[Info-vax] DECwindows: keep a window always on top?

[Rich Jordan]

On Sep 15, 10:56 pm, JF Mezei <jfmezei.spam... at vaxination.ca> wrote:
> >> remove CLOTHES to reply) wrote:
>
> >> > Is there a way with DECwindows/CDE to specify that a window is always on
> >> > top?  I would like some special windows always to be on top and never
> >> > to get covered by other windows.
>
> What you do with your window, and what position you prefer  and how many
> windows you play with is none of my business but...
>
> Window position is really a matter of the window manager. It is the one
> that decides which window has the focus and is fully exposed.
>
> You might wish to look at the source of the CDE/Motif window manager to
> see if there is any resource you could specify to prevent a window to be
> obscured by another.
>
> This has implications with regards to focus. Say you have a clock which
> you want to always be visible. But your Decterm overlaps with the
> clock's window. So when you type in the decterm, it would be the window
> in focus, but it would not be the window on top because your clock would
> be above it. So you get into situations where your cursor is obscured by
> the clock's window.

Way back in the dim dark recesses I recall having my pre-Motif
DECwindows VAXstation allowing windows to be selected for input focus
without moving to the top; one of the window corner widgets did the
popping, but clicking in the window itself would select it without
moving it up.

I think it was a line entry in one of the setup files but I don't have
a record of it; the disk with VMS V5.5-2 and the old DECwindows is
sitting on a shelf these days though the workstation is still in use
(it turned 20 this past August based on purchase date ;)

When Motif came out I put in a call to DEC to find out how to keep
this behavior and was told it was not possible; Motif was 'copying'
aspects of the ms-windows interface as standard and automatic pop on
selection was a mandatory feature of the interface.  I never pursued
it further.