Integrating with Session Manager
Session Manager saves information about the Desktop environment and the
applications running when the user logs out (of the current session) or when
the user saves the environment (in a home session). For an application to be
saved as part of the current session or the home session and then restarted as
part of the next session, it must participate in the X Inter-Client
Communication Conventions Manual (ICCCM) 1.1 Session Management
Protocol. This chapter outlines how Session Manager saves and restores
sessions and details the steps necessary for an application to participate in
session management.
How Session Manager Saves Sessions and Applications
When you exit a session or when you save a Home session, Session Manager:
Saves the selected resource settings and X server settings
Allows each application to save its state and waits for the save to be
completed
Obtains the command line required to restart the application
How to Program the Application for Session Management
Setting the Program Environment
This section describes the programming steps necessary for an application to
be saved as part of the integration process.
Follow these steps to set the program environment:
Include the following header files:
Xm/Xm.h
Xm/Protocols.h
Dt/Session.h
Link with libXm and libDtSvc.
Initialize the toolkit and create a top-level widget.
Setting the WM_SAVE_YOURSELF Atom
Use the Motif XmAddWMProtocol() function to set the WM_SAVE_YOURSELF
atom on the WM_PROTOCOLS property for the top-level window of your
application, as shown in the following example.
Atom XaWmSaveYourself;
Display *dsp;
dsp = XtDisplay(toplevel);
XaWmSaveYourself =
XmInternAtom(dsp, ”WM_SAVE_YOURSELF”, False);
XmAddWMProtocols(toplevel, &XaWmSaveYourself, 1);
Do not set the WM_SAVE_YOURSELF atom for more than one window.
Prepare to Receive the WM_SAVE_YOURSELF Message
Use the Motif XmAddWMProtocolCallback() function to establish a callback
procedure to be called when the application receives a WM_SAVE_YOURSELF
client message:
XmAddWMProtocolCallback(toplevel, XaWmSaveYourself,
SaveYourselfProc,
toplevel);
Processing the WM_SAVE_YOURSELF Message
When Session Manager sends a WM_SAVE_YOURSELF client message to this
sample application's top-level window, the SaveYourselfProc() callback
procedure is called. Use thecallback to save the application's state. The
application can save its state by any means you want, but cannot interact with
the user during the save.
Session Manager provides the DtSessionSavePath() function as a way to
return a full path name and a base file name to use for saving the application's
state.
Setting the WM_COMMAND Property
After the application has finished processing the WM_SAVE_YOURSELF
message, either by saving its state or ignoring the message, the application
must set the WM_COMMAND property on its top-level window to tell Session
Manager that the save operation is complete.
Use the Xlib XsetCommand() function to set the WM_COMMAND property on the
application's top-level window. Setting this property lets Session Manager
know that the application has finished processing the WM_SAVE_YOURSELF
message and gives Session Manager the command line it needs to restart the
application.
XsetCommand() accepts an array of command-line arguments. If the
application uses the DtSessionSavePath() function as part of the save
process, XsetCommand() needs an additional command-line argument: ‐session basename, where basename is the base file name returned by
DtSessionSavePath().
How Session Manager Restores a Session
Session Manager restores a session by:
Restoring the resource database and server settings
Restarting applications using the saved command lines
If the application used DtSessionSavePath() to find a path for its saved
state, the application can pass the base file name from the -session argument
to the DtSessionRestorePath() function to find the full path name of its
saved-state file.