gino wrote:
>
> Dear all,
>
> I am a windows programmer. On Windows system, I can hide, show, maximize,
> minimize the windows using Windows system call API?
>
> Can I do the same on Linux? I just want to do "auto-hiding" a window on
> Linux. When the mouse move over a certain region, I want that hidden window
> to show... like the "auto-hiding" in GNOME start-bar...

The exact manner to do that depends on the toolkit involved and is not
Linux-specific. More generally spoken, it depends on the underlying
windowing system. In Linux, this is mostly X (X Window System). There
exist many toolkits based upon X, and not one single windowing API ...

In X terms, to hide/show a window you may call XMapWindow/XUnmapWindow.
The terms "maximizing" and "minimizing" are not defined or covered by X,
this is probably a feature of your window manager, which may have
provisions to hide or show a window as well. Your program communicates
to the window manager by manipulating some so-called "properties" of a
window.

To sense the mouse moving over a certain region (in order to show your
auto-hiding window) without any visible effect, you may use an InputOnly
window properly setup to catch particular mouse events. If the mouse
enters the InputOnlx window, you show the auto-hiding window, if the
mouse leaves the latter, you hide it. YOur widget toolkit may give you
further assistance.

Just my 0.02
Herbert