Windows ID returned by search function are right, while Windows ID returned by location2 or click functions are not

[mkostrun]

Title says it all.

Windows ID's returned by xdo_search_windows(...) or xdo_get_active_window() are mutually identical and correct ones, while the ID's returned by xdo_get_mouse_location2(...) or xdo_select_window_with_click(...) are also mutually identical ones but different from the Window ID returned by the first group of functions.

Window manipulation functions behave properly only if the window ID from the first group of functions is given to them. For the window ID's from the second group they return X-errors.

For example, if one wants to activate a window, its ID should be found through _search() or _active() functions.

One way to test this issue is to run xdotool with two ways:

1. xdotool getactivewindow
2. xdotool selectwindow
   and then click on the shell window in which the xdotool is running
   In theory, both should give the same ID, but they do not. Use getactivewindow one as the right one.

[jordansissel]

Yeah, I agree. I think there were technical reasons in the past why I made these choices or why these return different window ids, but I don’t think the current behavior makes sense and I agree with your proposal.

[mkostrun]

Was snooping around the code. It seems to me that you are trying to do the same thing xwininfo is doing. They have

Find_Client()

while in libxdo, there is xdo_find_window_client()

Their inputs are kind of the same, root and window, but how they search for child windows is different.
If xdo function is to be meaningful, it should return the same window as xwininfo.
One way of doing it is to port xwininfo into libxdo.
What do you think?