--no-auto-back-and-forth behaviour

[qrockz]

For instance:

• previous focused ws: 7
• current focused ws: 10

I want to switch to ws 2 and back to ws 10 without breaking the workspace back_and_forth toggle between ws 7 and ws 10.

i3-msg "workspace --no-auto-back-and-forth number 2; workspace --no-auto-back-and-forth number 10"

I expect workspace back_and_forth still be able to toggle between ws 7 and ws 10 because of the --no-auto-back-and-forth flag I've used for switching to ws 2.
But now workspace back_and_forth toggles between ws 2 and ws 10 instead of ws 7 and ws 10 😕 .

Originally I wanted to change the workspace on another output/monitor without losing the focus on the current used monitor.
I.e.I'm on output a and want the active workspace on output b changed without moving the focus to the new workspace on output b. Is that possible? Any ideas?

This script changes workspaces on another outpud HDMI-1 and also preserves the current back_and_forth functionality.
The downside is that this is not efficient due to flickering when using [...] workspace "$ws_b"; workspace "$ws_a".

ws_a=$(i3-msg -t get_workspaces | jq -r '.[] |select(.focused==true)| .name')
i3-msg "workspace back_and_forth"
ws_b=$(i3-msg -t get_workspaces | jq -r '.[] |select(.focused==true)| .name')
i3-msg "focus output HDMI-1; workspace next_on_output; workspace "$ws_b"; workspace "$ws_a""

i3 --version
i3 version 4.23

[orestisfl]

workspace --no-auto-back-and-forth number 2 means that if workspace number 2 is currently focused, you will not switch to the previously focused workspace even if workspace_auto_back_and_forth yes is set in your config.

[qrockz]

@orestisfl

Is it possible to change workspaces on displays b without losing the current focused display a ?

Moving windows to other workspaces without following the focus works (ws 2 has focus. move window from ws 2 to ws 3. ws 2 still has focus).
It would be nice to have this behaviour also for changing workspaces or even containers on other displays without losing the focus on the current display 🙏

[orestisfl]

So, for example workspaces 1 and 2 are on display a and 1 is focused and workspaces 3 and 4 are on display b and 3 is visible. You would like to make 4 visible without losing focus on 1? Then yes, that's not possible.