jla@AI.MIT.EDU (Joseph Arceneaux) (06/27/89)
NOTE TO ADMINISTRATORS: I've twice requested to be added to this list via xpert-request with no apparent results. There was some discussion about this recently, and I'd like to make sure I understand what's going on, since (about 3 months ago) the source of at least a couple of window managers (including uwm) seemed incorrect. The way the size hints should work in an application, it seems to me, is that if size and position are specified in the geometry then I can set USPostion and USSize and the window will appear in the correct position with the correct size. Setting USPosition and PSize should mean that the window will appear at the correct position, but that the user will be prompted for the size. Setting PPosition and USSize means the window will appear with the correct dimensions, but the user is prompted for placement. And setting PPosition and PSize means prompting for both will occur. Is this the intended behaviour?
converse@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Donna Converse) (06/27/89)
> NOTE TO ADMINISTRATORS: I've twice requested to be added to this list > via xpert-request with no apparent results. Sorry that no one has gotten back to you -- much of our staff is away, attending standards meetings, Xhibition, or on vacation. The xpert mailing list consists almost entirely of redistribution addresses, and it is provided for sites that do not have access to the newsgroup comp.windows.x. If you cannot subscribe to the newsgroup comp.windows.x, first check with your site administrator to see if there is already a local distribution list for your site, and have your email address added to that list, before sending a request to xpert-request@expo.lcs.mit.edu. At your particular site, wheaties.ai.mit.edu, the local distribution list is xpert-dist@wheaties.ai.mit.edu; please make your request to the administrator of that list. Donna Converse converse@expo.lcs.mit.edu
kit@EXPO.LCS.MIT.EDU (Chris D. Peterson) (06/28/89)
> ...Is this the intended behaviour?
Nope, this sounds like one of the many bugs in uwm. Remember that the
USSize, USPosition, PPosition, and PSize are just hints to the window manager,
it can choose to ignore them if it desires, although this is not very nice
behavior. The ICCCM (Inter-Client Communications Conventions Manual) was
written to try to define what the expected behavior is with these an many
other inter-client conventions. A copy can be picked up anonymously from
expo.lcs.mit.edu.
Chris D. Peterson
MIT X Consortium
Net: kit@expo.lcs.mit.edu
Phone: (617) 253 - 9608
Address: MIT - Room NE43-213jla@AI.MIT.EDU (06/28/89)
Date: Tue, 27 Jun 89 13:06:13 -0400
From: Chris D. Peterson <kit@expo.lcs.mit.edu>
> ...Is this the intended behaviour?
Nope, this sounds like one of the many bugs in uwm. Remember that the
USSize, USPosition, PPosition, and PSize are just hints to the window
manager, it can choose to ignore them if it desires, although this is
not very nice behavior. The ICCCM (Inter-Client Communications
Conventions Manual) was written to try to define what the expected
behavior is with these an many other inter-client conventions. A copy
can be picked up anonymously from expo.lcs.mit.edu.
Chris D. Peterson
MIT X Consortium
The ICCCM is not as clear on this point as it could be. It basically
says that these hints are to let the window manager know if the
size/position was specified by the user or the program (even these
terms are somewhat misleading--`user' specified appears to mean via
-geometry or similar, whereas `program' specified seems to mean `program
default' which results in window manager prompting (rubber-banding)).
An example in the ICCCM would be most helpful.
Nevertheless, I think the behavior I suggested would be reasonably
nice, allowing combinations of interactive prompting and application
control.swick@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Ralph R. Swick) (06/30/89)
Date: Mon, 26 Jun 89 13:01:36 EDT
From: jla@ai.mit.edu (Joseph Arceneaux)
The way the size hints should work in an application, it seems to me,
is that if size and position are specified in the geometry then I can
set USPostion and USSize and the window will appear in the correct
position with the correct size.
Setting USPosition and PSize should mean that the window will appear
at the correct position, but that the user will be prompted for the size.
Setting PPosition and USSize means the window will appear with the
correct dimensions, but the user is prompted for placement.
And setting PPosition and PSize means prompting for both will occur.
Is this the intended behaviour?
This is one perfectly acceptable implementation (and I'm personally
inclined to think the most useful one :-), but there are others.
There is no single intended behaviour, only an interpretation of
what "user specified" and "program specified" actually mean. For
help on the interpretation you can see the Inter-Client Communications
Conventions.
Uwm's behaviour was established Long Ago and did not include
the idea of pre-specified position and a user-variable size, so
this particular wm implementation disallows that case. I wouldn't
necessarily call this a "bug", though uwm _is_ certainly full of them.