Allow creating overlay-main windows, which are treated as the active window unlike normal overlays

Fixes #5392

docs/changelog.rst

@@ -38,6 +38,8 @@ Detailed list of changes
 0.26.2 [future]
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
+- Allow creating :code:`overlay-main` windows, which are treated as the active window unlike normal overlays (:iss:`5392`)
+
 - hyperlinked_grep kitten: Allow control over which parts of rg output are hyperlinked (:pull:`5428`)
 
 - Fix regression in 0.26.0 that caused launching kitty without working STDIO handles to result in high CPU usage and prewarming failing (:iss:`5444`)

docs/glossary.rst

@@ -32,7 +32,12 @@ Glossary
       top of an existing kitty window, entirely covering it. Overlays are used
       throughout kitty, for example, to display the :ref:`the scrollback buffer <scrollback>`,
       to display :doc:`hints </kittens/hints>`, for :doc:`unicode input
-      </kittens/unicode_input>` etc.
+      </kittens/unicode_input>` etc. Normal overlays are meant for short
+      duration popups and so are not considered the :italic:`active window`
+      when determining the current working directory or getting input text for
+      kittens, launch commands, etc. To create an overlay considered as a
+      :italic:`main window` use the :code:`overlay-main` argument to
+      :doc:`launch`.
 
    hyperlinks
       Terminals can have hyperlinks, just like the internet. In kitty you can

kitty/launch.py

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ from .fast_data_types import (
 )
 from .options.utils import env as parse_env
 from .tabs import Tab, TabManager
-from .types import run_once
+from .types import OverlayType, run_once
 from .utils import (
     get_editor, log_error, resolve_custom_file, set_primary_selection, which
 )
@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ of the active window in the tab is used as the tab title. The special value
 --type
 type=choices
 default=window
-choices=window,tab,os-window,overlay,background,clipboard,primary
+choices=window,tab,os-window,overlay,overlay-main,background,clipboard,primary
 Where to launch the child process:
 
 :code:`window`
@@ -71,6 +71,13 @@ Where to launch the child process:
 :code:`overlay`
     An :term:`overlay window <overlay>` covering the current active kitty window
 
+:code:`overlay-main`
+    An :term:`overlay window <overlay>` covering the current active kitty window.
+    Unlike a plain overlay window, this window is considered as a :italic:`main`
+    window which means it is used as the active window for getting the current working
+    directory, the input text for kittens, launch commands, etc. Useful if this overlay is
+    intended to run for a long time as a primary window.
+
 :code:`background`
     The process will be run in the :italic:`background`, without a kitty window.
 
@@ -539,7 +546,7 @@ def launch(
         kw['cmd'] = final_cmd
     if force_window_launch and opts.type not in non_window_launch_types:
         opts.type = 'window'
-    if opts.type == 'overlay' and active:
+    if opts.type in ('overlay', 'overlay-main') and active:
         kw['overlay_for'] = active.id
     if opts.type == 'background':
         cmd = kw['cmd']
@@ -573,6 +580,8 @@ def launch(
                 boss.set_active_window(active, switch_os_window_if_needed=True, for_keep_focus=True)
             if opts.logo:
                 new_window.set_logo(opts.logo, opts.logo_position or '', opts.logo_alpha)
+            if opts.type == 'overlay-main':
+                new_window.overlay_type = OverlayType.main
             return new_window
     return None
 

kitty/tabs.py

@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ class Tab:  # {{{
 
     @property
     def active_window_for_cwd(self) -> Optional[Window]:
-        return self.windows.active_group_base
+        return self.windows.active_group_main
 
     @property
     def title(self) -> str:

kitty/types.py

@@ -1,16 +1,24 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python
 # License: GPLv3 Copyright: 2021, Kovid Goyal <kovid at kovidgoyal.net>
 
+from enum import Enum
 from functools import update_wrapper
 from typing import (
-    TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Callable, Generic, NamedTuple, Tuple, TypeVar, Union, Iterator, Dict
+    TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Callable, Dict, Generic, Iterator, NamedTuple, Tuple,
+    TypeVar, Union
 )
+
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from kitty.fast_data_types import SingleKey
 
 _T = TypeVar('_T')
 
 
+class OverlayType(Enum):
+    transient: str = 'transient'
+    main: str = 'main'
+
+
 class ParsedShortcut(NamedTuple):
     mods: int
     key_name: str
@@ -160,11 +168,11 @@ def run_once(f: Callable[[], _T]) -> 'RunOnce[_T]':
 
 @run_once
 def modmap() -> Dict[str, int]:
+    from .constants import is_macos
     from .fast_data_types import (
         GLFW_MOD_ALT, GLFW_MOD_CAPS_LOCK, GLFW_MOD_CONTROL, GLFW_MOD_HYPER,
         GLFW_MOD_META, GLFW_MOD_NUM_LOCK, GLFW_MOD_SHIFT, GLFW_MOD_SUPER
     )
-    from .constants import is_macos
 
     return {'ctrl': GLFW_MOD_CONTROL, 'shift': GLFW_MOD_SHIFT, ('opt' if is_macos else 'alt'): GLFW_MOD_ALT,
             ('cmd' if is_macos else 'super'): GLFW_MOD_SUPER, 'hyper': GLFW_MOD_HYPER, 'meta': GLFW_MOD_META,

kitty/window.py

@@ -45,7 +45,7 @@ from .notify import NotificationCommand, handle_notification_cmd
 from .options.types import Options
 from .rgb import to_color
 from .terminfo import get_capabilities
-from .types import MouseEvent, WindowGeometry, ac, run_once
+from .types import MouseEvent, OverlayType, WindowGeometry, ac, run_once
 from .typing import BossType, ChildType, EdgeLiteral, TabType, TypedDict
 from .utils import (
     docs_url, get_primary_selection, kitty_ansi_sanitizer_pat, load_shaders,
@@ -462,6 +462,7 @@ global_watchers = GlobalWatchers()
 class Window:
 
     window_custom_type: str = ''
+    overlay_type = OverlayType.transient
 
     def __init__(
         self,
@@ -642,6 +643,8 @@ class Window:
         }
         if self.window_custom_type:
             ans['window_custom_type'] = self.window_custom_type
+        if self.overlay_type is not OverlayType.transient:
+            ans['overlay_type'] = self.overlay_type.value
         return ans
 
     @property

kitty/window_list.py

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ from contextlib import suppress
 from itertools import count
 from typing import Any, Deque, Dict, Iterator, List, Optional, Tuple, Union
 
-from .types import WindowGeometry
+from .types import OverlayType, WindowGeometry
 from .typing import EdgeLiteral, TabType, WindowType
 
 WindowOrId = Union[WindowType, int]
@@ -54,7 +54,10 @@ class WindowGroup:
         return False
 
     @property
-    def base_window_id(self) -> int:
+    def main_window_id(self) -> int:
+        for w in reversed(self.windows):
+            if w.overlay_type is OverlayType.main:
+                return w.id
         return self.windows[0].id if self.windows else 0
 
     @property
@@ -298,9 +301,9 @@ class WindowList:
         return None
 
     @property
-    def active_group_base(self) -> Optional[WindowType]:
+    def active_group_main(self) -> Optional[WindowType]:
         with suppress(Exception):
-            return self.id_map[self.groups[self.active_group_idx].base_window_id]
+            return self.id_map[self.groups[self.active_group_idx].main_window_id]
         return None
 
     def set_active_window_group_for(self, x: WindowOrId, for_keep_focus: Optional[WindowType] = None) -> None: