Re: Autoplacement hint

[Rob Adams <readams readams net>]

Most window managers will honor an application's request to put the
window at a specific location, which is specified through hints not in
the EWMH, but rather in the original ICCCM on which the EWMH is based.

On Sun, 2003-12-21 at 17:56, Mike McCormack wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> I'd like to add a hint to the EWMH specification to disable autoplacement.
> 
> Currently Wine treats popup windows as unmanaged, so can place them 
> exactly on the desktop. This leads to some problems:
> * when changing desktops, the unmanaged windows don't disappear as they
>    should
> * if a dialog is popped up over an (unmanaged) spash screen, it may be
>    placed under the spash screen in the Z order
> 
> For these reasons, I'd like to make more windows in Wine managed, 
> however this leads to other problems...
> 
> Wine relies on being able to place windows in exact positions on the 
> desktop relative to other windows. Some window managers change the 
> position of windows to make sure they are well distributed around the 
> screen, however this often leads to strange results.
> 
> For example, Word 2000's clippy will appear, with the animation (one 
> window) and the text underneath it (a seperate window) in seperate areas 
> of the screen. (not that I want to use clippy... ;)
> 
> I think these problems can be solved by the addition of a hint to let 
> window managers know that certain windows should not be autoplaced.
> 
> At the same time, I've a way to define which type of autoplacement the 
> window manager should use for a window. (_NET_WM_PLACE_APP_CENTER and 
> _NET_WM_PLACE_SCREEN_CENTER)  These hints are not necessary for Wine, 
> but may be useful for other applications...
> 
> Please let me know if this makes sense, or if there is another way to 
> achieve what I'm trying to do.
> 
> thanks,
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
> Index: wm-spec.xml
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /cvs/icccm-extensions/wm-spec/wm-spec.xml,v
> retrieving revision 1.7
> diff -u -r1.7 wm-spec.xml
> --- wm-spec.xml 16 Dec 2003 13:56:02 -0000      1.7
> +++ wm-spec.xml 22 Dec 2003 01:22:16 -0000
> @@ -1355,6 +1355,30 @@
>   event.
>           </para>
>       </sect2>
> +       <sect2><title>_NET_WM_PLACEMENT</title>
> +       <programlisting><![CDATA[
> +_NET_WM_PLACEMENT, ATOM[]
> +]]></programlisting>
> +        <para>
> +This property contains the placement policy the client wants for this 
> window.
> +Clients wishing to override the window manager's default placement 
> policy SHOULD
> +set this property before mapping the window.
> +        </para>
> +       <programlisting><![CDATA[
> +_NET_WM_USE_PHINTS          /* window manager SHOULD use the program 
> specified
> +                               size and position hints in the ICCCM 
> WM_SIZE_HINTS */
> +_NET_WM_PLACE_APP_CENTER    /* window manager SHOULD autoplace this 
> window in
> +                               the centre of it's parent window */
> +_NET_WM_PLACE_SCREEN_CENTER /* window manager SHOULD autoplace this 
> window in
> +                               the centre of the screen */
> +]]></programlisting>
> +        </para>
> +        <para>
> +Rationale: This property allows an application to indicate to the 
> window manager
> +how to place the window when it is first mapped.  Some applications 
> depend on
> +the window manager not autoplacing a window.
> +        </para>
> +    </sect2>
>   </sect1>
>   <sect1>
>          <title>Window Manager Protocols</title>
> 
> 
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