Application window geometry specifier

[Chris Angelico]

On Wed, Jan 13, 2021 at 6:18 AM Igor Korot <ikorot01 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi, Grant,
>
> On Tue, Jan 12, 2021 at 12:47 PM Grant Edwards
> <grant.b.edwards at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > On 2021-01-12, Rich Shepard <rshepard at appl-ecosys.com> wrote:
> > > On Tue, 12 Jan 2021, Igor Korot wrote:
> > >
> > >> Keep in mind that if you target Linux, the "modern" window server
> > >> (Wayland) will not allow user code to decide the positioning and size of
> > >> the TLW.
> > >
> > > Igor,
> > >
> > > I suspect that Slackware will continue with X11.
> >
> > And those X11 users will swear at you if you override their window
> > managers configured window placement. Application code should not care
> > about or try to control window geometry. Period.
>
> I have a very strong argument against it!!
>
> Imagine you are developing an application that need to communicate
> with the database.
> Also imagine this application will be used by millions of users inside
> different companies.
>
> SInce the application will require DB access you will need a dialog to
> ask for credentials.
>
> I, personally, would be very surprised if such dialog would appear
> somewhere at the bottom of the screen,
> as dialogs ARE TLWs (top level windows).
>
> Wouldn't you?

Yes, I would too - because I have my window manager configured to
place that dialog where *I* want it, not where the application
developer chose to put it.

> So why I somewhat agree with such a notion - it is not always a useful feature.
> Also, such an algorithm better allow me to save and restore the
> geometry of the TLW.

Why save and restore the geometry when the window manager can do a
better job of positioning it? Give the WM the hints it needs, then let
it figure out the placement.

Consider that the last time your window was opened, I might have had
one 1366x768 monitor, but now I have four - 1920x1080, 1920x1080,
1280x1024, and 1600x900. Where should your dialog go? Not your
problem, because my WM knows and understands.

(That's actually a 100% realistic scenario, given that I'm usually on
my desktop system, but occasionally I'll be on my laptop, SSH'd in
with X11 forwarding.)

ChrisA