Creating a Shortcut to Toggle Wireframe and Solid Display for a Singular Mesh with a Single Key Press

Question

I want to hotkey the display as wireframe for an individual mesh with a keystroke, and then on the next press, it will go back to solid. I've tried to create a shortcut, but all I get is the "Display As" selection menu at the bottom. I know so little and have tried everything I could think of, from looking at the code editor and switching the menus, to copying and pasting the information from there, but to no avail.

Answer 1

It looks like you have to script a custom operator for this. It's just one line that changes the Viewport Display > Display As setting: bpy.context.object.display_type = 'WIRE'

To execute this with a shortcut you need to create a custom operator (class ToggleDisplayAsOperator(...):) and assign a shortcut to it. Since you don't want to run the script for the operator every time you start Blender, you have to create a little add-on. (It's the bl_info = { ... } part.). The add-on can also register the shortcut for you. (It's done at the end of the script.)

Once the operator is registered (ID object.toggle_display_as_operator, display name "Toggle Display As Operator") you can find it using the search (main menu Edit > Operator Search ... and Menu Search ... F3). In the User Preferences you can change the assigned shortcut (Shift+V) anytime.

Here is the complete little add-on. It's based on the related question How do I give operators of my addon the "Assign Shortcut" button?

import bpy

bl_info = {
    "name": "Your Addon Name",
    "author": "Author Name",
    "version": (0, 1),
    "blender" : (2, 80, 0),
    "location": "",
    "warning": "",
    "wiki_url": "",
    "tracker_url": "",
    "category": ""
}

class ToggleDisplayAsOperator(bpy.types.Operator):
    """Tooltip"""
    bl_idname = "object.toggle_display_as_operator"
    bl_label = "Toggle Display As Operator"
    
    def execute(self, context):
        # toggle the 'Displays As' setting between textured and wire 
        if bpy.context.object.display_type == 'TEXTURED':
            bpy.context.object.display_type = 'WIRE'
        elif bpy.context.object.display_type == 'WIRE':
            bpy.context.object.display_type = 'TEXTURED'
        return {'FINISHED'}


addon_keymaps = []

def register():
    bpy.utils.register_class(ToggleDisplayAsOperator)
    
    # Add the hotkey
    wm = bpy.context.window_manager
    kc = wm.keyconfigs.addon
    if kc:
        km = wm.keyconfigs.addon.keymaps.new(name='3D View', space_type='VIEW_3D')
        # shortcut SHIFT+V
        kmi = km.keymap_items.new(ToggleDisplayAsOperator.bl_idname, type='V', value='PRESS', shift=True)
        addon_keymaps.append((km, kmi))

def unregister():
    bpy.utils.unregister_class(ToggleDisplayAsOperator)
    
    # Remove the hotkey
    for km, kmi in addon_keymaps:
        km.keymap_items.remove(kmi)
    addon_keymaps.clear()

if __name__ == "__main__":
    register()

(copy the script into a text file, change the file extension to *.py, and you can install it.)