[Solved] xfce4-pannel activate all windows of group

roginovicci · 2016-07-07 11:39:09

Hi,
I'm using xfce4 pannel with openbox. And I'm using the window grouping option. I'd like to know if there is possible to activate all windows of the group when clicking on it. And the other question is related to the applications which consist of several modal windows, in such case there is only one item in xfce4-pannel and clicking on that item gives rise to only one window of application. Is it possible to activate all windows of selected application?

Many thx in advance!

Last edited by roginovicci (2016-07-08 13:25:36)

ToZ · 2016-07-07 12:45:54

Hello and welcome.

What do you mean by "activate all windows of the group"? What do you want to see happen? What if the windows are on different workspaces?

As for your second question, can you give an example of an application that consists of several modal windows that show up as separate window items in the panel?

roginovicci · 2016-07-07 15:01:38

Thank you for reply.
Let's say I have 2 pdf documents opened with evince, these are grouped into single group "Document Viewer". When I click on it I have a floating menu with selection which document to activate. Is it possible to activate both by double clicking or left buttion click?

As for the second question; there is java application JMOL (www.jmol.org). One may rise console to run special commands by running File->console from main window. After running the command in console of JMOL and switching to other application and rising JMOL by clicking to the item in panel (this is single item for two windows) there is only console rising, not main window of JMOL, to activate main window I need to loop through all the running applications by running alt+tab, and that is annoying.

ToZ · 2016-07-07 16:40:10

Try right-clicking the window button and selecting "Unminimize All".

roginovicci · 2016-07-08 10:00:38

Thank you! But what about second question?

ToZ · 2016-07-08 10:43:37

I downloaded and ran jmol to have a closer look at the issue, and yes, when you open the console window, go to another non-jmol window, then press the jmol button on the panel, only the script window activates. You can right-click the button minimize and then left click the button and both windows will come back.

I'm not sure where the bug is - the java app or in the panel/window manager. I say that it might be a java bug with the application because the main jmol window does not have _NET_WM_NAME/_NET_NAME set (they are blank).

You might consider creating a bug report with the window manager to see what Oliver says - he might have some insight into why this might be happening and whether it is an xfwm bug, an xfce4-panel bug or a bug with the application.

roginovicci · 2016-07-08 11:56:16

Could you please shortly describe the meaning of these variables _NET_WM_NAME/_NET_NAME? Is these variables of such importance for xfce4-pannel?

Using xwininfo I've found the couple of id's of JMOL:

0x2c0006f "AtomSetChooser": ("sun-awt-X11-XFramePeer" "org-openscience-jmol-app-jmolpanel-JmolPanel")  463x482+723+284  +723+284
0x2c00047 "Measurements": ("sun-awt-X11-XDialogPeer" "org-openscience-jmol-app-jmolpanel-JmolPanel")  303x155+804+448  +804+448
0x2c0003c "Recent Files": ("sun-awt-X11-XDialogPeer" "org-openscience-jmol-app-jmolpanel-JmolPanel")  462x194+100+100  +100+100
0x2c00031 "Preferences": ("sun-awt-X11-XDialogPeer" "org-openscience-jmol-app-jmolpanel-JmolPanel")  379x353+766+349  +766+349
0x2c00008 "org-openscience-jmol-app-jmolpanel-JmolPanel": ("org-openscience-jmol-app-jmolpanel-JmolPanel" "org-openscience-jmol-app-jmolpanel-JmolPanel")  1x1+1+1  +1+1
0x2c00007 " ": ("sun-awt-X11-XFramePeer" "org-openscience-jmol-app-jmolpanel-JmolPanel")  1x1+0+0  +0+0

and with the following command:

xprop -id 0x2c0006f | grep _NET_WM_NAME                                                                                                 
_NET_WM_NAME(UTF8_STRING) = "AtomSetChooser"

I see the _NET_WM_NAME is in fact set. Probably I'm using wrong method to determine the current variable value?

roginovicci · 2016-07-08 12:38:59

And, the "right-click the button minimize and then left click the button and both windows will come back" trick doesn't work for me. The method which is work is:
1. After switching to the Jmol and founding only script window apperas, right-click and switch the maximize/unmaximize property.
2. click on button twice. So script window disappears and then it appears again with main window.

This happens because the focus goes to main window when changing the maximize property. If again switch focus to the modal window (script-editor) issue comes back.

The issue is also persist in wine applications. So that is probably OpenBox problem, because in alt-tab dialog each modal window is in list. Not only applications persist but whole list of all windows.

ToZ · 2016-07-08 12:58:44

roginovicci wrote:

Could you please shortly describe the meaning of these variables _NET_WM_NAME/_NET_NAME?

They are part of the EWMH specification and set the name of the window.

Is these variables of such importance for xfce4-pannel?

Looking through the tasklist (window buttons) code though, it appears that they are grouped by class name. But in the case of jmol, different class names are provided:

$ xprop | grep WM_CLASS
WM_CLASS(STRING) = "sun-awt-X11-XFramePeer", "org-openscience-jmol-app-jmolpanel-JmolPanel"

$ xprop | grep WM_CLASS
WM_CLASS(STRING) = "sun-awt-X11-XDialogPeer", "org-openscience-jmol-app-jmolpanel-JmolPanel"

...which might explain why they are not listed as separate group items when you click on the panel button. Yet, if you minimize them all, they all return on the button press.

I'm not sure where the bug sits. It might be a java app bug, it might be a panel bug. The best thing to do would be to file a bug report. As a workaround, clicking the panel button once brings back only one window, but clicking the panel button 3 times brings all the windows back. Not ideal, but a workaround until the issue gets somehow resolved.

roginovicci · 2016-07-08 13:25:10

Switching to xfce4 Desktop Environment I've found the bug is not represented here. All JMOL windows are merged in one item in "alt-tab" list, while as a wrote before OpenBox "alt-tab" list shows full list of windows (2 windows for Jmol). Thus I may conclude this is OpenBox bug/feature. Too sad, I was feeling very comfortable with openbox sad

Thank you ToZ for all the help! The solution is to fully switch to xfce4 Desktop Environment. And the issue is solved.

Xfce Forum

Sub domains

#1 2016-07-07 11:39:09

[Solved] xfce4-pannel activate all windows of group

#2 2016-07-07 12:45:54

Re: [Solved] xfce4-pannel activate all windows of group

#3 2016-07-07 15:01:38

Re: [Solved] xfce4-pannel activate all windows of group

#4 2016-07-07 16:40:10

Re: [Solved] xfce4-pannel activate all windows of group

#5 2016-07-08 10:00:38

Re: [Solved] xfce4-pannel activate all windows of group

#6 2016-07-08 10:43:37

Re: [Solved] xfce4-pannel activate all windows of group

#7 2016-07-08 11:56:16

Re: [Solved] xfce4-pannel activate all windows of group

#8 2016-07-08 12:38:59

Re: [Solved] xfce4-pannel activate all windows of group

#9 2016-07-08 12:58:44

Re: [Solved] xfce4-pannel activate all windows of group

#10 2016-07-08 13:25:10

Re: [Solved] xfce4-pannel activate all windows of group

Board footer