[openbox] _NET_WM_STATE_BELOW doesn't work when set by an application

[Mikael Magnusson]

On 5 February 2014 10:42, Danny <danny.smit.0 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 5:59 PM, Dana Jansens <danakj at orodu.net> wrote:
>> On Tue, Feb 4, 2014 at 6:42 AM, Danny <danny.smit.0 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> Hello,
>>>
>>> I'm using the default openbox (on gdm) on CentOS 6.5 and are working on an
>>> application (based on Qt 5.1.1) which tries to set one of its windows to the
>>> background. The application uses the Qt API to achieve this. This should
>>> result in the windows manager flag _NET_WM_STATE_BELOW to be applied to the
>>> window. It seems that openbox doesn't react on this window manager flag.
>>>
>>> To come up with a simple test case, I tried the same with the Qt example
>>> "windowsflags". This results in the same behavior, the window doesn't seem
>>> to be kept below when the application asks for it.
>>>
>>> Additionally testing shows that this also aplies to Openbox 1.5.2, which
>>> is manually compiled from the sources.
>>>
>>> Furthermore, when using the openbox configure to set the specific window
>>> to the lowest layer, it does seem to work as expected, as long as the
>>> application itself doesn't ask to keep the window in the lowest layer.
>>>
>>> Another weird side effect is that the application is able to keep one
>>> window on top. However this doesn't work anymore if the same application
>>> also asks to keep another window below.
>>>
>>> Could this be a bug in openbox? Are there any suggestions how to proceed
>>> with this issue?
>>
>>
>> To change the state of a mapped window, a Client MUST send a _NET_WM_STATE
>> client message to the root window:
>>
>>   window  = the respective client window
>>   message_type = _NET_WM_STATE
>>   format = 32
>>   data.l[0] = the action, as listed below
>>   data.l[1] = first property to alter
>>   data.l[2] = second property to alter
>>   data.l[3] = source indication
>>
>>   other data.l[] elements = 0
>>
>> via http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/1.3/ar01s05.html
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> http://icculus.org/mailman/listinfo/openbox
>>
>
>
> I noticed the Qt library uses xcb_change_property() calls to update
> the windows properties, which seem fine to me and also are working
> properly under gnome2.
>
> Is it correct to assume that if the obxprop command gives the
> following result on the window:
>
> _NET_WM_STATE(ATOM) = _NET_WM_STATE_FULLSCREEN, _NET_WM_STATE_BELOW,
> _OB_WM_STATE_UNDECORATED
>
> The messages are correctly applied and the window is expected to stay
> below the others?

There is not much ambiguity in "MUST send a _NET_WM_STATE client
message to the root window".

-- 
Mikael Magnusson