminal

xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -m

...and then change the background using the Settings Manager > Desktop.

The command monitors channel xfce4-desktop for changes.
It will tell which property on channel xfce4-desktop is changed.

Then you can check that property to list the current background

xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -p insert_property_here

Now opening with ristretto

ristretto "$(xfconf-query -c xfce4-desktop -p insert_property_here)"

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Aldebaraan

Member

Registered: 2020-07-22

Posts: 6

Re: Open current wallpaper

Found a better solution. The code above doesn't open the original file. I have a lot of wallpapers that i downloaded in bulk from the internet but didn't have the time to handpick them so i delete the ones that i don't like as they come. So i needed a option that opened the original file so i could delete or make copies of what i liked. I managed to make it work by using Thunar's custom actions:

Open Wallpaper
Command: bash ~/.config/openbox/wallchange/open-wallpaper.sh

Next Wallpaper
Command: bash ~/.config/openbox/wallchange/wallchange-xfce.sh

wallchange-xfce.sh

#!/bin/bash
WPCURRENT="$(find ~/Pictures/Wallpapers/ -type f |shuf -n1)" #gets a random image

echo -n ${WPCURRENT} > ~/.config/openbox/wallchange/wallpaper-history.txt #prints chosen image to txt file

xfconf-query --channel xfce4-desktop --property  /backdrop/screen0/monitorVGA1/workspace0/last-image --set $WPCURRENT #sets the wallpaper

cat ~/.config/openbox/wallchange/wallpaper-history.txt  #prints it to console

open-wallpaper.sh

#!/bin/sh
IMG=$(cat ~/.config/openbox/wallchange/wallpaper-history.txt | awk -F "'|/" '{print $0}')
xviewer "${IMG}" &
exit

Problem is that sometimes i get a blank screen even if the output points to a image. Any idea why this happens?

Aldebaraan

Member

Registered: 2020-07-22

Posts: 6

Re: Open current wallpaper

Nevermind. $WPCURRENT needs to be "$WPCURRENT" otherwise images that have spaces on their name cause the issue.