[bug #27309] Can't start an app hidden....

[Jeff Teunissen]

Follow-up Comment #2, bug #27309 (project gnustep):

No, you can't do that. It's totally up to the app what happens when
-NXAutoLaunch YES (not -autolaunch) is passed (the lib doesn't even understand
it).

The library cannot make this kind of decision, because any and all special
actions performed by an application when auto-launched are unique to that
app.

On NS/OS, many apps have special behavior when autolaunched: chiefly
Preferences, Mail, Terminal, and Edit.

Preferences defers creating its windows and doesn't load its nibs; all it
does is start the clock view. Mail does the same (unless you disable the "Hide
on Autolaunch" option), except it displays mail status in its icon.

Edit and Terminal use auto-launching as an opportunity to preload their code
and set up their services, so when you click on their icons they start up fast
(unless, again, you disable the "Hide on Autolaunch" option, in which case
they start normally).

All act as reduced-capability versions of themselves. Preferences happens to
not have an option for it, as its most-used function is as a combination
calendar/clock.

For an app that has decided to treat autolaunching as preloading, the
canonical response is for the application to send the shared NSApplication
object the -hide: message in -applicationWillFinishLaunching. This prevents
any application window from ever reaching the screen, because the Application
Kit does not hide and unhide apps behind the scenes.

The point here is not that -NXAutoLaunch doesn't work, but that an app cannot
start without putting any windows on the screen unless you bypass their
creation entirely.


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