EDIT: Maintainer Note

We should add a new restacking algorithm for xfce4 (wm-restack = xfce4) that doesn't put polybar behind the wallpaper.

END Maintainer Note

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.

Achieving functionality that is already provided by common DEs can be challenging. I don't see another way to do it than to heavily script stuff. I've seen on /r/unixporn a guy getting drop down menus done on polybar which are other instances of polybar appearing. While it is an extraordinary achievment, it still looks clunky and is a pain to setup.
Currently, wm-restack = generic still puts polybar on top of the xfce4-panel if they occupy the same part of the screen. If I add
override-redirect = true, the polybar disappears. The process is still running so I'm assuming it goes behind the xfdesktop (behind the wallpaper).

Why does polybar need this feature?

One can always keep polybar for showing stuff on a bar while using xfce4-panel plugins for productivity. However, that leads to the same information being displayed more than once. For example, how can an user connect to a different wifi network with two clicks on polybar? This action is done on the xfce4-panel plugin by clickin on the icon and then clicking on the desired network from the list provided in the drop-down menu. That's 2 clicks. On polybar you could set the connections manager to open via clickable action but for example on xfce that manager doesn't allow connections to another network with 1 click. In fact, I haven't found a way to select a new network to connect with a single polybar module. One would need a command do show all the available networks which can't be done in the space of a bar so it would have to open a terminal window or a connection manager, and then to connect to a selected item from that list is another trouble.

Describe the solution you'd like

I figured that a cool way to have drop downs on the polybar would be to create an invisible


xfce4 panel on top of the polybar module and make it invisible. This way, a click on top of the visible area would trigger the xfce4 panel plugin but the visible area would still belong to the polybar. This would be useful to have the drop down calendar when clicking the clock plugin or even the Wi-Fi settings.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Possibly calling xfce4-panel widgets into the polybar? An internal module that serves as a compatibility layer? I don't see it being more viable than to simply having a better way to set the polybar priority to be above the desktop but below the xfce4-panel. The space is already allocated by the panel so there's no need to reserve with polybar.

Additional context

Is there a way to achieve what I want? Maybe I didn't find something that I could've used instead. I added some images with my paint skills and photos from the phone since print the screen key doesn't work when a panel plugin is active. Oh well...