Re: api for programmatically getting a list of all windows

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Am 18.09.2012 um 08:25 schrieb Dan Hitt:

> On Sun, Sep 16, 2012 at 10:38 PM, Germán A. Arias <german@xelalug.org> wrote:
>> El dom, 16-09-2012 a las 22:31 -0700, Dan Hitt escribió:
>>> I would like to programmatically get a list of all windows on
>>> my screen in a gnustep application.
>>> 
>>> I suppose i could shell out and call
>>>   xwininfo -tree -root
>>> and then parse the output, but i imagine there must
>>> be a much more systematic way to do this involving
>>> standard gnustep classes.
> .....
>>> 
>> 
>> NSArray *allWindows = [NSApp windows];
> 
> Thank you Germán.
> 
> Now, please correct me where i'm wrong, but i believe that
> the windows method only returns the windows in your application,

yes. It may not even return all windows of one application (e.g. floating 
panels. menus).

> but not in other applications, or
> non-application x-windows programs.
> 
> I would like a list of all the windows on the screen, from all sources:
> the current application, other gnustep applications, and all the xwindows
> as well.
> 
> I do recognize that there can only be less information available about
> other applications, and even less for non-gnustep windows.
> 
> I imagine that i can code something up, either parsing xwininfo or calling
> xlib routines directly, or something along those lines.
> 
> But before embarking on that sort of journey i would like to know if
> there's a more systematic way of doing this.  (The main pieces of
> information i'd like to know about each window is what its placement
> and dimensions are, and something about what it is.)
> 
> TIA for any info.

look for NSWindowList() as the "official" API.

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnustep/2006-10/msg00054.html

Nikolaus