[Feature Request] add an isEnabled method to the Backgroud portal

[Merrit]

The current implementation gives no way to check if the application is set to autostart or not.

[GeorgesStavracas]

Could you please describe your use case, and what exactly are you trying to accomplish that would require this? I'm not necessarily opposed to this suggestion, but I want to have a clearer picture and evaluate other options if they exist.

[Merrit]

Sure:

• Application is navigated to settings
• We want to have a checkbox/switch to say if the application will autostart or not
• With no way to query the host system if this is enabled, we simply rely on a boolean we set to local preferences when we initially set up autostart.
• If the actual setting on the host has changed, our switch will still say "Yes, the app will autostart" when in fact this is not the case. In contrast, if we can query the host at startup "Am I set to autostart?" that can be the boolean value for the switch.

I had essentially this exact issue, and when a bug report was filed and I investigated I had 2 options:

1. Tell people to flip the switch off/on
2. Check the local preference, and set the host autostart to true on every app start if need be. To be fair this works, but being able to query it seems more obvious and somehow better than constantly re-setting it. 🤷‍♀️

[Mikenux]

It is clearly necessary to revise what is wanted for autostart in relation to background activity.

@Merrit: Could you tell why your app needs to be autostarted? (chat app? restart a task/activity? launch a task at each user session start? other...)

[Merrit]

Sure, my app supports built-in global hotkeys so actions can be invoked quickly and easily. Most users that make use of such hotkeys would want them to be registered and available without having to first launch the app, so it supports an autostart (in the background) feature.

To be specific to my app: Nyrna lets users suspend/resume games and applications. So the idea is they configure it to start automatically in the background, with a hotkey registered. Now at any time they can suspend/resume various applications at the push of a button.

I initially had this set up to support CLI flags, so one could create a custom shortcut from system settings to invoke - however there were persistent requests for a built-in hotkey solution, which requires the app to be running.

[Mikenux]

@Merrit:

Thanks!

Personally, I'm for asking the user to grant permission to autostart apps instead of having that in the apps. However, what is needed is a way to make apps start without a visible window without depending on the apps to do so. This was the missing piece mentioned when discussing background apps on GNOME.

For your app, you might want to look at what it is missing, since the goal is to have the apps fully sandboxed. You can see if there are already open issues regarding what is missing and, if issues do not exist, request the creation of new portals or the extension of existing ones (maybe now in Discussions). Better to do it early than too late 😉