MacOS – Stop application from coming on top

applicationsmacoswindow-manager

I'm doing some web development testing which requires me to run a script which generates a virtual browser window. Whilst the script is running, the script interacts with the browser window several times a second. Every time something happens on the browser window, it comes to the foreground, covering any other windows I have open at the time. This makes it pretty much impossible to do anything else whilst the script is running. Does anyone know of a way to tell the operating system not to bring a specific application to the front?

[I'm on a MacBook Air, and am using Chrome for testing websites. So my question is: is there a way to get Chrome not to cover other applications, even when something new happens to it?]

Best Answer

For some situations running Chrome in headless mode may be a workaround. In this mode, you don't see the Chrome window at all. See https://developers.google.com/web/updates/2017/04/headless-chrome for details

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Script to raise a single window to the front

open only raises a single window:

do shell script "open -a Terminal"

Another way to raise a window is to set its index to 1 and then use AXRaise:

tell application "Terminal"
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end tell
tell application "System Events" to tell process "Terminal"
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end tell

MacOS – How to switch to windows that dont belong to any running application

Have you tried F3 or F9? One of those should get you in to Mission Control which will show you all your open windows grouped by application. This works for me with the window for Net Monitor.

If neither of them works, go in to System Preferences -> Mission Control to set up a key or hot corner.

Best Answer

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MacOS – How to switch to windows that dont belong to any running application

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