Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!brunix!iris.brown.edu!ejd
From: ejd@iris.brown.edu (Ed Devinney)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Floating Windows
Message-ID: <25036@brunix.UUCP>
Date: 10 Jan 90 23:12:21 GMT
References: <18786@bellcore.bellcore.com>
Sender: news@brunix.UUCP
Organization: IRIS/Brown University
Lines: 25

In article <18786@bellcore.bellcore.com> sdh@flash.bellcore.com (Stephen D 
Hawley) writes:
> I need a pointer for making windows that float on top of the rest of the
> world no matter what.  I tried setting GostWindow to the window I wanted
> on top, but that doesn't work.  I want the kind of windows in FullPaint.
> 
> Do i have to dick around with the window list pulling them in front
> constantly?
> 
> Show me the light...

Sadly, you must dick around with the window list to do this.  MacTutor of 
December 1988 has a very nice article by Thomas Fruin describing a decent 
implementation; the source code is available from them on disk and can 
pretty much be dropped into your application with changes only to the 
Window Mgr calls.  It's probably not the be-all-and-end-all of floating 
window libraries, (you have to extend it for CWindows, etc), but it's 
non-tricky (ie, unlikely to break later) and robust enough to be used in at 
least 1 commercial product that I know of.

ed


Ed Devinney ... ejd@iris.brown.edu ... IRIS/Brown University
"My brain?! That's my second-favorite organ!" - Woody Allen