Let’s say, for a real example, that I am using pixel saver applet.
It does wonders with a single screen setup but is a mess when switching to dual screen (common laptop use case).
Is there a way to disable it temporarily while keeping its position and configuration? So that I can reenable it later on without having to add it back and set its position again? A bit like Gnome extensions.
As an aside, if the use case you are envisaging is limited to the pixelsaver applet, then the capability to be display aware should be made in that applet codebase
Just to make sure… It’s not about displaying it (maybe for showtime), Pixel Saver is not shown per se,
it’s about the behavior it triggers, it only does something to maximized windows, it’s a background thing. I would want it to revert to normal behavior when I decide so, basically it being disabled.
But for the pixel saver applet, there wouldn’t be a matter of disabling it temporarily if it was multi-screen aware. It might just be some bugs to solve and I wouldn’t even need a switch.
If I set showtime on my main screen (and save) on a dual monitor setup, then switch to single monitor with said main screen, it disappears entirely. I expect it to stick to the main screen since that screen is not affected by the removal of the second one.
Maybe it is a question of relative position to the resolution, for instance 2 monitors with an aggregated resolution of 3840x1080 (simple case) and the main screen on the right, if it becomes 1920x1080 (single monitor) the relative horizontal position is not let’s say 3200 anymore but 1280 if showtime is saved when starting 640 pixels from the right edge. Might be why it disappears since it’s suddenly saved to start outside of the changed resolution. Don’t know if my example is clear.
But anyway, it doesn’t really matter what or which ones. I believe disabling/enabling them can be useful. Like I said above, other users have different use cases and would want to disable/enable other applets than I do.
You might use system info or cpu power applet during some heavy workloads to monitor your system. Or you can disable/enable just for testing if you have a weird behaviour in your panel to check which one breaks things.
Most likely, if you run the command xrandr or start monitor setup, monitor setup is updated. Not an applet issue. Monitors_changed signal is not received.