config.md

Sound Switcher Indicator: Configuration

Preferences dialog

Most aspects of the indicator can be configured using the Preferences… menu item which opens the corresponding dialog.

General tab

Allows for hiding input and/or output sections from the menu.

Devices tab

Makes it possible to change the way how and whether devices and their ports are displayed. The Refresh button in the top right corner reloads the Devices and the Ports lists.

Configuration file

The indicator can also be configured by using a JSON configuration file, whose default location is ~/.config/indicator-sound-switcher.json.

When editing the configuration file, make sure the indicator application isn't running, because the file will be overwritten otherwise!

If this file is present, the following items can be configured:

Name	Type	Default	Description
show_inputs	boolean	true	Whether to show the "Inputs" section (and all the input ports) in the menu.
show_outputs	boolean	true	Whether to show the "Outputs" section (and all the output ports) in the menu.
devices	object		Provides configuration items for a specific device.
devices/(name)/name	string		Allows to use a different display name for the device.
devices/(name)/ports	object		Provides configuration items for the device's ports.

The devices object contains configuration objects for each device. The name to be used is the PulseAudio's card name, which can be seen in the debug output of indicator-sound-switcher -vv. In the below example it's alsa_card.pci-0000_00_08.0:

DEB   + Card[0] added: `alsa_card.pci-0000_00_08.0`

The ports object of the device configuration allows to further configure a specific device port in the menu. Likewise, the port's name can be found in the debug output, for example:

DEB     + Card port added: `analog-output-speaker` (`Speakers`); priority: 10000; direction: 1; available: No

Here analog-output-speaker is the port name and Speakers is what will be displayed in the menu by default.

The configuration of the port is an object providing the following elements (all are optional):

Name	Type	Default	Description
visible	boolean	true	Whether the corresponding menu item is visible.
name	string		Alternative display name for the port (menu item text).
preferred_profile	string		Profile name to switch to by default when the menu item is selected. If not given, and the currently selected profile doesn't support this port, a profile with the maximum priority will be picked.
always_available	boolean	false	If true, the corresponding menu item will be displayed disregarding whether or not the port is available.
shortcut	string		Global keyboard shortcut for switching to this port

Here's a sample configuration file:

{
    "show_inputs": false,
    "show_outputs": true,
    "devices": {
        "alsa_card.pci-0000_00_06.0": {
            "name": "My lovely card",
            "ports": {
                "analog-output-speaker": "Boombox",
                "iec958-stereo-output": false,
                "analog-input-microphone": {
                    "name": "Mike",
                    "preferred_profile": "output:analog-stereo+input:analog-stereo",
                    "always_available": true,
                    "shortcut": "<Primary><Alt>7"
                }
            }
        },
        "alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1": {
            "name": "HDMI Audio"
        },
        "virtual": {
            "sinks": {
                "combined": "All at once",
                "network": {
                    "name": "Kitchen computer"
                }
            }
        }
    }
}

It says that:

• The Inputs section will be hidden.
• The device alsa_card.pci-0000_00_06.0 will be referred to as My lovely card, and
  • Its speaker output will be called Boombox,
  • Its S/PDIF port will be hidden from the menu,
  • Its microphone input will be called Mike, activate the duplex (input+output) profile when selected, and be shown even when isn't available. You can switch to it using the Ctrl+Alt+7 key combo.
• The device alsa_card.pci-0000_01_00.1 will be named HDMI Audio in the menu items.
• For the rest all the defaults will apply.