Im having a problem that stops me from using workspaces. If I switch from 1 workspace to another (using the compiz cube), when coming back to the first one, the taskbar window order gets lost. It will be a completely different order from before switching workspaces.
I dont use window grouping and usually have 2 rows of windows, 25 - 30 in total. If I order them manually, switching workspaces and coming back results in the order getting changed. Trying "No sort" and "sort manually" show the problem. Sort "Alphabetically" seems to force the order but I dont like that ordering.
I can duplicate the same window order scrambling behavior when switching window managers between Kwin and Compiz. I always run compiz without any other issues.
What can I do to preserve ordering when switching workspaces?

cat /etc/redhat-release
Fedora release 11 (Leonidas)

uname -a
Linux x 2.6.30.5-43.fc11.i686.PAE #1 SMP Thu Aug 27 21:34:36 EDT 2009 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

K Desktop Environment
Version 4.3.1 (KDE 4.3.1)

It is probable that the list of windows is reloaded when returning to the workspace, therefore causing the window list to be redisplayed in what ever order Compiz provides them in.

shouldnt the taskmanager widget take care of remembering the order of the windows when switching workspaces?
Quick testing shows that the window manager keeps track of the z-order of the windows and which ones are minimized. I can switch workspaces and each workspace keeps the z-order of windows. The taskbar order gets shuffled though.
Is there any way of making the taskmanager widget remember the order of windows?

This is a very annoying issue. I couldn't find any references to this behavior while searching. Can somebody else confirm this behavior or its only me having this problem?

It is unlikely that the Task Manager does, as when a window is removed from the list it can see, it does not know if that window is coming back or not, and cannot act accordingly.

How does the Taskmanager widget gets the window list? Does it query the window manager and the window manager gives it a list?
Maybe what is needed is for the taskmanager to tell the window manager of window order changes so when it queries the window manager it receives the list in the order it expects it.
It would make sense if what is happening is that when I reorder the taskmanager window buttons, nothing is being done to the actual windows. When the windows list is reloaded, it will revert to whatever is the real order of the windows.
Is this possible, for the taskmanager to somehow alter the fisical order of the windows so when the list is reloaded is its in the expected order?

Sorry if Im completly wrong. Im dont know how this works internally but Im interested in understanding why this is happening.

I do not know exactly how it works, but I do know that the window list is retrieved from the Window manager, but I think it just provides a list of windows ( probably sorted somehow ) and does not provide a method for the task manager to control how that list is sorted.

Have tried different combinations of window managers and TaskManager settings but it always shuffles the window buttons order when it reloads the window list when switching workspaces or reloading window managers.
Can this be considered a bug?

I dont think is very good for usability when stuff randomly changes order on the UI

This could be considered a bug. However, given that it occurs with more than one window manager it may be an issue with the NETWM specification, and therefore be unfixable.

This problem does not happen under Gnome. If it were a NETWM issue, should it affect Gnome too?

Where can I report this bug?

Since it doesn't affect GNOME, it is probably an issue with the KDE Task Manager applet. Please file a ( bug / feature request ) at bugs.kde.org

Found a BUG report:
[url]
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=200255[/url]

Was going crazy thinking that randomly changing window order didn't bother anyone else

thanks for the help

It appears that fixes for this may be appearing in KDE 4.4.