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Allow applications to draw content in the KWin titlebar

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MirceaKitsune
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This suggestion kicked off after recently dealing with Client-Side-Decorations in GTK3 applications and having to install a patch called GTK3-noCSD. It's additionally relevant now that KDE just implemented what it calls the hamburger menu, which seems like a step in the right direction.

I feel it's legitimate to ask whether the time has come to support applications being allowed to draw menu / tab / toolbar items directly in the KWin titlebar. This is one of the few features of modern desktops KDE doesn't yet offer, with Gnome being a common example of it: It allows applications to draw special items right in place of the window title, which can host tabs or search fields or backward / forward buttons or anything else. I'd also reference the many Chromium / Firefox KDE users who've been dreaming for years about having the ability to make their browser tabs show up in the window titlebar for extra space.

Image

I'm not sure how such a system would work under the hood, though I do know some of the basics have already been done; We have the Application Menu titlebar button, which allows putting the menu bar of Qt and GTK applications in a button or even a plasma widget... we could thus start by offering the option to draw the titlebar on the KWin decoration. If we're talking more complex widgets then it may be a different story: Applications need a way to tell KWin they want it to draw things like a search field or custom button in the titlebar, which may require changes to how Qt and GTK decorations communicate to window managers to request drawing application content. Such a framework should already exist: I'd once more point to the Firefox browser which knows to tell a compatible window manager that it wants its tabs drawn in the title bar.
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MirceaKitsune
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The Feren OS Dev from the bug tracker pointed out an initiative in this regard called DWD.

https://kver.wordpress.com/2014/10/25/p ... ecorations

That's exactly what I was hoping for! I assume it may not work with existing Aurorae themes and many changes may be needed, yet it would achieve the goal of a customizable window manager as I imagine it. Sadly that article is from 2014 (qt4 days): I have no idea if during the last 6 years there's been any real progress or the whole thing was left dying.
Lachu
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I see this could work in this way:
When mouse cursor are above window, we display app widgets on titlebar. When mouse cursor are outside window, we do not display app widgets on titlebar. This makes sense, because when user interact with app, so mouse cursor are above window, it known, to which app the window belongs.

Also, when window is maximized, we always drawn widgets on titlebar.


Lachu, proud to be a member of KDE forums since 2008-Nov.


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