Bug 286783 - Window Specific Settings dialog has no help function
Summary: Window Specific Settings dialog has no help function
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: kwin
Classification: Plasma
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: 4.7.3
Platform: Fedora RPMs Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: 4.9
Assignee: KWin default assignee
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2011-11-16 14:39 UTC by Nick Cross
Modified: 2012-03-13 20:28 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In: 4.9.0


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Description Nick Cross 2011-11-16 14:39:21 UTC
Version:           4.7.3 (using KDE 4.7.3) 
OS:                Linux

Right click on any window to open the 'Configure Window Behaviour' dialog. Under for instance, 'Arrangement & Access' some of the UI functions are not immediately obvious (e.g. Autogroup in foreground' - what does that mean/do ? ) - it would be useful if there was a help function, be it tooltips or a link to help docs. 

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
See details.

Actual Results:  
See details.

Expected Results:  
Help docs!
Comment 1 Martin Flöser 2011-11-16 15:42:16 UTC
due to string freeze we cannot do anything before 4.9.
Comment 2 Nick Cross 2011-11-16 15:49:52 UTC
Ok. Could you at least tell what the following mean/do:

Autogroup with identical
Autogroup in foreground
Autogroup by ID

and the difference between 

Apply Initially
Apply Now
Remember
Force 
Force Temporarily 

Thanks!
Comment 3 Thomas Lübking 2011-11-16 16:12:34 UTC
On a general note: This is not the user help forum.

-> http://forum.kde.org/

You can also contact this guy: "pablo 'æt' blueoakdb 'døt' com"
He's writing on a extensive documentation on windowrules.
Also "taking the mysteries" out of the rule dialog is an ongoing task.

(Autogrouping refers to tabbing, an the three most important strategies are "force" - window cannot alter this value ever
"apply initially" - window starts with this value and
"remember" - window starts with the value it had on last close)
Comment 4 pablo 2011-11-16 16:37:59 UTC
Howdy,

Thomas is right, I've tasked myself with documenting the feature-rich kwin window rules.  Unfortunately, as a self-employed consultant I have to balance `making money' with `helping out The Cause [tm]'  :)

It's on my to-do to finish what I started:  document the kwin rules.  

Let me address the following - I'll hit the other questions shortly (I'm not sure how much data I have on them):

Apply Initially
---------------
The attributes are changeable by the application and/or end-user after initially set.

Apply Now
---------
Useful when debugging rules.  :)  It's applied only at this instance and never again.  For example, if you're goofing around with a rule and you hork your window, you can create a new rule with `Apply Now' to undo the hork.

Remember
--------
When the application re-starts, `remember' the setting value when we closed the application last.

For example, if you'd like to preserve the position of a window from invocation to invocation, use this matching.

Force
-----
The attributes associated with Force may never be changed by the end-user nor the application.  kwin will ignore the requests.

Force Temporarily 
-----------------
** According to my notes, Thomas is wasn't sure about this setting.  :) **
Comment 5 pablo 2011-11-16 16:56:48 UTC
Howdy,

At the moment, I don't have anything concrete to provide on Autogroup'ing.  Thomas wasn't sure how Autogroup'ing worked and due to time constraints, wasn't able to comb through the code.  :)  On my todo was to empirically test Autogroup'ing in order understand the functionality.

The current believe is Autogroup'ing is driven by Window Class.

If you goof with Autogroup'ing, please flick me an email message with you what you determine and I'll add it to my stack of (electronic) notes.  :)
Comment 6 Thomas Lübking 2011-11-16 23:05:30 UTC
@Pablo
"ForceTemporarily" means "Force on /this/ window, ie. until it's closed. Then the rule is discarded."
Comment 7 pablo 2011-11-17 01:17:27 UTC
Hi Thomas,

Thank you for the additional information.  

When you say "... the rule is discarded.", do you mean it's deleted or logically discarded (i.e. kwin will ignore the rule for any other windows which may match the criteria)?

Merci!
Comment 8 Nick Cross 2011-11-17 09:20:08 UTC
Thanks for the additional information.

I have played with the settings for 
Autogroup with identical
Autogroup in foreground
and I *think* it seems to do the following:

I have created a Window Rule for a Window Class exact match to okular. By overriding 'Autogroup with identical' for Force/True this seems to mean that PDF's will always be grouped. By setting 'Autogroup in foreground' to true *as well* this brings the okular tab group to the foreground when opening a new pdf.

This was testing on a dual monitor single desktop setup.

Hope this helps and can eventually make it into the docs.
Comment 9 pablo 2011-11-17 13:59:54 UTC
Thank you Nick for your help.
Comment 10 Burkhard Lück 2011-11-17 17:54:15 UTC
(In reply to comment #1)
> due to string freeze we cannot do anything before 4.9.

first part of that sentence ("string freeze") is correct, but the conclusion ("we cannot do anything before 4.9") is completely wrong:

1) GUI: If you want to introduce new gui strings (whatsthis, tooltip) ask on the translators list kde-i18n-doc@kde.org for approval. You usually always will get the OK to break the string freeze.

2) Documentation: 
Since two years the doc string freeze rule exists only for everybody except the translation team, see 
http://lists.kde.org/?l=kde-i18n-doc&m=126324708706419&w=2. And the translation team is using the string break policy excessively since 3.4/3.5  with thousands of updated and backported doc strings in every realease. 
In this case (a new documentation) you could add a default Help button (reusing existing gui translation) and a help call for a docbook. Send some plain text info to the doc team kde-doc-english@kde.org, we'll markup it to docbook and translation team can introduce that at any time, even one day before the release date, into 4.8. 

-- 
KDE Translation Team kde-i18n-doc@kde.org
KDE Documentation Team kde-doc-english@kde.org
Comment 11 Thomas Lübking 2011-11-17 18:51:38 UTC
(In reply to comment #7)
> When you say "... the rule is discarded.", do you mean it's deleted or
> logically discarded (i.e. kwin will ignore the rule for any other windows which may match the criteria)?
Completely gone - the rule is only temporary and will in doubt be removed from the kwinrulesrc as well.
Comment 12 Nick Cross 2011-11-18 09:01:30 UTC
As Burkhard says that it would be ok to add documentation could this be considered for a release before 4.9 ? Thanks! :-)
Comment 13 pablo 2011-11-18 11:53:50 UTC
Howdy,

My plan is to write pages for the KDE site so we wouldn't be tied to a particular release.
Comment 14 pablo 2011-11-22 15:34:24 UTC
Howdy,

I spoke with Anne Wilson on the best way for me to get started (iterative documentation writing is what I need) and she's provided me direction.  :)

Once I get Anne's okay that I'm following a proper process, I'll post a link here so folks who are so inclined, can watch the page mature.
Comment 15 pablo 2011-11-22 20:53:32 UTC
For now, the work-in-progress documentation can be found here:  http://userbase.kde.org/Kwin_Rules

Please note that I'll only poke at the documentation as time permits.  :)
Comment 16 pablo 2011-11-23 15:01:14 UTC
Correction:  http://userbase.kde.org/KWin_Rules

(note capitalization of KWin)
Comment 17 pablo 2012-03-02 03:07:05 UTC
Hi Nick,

Recently, I've had a bit of time to work on the KWin Rules documentation.  It needs some final editing (which I hope to get done tomorrow) however please have a look and let me know whether it addresses your concerns.  If so, perhaps we can close this ticket.

Thanks!
Comment 18 Nick Cross 2012-03-05 09:17:52 UTC
Looks good! :-)
Comment 19 Martin Flöser 2012-03-13 20:25:03 UTC
I would say: implemented :-) Thanks a lot for the work on the documentation
Comment 20 pablo 2012-03-13 20:28:47 UTC
(In reply to comment #19)
> I would say: implemented :-) Thanks a lot for the work on the documentation

You're very welcome Martin.  As you know, I'm thankful to you and the team for KWin.

Also, for the record, the documentation would not have been possible for the patience of Thomas Lübking.  I thought he'd strangle me with some of my questions!  :)