how to script the window manager?

[xfce at tstotts.net]

Brian J. Tarricone wrote:
> If you just want a ready-made tool, wmctrl or devilspie should be
> sufficient (and should work with any EWMH-compliant WM).

Have both installed. Devil's Pie is a challenge w/o adequate
documentation; will have to get around to that one. I'd like to avoid
writing C to use libwnck for should be a simple scripting job (though
I could if necessary).

Basically, I want to minimize all windows of an application class, say
APPX, via a keyboard shortcut.  I know how to parse wmctrl's listing
to obtain window IDs or classes for exactly the windows I want to
operate on.

Example:
    #!/bin/bash
    W=`wmctrl -xl |  awk '/0x.* \w+.appx .*/ {print $1}'`
    for win in $W; do
        wmctrl -i -r $win SOMETHING_HERE
    done

However, I cannot find a way to minimize a window.  What attributes
would I add/remove/toggle to accomplish this.  I know that adding or
toggling 'hidden' alone is generally ignored by EWMH WMs as it is an
internal attribute, and not an operation, like 'minimize'.

How does xfwm4 perform a minimization (hide/iconify a window), and how
can I reproduce it on demand from a script?

Any recommendations / examples are greatly appreciated.

Regards,
timotheus