I think he means he wants to interact with the underlying OS's objects/windows.
David

Ned Konz wrote:

> On Monday 01 April 2002 12:58 pm, Malachi Clark wrote:
> > Thank you.  That gets me a step closer, now, the question still stands if I
> > can make the world background transparent?  I want to be able to see and/or
> > interact with things 'behind' the squeak environment, to turn off the
> > background and ScreenController, and just have what I want out there.  Is
> > that possible with squeak as it stands now?
>
> What do you mean "interact with things behind"? If you're trying to have
> multiple objects in Squeak that each have their own OS-level window, that's
> not provided for in the stock Squeak as far as I know.
>
> Perhaps Andreas could suggest something with ExternalScreens.
>
> The problem is a basic packaging one: stock Squeak gets one (or 2 in the case
> of full-screen X) OS-level windows. The windowing system generally will only
> send input to a window that has input focus (however that's determined).
>
> All of the objects that are drawn in Squeak are drawn on one big display
> surface that's mapped to the one window.
>
> I'm sure other models are possible, but not out of the box.
>
> Perhaps if you could share what you're trying to accomplish we could help.
>
> Some possibilities off the top of my head:
>
> * multiple Squeaks running, each in their own (perhaps borderless) window
> * one Squeak using multiple ExternalScreens to draw on (lots of work probably)
> * interact with window manager to change Z order of other windows as needed
> * do all of what you have to do in one full-screen Squeak
>
> --
> Ned Konz
> currently: Stanwood, WA
> email:     ned at bike-nomad.com
> homepage:  http://bike-nomad.com