Re: Initial window placement

[Philipp Lohmann <Philipp Lohmann Sun COM>]

Am 16.08.01, 16:08:18, schrieb <Sasha_Vasko osca state mo us> zum Thema Re: 
Initial window placement:

> I see wto problem with that approach is:

> 1) Window is likely to get its decorations finalized only after some time
> after its initial mapping. For example many applications set its title
> to be blank initially, and then change it to something usefull right 
away.
> AS the result, window manager may decorate window in some generic way at
> first, and then when title changes, it may recall some presaved settings,
> specific for that title, and redecorate the window. As the result, window
> will be placed in requested position at first, and then slightly moved,
> thus defying the purpose.

That is bad practice anyway because it leads to flickering. But even 
though: why should the window manager not still value the same frame 
geometry setting ? It could change the client window geometry according 
to the new decoration (again it would be possible to change the frame 
geometry if min/max-width/height did not allow for that.

> 2) If window has been placed according to that property, does window
> manager has to keep this placement  during the entire lifetime of the
> window? How should subsequent requests for move/resize be treated?
> How should changes in theme/look that affect size of the frame 
decorations
> be treated? How should changes in window gravity be treated ?

> As per (1) if you don't force that placement to entire lifetime of the
> window, you will not get anything usefull, but if you do so - you run
> into huge pile of other challenges described in (2).

The initial placement need not be forever, that is why the window manager 
should update the property if it was set (e.g. if the user drags the 
window somewhere else). Move/Size requests could still be treated 
according to ICCCM (including gravity), just the property would be 
updated according to the new frame geometry.

This new property would make a difference from previous behaviour only 
one case: initial placement when mapping the window. After that it is an 
additional source of information for the client.

Your concern seems to be what happens, if the client changes this 
property after it is mapped. First it is debatable whether that should be 
allowed. If it were (it is like a move/size request) then again i see no 
real problem: the window manager can easily recalculate the coordinates 
to a normal move/resize request including gravity since he is the one who 
has all information necessary to do so.

Regards, Philipp