[xmonad] insertPosition and transient floating windows

[Peter Jones]

I love that insertPosition can keep new windows from going into the
master area, but there's one small annoyance w.r.t. transient floating
windows.

I'm using `insertPosition Below Newer` with `composeOne`. When a
password dialog appears, and the master window previously had the focus,
the dialog gets focused and is put in the center of the screen. That
part is perfect.

The problem comes when I dismiss the dialog. At that point I would
expect the master window to regain focus, but one of the slave windows
does instead. Of course, removing `insertPosition` fixes my issue.

This is what I have in my configuration in an attempt to avoid this
issue:

composeOne
[ pure True -?> insertPosition Below Newer
, isFloating -?> doCenterFloat
]

`isFloating` comes from XMonad.Hooks.FadeWindows and I have it in there
hoping to *not* apply `insertPosition` when the current window is
already floating.

Any suggestions?

[adam vogt]

Hi Peter,

It looks like composeOne picks the first action that matches. So I think
you'll get what you describe from:

composeOne
[ isFloating -?> doCenterFloat

, pure True -?> insertPosition Below Newer
]


You've given me an idea for a new contrib module: specifying which window
gets focus after the last one closes should be done in contrib... sort of
the opposite of InsertPosition. I think doing that reliably involves a
handleEventHook. I think the event to watch would be ones with the
DestroyWindowEvent constructor and nothing relevant turns up when I grep
contrib, so it probably hasn't been written yet.

Regards,

Adam

Post by Peter Jones
I love that insertPosition can keep new windows from going into the
master area, but there's one small annoyance w.r.t. transient floating
windows.
I'm using `insertPosition Below Newer` with `composeOne`. When a
password dialog appears, and the master window previously had the focus,
the dialog gets focused and is put in the center of the screen. That
part is perfect.
The problem comes when I dismiss the dialog. At that point I would
expect the master window to regain focus, but one of the slave windows
does instead. Of course, removing `insertPosition` fixes my issue.
This is what I have in my configuration in an attempt to avoid this
composeOne
[ pure True -?> insertPosition Below Newer
, isFloating -?> doCenterFloat
]
`isFloating` comes from XMonad.Hooks.FadeWindows and I have it in there
hoping to *not* apply `insertPosition` when the current window is
already floating.
Any suggestions?
--
Peter Jones, Founder, Devalot.com
Defending the honor of good code
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[Peter Jones]

Post by adam vogt
It looks like composeOne picks the first action that matches. So I think
composeOne
[ isFloating -?> doCenterFloat
, pure True -?> insertPosition Below Newer
]

I tried switching the order and I get the same issue. From what I can
tell, it looks like `insertPosition` is getting applied with every new
window. Perhaps `isFloating` isn't working from a manage hook because
it's the manage hook that is floating the window in the first place.

[Peter Jones]

Post by Peter Jones
I'm using `insertPosition Below Newer` with `composeOne`. When a
password dialog appears, and the master window previously had the focus,
the dialog gets focused and is put in the center of the screen. That
part is perfect.
The problem comes when I dismiss the dialog. At that point I would
expect the master window to regain focus, but one of the slave windows
does instead. Of course, removing `insertPosition` fixes my issue.

I was finally able to write a configuration to get insertPosition to
work the way I want. I moved all my manage hooks into composeOne and
added the transience manage hook. Here is my final manage hook:

manageHook :: ManageHook
manageHook = manageDocks <> composeOne
[ -- Some application windows ask to be floating (I'm guessing) but
-- it's stupid to float them.
title =? "HandBrake" -?> normalTile

-- HandBrake file dialog asks for crazy sizes.
, className =? "Handbrake" <&&> isDialog -?> forceCenterFloat

-- Force dialog windows and pop-ups to be floating.
, isDialog -?> doCenterFloat
, stringProperty "WM_WINDOW_ROLE" =? "pop-up" -?> doCenterFloat
, className =? "Gcr-prompter" -?> doCenterFloat
, transience -- Move transient windows to their parent.

-- Tile all other windows using insertPosition.
, pure True -?> normalTile
]
where
normalTile = insertPosition Below Newer