[c/x11] Window manager icon position hints
 

What do you do when the window manager doesn't take a hint?
I'm running Dtwm on Solaris 7 or 8, and I need to specify where the iconified windows appear on the screen. The WM is not using the hints that I specify. I set the hints prior to requesting iconification and the WM just places them on the top left. I'm doing something screwy but I can't figure out exactly what. I would like to avoid overriding the redirect if possible.

Unfortunately I forgot the name of the set of hints I was using, but it is the one where you can specify what window should be used by the WM for iconification.

Not all X11 window managers are ICCM (if I remember correctly) compliant.
Try your same program with enlightenment, or I think FVWM is pretty compliant. If it works under enlightenment but not under DTWM, it looks like you just found your problem.

Secondly, why do you care where you iconify to?

The project I am working on needs to create a simulation of an existing air traffic control radar system and I need the simulation to behave exactly like the real thing. Wouldn't want the controllers developing bad habits now ;-)

I found the problem I think. I need to give the icon hints AFTER the window has been iconified for it to work. Now I have tons of other problems because when the parent window is iconified the WM forgets where all the child windows were iconified and lines them all up on the side. To boot I think the WM is sending me bad data so that I can't squirrel away the location and reset it after.

FYI this is Kel posting on Acetylenes computer. I'm to lazy to log her out and log myself in and she is here watching me so don't go ballistic.

This is still a problem. It turns out that according to the x11 contract with the WM the client can only hint at the initial positions of icons and windows before they are mapped. I'm not quite sure if mapping is the last time where you can specify it so don't quote me. After that the user and WM control it.

So how can a client control the placement of icons and windows? Well you can spoof the user by generating events... really hackish and I haven't got it working yet. The other problem is that you have to be sure that you have the windows your manipulating on top before you try and generate the spoof events... jeez this is annoying. X11 was never meant to be doing what my company is trying to do... they should be using openGL and develop a real framework the GUIs can use in the simulations.