FVWM: Focus of bold applications and key mapping in fvwm

[Klaus Ethgen]

Hello folks,

for several time now I search for a solution for the following problem.

There are several applications that steal away complete key control from
fvwm so no key bindings works if the window has the focus. Example are
kvm, spicec or several java tools that capture the whole input.
Unfortunately that left me with being unable to switch the desks or lock
the screen or other stuff that I bound to keys in fvwm.

Is there any way to get around that problem and allow fvwm to react to
key bindings even if the bold window/application has the focus?

Similar is the problem of applications to decide them self where to map
to. You can apply the style 'StartsOnPage 2 0, SkipMapping', but firefox
does remap themself directly after the start so the window will end on
the current page.

I miss some style settings to disallow applications to act that bold.

Regards
Klaus

Ps. Just for information, fvwm version 2.6.5.
- --
Klaus Ethgen http://www.ethgen.ch/
pub 4096R/4E20AF1C 2011-05-16 Klaus Ethgen <***@Ethgen.de>
Fingerprint: 85D4 CA42 952C 949B 1753 62B3 79D0 B06F 4E20 AF1C

[Dominik Vogt]

Post by Klaus Ethgen
There are several applications that steal away complete key control from
fvwm so no key bindings works if the window has the focus. Example are
kvm, spicec or several java tools that capture the whole input.
Unfortunately that left me with being unable to switch the desks or lock
the screen or other stuff that I bound to keys in fvwm.
Is there any way to get around that problem and allow fvwm to react to
key bindings even if the bold window/application has the focus?

Sadly, there is no way to prevent applications from grabbing all
keyboard input if they want to. The X protocol does not allow the
window manager to intervene in any way. To fix this, all you can
do is to complain to the vendor to change this. :-(

Well you could try to run a nested X server in a window with xnest
and then run the annoying applications in there. I'm not sure
whether this works, but it's worth a try.

Post by Klaus Ethgen
Similar is the problem of applications to decide them self where to map
to. You can apply the style 'StartsOnPage 2 0, SkipMapping', but firefox
does remap themself directly after the start so the window will end on
the current page.
I miss some style settings to disallow applications to act that bold.

If Firefox really moves the windows around after initial mapping,
the following styles should do the trick:

Style <stylename> FixedPPosition

If the window is also mapped at funny places, one of the following
two styles whould help:

Style <stylename> !UsePPosition, !UseTransientPPosition
Style <stylename> !UseUSPosition, !UseTransientUSPosition

If that does not help, please explain the behaviour that annoys you
in more detail. Note that the initial position of a window is
affected by different styles than the styles used to prevent the
application from doing funny things _after_ the window has become
visible. It is not difficult to override the initial position of
a window, but unfortunately there is a plethora of ways in which an
application can change the position of a window afterwards.

Hm, maybe fvwm should just have a style "DoWhatISay" that would
disable all the freaky, unexpected behaviour that annoys user so
much. ;-)

Ciao

Dominik ^_^ ^_^

[Michael Großer]

Post by Dominik Vogt

Post by Klaus Ethgen
There are several applications that steal away complete key control from
fvwm so no key bindings works if the window has the focus. Example are
kvm, spicec or several java tools that capture the whole input.
Unfortunately that left me with being unable to switch the desks or lock
the screen or other stuff that I bound to keys in fvwm.
Is there any way to get around that problem and allow fvwm to react to
key bindings even if the bold window/application has the focus?

Sadly, there is no way to prevent applications from grabbing all
keyboard input if they want to. The X protocol does not allow the
window manager to intervene in any way. To fix this, all you can
do is to complain to the vendor to change this. :-(
Well you could try to run a nested X server in a window with xnest
and then run the annoying applications in there. I'm not sure
whether this works, but it's worth a try.

The big disadvantage of xnest et cetera is that there is no clipboard
between the applications on the main X server on one side and the
nested applications on the other side.

It prevented me to use nested X servers years before, because applications
without clipboard connection do not make sense, but I didn't make a
large-scale, time consuming action to investigate if clipboards
are nevertheless exist, with a trick somehow.

Post by Dominik Vogt

Post by Klaus Ethgen
Similar is the problem of applications to decide them self where to map
to. You can apply the style 'StartsOnPage 2 0, SkipMapping', but firefox
does remap themself directly after the start so the window will end on
the current page.
I miss some style settings to disallow applications to act that bold.

If Firefox really moves the windows around after initial mapping,
Style <stylename> FixedPPosition
If the window is also mapped at funny places, one of the following
Style <stylename> !UsePPosition, !UseTransientPPosition
Style <stylename> !UseUSPosition, !UseTransientUSPosition
If that does not help, please explain the behaviour that annoys you
in more detail. Note that the initial position of a window is
affected by different styles than the styles used to prevent the
application from doing funny things _after_ the window has become
visible. It is not difficult to override the initial position of
a window, but unfortunately there is a plethora of ways in which an
application can change the position of a window afterwards.
Hm, maybe fvwm should just have a style "DoWhatISay" that would
disable all the freaky, unexpected behaviour that annoys user so
much. ;-)
Ciao
Dominik ^_^ ^_^