DeskUp Internal Architecture

DeskUp Internal Architecture and Flow

DeskUp is organized into three main layers:

• Frontend: high-level orchestration of window and workspace operations.
• Core: backend initialization and management logic.
• Backend: platform-specific implementations for Windows

This page mirrors the GitHub README but adds Doxygen cross-references for symbols.

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1. Initialization Choosing and bootstrapping a backend

When DeskUp starts, the application calls **DU_Init** (declared in source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/window_core.h and implemented in source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/window_core.cc).

DU_Init performs three key actions:

1. Iterates through a list of available backend bootstraps (currently only Windows).
   • The Windows backend defines its bootstrap (winWindowDevice) in source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/window_backends/desk_up_win/desk_up_win.h.
2. For each backend, it checks availability via DeskUpWindowBootStrap::isAvailable() **WIN_isAvailable**.
3. Once it finds a working backend, it:
   • Creates the device with DeskUpWindowBootStrap::createDevice() **WIN_CreateDevice**.
   • Retrieves the base folder with DeskUpWindowDevice::getDeskUpPath() **WIN_getDeskUpPath**.
   • Sets the global variables:
     • DESKUPDIR base workspace directory.
     • current_window_backend active backend device.

If initialization succeeds, DU_Init logs the connected backend and returns 1. If none is available, it returns 0.

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2. High-level operations DeskUpWindow faade

The structure DeskUpWindow is defined in source/desk_up_backend_interface/desk_up_backend_interface.h and implemented in source/desk_up_backend_interface/desk_up_backend_interface.cc.

It acts as the frontend faade, coordinating workspace-level operations with the backend.

DeskUpWindow::saveAllWindowsLocal(std::string workspaceName)

1. Builds <DESKUPDIR>/<workspaceName> using the global path set by DU_Init.
2. Ensures the directory exists (via std::filesystem).
3. Requests the active backend to enumerate all windows through current_window_backend->getAllWindows(current_window_backend.get()).
4. Receives a list of windowDesc records from the backend.
5. Saves each record to a text file using windowDesc::saveTo.

If any backend or I/O operation fails, the function catches the exception and returns 0, avoiding crashes.

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3. Window representation The windowDesc structure

Defined in source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/window_desc/window_desc.h and implemented in source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/window_desc/window_desc.cc.

Each windowDesc instance represents a window in an abstract, cross-platform way.

Fields:**

• name window or executable name.
• x, y, w, h position and size.

• pathToExec absolute path to the owning executable.

  Behavior:**

• windowDesc::saveTo writes the above fields as plain text.
• Returns 0 if the path is empty or cannot be opened.
• operator!() is a validity check (true if geometry is all zero).

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4. Backend implementation Windows

The Windows backend lives in source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/window_backends/desk_up_win/desk_up_win.h and source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/window_backends/desk_up_win/desk_up_win.cc.

It defines:

DeskUpWindowBootStrap winWindowDevice = {
    "win",
    WIN_CreateDevice,
    WIN_isAvailable
};

Backend creation

• WIN_CreateDevice builds a new DeskUpWindowDevice and wires function pointers for:
  • getAllWindows
  • getWindowHeight, getWindowWidth, getWindowXPos, getWindowYPos
  • getDeskUpPath

Enumerating windows

WIN_getAllWindows calls EnumDesktopWindows, which triggers a callback to:

1. Skip invisible or zero-sized windows.
2. Populate a windowDesc using:
   • WIN_getWindowXPos, WIN_getWindowYPos, WIN_getWindowWidth, WIN_getWindowHeight GetWindowInfo.
   • WIN_getPathFromWindow process path via GetWindowThreadProcessId OpenProcess(PROCESS_QUERY_LIMITED_INFORMATION) QueryFullProcessImageNameW.
3. Append each valid record to a std::vector<windowDesc>.

Workspace path resolution

WIN_getDeskUpPath determines the folder:

• Uses SHGetKnownFolderPath(FOLDERID_RoamingAppData) when available.
• Falls back to APPDATA% or the executable directory.
• Ensures a DeskUp/ folder exists.

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5. Flow summary

DU_Init()
  |--> winWindowDevice.isAvailable() -> WIN_isAvailable()
  |--> winWindowDevice.createDevice() -> WIN_CreateDevice()
  |--> dev.getDeskUpPath() -> WIN_getDeskUpPath()
  \--> sets DESKUPDIR and current_window_backend
 
DeskUpWindow::saveAllWindowsLocal("WorkspaceName")
  |--> builds <DESKUPDIR>\WorkspaceName
  |--> current_window_backend->getAllWindows(...) -> WIN_getAllWindows()
  |     |--> EnumDesktopWindows -> WIN_createAndSaveWindow()
  |     \--> fills std::vector<windowDesc>
  |--> iterates vector
  |     \--> windowDesc::saveTo(<workspace path>)
  \--> returns success (1) or failure (0)

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6. File map (as in the repository)

• source/desk_up_backend_interface/desk_up_backend_interface.h / .cc frontend orchestration (uses backend).
• source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/window_core.h / .cc backend initialization (DU_Init) and global state.
• source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/window_backends/desk_up_win/desk_up_win.h / .cc Windows-specific backend.
• source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/window_desc/window_desc.h / .cc window record + persistence.
• source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/backend_utils.cc backend helpers.
• source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/desk_up_backend_interface_device.h, desk_up_backend_interface_bootstrap.h device/bootstrap interfaces.
• source/desk_up/, source/desk_up/ additional higher-level modules.
• source/main.cc entry point.

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7. Extensibility

The folder source/desk_up_backend_interface_backend/window_backends/desk_up_x11 scaffolds a future X11/Linux backend. Adding a new backend requires a new DeskUpWindowBootStrap with:

• isAvailable() to detect platform support.
• createDevice() to provide the correct function pointers.