While the Infinity Windoid WDEF is designed to be used for floating windows (which are sometimes known as utility windows, tool windows, windoids, or floaters), the Infinity Windoid WDEF does not help you to make your windows float above document windows.
There are no routines built into the Macintosh toolbox to support making windows float. Actually, that's not quite true. By using the low level routines in the Window Manager, it is possible to create code which will support floating windows.
The logistics of making a set of windoids float in a layer above other windows are fairly complicated, so I will not go into them here. In issue 15 of Develop magazine, there is an article that provides these details. This article also presents a library of code that can be used to create floating windows.
There are also a few libraries of code available that create floating windows. These have varying levels of polish, and can be found at the standard archive sites like info-mac on sumex-aim.stanford.edu and America Online.
In order to get a copy of issue 15 of Develop, you can contact Develop at:
Develop
Apple Computer, Inc.
P.O. Box 531
Mount Morris, IL 61054-7858
1-800-877-5548 in the U.S.
(815) 734-1116 in all other countries
(815) 734-1127 FAX
You can get a printed back issue of issue 15 for $13 in the U.S. ($20 elsewhere). It is my understanding that a back issue such as this will come with the latest version of the CD-ROM, so you will get any changes that have been made since the original article was published (there was a newer version released with issue 16 of Develop, for example).
You can also get a one year (four issue) subscription for $30 in the U.S. ($50 elsewhere). Each issue includes a CD-ROM that contains all of the back issues of Develop and code for each issue. Most issues are available in Apple DocViewer format, so you could subscribe and you'd get the issue 15 article on the CD-ROM with your first issue.
