HOW-TO: Build Unity with 'Dodge Windows' and minimize/unminimize behavior

[LividLindy]

You were both correct I was in unity-2d, I knew I forgot to do something while setting up the new box to test this heh.

Though I suppose it's good to know that this only works for unity not unity-2d so my mistake wasn't all in vain.

Anyways, it did work and I've now installed it on my main Ubuntu computer and worked fine there as well. Thank you very much for this, I was immensely disappointed to lose this feature.

[jsevi83]

I'm testing it and dodge windows behaviour is working perfect, but there is no minimize on click. Also, if I open three terminals and click on the icon I don't get the spread behaviour to choose between the three, just the last one used gets activated.

I tried deleting .compiz-1 and restarting the session, with no luck. Am I doing something wrong?


Edit: Ubuntu 64bit

[nilarimogard]

Like jsevi83 said above, it seems there's a bug with minimize when there's more than one window for the same application (but minimize with a single window works fine for me). This is how it's supposed to work:

1. If there is no opened window for that app
1.a. Open a new window
2. If there is only one opened window for that app
2.a. Focus the window, if not focused
2.b. Minimize the window
2.c. Restore the window
2.d. Goto 2.a
3. If there is more than one opened window for that app
3.a. Focus the latest used window, if not focused
3.b. Open spread view
3.c. Close spread view and minimize all windows of that app
3.d. Restore the latest used window
3.e. Goto 3.a

But step 3.c doesn't... it just opens the spread view but doesn't minimize the app.

[isaacj87]

Like jsevi83 said above, it seems there's a bug with minimize when there's more than one window for the same application (but minimize with a single window works fine for me). This is how it's supposed to work:

1. If there is no opened window for that app
1.a. Open a new window
2. If there is only one opened window for that app
2.a. Focus the window, if not focused
2.b. Minimize the window
2.c. Restore the window
2.d. Goto 2.a
3. If there is more than one opened window for that app
3.a. Focus the latest used window, if not focused
3.b. Open spread view
3.c. Close spread view and minimize all windows of that app
3.d. Restore the latest used window
3.e. Goto 3.a

But step 3.c doesn't... it just opens the spread view but doesn't minimize the app.

This is how it's working for me:

No window opened:

- Open a new window of the program

One window opened (focused):

- Program will minimize on-click
- Program will unminimize on-click

One window opened (unfocused):

- Program will come into focus

Multiple windows opened (focused):

- Spread behavior will occur on-click
- Spread behavior will stop on-click returning both windows in view with the last one focused

Multiple windows opened (all but one minimized, focused):

- Spread behavior occurs on-click
- Spread behavior stops on-click returning only one visible window

Multiple windows opened (all minimized, focused):

- On-click will unminimize last window in focus
- Spread behavior occurs on-click

AFAIK, the minimize/unminimize patch (in its current form) doesn't minimize all opened instances after the spread view. I believe your expecting the behavior found in this comment: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ayatana-d...49/comments/58

However, I made some personal changes in order to get the patch to compile against Unity 5.12.0. I'll revert back to 5.10.0 and try ojno's PPA to see if I altered the intended behavior.

[nilarimogard]

I've found another bug: if you select "hide launcher - never" in CCSM, then log out, when you log back in, Window Dodge is active. So basically, the window dodge behaviour is restored each time you log in and can only be temporarily disabled.

[jsevi83]

I found why it was not working. I don't use four desktops, so I only had one desktop enabled in compiz general options. When I added a second desktop (two horizontal desktops) it started working as expected.

[nilarimogard]

This is how it's working for me:

No window opened:

- Open a new window of the program

One window opened (focused):

- Program will minimize on-click
- Program will unminimize on-click

One window opened (unfocused):

- Program will come into focus

Multiple windows opened (focused):

- Spread behavior will occur on-click
- Spread behavior will stop on-click returning both windows in view with the last one focused

Multiple windows opened (all but one minimized, focused):

- Spread behavior occurs on-click
- Spread behavior stops on-click returning only one visible window

Multiple windows opened (all minimized, focused):

- On-click will unminimize last window in focus
- Spread behavior occurs on-click

AFAIK, the minimize/unminimize patch (in its current form) doesn't minimize all opened instances after the spread view. I believe your expecting the behavior found in this comment: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ayatana-d...49/comments/58

However, I made some personal changes in order to get the patch to compile against Unity 5.12.0. I'll revert back to 5.10.0 and try ojno's PPA to see if I altered the intended behavior.

You can see how the patched worked with Unity 5.10 in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_bkPbbJlUk

[isaacj87]

You can see how the patched worked with Unity 5.10 in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_bkPbbJlUk

Hmmm, that's odd. I just installed ojno's (patch developer) packages from his PPA and it doesn't work like that (i.e. no minimize all windows after spread). I'll send him a message and/or file a bug report to see what his thoughts are.

Concerning the other bug, I'm currently in the last 2 weeks of classes, but I'll have a crack at it when I find some time, but I'm currently experiencing the problem as well.

EDIT: I think I may found the problem to the options bug, I'll try a fix later on tonight and see if it works.

[Enigmapond]

Thank you for this!

[isaacj87]

I've found another bug: if you select "hide launcher - never" in CCSM, then log out, when you log back in, Window Dodge is active. So basically, the window dodge behaviour is restored each time you log in and can only be temporarily disabled.

So, I've figured out and implemented a quick fix for this problem. It seems to be working just find for me, but shouldn't be the end-all solution.

From what I can tell, it wasn't the best idea to simply drop in the original dodge windows code into the current Unity as the way options are set has changed dramatically. However, I see no harm in how things are working currently other than it being sloppy.