Protocol xdg_shell_unstable_v5

Interface xdg_shell — create desktop-style surfaces

xdg_shell allows clients to turn a wl_surface into a "real window" which can be dragged, resized, stacked, and moved around by the user. Everything about this interface is suited towards traditional desktop environments.

Request xdg_shell.destroy — destroy xdg_shell

Destroy this xdg_shell object.

Destroying a bound xdg_shell object while there are surfaces still alive created by this xdg_shell object instance is illegal and will result in a protocol error.

Request xdg_shell.use_unstable_version — enable use of this unstable version

Negotiate the unstable version of the interface. This mechanism is in place to ensure client and server agree on the unstable versions of the protocol that they speak or exit cleanly if they don't agree. This request will go away once the xdg-shell protocol is stable.

• version int: None

Request xdg_shell.get_xdg_surface — create a shell surface from a surface

This creates an xdg_surface for the given surface and gives it the xdg_surface role. A wl_surface can only be given an xdg_surface role once. If get_xdg_surface is called with a wl_surface that already has an active xdg_surface associated with it, or if it had any other role, an error is raised.

See the documentation of xdg_surface for more details about what an xdg_surface is and how it is used.

• id new_id<xdg_surface>: None
• surface object<wl_surface>: None

Request xdg_shell.get_xdg_popup — create a popup for a surface

This creates an xdg_popup for the given surface and gives it the xdg_popup role. A wl_surface can only be given an xdg_popup role once. If get_xdg_popup is called with a wl_surface that already has an active xdg_popup associated with it, or if it had any other role, an error is raised.

This request must be used in response to some sort of user action like a button press, key press, or touch down event.

See the documentation of xdg_popup for more details about what an xdg_popup is and how it is used.

• id new_id<xdg_popup>: None
• surface object<wl_surface>: None
• parent object<wl_surface>: None
• seat object<wl_seat>: the wl_seat of the user event
• serial uint: the serial of the user event
• x int: None
• y int: None

Request xdg_shell.pong — respond to a ping event

A client must respond to a ping event with a pong request or the client may be deemed unresponsive.

• serial uint: serial of the ping event

Event xdg_shell.ping — check if the client is alive

The ping event asks the client if it's still alive. Pass the serial specified in the event back to the compositor by sending a "pong" request back with the specified serial.

Compositors can use this to determine if the client is still alive. It's unspecified what will happen if the client doesn't respond to the ping request, or in what timeframe. Clients should try to respond in a reasonable amount of time.

A compositor is free to ping in any way it wants, but a client must always respond to any xdg_shell object it created.

• serial uint: pass this to the pong request

Enum xdg_shell.version — latest protocol version

The 'current' member of this enum gives the version of the protocol. Implementations can compare this to the version they implement using static_assert to ensure the protocol and implementation versions match.

• current: Always the latest version

Interface xdg_surface — A desktop window

An interface that may be implemented by a wl_surface, for implementations that provide a desktop-style user interface.

It provides requests to treat surfaces like windows, allowing to set properties like maximized, fullscreen, minimized, and to move and resize them, and associate metadata like title and app id.

The client must call wl_surface.commit on the corresponding wl_surface for the xdg_surface state to take effect. Prior to committing the new state, it can set up initial configuration, such as maximizing or setting a window geometry.

Even without attaching a buffer the compositor must respond to initial committed configuration, for instance sending a configure event with expected window geometry if the client maximized its surface during initialization.

For a surface to be mapped by the compositor the client must have committed both an xdg_surface state and a buffer.

Request xdg_surface.destroy — Destroy the xdg_surface

Unmap and destroy the window. The window will be effectively hidden from the user's point of view, and all state like maximization, fullscreen, and so on, will be lost.

Request xdg_surface.set_parent — set the parent of this surface

Set the "parent" of this surface. This window should be stacked above a parent. The parent surface must be mapped as long as this surface is mapped.

Parent windows should be set on dialogs, toolboxes, or other "auxiliary" surfaces, so that the parent is raised when the dialog is raised.

• parent object<xdg_surface>: None

Request xdg_surface.set_title — set surface title

Set a short title for the surface.

This string may be used to identify the surface in a task bar, window list, or other user interface elements provided by the compositor.

The string must be encoded in UTF-8.

• title string: None

Request xdg_surface.set_app_id — set application ID

Set an application identifier for the surface.

The app ID identifies the general class of applications to which the surface belongs. The compositor can use this to group multiple surfaces together, or to determine how to launch a new application.

For D-Bus activatable applications, the app ID is used as the D-Bus service name.

The compositor shell will try to group application surfaces together by their app ID. As a best practice, it is suggested to select app ID's that match the basename of the application's .desktop file. For example, "org.freedesktop.FooViewer" where the .desktop file is "org.freedesktop.FooViewer.desktop".

See the desktop-entry specification [0] for more details on application identifiers and how they relate to well-known D-Bus names and .desktop files.

[0] http://standards.freedesktop.org/desktop-entry-spec/

• app_id string: None

Request xdg_surface.show_window_menu — show the window menu

Clients implementing client-side decorations might want to show a context menu when right-clicking on the decorations, giving the user a menu that they can use to maximize or minimize the window.

This request asks the compositor to pop up such a window menu at the given position, relative to the local surface coordinates of the parent surface. There are no guarantees as to what menu items the window menu contains.

This request must be used in response to some sort of user action like a button press, key press, or touch down event.

• seat object<wl_seat>: the wl_seat of the user event
• serial uint: the serial of the user event
• x int: the x position to pop up the window menu at
• y int: the y position to pop up the window menu at

Request xdg_surface.move — start an interactive move

Start an interactive, user-driven move of the surface.

This request must be used in response to some sort of user action like a button press, key press, or touch down event. The passed serial is used to determine the type of interactive move (touch, pointer, etc).

The server may ignore move requests depending on the state of the surface (e.g. fullscreen or maximized), or if the passed serial is no longer valid.

If triggered, the surface will lose the focus of the device (wl_pointer, wl_touch, etc) used for the move. It is up to the compositor to visually indicate that the move is taking place, such as updating a pointer cursor, during the move. There is no guarantee that the device focus will return when the move is completed.

• seat object<wl_seat>: the wl_seat of the user event
• serial uint: the serial of the user event

Request xdg_surface.resize — start an interactive resize

Start a user-driven, interactive resize of the surface.

This request must be used in response to some sort of user action like a button press, key press, or touch down event. The passed serial is used to determine the type of interactive resize (touch, pointer, etc).

The server may ignore resize requests depending on the state of the surface (e.g. fullscreen or maximized).

If triggered, the client will receive configure events with the "resize" state enum value and the expected sizes. See the "resize" enum value for more details about what is required. The client must also acknowledge configure events using "ack_configure". After the resize is completed, the client will receive another "configure" event without the resize state.

If triggered, the surface also will lose the focus of the device (wl_pointer, wl_touch, etc) used for the resize. It is up to the compositor to visually indicate that the resize is taking place, such as updating a pointer cursor, during the resize. There is no guarantee that the device focus will return when the resize is completed.

The edges parameter specifies how the surface should be resized, and is one of the values of the resize_edge enum. The compositor may use this information to update the surface position for example when dragging the top left corner. The compositor may also use this information to adapt its behavior, e.g. choose an appropriate cursor image.

• seat object<wl_seat>: the wl_seat of the user event
• serial uint: the serial of the user event
• edges uint: which edge or corner is being dragged

Request xdg_surface.ack_configure — ack a configure event

When a configure event is received, if a client commits the surface in response to the configure event, then the client must make an ack_configure request sometime before the commit request, passing along the serial of the configure event.

For instance, the compositor might use this information to move a surface to the top left only when the client has drawn itself for the maximized or fullscreen state.

If the client receives multiple configure events before it can respond to one, it only has to ack the last configure event.

A client is not required to commit immediately after sending an ack_configure request - it may even ack_configure several times before its next surface commit.

The compositor expects that the most recently received ack_configure request at the time of a commit indicates which configure event the client is responding to.

• serial uint: the serial from the configure event

Request xdg_surface.set_window_geometry — set the new window geometry

The window geometry of a window is its "visible bounds" from the user's perspective. Client-side decorations often have invisible portions like drop-shadows which should be ignored for the purposes of aligning, placing and constraining windows.

The window geometry is double buffered, and will be applied at the time wl_surface.commit of the corresponding wl_surface is called.

Once the window geometry of the surface is set once, it is not possible to unset it, and it will remain the same until set_window_geometry is called again, even if a new subsurface or buffer is attached.

If never set, the value is the full bounds of the surface, including any subsurfaces. This updates dynamically on every commit. This unset mode is meant for extremely simple clients.

If responding to a configure event, the window geometry in here must respect the sizing negotiations specified by the states in the configure event.

The arguments are given in the surface local coordinate space of the wl_surface associated with this xdg_surface.

The width and height must be greater than zero.

• x int: None
• y int: None
• width int: None
• height int: None

Request xdg_surface.set_maximized — maximize the window

Maximize the surface.

After requesting that the surface should be maximized, the compositor will respond by emitting a configure event with the "maximized" state and the required window geometry. The client should then update its content, drawing it in a maximized state, i.e. without shadow or other decoration outside of the window geometry. The client must also acknowledge the configure when committing the new content (see ack_configure).

It is up to the compositor to decide how and where to maximize the surface, for example which output and what region of the screen should be used.

If the surface was already maximized, the compositor will still emit a configure event with the "maximized" state.

Request xdg_surface.unset_maximized — unmaximize the window

Unmaximize the surface.

After requesting that the surface should be unmaximized, the compositor will respond by emitting a configure event without the "maximized" state. If available, the compositor will include the window geometry dimensions the window had prior to being maximized in the configure request. The client must then update its content, drawing it in a regular state, i.e. potentially with shadow, etc. The client must also acknowledge the configure when committing the new content (see ack_configure).

It is up to the compositor to position the surface after it was unmaximized; usually the position the surface had before maximizing, if applicable.

If the surface was already not maximized, the compositor will still emit a configure event without the "maximized" state.

Request xdg_surface.set_fullscreen — set the window as fullscreen on a monitor

Make the surface fullscreen.

You can specify an output that you would prefer to be fullscreen. If this value is NULL, it's up to the compositor to choose which display will be used to map this surface.

If the surface doesn't cover the whole output, the compositor will position the surface in the center of the output and compensate with black borders filling the rest of the output.

• output object<wl_output>: None

Request xdg_surface.unset_fullscreen

Request xdg_surface.set_minimized — set the window as minimized

Request that the compositor minimize your surface. There is no way to know if the surface is currently minimized, nor is there any way to unset minimization on this surface.

If you are looking to throttle redrawing when minimized, please instead use the wl_surface.frame event for this, as this will also work with live previews on windows in Alt-Tab, Expose or similar compositor features.

Event xdg_surface.configure — suggest a surface change

The configure event asks the client to resize its surface or to change its state.

The width and height arguments specify a hint to the window about how its surface should be resized in window geometry coordinates. See set_window_geometry.

If the width or height arguments are zero, it means the client should decide its own window dimension. This may happen when the compositor need to configure the state of the surface but doesn't have any information about any previous or expected dimension.

The states listed in the event specify how the width/height arguments should be interpreted, and possibly how it should be drawn.

Clients should arrange their surface for the new size and states, and then send a ack_configure request with the serial sent in this configure event at some point before committing the new surface.

If the client receives multiple configure events before it can respond to one, it is free to discard all but the last event it received.

• width int: None
• height int: None
• states array: None
• serial uint: None

Event xdg_surface.close — surface wants to be closed

The close event is sent by the compositor when the user wants the surface to be closed. This should be equivalent to the user clicking the close button in client-side decorations, if your application has any...

This is only a request that the user intends to close your window. The client may choose to ignore this request, or show a dialog to ask the user to save their data...

Enum xdg_surface.resize_edge — edge values for resizing

These values are used to indicate which edge of a surface is being dragged in a resize operation.

• none: None
• top: None
• bottom: None
• left: None
• top_left: None
• bottom_left: None
• right: None
• top_right: None
• bottom_right: None

Interface xdg_popup — short-lived, popup surfaces for menus

A popup surface is a short-lived, temporary surface that can be used to implement menus. It takes an explicit grab on the surface that will be dismissed when the user dismisses the popup. This can be done by the user clicking outside the surface, using the keyboard, or even locking the screen through closing the lid or a timeout.

When the popup is dismissed, a popup_done event will be sent out, and at the same time the surface will be unmapped. The xdg_popup object is now inert and cannot be reactivated, so clients should destroy it. Explicitly destroying the xdg_popup object will also dismiss the popup and unmap the surface.

Clients will receive events for all their surfaces during this grab (which is an "owner-events" grab in X11 parlance). This is done so that users can navigate through submenus and other "nested" popup windows without having to dismiss the topmost popup.

Clients that want to dismiss the popup when another surface of their own is clicked should dismiss the popup using the destroy request.

The parent surface must have either an xdg_surface or xdg_popup role.

Specifying an xdg_popup for the parent means that the popups are nested, with this popup now being the topmost popup. Nested popups must be destroyed in the reverse order they were created in, e.g. the only popup you are allowed to destroy at all times is the topmost one.

If there is an existing popup when creating a new popup, the parent must be the current topmost popup.

A parent surface must be mapped before the new popup is mapped.

When compositors choose to dismiss a popup, they will likely dismiss every nested popup as well. When a compositor dismisses popups, it will follow the same dismissing order as required from the client.

The x and y arguments passed when creating the popup object specify where the top left of the popup should be placed, relative to the local surface coordinates of the parent surface. See xdg_shell.get_xdg_popup.

The client must call wl_surface.commit on the corresponding wl_surface for the xdg_popup state to take effect.

For a surface to be mapped by the compositor the client must have committed both the xdg_popup state and a buffer.

Request xdg_popup.destroy — remove xdg_popup interface

This destroys the popup. Explicitly destroying the xdg_popup object will also dismiss the popup, and unmap the surface.

If this xdg_popup is not the "topmost" popup, a protocol error will be sent.

Event xdg_popup.popup_done — popup interaction is done

The popup_done event is sent out when a popup is dismissed by the compositor. The client should destroy the xdg_popup object at this point.