Miniwindow Z Order Monitor

(aard_miniwindow_z_order_monitor.xml)

This plugin handles keeping track of the Z ordering of the miniwindow plugins included in the package and any other plugins that choose to use this ordering system.

What is Z-order?

See the Wikipedia entry on Z-order here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-order

How do I make the included miniwindows change ordering?

All of the included miniwindow plugins have right-click menu options 'Bring To Front' and 'Send To Back'.

How do I make my own miniwindow plugins use your Z-ordering system?

If you want another miniwindow to fit into the Z-order system, there are only a few steps (the following assumes that the name of your miniwindow is stored in a variable called win)...

• The name of your miniwindow must only contain numbers, letters, and the underscore character. Using the plugin UID as your miniwindow name is fine, for example.
• After any call to WindowCreate and BEFORE you subsequently call WindowShow, you need to do

  CallPlugin("462b665ecb569efbf261422f", "registerMiniwindow", win)

• You need to have an OnPluginBroadcast(msg, id, name, text) function that includes the following in case the z order monitor plugin gets reloaded

  if (id == "462b665ecb569efbf261422f" and msg==996 and text == "re-register z") then
     CallPlugin("462b665ecb569efbf261422f", "registerMiniwindow", win)
  end

• You need to add this section of code (or if you already have an OnPluginListChanged function, you need to work this code in) to make sure that the z order monitor plugin is up and running when your plugin goes through OnPluginInstall at startup.

  require "checkplugin"
  function OnPluginListChanged()
     do_plugin_check_now("462b665ecb569efbf261422f", "aard_miniwindow_z_order_monitor")
  end

• Once all of that is done, you can bring your miniwindow to the front of the stack by calling:

  CallPlugin("462b665ecb569efbf261422f","boostMe", win)

• And send it to the back by calling:

  CallPlugin("462b665ecb569efbf261422f","dropMe", win)

How you choose to do that is up to you, but I recommend adding a right-click WindowMenu with 'Bring To Front' and 'Send To Back' options.