How to write invisible GUI program in Linux with hotkeys to come to foreground?
 

I apologize for the awkwardly worded subject line.

There exists a application for WinXP called "Launchy" that allows the user to input the name of a program or document or any other filetype specified by the user and then launch the program or open the document etc. It has an autocomplete feature and is pretty handy.

Launchy runs invisibly until the user presses alt-space, at which point the window pops up, and remains until the user hits enter, at which point the command is executed and Launchy disappears again.

Now I'm running Ubuntu on my desktop and Launchy is the only functionality of XP I miss. However, there is no Linux distro of Launchy since it depends pretty heavily on the Win32 API.

What I want to know is: how would I go about writing a program whose GUI would appear on the press of a hotkey and not appear in the taskbar? I'm using GNOME if it makes a difference.

This is the first large-ish software project I've attempted using a GUI, so any suggestions as to which language to use and which functions specifically in any toolkits will allow me to run a GUI-based program with the above requirements would be very helpful. Thanks!

-DGMavn

You may want to poke around a bit. There are several hotkey-type programs out there that may do what you're looking for.

Try this:

http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Deskt...er-32488.shtml

I don't use it, but a friend of mine does, and likes it. Your mileage may vary.

I would recommend you look into gnomedo https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GnomeDo

It's modeled after quicksilver on the mac, and makes for a very nice program launcher.

In KDE, Alt-F2 pops-up the "Run Command" dialog. It retains a history record that is selectable from a spinbox.
--- rod.

there's a prog called tilda that pops up with F10 (on my box)
this runs a bash shell, which has autocomplete.

In Gnome if you press alt+f2 you will get a run dialog box