[Lazarus] Linux Window Manager Enhancements

[Den]

Please don't say XLib does not, when in fact it does, and I have used it 
for that purpose. You can use it provides hints to the Window Manager 
(hence the WM). Don't just say shit like "does NOT" if you don't know 
for sure man. You could say "I'm not sure" or "XLib as far as I know", 
etc. I *have* used it for _NET_WM commands. Quite common actually, 
INCLUDING _NET_WM_STATE.

- Dennis

On 2015-10-28 07:02 PM, Anthony Walter wrote:
> Actually XLib does NOT provide control over layering windows, input 
> focus, z-order, virtual desktops. It's the window manager (KWin, 
> Compiz, Metacity, IceWM, and so on) which handles this.
>
> As such, with some tookits and window manager combinations it's not 
> possible to do certain things without special code to work around 
> specific combinations of both. For example, when writing a Gtk2 
> application with Compiz it's not possible to alter the z-order of your 
> application, ie bringing it to the foreground and/or activating it. 
> XLib won't help you with this.
>
> But the good news is that most all window managers expose window 
> management functionality through a common protocol: NetWM
>
> For example the _NET_WM_STATE message can be used to reorder the stack 
> of application windows above or below one another (bringing your 
> application to the top). It can be used to make your window sticky (to 
> appear in the same place in all workspaces).
>
> The _NET_ACTIVE_WINDOW can be used to find application window with 
> input focus. It can also be used to give input focus to another 
> application window.
>
> These are all thing which XLib doesn't cover, and areas where Lazarus 
> and some toolkits/window managers struggle with parity. That is, 
> without a common protocol like NetWM.
>
> Anyhow, if anyone is still interested, I've written a Free Pascal unit 
> to interface with the NetWM protocol. So far I've tested it with Gtk2 
> on Compix with the following functionality:
>
> Show/hide desktop [x] works
> Switch workspace [x] works
> Sticky/unsticky a window [x] works
> Move window to a different workspace [x] works
> Cycle various application z-orders [x] works
>
> I will implement a few more functions and then post the unit to 
> github. I'd like to get application activation, bypassing window 
> animations, and a few other features working. When posted if people 
> with different window managers (KDE's KWin) want to test it, that 
> would be great.
>
>
> --
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