Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!snorkelwacker!bu.edu!orc!decwrl!jumbo!src.dec.com!msm
From: msm@src.dec.com (Mark S. Manasse)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: how do you get correct window position?
Keywords: tough luck
Message-ID: <1990Jun14.091550.1887@src.dec.com>
Date: 14 Jun 90 16:15:50 GMT
References: <9006131913.AA02147@intrepid.itstd.sri.com> <1990Jun14.060559.9821@wrl.dec.com>
Sender: news@src.dec.com (News)
Reply-To: msm@src.dec.com (Mark S. Manasse)
Organization: DEC Systems Research Center
Lines: 24


Unfortunately, you can't do this, at least not with a fully
ICCCM-compliant window manager.  The ICCCM, as adopted, insists
that the placement of a window is specified by a relative positioning
for a corner or edge of the window, including decoration.  There's no
way to specify the absolute position of any pixel of your window.

However, you can compute the difference between where you asked to
pop up initially, and where you showed up.  Since the decoration
geometry for a window will *typically* be unchanged the next time
the same window shows up, you might try adjusting your request
by that difference.  Hania Gajewska and I used that technique to
allow us to move windows back to where they came from in our rooms
manager.  There's no guarantee that it will work, but there's some
hope.

You could, instead, try to figure out which ancestor window is the
frame provided by the window manager, discover its geometry, and then
try to bias by that amount.  I suspect that you would discover that
many ICCCM window managers will still disagree by a few pixels (say,
by a border width or so for that frame window) on exactly where to
place your window.

Mark