Re: resizing with gravity

[Russell Shaw <rjshaw netspace net au>]

Sasha Vasko wrote:
> Russell Shaw wrote:
>
> > Sasha Vasko wrote:
...
> > > Yes and one of this assumption is that app has no control over its 
> > > position on the screen. On X Window platform that is.
> >
> > That's *your* assumption. Whoever writes an app can assume anything
> > they like. If they say their app works best under a WM with specific
> > settings, then so be it.
>
> Yeah, and I can assume that I could freely drive on the left in US. Not 
> for long though.

I lay my own roads;)

...

> > > Its not difficult at all for a client to recognize that there is no 
> > > WM running and take over responsibilities of its own placement in 
> > > such case. Somehow I don't see any noticeable number of applications 
> > > worreing about running without WM though.
> >
> > That's because most users don't do that. It doesn't mean that *no* users
> > do that. Hard coding these kinds of assumptions is why i find practucally
> > all linux desktops and gui toolkits so crappy. They're designed for 
> > clueless casual users migrating from mediocre windoze boxes, and are useless 
> > for doing anything non-trivial. Ok, so a few desktops have all kinds of 
> > configurable parameters. However, they're still very unintuitive to configure
>> for my kinds of things, and hard work to make them do what i want.
> Well, I'm afraid you don't have much choice anyways.

Writing a decent WM isn't hard;)

...

> > What i meant is that ConfigureRequests are passed thru unaltered.
>
> Well, if client is reparented into a frame window - you don't wanna know 
> what will happen if you pass them through unaltered :)

Then the app simply places its windows relative to the top left corner
of the WM frame window, which is a good idea for virtual-root management.
...
> > The solution is exceedingly simple. I tell the WM that this application
> > should have its screen origin at a specifed point on my desktop screen
> > (i just click the mouse somewhere inside a clear area to place its first
> > window when it starts). So whenever the app moves one of its top-level
> > windows, it will be relative to this point. All the top-level windows 
> > have group-leader hints, so they're all treated similarly. I also tell the 
> > WM (with a simple right-click menu) that this is a self managed app. Another
>> way is to tell the wm to create a virtual desktop window that the app can manage
> > itself in, and the whole thing gets a WM border around it.
>
> Dude, all you need it OverrideRedirect window. Manage it yourself all 
> you want.

It's not neccessary. Don't hard-code assumptions into window managers or toolkits
when there's other useable modes of operation. The only time something should be
designed with "most users" in mind, is when setting the factory defaults.