Re: Review: FULLSCREEN_MONITORS Hint

["Dana Jansens" <danakj orodu net>]

On 3/3/08, Grant Patterson <grantp vmware com> wrote:
 > My apologies for not responding to this sooner; it drifted down my
inbox and I
 >  forget there were unanswered emails.
 >
 >  I like this idea. It seems to cover all the cases we've discussed
so far. Here's
 >  a diff for the spec. (It also incorporates Lubos's latest snip.)
What do people
 >  think?
 >
 >
 >
 >      <sect2>
 >                 <title>_NET_WM_FULLSCREEN_MONITORS</title>
 >                 <programlisting><![CDATA[
 >
 > _NET_WM_FULLSCREEN_MONITORS, CARDINAL[]/32


Other hints with a fixed list size would describe this as:
  _NET_WM_FULLSCREEN_MONITORS, CARDINAL[4]/32

 Maybe this should do the same for consistency.


 >  ]]></programlisting>
 >        <para>
 >  A read-only list of 4 monitor indices indicating the top, bottom, left, and
 >  right edges of the window when fullscreened. The indices are from


"when the fullscreen state is enabled" or something might be better
 here.  Fullscreened isn't really an adjective.


 > the set returned by the Xinerama extension.
 >
 >        </para>
 >        <para>
 >  An empty list indicates that the Window Manager will obey normal fullscreen
 >
 > conventions, as if the property did not exist.


Why do you specify this behavior, as opposed to just having the
 property removed from the window entirely?


 >        </para>
 >        <para>
 >  Windows transient for the window with _NET_WM_FULLSCREEN_MONITORS
set, such as
 >  those with type _NEW_WM_WINDOW_TYPE_DIALOG, are generally expected to be
 >  positioned (e.g. centered) with respect to only one of the monitors. This
 >
 > might be the monitor containing the mouse pointer or the monitor
containing the
 >  non-full-screen window.
 >
 >        </para>
 >        <para>
 >  A Client wishing to change this list MUST send a _NET_WM_FULLSCREEN_MONITORS
 >  client message to the root window. The Window Manager MUST
 >  keep this list updated to reflect the current state of the window.
 >        </para>
 >  <programlisting><![CDATA[
 >    window  = the respective client window
 >    message_type = _NET_WM_FULLSCREEN_MONITORS
 >
 >    format = 32
 >    data.l[0] = the monitor whose top edge defines the top edge of the
 >  fullscreened window
 >    data.l[1] = the monitor whose bottom edge defines the bottom edge of the
 >  fullscreened window
 >    data.l[2] = the monitor whose left edge defines the left edge of the
 >  fullscreened window
 >    data.l[3] = the monitor whose right edge defines the right edge of the
 >  fullscreened window
 >    data.l[4] = source indication
 >    other data.l[] elements = 0


There are no other data.l[] elements, only 5.  That said, the data.s[]
 elements should be more than enough and allow for more things to be
 added in the future, but I realize every other hint exclusively uses
 data.l[].  Anyone else have an opinion about this?


 > ]]></programlisting>
 >        <para>
 >  See <xref linkend="sourceindication"/> for details on the source indication.
 >        </para>
 >        <para>
 >  Virtual machine software may use this hint to have a virtual
operating system
 >  instance that sees multiple monitors. The application window stretches over
 >  several monitors, giving the appearance that these monitors have been taken
 >  over by the guest virtual machine.
 >        </para>
 >        <para>
 >  This hint might also be used by a movie or presentation application allowing
 >  users to display the media spanned over several monitors.
 >        </para>
 >        <para>
 >  In both cases, the application would have some user interface allowing users
 >  to configure which monitors the application fullscreens to. The
window manager
 >  need not provide such an interface, though it could.
 >        </para>
 >
 >        <para>
 >  In the event of a change in monitor configuration, the application is
 >  responsible for re-computing the monitors on which it wants to appear.
 >  The window manager may continue using the same monitor indices as before
 >  or simply clear the list, returning to "normal" fullscreen.
 >        </para>
 >         </sect2>


I like this overall :)


 - dana