Difference between revisions of "Projects/KWin"

Revision as of 19:17, 16 September 2012

This is a starting page for all relevant KWin documentation, most of which is stored in SVN or on external WWW pages.

1 General information
2 Developer information
3 Configuration

General information

KWin mailing list
IRC channel #kwin on freenode
COMPLIANCE - a document on KWin's compliance to the window manager specifications ICCCM and EWMH (also known as NETWM).
KDE4.0 release notes - information about changes and new features in KWin in KDE4.0
KWin Build Options - documentation on the available build options for KWin.

Developer information

Hacking on KWin itself

Refer to the KWin section of the KDE Community Wiki.

Creating Window Decorations

The libkdecorations library shipped with KWin allows developing new third-party window decorations in C++.

tutorial (Based on KDE3.2 and as such slightly outdated, but still usable for newer versions. Note that new decorations should subclass KCommonDecoration, instead of using the KDecoration class directly like this tutorial does.)
API documentation

A simpler (but less powerful) alternative is to create a theme for one of the existing themable decorations:

Aurorae - themable with SVG images (how-to)
deKorator - themable with pixmap images
Smaragd - themable with Emerald theme files (from Compiz/Beryl)

Creating Desktop Effects

The libkwineffects library shipped with KWin allows developing new KWin compositing effects (known as "desktop effects" to users) in C++.

There is also a limited API for developing effects in JavaScript...

introductory blog post

Creating Window Switcher Layouts

KWin's default Alt + Tab window switcher can be customized with new layouts written in QML.

tutorial

Scripting

KWin's scripting system allows customizing/automating the properties and behavior of windows through JavaScript or declarative QML.

tutorial
API reference (upgrade notes from earlier versions to 4.9]])
examples

Configuration

CONFIGURING - document on advanced KWin configuration (such as pre-configuring window-specific settings).

@@ Line 14: / Line 14: @@
 == Developer information ==
-* For Developer Information see the [http://community.kde.org/KWin/ KWin Section] in the KDE Community Wiki
+===Hacking on KWin itself===
-* [http://api.kde.org/4.x-api/kdebase-workspace-apidocs/kwin/lib/html/group__kdecoration.html libkdecoration API documentation] - API documentation for the library used for developing KWin decorations (the link points to documentation for the current development version, for other versions: [http://api.kde.org/4.0-api/kdebase-workspace-apidocs/kwin/lib/html/group__kdecoration.html 4.0] ).
-* [http://www.usermode.org/docs/kwintheme.html KWin decorations HOWTO] - tutorial on writing KWin decorations. Based on KDE3.2 and as such slightly outdated, but it is still usable for newer versions. Note that current decorations should use KCommonDecoration class instead of KDecoration directly like this tutorial does.
+Refer to the [http://community.kde.org/KWin/ KWin section] of the KDE Community Wiki.
-* [http://api.kde.org/4.x-api/kdebase-workspace-apidocs/kwin/lib/html/group__kwineffects.html libkwineffects API documentation ] - Documentation on API for compositing effects - currently needs to be done, developers interested in developing compositing effects for KWin are currently suggested to use source of already [https://projects.kde.org/projects/kde/kdebase/kde-workspace/repository/revisions/master/show/kwin/effects existing effects shipped with KWin] (especially the Howto effect in the tests/ directory as a starting point) and/or ask on the KWin mailing list if necessary. NOTE: This API is currently considered unstable and subject to change.
-* [[Development/Tutorials/KWin/Scripting/API|Scripting API]] and [[Development/Tutorials/KWin/Scripting|KWin Scripting Tutorial]]
+===Creating Window Decorations===
-* [[Projects/KWin/Scripting_Update_Notes|Scripting Update Notes for version 4.9]]
+The <tt>libkdecorations</tt> library shipped with KWin allows developing new third-party window decorations in C++.
+* [http://www.usermode.org/docs/kwintheme.html tutorial] ''(Based on KDE3.2 and as such slightly outdated, but still usable for newer versions. Note that new decorations should subclass <tt>KCommonDecoration</tt>, instead of using the <tt>KDecoration</tt> class directly like this tutorial does.)''
+* [http://api.kde.org/4.x-api/kde-workspace-apidocs/kwin/libkdecorations/html/group__kdecoration.html API documentation]
+<br>A simpler (but less powerful) alternative is to create a theme for one of the existing themable decorations:
+* [http://kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=107158 Aurorae] - themable with SVG images ([[User:Mgraesslin/Aurorae|how-to]])
+* [http://kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=87921 deKorator] - themable with pixmap images
+* [http://kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=125162 Smaragd] - themable with Emerald theme files (from Compiz/Beryl)
+===Creating Desktop Effects===
+The <tt>libkwineffects</tt> library shipped with KWin allows developing new KWin compositing effects (known as "desktop effects" to users) in C++.
+* [http://blog.martin-graesslin.com/blog/2009/07/how-to-write-a-kwin-effect/ tutorial]
+* [http://api.kde.org/4.x-api/kde-workspace-apidocs/kwin/libkwineffects/html/group__kwineffects.html API documentation]
+* [https://projects.kde.org/projects/kde/kde-workspace/repository/revisions/master/show/kwin/effects source code of existing effects]
+<br>There is also a limited API for developing effects in JavaScript...
+* [http://blog.martin-graesslin.com/blog/2012/01/kwin-effects-written-in-javascript/ introductory blog post]
+===Creating Window Switcher Layouts===
+KWin's default <keycap>Alt + Tab</keycap> window switcher can be customized with new layouts written in QML.
+* [[Development/Tutorials/KWin/WindowSwitcher|tutorial]]
+===Scripting===
+[[Image:Icon-kwin-scripting.png‎|right|128px]]
+KWin's scripting system allows customizing/automating the properties and behavior of windows through JavaScript or declarative QML.
+* [[Development/Tutorials/KWin/Scripting|tutorial]]
+* [[Development/Tutorials/KWin/Scripting/API|API reference]] ''([[Projects/KWin/Scripting_Update_Notes|upgrade notes]] from earlier versions to 4.9]])''
+* [https://projects.kde.org/projects/kde/kdeexamples/repository/revisions/master/show/kwin/scripts examples]
 == Configuration ==
 * [https://projects.kde.org/projects/kde/kde-workspace/repository/revisions/master/entry/kwin/CONFIGURING CONFIGURING ] - document on advanced KWin configuration (such as pre-configuring window-specific settings).