Using a window manager in x11 to create Desktop / taskbar

Question

Is there anyway to create JFrame's that work with the window manager (such as openbox) to create Desktop and Taskbar elements.
I'd like to see some Swing objects to help work with the window manager.
JDesktop - a panel like element to draw the wallpaper and place desktop icons.
this needs to set XChangeProperty( NET_WM_TYPE_DESKTOP)
JTaskBar - a panel to add a menu, show active windows and system tray.
needs to provide functions to query active windows and system tray items and allow user to create them as desired with some sort of callbacks to update them.
This is not to create a window manager but to work with one that already exists.
Thanks.
I've seen jd4x but it's too complex to use.

Answer 1

Gullible Jones wrote:
Re qtile: thanks for the pointer. It looks interesting... However, I was under the impression that the best way to learn how to program was to write your own application(s) from scratch?
Re Wayland: it's still going to be some time before it's usable for anything, no?
(Also, I have to ask: will Wayland eventually be able to run without 3D acceleration? Will it ever support dodgy video cards on older computers, e.g. S3 Savage and Via Unichrome? Will it actually provide performance and stability benefits over X11 - e.g. being able to recover from crashes without losing applications - or will it just be a less kludgy way to get eyecandy on Linux? Because if at least the first of those isn't on the menu, I think it's a nonstarter.)
I believe in the case of Wayland, the kernel is more likely to crash than Wayland itself. Wayland is a protocol and a library implementing that protocol for writing compositors. I don't think 3D is mandatory on Wayland. Take a look at this:
03:49 < mupuf> Wayland let applications render their buffers using OpenGL, that's the big news.
03:50 < mupuf> OpenGL isn't mandatory though
Last edited by diegoviola (2011-07-11 23:19:30)