Who can drop few lines of code?Send you beer!

[realzippy]

bump

[unutbu]

realzippy, does this command activate your screensaver?
If it does, that might be a start toward a solution:

qdbus org.gnome.ScreenSaver / SetActive True

[realzippy]

realzippy, does this command activate your screensaver?
If it does, that might be a start toward a solution:

qdbus org.gnome.ScreenSaver / SetActive True

YES!It does.....

[unutbu]

Wonderful. Now here's (maybe) the tricky part: What does this return

sleep 5; qdbus org.gnome.ScreenSaver / GetSessionIdleTime

Also, after the screensaver is activated, you want any keypress to have the same effect as pressing Shift+F9, correct? What does pressing Shift+F9 do?

[realzippy]

Wonderful. Now here's (maybe) the tricky part: What does this return

sleep 5; qdbus org.gnome.ScreenSaver / GetSessionIdleTime

Also, after the screensaver is activated, you want any keypress to have the same effect as pressing Shift+F9, correct? What does pressing Shift+F9 do?

..it returns: 0



Shift+F9 starts/stops compiz rainplugin,which I wanted as screensaver:

"Ok,need some code:

that "presses Shift+F9" after given time of Mouse/Keyboard inactivity and interpreted any next keyboard/mouse input as Shift+F9"

[unutbu]

..it returns: 0

This is a show-stopper... at least until we find a way to coax the computer into telling us how long the X session has been idle.

PS. When you run

qdbus org.gnome.ScreenSaver / SetActive True

does the rain plugin start, or is your screen saver something else?

[realzippy]

This is a show-stopper... at least until we find a way to coax the computer into telling us how long the X session has been idle.

PS. When you run

qdbus org.gnome.ScreenSaver / SetActive True

does the rain plugin start, or is your screen saver something else?

Default Gnome screensaver starts.
rain plugin needs shift+F9...
...sorry for delay,soccer....

[unutbu]

realzippy, Since compiz seems to crash my machine, I haven't been able to test this completely.

• First install the build-essential, libxss-dev and xdotool packages.
  
• Then go to http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...64&postcount=2
  and copy stroyan's C program to xidle.c
  
  Compile the program:
  

  cc xidle.c -o xidle -lX11 -lXext -lXss

  This will create the executable "xidle".
• Move the executable xidle to ~/bin, so the program will be in your PATH.
• Check that it works by running
  

  sleep 5; xidle

  You should get a number like
  

  4.962000

  in response.
  
• Now save this in ~/bin/idlerain.py
  
  

  #!/usr/bin/env python
  from subprocess import Popen,PIPE,STDOUT,call
  import os
  import time
  
  def get_idle_time():
      proc=Popen('xidle', shell=True, stdout=PIPE, )
      return float(proc.communicate()[0])
  
  is_raining=False
  sleep_seconds=1
  max_idle=20
  last_idle=0
  rain_start_time=time.time()
  while True:
      idle=get_idle_time()
      if is_raining:
          duration=time.time()-rain_start_time        
          if(is_raining and duration>1.5*sleep_seconds and
            idle<last_idle):
              is_raining=False
              os.system('xdotool key shift+F9')        
      else:
          if (last_idle<max_idle and max_idle<=idle):
              is_raining=True
              rain_start_time=time.time()
              os.system('xdotool key shift+F9')
      last_idle=idle
      time.sleep(sleep_seconds) 

• Make it executable:
  

  chmod +x ~/bin/idlerain.py

• For now, try running it from the terminal. If it works to your liking, it can be set to run automatically when you log in.
  
  Run it by typing:
  

  idlerain.py

  Wait for 20 seconds. Then the rain should start. Press a key, and the rain should end.
  
  Press Ctrl-C to stop the idlerain.py program.

[realzippy]

Move the executable xidle to ~/bin, so the program will be in your PATH

Sorry for stupid question:
Is it really ~/bin,not /bin?

(do not have /bin folder in home directory.Should i create it?...if I move xidle to /bin instead of ~/bin,then sleep 5; xidle gives me a number like 4.962000,
otherwise "command not found"...????)

[unutbu]

No problem, realzippy.

~/bin is the same as /home/realzippy/bin (if your username is realzippy).
/bin is the system's /bin directory. (I don't recommend putting it in there.)

If you don't have a ~/bin directory, make one. Ubuntu is setup for you so that if you have a ~/bin directory, all executables are automatically "in your PATH". That means you can run them by name:

xidle

instead of by full path:

/home/realzippy/bin/xidle

It saves some typing.

PS. If you make a ~/bin directory, close your gnome-terminal and re-open it so your PATH will be updated.