Flexible window management on a computer display

Abstract

A technique is described for managing windows in a display system. The window manager allows a user to mark an area on the display to define the dimensions and contents of a resized window. All non-hidden text and attributes within the enclosed area are incorporated into the resized window; however, the original windows do not lose their original characteristics. The marked area may span multiple windows, so multiple windows may be incorporated into the newly resized window. For each position within the newly resized window, a check is made for a window below. If no window exists below this position, the default, or background, character and attribute are incorporated into the newly resized window. If there exists a window below, a determination is made as to whether the window below is visible or hidden. If hidden, the system continues to look for a visible window until no further window is found below, at which point the default character and attribute are incorporated into the newly resized window. When a visible window is found below the newly resized window, the character and attribute from its corresponding position are read and incorporated into the newly resized window. This process continues until all of the information is processed from the marked area. In this manner, a window can be enlarged to incorporate the contents of several windows by enclosing several windows in the marked area.