Question

(SOLVED: a WindowStateListener and a deferred call to toBack whenever the window is focused)

Hello all!

I’ve been trying to figure out how to make a java.awt.Window (any subclass will do) so that it cannot be brought to the front. I’m working on a Java “Samurize-like” program that appears below all the application windows and displays Widgets on the screen. Just like “Always on top windows with Java“, I’m hoping for something simple, hopefully just a single method call, if possible, but I’ve checked through the API docs and I’ve had no luck.

Edit:
Sorry, I meant “always on bottom” rather than simply “unfocusable”.

Here’s a basic test case. When clicking on the Window, it should not come above any others currently on the screen:

import java.awt.*;
import javax.swing.*;

public class Main extends JFrame {
    public Main() {
        Dimension dim = Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getScreenSize();

        setFocusable(false);
        setFocusableWindowState(false);
        setBounds(new Rectangle(dim));

        toBack();
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        new Main().setVisible(true);
    }
}

Answer 1

You want to use setFocusableWindowState(false)

(fwiw, this was in the API document linked by the top answer of the post you referred to)

edit: what about adding a listener to window state change that executes toBack()?

edit: you might also consider overriding the toFront method to prevent anything from pulling the window to the front.