Applications and layers

[Billy Biggs <vektor dumbterm net>]

  I've had a user request for more explicit layer modes in my
application, and I'd like some comments from this list:

  http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=744951&group_id=64301&atid=506987

  I'm curious about the intended application behavior for setting
_WIN_LAYER and also _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE/STATE_BELOW.

  My thought is that I should not allow these as options to the user,
but rather use them as tools for implementing specific features.  This
user seems to want to have enough command line and run time options to
roll their own application modes.  Is this the role of the application,
or the window manager?  Is it intended that every application have some
-layer option to indicate which layer they should start on?

  Also, is _NET_WM_STATE_ABOVE the same as the "ONTOP" layer?  In KWin,
I set always-on-top from a menu in the title bar, and that seems more
appropriate to me.  I could see this also for below.  If that's true,
then I could remember the layer across sessions and I think that would
be safe, and that might be a good practical use of the _WIN_LAYER hint.

  Finally, I've been doing some running-on-the-root-window code, and I'm
wondering how this relates to WIN_LAYER_DESKTOP.  Should I be setting my
window to that layer if I'm 'running on the root'?  Also, KDE has its
own window for the desktop, will using WIN_LAYER_DESKTOP make sure I'm
above that, or could my window get stuck behind that?  Maybe this is
worthy of another thread.

  Thanks,
  -Billy