Feature request - Group tabbed windows together in ALT + TAB

from Stardock Forums

Hiya,

Groupy 2 is great.

However when I alt-tab, i can have many windows to select from, when on my screen there are only a few.

Could we please have an option to group tabbed windows together into one item on the ALT+TAB menu?

 

Thank you 😊

groupy
6,092 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,
I have forward your request to the Stardock Support Team for their review and recommendations. Please keep an eye on this thread for any updates. We really do appreciate your feedback, Thanks

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Unfortunately the OS alt tab Window shows anything that's on the taskbar.

Hiding things from it isn't a simple task.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Hi, 

Is it then possible to highlight grouped windows with color for example. That is to say, when we do alt tab we would have a color index that tells us the windows that are grouped together.

Amd

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

I reported this issue on Steam over a year ago and I am VERY disappointed this hasn't been resolved yet. I ended up downgrading back to v1.51 where it works as I expect. After 14 months, I was ready to give Groupy 2 another shot, but it sounds like no progress has been made on this issue. It seems that Stardock is not taking this issue seriously enough.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

This has not changed as it isn't a bug.  This is a limitation on how Windows works.

Groupy 1 worked differently but this caused another issue.  Basically you can have one issue or another, but the Groupy 1 issue would also cause problems with other Groupy 2 features (combined taskbar buttons) so it has to work as it does.

The only solution would be to replace alt-tab entirely.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Okay, but can you give a more detailed explaination, please? Also, what is the issue that Groupy 1 had?

I am a fairly experienced software developer (20+ years) with a fair bit of experience in QA and have dabbled with the Windows API.

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting DougCube, reply 6

Okay, but can you give a more detailed explaination, please? Also, what is the issue that Groupy 1 had?

I am a fairly experienced software developer (20+ years) with a fair bit of experience in QA and have dabbled with the Windows API.

Sure. The same list for alt tab is also used by the taskbar and the virtual desktops but of course in slightly different ways.  You end up with windows pinned to all desktops in virtual desktops in Groupy 1 but that logic doesn't then work right with combined taskbar buttons sometimes.

I think long term the best solution is definitely a custom alt tab window as that can then expose tabs in a more usable way.

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Can't you just do something like this:

Code: c++
  3. LONG_PTR style = GetWindowLongPtr(hWnd, GWL_EXSTYLE);
  5. style |= WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW;
  7. SetWindowLongPtr(hWnd, GWL_EXSTYLE, style);

Treat the hidden windows as floating toolbars to hide it from the Alt-Tab list?

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting DougCube, reply 8

Can't you just do something like this:

Code: c++

    1. LONG_PTR style = GetWindowLongPtr(hWnd, GWL_EXSTYLE);

    1. style |= WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW;

  1. SetWindowLongPtr(hWnd, GWL_EXSTYLE, style);


Treat the hidden windows as floating toolbars to hide it from the Alt-Tab list?

Sorry I forgot to reply to this.

The danger there is messing with window styles like that triggers a resize of the app window client area.  There is a risk of causing app hangs / crashes if an app doesn't expect it.