Shell: GUI for adding windows to the floating list

[domwoolf]

Pop shell does not always correctly identify whether a window should tile. E.g. pop-ups should typically not tile. If the program that generates a pop-up correctly identifies it as such, then Pop-Shell (correctly) does not tile them. However, some software generates pop-ups that are not identified as such. It is extremely useful for the user to be able to specify their desired behaviour for these windows.

Looking through the source code I discovered that Pop-shell does read window-specific rules from a file config.json. Using this I was able to generate by trial and error a json file that sets the "window_shall_float" flag to false for a specified window title.

However, this ability to blacklist windows from tiling is not documented. A useful improvement to Pop-shell would be to either document clearly how users can edit the config file for themselves, or (better) provide a UI interface to choose whether to blacklist a window by adding it to this config.

My config.json file now looks like this:

{
  "float": [
    {
      "class": "Zotero",
      "title": "Quick Format Citation"
    }
  ],
  "log_on_focus": false
}

[mmstick]

If the popup window describes itself as a modal window with a WM_HINT, then it will automatically be ignored for tiling. You'll notice that native GTK and Qt applications typically observe this rule and tile correctly, but applications using Electron do not. Zotero is an Electron application, and therefore it does not set the correct WM_HINT values. So the only way to handle them is to have a list of known windows that should float.

[mmstick]

Also, window_shall_float is not a variable. It's a method. The only two variables in the config are log_on_focus and float right now. The class and title are parsed as regular expressions.

[domwoolf]

Thanks @mmstick for the feedback. Until such time as this enhancement (hopefully) gets applied, is there any chance you could provide an example here of how the config file _should_ look in order to blacklist a window of class= "xxxx" and title = "yyyy"? That would really help document the correct method for myself and others trying to implement it now.

[mmstick]

The values you set for float are correct. Each rule object contains two optional keys: class and title. Setting log_on_focus to true will print the class and title of a window whenever a window is focused.

[mmstick]

You may also submit a PR to add these values our list of defaults

[jmbuhr]

@domwoolf , where does this config.json file live? :)

[domwoolf]

@jmbuhr In my installation the config.json is in ~/.config/pop-shell

[jmmaranan]

I added a #553 - as documentation for this config for #552. But it would be great if someone can work on the GUI in the future.

[mmstick]

I'll work on a GUI soon