Endless thanks Slava!

3.1 seems to have solved the stacking problem where the windows were stacking when minimized to the top right edge of the screen.

It's frustrating to use windowshade minimized windows with Panthe/Expose as the minimized windows aren't recognized by expose.... basically this forces us to use either expose or windowshade to manage windows. I'm sure you've thought of this, but in a perfect world we would have the option to include minimized windows in expose..

Still too early to tell if the window ordering problems are solved, but so far no problems (usually the problem takes a while to show up)...

Hello, Slava? I posted a comment a week or so ago about not being able to use APE being logged in as root, because it does not support root processes anymore. I see you've erased that comment. I wrote twice to your support mail at unsanity.com since I paid for some haxies and would like to keep using them, but as it is, I can't now. Could you help me with this, please? If it can't be solved at least let me know.

Thanks in advance.

The stacking problem is fixed on my machine, but I still have the problem with windows not coming to the foreground when windowshade is enabled.

Basically windowshade works fine for a while, but then after using it for about 30 minutes or so background windows fail to come to the foreground when you click them and minimized windows get maximized behind other windows.

This is a really frustrating bug that makes my small screened ibook and makes the system almost unusable (I have to minimize everything and then only have one window open at a time).

The only solution seems to be a reboot.

Stock Panther install. Windowshade is the only 3rd party hack. ibook g4,800mhz

one final note... when you click on a window in the background, the proper program becomes activated and the previous current window loses it's shadow, so the program is activating, it's only the window that is not activating properly.

Sorry. My bad. The previous comment is here:

http://www.unsanity.org/archives/000267.php

Still, could you help me out? Thanks.

Re:Heck

There is nothing to be suggested to you. Do not log in as root and all will be well. Apple disables root by default for a reason. NO one need ever, ever enable root. Ever.

This is weird. Double-clicking the Window Title doesn't windowshade my window. I've set up the Minimize Button to windowshade and that works but not double-clicking. Here's the weird part. If I log in as another user, double-clicking the window title DOES work (albeit, with very methodical clicking). I've checked preferences across all Users and they all match up.

Mike: there's a setting to enable double-clicking the window title bar to minimize it. Right now I am in 10.2.8, so I don't remember exactly where it is, but my guess would be in the Desktop or General Preference Pane.

Heck: unfortunately, there's more than security reasons behind our decision to not support root processes. The way loginwindow works under 10.3 is different, to allow multiple logged in users, and we cannot touch root owned processes or the whole system will not work properly (or not work at all). My apologies, but indeed, as Rosyna said, using your Mac as root is a bad bad idea. Of course, we're not in the position to tell you how to work on your computer, but we also cannot make APE work with root under 10.3. If you still use Jaguar, you can safely use APE 1.3.1.

Thanks for the quick update.

Now for a request-- I'd like minimized-in-place windows to be restored and viewable when you use Exposé to show all applications or application windows. And naturally, once windows are restored, minimized-in-place windows would be minimized again if they weren't picked. Doable?

Ah, thanks Slava, all fixed. I had unchecked it thinking it would work against Windowshade. There I go thinking too much again.

Rosyna, though I do agree it was a good idea for Apple to disable the root user by default, I absolutely do use it pretty often. One of the first things after I did the archive install of 10.3 was re-enable root. 99.9% of my root usage is in the shell (I hate sudo - totally inconvenient for me), but I did log into the GUI as root the other day. Before the 10.3 upgrade, I backed up a bunch of stuff to a DVD-RW. Toast kept on giving me these cryptic errors, which finally I figured out meant that I did not have read permissions on some files. So I logged in as root and the DVD burned no problem. In retrospect, maybe a fix permissions would have helped that, but I'm not sure.

But basically I think you were being way too generalizing in your comment. I might also note that I do Unix sysadmin for a living. I treat my Mac as somewhat of a Unix workstation.

Thank you for your replies, Rosyna, Slava.

Indeed I cannot do without root, at least 90% of the time. I manage key system files, system folders and users' permissions everyday on several macs and it would be very difficult and at times simply impossible to manage my daily routine logging as a normal or even admin user. Many apps won't even allow me to do what I need to do unless I'm root or engage in terminal sudo mud, which I'd rather avoid. I've been working this way for years, ever since I got my hands on the first OS X beta.

I didn't know about the loginwindow changes in 10.3, Slava. Ah, well, now to figure how to replace all this APE goodness I've been enjoying up until now...

Thanks again.

I also have the bug where windows don't get activated properly. It seems to strike specific programs. For example right now none of my Finder or Entourage windows will come to the foreground, but I have no problem with other programs. Weird. The only solutions right now are to minimize everything and only work at one window at a time, reboot (it takes a while for it to show up), or reboot and turn off windowshade. I'd love a bugfix as this makes windowshade much less useful!

I was running the Windowshade X beta and then I updated it to the current version. but when I logged back in, All Apps Would Crash While Loading!

The Finder still ran though, so i was able to delete every Windowshade X file, and get things running again.

A friend of mine had the same problem, but she had to reinstall but now it works fine. Personally i'm not reinstalling it until i know why it did that the first time.

I am also running the alpha for Metallifizer, which I've had no problems with at all. (also neither the Windowshade X beta had no problems)

Sabastian

Heck - before you write off APE, have a look at the new Finder. It understands the concept of "su" now. You can do things to system files you don't have write permission for, and it'll ask you to authenticate.

Nope, still no reason for root. If you need a root shell longer than normal, just type:

sudo -s

And you have a root shell. If you need to run some apps as root (for whatever silly reason), while in a root shell type the entire path to the app. Like:

/Applications/TextEdit.app/Contents/MacOS/TextEdit &

The & is to let you have control over the shell again while TextEdit is running (it puts it in the background).

There is STILL no reason to enable root. I've been running OS X for over 2 years now and not once have I enable root.

Rosyna - I've enjoyed the APE project very much, paid for some of the haxies gladly, but now it doesn't quite agree with my own way of working, which goes way way further than two years back. Of course I can use the Terminal and type commands. But I also have plenty of reasons that I can't think of as silly. I'm sure you don't use your computers as I use mine, and it's not about who's wrong or right, no?

Aren't these the "diaries of the unsane ones" anyway? Try enabling root for once, go crazy! ;-)

For the record, the latest Mighty Mouse, with APE 1.4.1 and logged in as root, still works. It does, oddly. Well, again, thanks for APE, the haxies, the support and the answers here. Cheers.

I just gotta say thanks, WindowShade just plain rocks. Anyway, I've been having a bit of a problem... ever since I installed Apple's X11 implementation (beta 3 on 10.2.8, and then 1.0 with panther), WS just ceased to function. It would say it's working and list the open applications as being enabled, but... it doesn't do anything. I was just wondering if you knew if this was a known problem, or if I just did something stupid without realizing it?

And again, much thanks for this great product :D

I should also add to clarify, WS won't work on ANY windows in ANY applications, whether they be OS X or X11... it just acts as if WS wasn't installed at all, even if I don't open X11.

Love windowshade.

No problems on my G5.

On my powerbook G4, there is a major issue. After windowshade is installed, windows don't activate properly. For example if you select a window in the background, it will stay in the background. Or if you maximize a minimized window, it will open up behind the current window.

I also agree with the other posters that it would be cool if mip windows were included in expose. Also it would be nice if minimized windows were opened if you click on the icon in the dock and no other windows are open.

Looking forward to an update. Love windowshade!

WindowShade X 3.1 works generally well on my G5 with Panter. I do appreciate it.
But I found an abnormal behavior. The procedure is as follows.
1) Open two windows in below-listed applications.
2) Minimize one of the windows in place.
3) Hide another window partly with windows of other applications.
4) One cannot bring this hidden (backgroud) window to the foreground by clicking it.
5) Expose (F10) must be evoked in order to escape from this.

I confirmed this phenomenon in....
Finder, Word v.X, Excel v.X, Entourage v.X, Photoshop 7.0, Illustrator 10.0, Internet Explorer 5.2.3, and so on.

This is not observed in....
Safari, Keynote, and Path Finder.

Sorry for more posts, but just letting you know I got WS to work... apparantly my friend had been messing around with my G5 while I was gone and had just screwed it up (and hadn't bothered to tell me. grrr). Well, again mad props for a great product :)

Windowshade is great!

The 'windows not coming to the foreground' bug is annoying, but there's a simple way to get rid of it.

Turn off windowshade. Cycle through the apps with open windows bringing them up one by one. Turn on windowshade again.

This at least will prevent you from logging out from fixing everything.

I really find windowshade essential... but the bug that people are talking about makes minimize in place unusable... I do hope there's an update soon. in the meantime it's expose for me.

note that windowshade/expose would be 2x more useful if we could use them together (ie when you expose it shows minimized windows as well).

I too have the same problem with Silk (purchased)
not working under Panther. I login as root of
course, as do many unix folks. Not logging in
as root (and hence by default your uid/gid for
processes you launch being non-root) is simply
not an option for me (I know the guy who wrote
'sudo' by the way and I also know all about 'su').

I don't have the patience to explain to newbies
like 'Rosyna' why root login is essential to
unix folks like me. Apple's instructions are
directed towards people like 'Rosyna' who are
probably graphics artists and are not C
programmers and/or sysadmins. I just came
across this forum via google and suffice it
to say, 'Heck' is absolutely right -- as a
newbie 'Rosyna', you shouldn't make a fool
of yourself by being dogmatic about certain
things that are laughably idiotic to anyone
more experienced. (here's a hint: I'm root
on many other linux and SGI machines that
I administer -- 1 brownie point to anyone who
understands why that is relevant).

So being non-root is not an option.

But hey, Silk would be _very_ nice in Mozilla. I
don't need fast user switching -- ever. Is there
a hack so I can use silk and windowshade ?

Best regards,

--j