[vox-tech] "bring to front" X-window command

[Peter Jay Salzman]

On Fri 24 Sep 04,  1:44 PM, Mark K. Kim <lugod at cbreak.org> said:
> On Fri, 24 Sep 2004, Peter Jay Salzman wrote:
> 
> > Mark, I think that is true.  Window stacking is a function of the window
> > manager.  Determining which part of a window needs to be refreshed when it
> > gets 'dirty', I think, is the responsibility of the wm.
> 
> A window can request to the window manager for various things.  Like where
> to be placed when it first comes up.  So there's *some* facility for
> communication.
> 
> > Also, my gimp doesn't bring the window to the foreground when I take a
> > screenshot.
> 
> Got me curious I booted up Linux, and you're right -- it doesn't bring the
> window up.  xv doesn't either.  GIMP does bring window to the front under
> Windows but I guess that doesn't mean anything here.
> 
> Try this instead: Fire up xmms, shuffle it to the back.  Right-click on
> the program and it'll pop up a menu.  From [Options], select "Always on
> Top".  That'll bring the program to the front even if it's in the back.
> 
> So there seems to be *some* facility for programs to request some sort of
> shuffling to the window manager.  XMMS even knows how to move itself and
> detect screen edges, functions you'd think are only available to the
> window manger.  It's doing it *somehow* in some generic X way without
> angering the window manager.  I don't program X directly (not really,
> anyway) so I couldn't tell you how that happens, though.
> 
> > But even if it did, how do you know that the request was made to
> > X and not the window manager?
> 
> It would have to go through the window manager.  I didn't say it didn't.
> 
> > Maybe it sends signals to the window manager
> > via X.
> 
> Which is what Jonathan was looking for -- a non-WM-specific way to bring a
> window to the front.  Something that works with ALL window managers (or at
> least the nicely behaving ones) that isn't E-specific or KDE-specific or
> whatever.  He doesn't care if the request goes through the window manager
> or not.
> 
> -Mark

Yeah - I was thinking that it was a general mechanism for IPC rather than a
"low level xlib call".  I thought you were advocating that there was a
specific xlib call for window stacking, which I didn't think was right.
Seems like that would be achived by a general IPC method.

However, it looks like I was *completely* wrong.


Jon, your xlib calls are:

   XRaiseWindow(Display *display, Window w);

   XLowerWindow(Display *display, Window w);


Pete

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