Re: Draft 1.9b - some comments

[Matthias Ettrich <ettrich troll no>]

On Tue, 26 Oct 1999, John Harper wrote:
> Matthias Ettrich writes:
> |The property isn't complete, though. What's still lacking is a
> |read-only property on the root window, created by the window manager,
> |that propagates the maximum rectangle that can be used by applications
> |( i.e. the geometry a maximized window on a certain desktop would get ).
> |
> |What about _NET_WM_MAX_WINDOW_RECT for this purpose?
> 
> Could you clarify what this would be used for? Is there really a
> compelling reason why it's necessary?

The consideration was that
     a) window managers know this property anyway. They have to because they
         must dynamically change maximized windows whenever struts changes.
         Obviously: Imagine a user running a maximized xterm and then 
         starts a desktop panel. The window manager should adapt the size
         of the maximized xterm to give the panel the required reserved space.

     b) so it's easy for the WM to propagate this value

     c) some applications will make use of that, and why shouldn't they?
         It's very easy for MDI applications, they simply ask the window manager
         to maximize their main window. But SDI applications may require some 
         smart application-driven window placement. This is impossible if the 
         application doesn't know how much space is available. 

      d) last point, but valid: MS-Windows supports that, too. Believe me: 
          many customers asked us for a way to get this information in a
          cross-plattform way.


> 
> The reason I ask is that my wm doesn't know the size of a maximized
> window, this is calculated on demand as windows are maximized (it only
> then finds the largest rectangle that doesn't overlap any of the areas
> that should be left uncovered)

I suggest that should be done whenever struts are added or modified. Otherwise
you can't dynamically adjust maximized windows.


> 
> Also, the size of the maximum rectangle may vary depending on the
> window being maximized, though this would be rare, 

Please elaborate. I don't understand this.


Matthias


> 
> 	John
> 
> 
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