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Add facilities for clients to request toplevel activation

This is a meta issue for discussing toplevel activation/focus requests. I realized we don't have one yet.

Use-cases

Let me know if your use-case doesn't fit in these categories.

An external event happens

Examples:

  • An email/IM client receives a new message
  • A terminal has finished executing a long-running command
  • A software management app notifies about new updates

In all of these cases, the compositor might want to:

  • Directly raise the toplevel
  • Mark the toplevel (e.g. change its item in the task bar to red)
  • If a desktop notification is opened, raise the toplevel when the notification is activated by the user.

On X11, a client can decide to raise its window or to set an urgency hint.

Transferring activation from one client to another

  • User clicks/presses a button in client A
  • In response to this event, client A wants to activate another client (client B)

Example:

  • User clicks on an HTTP link in an e-mail client
  • Web browser opens the link and gets activated

On X11, client B can raise itself directly.

Startup notifications

The compositor might want to display a spinner while a client is starting up.

This was typically done via the startup notification protocol on X11.

Previous proposals

Edited by Simon Ser
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