On the Amiga, all input is directed to a single window called the active window. In general, changing the active window should be left up to the user. (The user activates a window by pressing the select button while the pointer is within the window boundaries.) If the active window is changed, the user may be confused if the change was not performed at their direction. Hence, new windows should be activated only when they open as a direct and synchronous response to the user's action. Existing windows should almost never be activated by the application. An application can learn when one of its windows is activated or deactivated by setting the IDCMP flags idcmp_activewindow and idcmp_inactivewindow. when these flags are specified, the program will receive a message each time the user activates the window or causes the window to become inactive by activating some other window. The application may specify that a window is to become active when it opens. This is done with the wa_activate tag or by setting wflg_activate in newwindow.flags when the window is opened. The application may also activate an existing window. This is done by calling the activatewindow() function, which will activate the window as soon as possible. Try to use this function only in response to user action since it may cause a shift in the input focus: LONG ActivateWindow( struct Window *window ); This function call may have its action deferred. Do not assume that the selected window has become active when this call returns. Intuition will inform the application when this window has become active by sending an idcmp_activewindow message. getting this message is the only supported way of tracking the activation status of your windows.