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Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference

Window Management (CDE)

Reference

Description

Window management refers to the way the window system arranges, displays, and manipulates windows in CDE. The CDE window manager (dtwm) controls the layout of all windows and workspaces.

Guidelines

Required
Application windows should be clearly distinguishable as primary or secondary windows, based on appearance and behavior.

Primary windows include:

  1. Primary window decoration

  2. Primary window management

  3. Window stacking, workspace placement, and minimization, which can be independent of other primary windows

    Secondary windows include:

    1. Secondary window decoration

    2. Secondary window management

    3. Window stacking, workspace placement, and minimization tied to the associated primary window

      4. Required
      Windows that support particular window management functionality must request the corresponding window decoration (for example, a window that can be minimized should request the minimize button).

      Required
      Windows that support any window management functionality (move, resize, minimize, maximize, close, and others) must have a window menu with items for that functionality.

      Required
      Use the CDE window decoration conventions, as shown in Table 31.

      Table 31. CDE Window Decoration Conventions


      		 Border Title Menu Min Max Resize
      Primary window:





      Default Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes .
      Front Panel Yes No Yes . Yes No No
      Secondary window:





      Default Yes Yes Yes No No No .
      Front Panel No Yes Yes No No No

      Required
      Follow the CDE window menu conventions. The following items appear in the window menu if they are applicable to the window or its minimized window icon:

      1. Restore (R)

      2. Move (M)

      3. Size (S)

      4. Minimize (n)

      5. Maximize (x)

      6. Lower (L)

      7. Occupy Workspace ... (O)

      8. Occupy All Workspaces (A)

      9. Unoccupy Workspace (U)

      10. Close (C) Alt F4

        11. Optional
        Applications should provide unique window icons for their primary windows. The window icon image should have a similar appearance to the associated file or Front Panel icon image.

        Optional
        The window icon label should contain the same text as the title of the corresponding primary window or an abbreviated form of it.

        Optional
        The window icon image should have a similar appearance to the associated file or Front Panel icon image.

        Recommended
        Applications should not require or force windows or window icons to be positioned at a particular screen location.

        Recommended
        A secondary window is placed by the application relative to the associated primary window. It should be placed close to, but not obscuring, the component that caused it to be displayed and the information that is necessary to interact with the dialog box.

        Optional
        If a dialog box does not relate to specific items in the underlying window, it should be placed below the menu bar (if there is one) and centered (horizontally) over the work area.

        Recommended
        If a secondary window is allowed to be stacked below its associated primary window (not constrained to stay on top of the primary window), it should be placed such that it is not completely covered by the primary window. This recommendation takes precedence over other placement recommendations.

        Recommended
        If a menu or dialog box is already on display, reinvoking the command that caused it to be displayed should automatically bring that window or menu to the front of the window stack without changing its position on the screen.

        Optional
        Windows that are closely related in supporting a particular task should be placed in a window cluster. Secondary windows are automatically placed in a window cluster with the associated primary window. Windows in a window cluster are stacked together, minimized or normalized together, and kept in the same workspace.

        Required
        Windows should follow CDE window management functionality conventions, as shown in Table 32.

        Table 32. CDE Window Management Conventions


        		 Close Move Lower Min Max Resize
        Primary window:





        Default Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes .
        Front Panel No Yes Yes Yes No No
        Secondary window:





        Default Yes Yes Yes No No No .
        Front Panel Yes Yes Yes No No No

        Required
        Windows that support particular window management functionality should request corresponding window decoration (for example, a window that can be minimized should request the minimize button).

        Required
        Windows that have form-factor constraints should set Window Manager hints for minimum size, maximum size, aspect ratio, and resize increment, as appropriate.

        Recommended
        Maximizing a window should show more content (objects or controls) if appropriate (as opposed to scaling up the sizes of objects and controls).

        Required
        Windows that have Close or Exit functionality should support the window management protocol for Close if there is a window menu. In the case of dialog boxes, the Close item on the window menu should correspond to the Cancel functionality or dialog box dismissal with no further action taken.

        Recommended
        When your application creates a new window, it should come up in the user's current workspace and occupy only that single workspace.

        Recommended
        Application windows that are related to a particular task should move together between workspaces.

        Required
        Support Interclient Communications Conventions Manual (ICCCM) mechanisms for session management of primary windows and key properties.

        Required
        Support ICCCM mechanisms for session management of all associated windows (that is, secondary windows that may include help windows).

        Optional
        Applications should accept messages from the CDE Session Manager that inform them the user is logging out and should save their state at that time.

        Optional
        Applications that have a single primary window that is open at the time the user logs out should restore the primary window, in the workspace last occupied, when the user logs in again.

        Optional
        Save user context wherever possible. For example, applications that support the editing of files should save the state of the file at logout and should restore the file in the application window when the user logs in again.

        Optional
        Applications that have multiple primary windows that are open at the time the user logs out should restore all primary windows, in their respective workspaces, when the user logs in again.

        Essential Related Topics

        For more information, see the Primary Window, Secondary Window, and Window Frame reference pages

        Supplemental Related Topics

        For more information, see the Stacking Order and Window Menu reference pages.

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