Re: Minimized Cocoa windows say that kAXMainAttribute can't be set
Re: Minimized Cocoa windows say that kAXMainAttribute can't be set
- Subject: Re: Minimized Cocoa windows say that kAXMainAttribute can't be set
- From: Guy Fullerton <email@hidden>
- Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2003 13:54:25 -0800
On 3/19/03 2:20 AM, "Matt Gough" <email@hidden> wrote:
>
OK, so what this comes down to is - Conceptually, why can't a minimized
>
window be main? What is the UI reasoning behind this?
The main window of an application must be one that the user can interact
with. A minimized window cannot be interacted with. Therefore, a window
cannot be both main and minimized.
Or, from another direction: A user must be able to glance at the screen and
tell which window is main. If the main window was only represented by a
minimized dock tile (which might not even be visible if the user chooses to
hide the dock), the user could not easily determine which window is main.
>
After all:
>
>
1. It can be unminimized and then made main
>
>
2. When being unminimized from the Dock, it automatically becomes main
>
straight away (i.e. the user doesn't have to do that in two stages)
>
>
3. Likewise, when a minimized window is selected from the owning
>
application's own Windows menu, it is also made main.
>
>
As such it is surely the expectation of the user that this is the expected
>
behaviour, yet Accessibility enforces this to not be so.
No.
#1 isn't possible via the UI. (At least not as far as I've ever seen. I
could be wrong.)
#2 describes a user action with the syntax of "press the dock icon". It just
so happens that this action invokes the functionality of making the window
un-minimized and making the window main.
#3 describes a user action with the syntax of "choose item Foo from the
Window menu." It just so happens that this action invokes the functionality
of making the window un-minimized (if it is currently minimized) and making
the window main.
And in fact, neither #2 nor #3 will make a window main if the app is
displaying an app-modal dialog.
>
Please try to put fewer roadblocks in the way of developers using AX. Leave
>
it to us to decide what is the most appropriate behaviour for our apps.
Where's the roadblock? If you wish to make a minimized window main, you can
use Accessibility to do the two atomic operations in sequence: Make the
window un-minimized, and then make it main.
I got to the discussion late, so I want to touch on a couple things you said
in another message:
>
But all I am doing is asking if the window COULD be main.
No. You're asking if the window can be made main *right now* in an atomic
operation. In this case, it cannot. Cocoa windows can only be made main if
they are not minimized.
>
Surely that is the
>
purpose of AXUIElementIsAttributeSettable - to see if the element supports
>
such a thing.
No. The purpose of the IsAttributeSettable API is to see if you can change
an attribute's value *right now*.
If you want to see if an element supports an attribute, just look to see if
the attribute name is in the element's attribute list. The fact that
kAXMainAttribute is in the attribute list implies that -- in the right
situation -- the window can be main.
Based on your last response, I get the feeling that you didn't really ask
the question you intended to ask. (After all, you seemed irritated by our
completely true and legitimate answer.) I get the feeling you intended to
ask something like:
1) Can you please add some kind of convenience action or attribute which
allows me to set the main-ness of a window without having to worry about its
minimized (or other) state?
2) I'd like to use the settability of main-ness as an indication of <some
other application or window state>, but I can't because main-ness isn't
settable for minimized Cocoa windows. Unfortunately, there is no direct way
to query <some other application or window state>. Can you please add one?
If so, it would be much more constructive (and less adversarial) to ask your
real question in the first place.
_______________________________________________
accessibility-dev mailing list | email@hidden
Help/Unsubscribe/Archives:
http://www.lists.apple.com/mailman/listinfo/accessibility-dev
Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored.