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<!DOCTYPE gsdoc PUBLIC "-//GNUstep//DTD gsdoc 0.6.7//EN" "/usr/GNUstep/System/Libraries/Resources/DTDs/gsdoc-0_7_0.dtd" >
<gsdoc base="WindowFocus">
  <head>
    <title>Window Focus Procedures</title>
    <author name="Adam Fedor">
      <email address="fedor@gnu.org"/>
      <url url="http://www.gnustep.org/developers/whoiswho.html"/>
    </author>
    <version>$Revision: 25538 $</version>
    <date>$Date: 2007-10-29 17:25:10 -0600 (Mon, 29 Oct 2007) $</date>
    <copy>2005 Free Software Foundation, Inc.</copy>
  </head>
  <body>
    <chapter>
      <heading>Window Focus</heading>
      <p>
        This document describes how various events and user actions
	affect window focus of GNUstep applications. This document for
	the most part describes focus changes that occur outside of
	application control, since application window focus changes
	are well described in the class documentation.
      </p>

      <section>
        <heading>Application Focus</heading>
      <p>
      The application can get focus in several ways:
      </p>
      <list>
        <item>Launch from the command line or another app</item>
	<item>Another app looses focus (e.g. by terminating)</item>
	<item>The user switches screens to the one the app is
	displayed on</item>
	<item>Double-click on the application icon</item>
      </list>
      <p>
      The first case does not directly affect window focus (because
      there are no windows at startup). However, as the application
      begins to create and order front windows (including the main
      menu) there will likely be a cascade of focus events generated
      by the window manager for each window ordered in.
      </p>
      <p>
      In the second and third case, the window manager will likely try
      to give focus to the window that previously had it or perhaps to
      some random window based on some internal window manager
      code. GNUstep may ignore this request and try to give focus to
      another window, typically the application's idea of the current
      key window.
      </p>
      <p>
      The last case is handled in the GUI front-end.
      </p>
      </section>

      <section>
        <heading>KeyboardFocus</heading>
      <p>
      The Key window is the window that has keyboard focus and has
      keyboard events sent to it. When an application receives focus,
      the window manager will typically ask one window to take
      keyboard focus (see above, Application Focus).
      </p>
      <p>
      When an application is launched, in many cases, only the application
      icon and main menu may be displayed. In the OpenStep interface,
      neither of these is really supposed to be a key window, and in
      fact, many window managers control the application icon so this
      cannot be made key anyway. In X-Windows, however, there is no
      other way for an application to receive keyboard events unless a
      visible window has been made key. This leaves the main menu.
      </p>
      <p>
      When an application receives focus, or if all the windows in an
      application are closed (see the private method
      [NSWindow-_lossOfKeyOrMainWindow]), then the main menu will request
      keyboard focus (see below).
      </p>
      <p>
      The GUI front-end may function differently to accomadate
      different window manager behavior. Below is a list of the
      changes the front-end makes for different managers and windowing
      systems: 
      </p>
      <deflist>
        <term>WindowMaker</term>
	<desc>
	<p>
	WindowMaker controls the application icon so it cannot
	receive keyboard events. The main menu is made key if there is
	no other window capable of becoming key.
	</p>
	</desc>
      </deflist>
      </section>

      <section>
        <heading>Requesting Keyboard Focus</heading>
      <p>
      A window may request to get keyboard focus in serveral
      instances. The window requests keyboard focus through the server
      method -setinputfocus::
      </p>
      <list>
        <item>If the window asks or is asked to become
        key, through the [NSWindow-becomeKeyWindow] method</item>
        <item>If the window is ordered front and the window is the key
        window.
        </item>
        <item>If during _lossOfKeyOrMainWindow, only the main menu is able to
        become key (for window systems where this is required).
        </item>
      </list>
      </section>

      <section>
        <heading>Window Focus In/Out</heading>
      <p>
      The GUI front-end receives two types of focus events from the
      back-end (through an NSEvent object). Both of these are subsets
      of the NSAppKitDefined event: GSAppKitWindowFocusIn and
      GSAppKitWindowFocusOut.  A FocusIn event can be received for
      several reasons:
      </p>
      <list>
        <item>The window manager deminiaturized the window. The WM
        should really tell the application to do this itself, but many
        WMs don't. In this case the window just posts a notification
        that it happened. </item>
	<item>The application is in the process of hidding. As each
	window is ordered out, the WM may send a focus message
	(spuriously) to the next window in line. In this case the
	message is just ignored. </item>
	<item>If the previous cases do not apply, the window checks if it
	can become key or main and activates the application if it is
	not active. </item>
	<item>If this window is the main menu, it looks for another
	window to become the key window, if possible, through the
	_lossOfKeyOrMainWindow mechanism</item>
      </list>
      <p>
      The back-end should keep track of the last window that requested
      to become key. This can be important in determining whether the
      back-end should send a FocusIn event to a window when it
      receives a signal from the window manager or windowing system.
      Sending a FocusIn event to a window that already requested it,
      may cause focus confusion in the GUI.
      </p>
      <p>
      The front-end does nothing for FocusOut messages.
      </p>
      </section>

      <section>
        <heading>X-Windows messages</heading>
      <p>
      This section describes messages that X-Windows servers and the WM
      generally send to the application. Other window servers may send
      similar messages.
      </p>
      <deflist>
        <term>Take Focus</term>
	<desc>
	<p>
	A message from the WM telling a window it should take keyboard
	focus. If the app is not active, the back-end should send a
	FocusIn event. Otherwise, the back-end should only send a
	FocusIn event to the front end if the message is due to a user
	action, such as a click on the title bar (i.e. the target
	window is not the current key window or the last window that
	requested key status). The back-end may
	also send an event if the window has just been mapped,
	although this is not typically necessary, unless it's due to a
	screen change.
	</p>
	<p>
	In other cases, the back-end should do what is necessary to
	make sure that the last window to request key status receives
	it instead of the one the WM thinks should receive it.
	</p>
	</desc>
        <term>Focus In</term>
	<desc>
	<p>
	A message from the server telling the application that
	keyboard focus has been set for a window. The back-end
	should not send an event to the front-end in this
	case. However, the back-end should use this information to
	determine when to send a message in other cases (e.g. from a
	Take Focus message).
	</p>
	</desc>
        <term>Focus Out</term>
	<desc>
	<p>
	A message from the server telling the application that focus
	has left a window. If the focus has gone to a window that is
	not part of the application, the back-end should tell the
	NSApp to deactivate. Otherwise it should do nothing.
	</p>
	</desc>
      </deflist>
      </section>

    </chapter>
  </body>
</gsdoc>


