It's suggested you check sources of some KDE CVS decoration if in doubts or in need of an example. Also, the API is documented in the .h header files. Makefile.am: - Change kwin_ to kwin3_ (in LDFLAGS, LIBADD, kde_module_LTLIBRARIES, SOURCES). - Make sure LDFLAGS contains $(KDE_PLUGIN) and -module . - Add -lkdecorations to LIBADD. - Do NOT rename the directory where the .desktop file is installed ( $(kde_datadir)/kwin/ ). .desktop file: - Change kwin_ to kwin3_ in X-KDE-Library. Sources: - There are no kwin/something.h includes, and don't use the KWinInternal namespace. - Use QToolTip instead of KWinToolTip. - Use QButton instead of KWinButton, QToolButton instead of KWinToolButton and QWidget instead of KWinWidgetButton. - For tooltips, use simply QToolTip::add(). - Change Client* to MyClient* (or whatever is your main client class) in your MyButton. - Pass parent->widget() to QButton constructor in your MyButton constructor. - Make your MyClient class inherit from KDecoration instead of Client. - Make MyClient constructor take KDecorationBridge* and KDecorationFactory* as arguments, and pass these arguments to KDecoration constructor. - Except for data members initialization, make the constructor empty, move everything to void MyClient::init(). - As the first thing in init(), call createMainWidget(); if your client class took some flags such as WResizeNoErase, pass them to this function. - Then, do 'widget()->installEventFilter( this );'. - Implement MyClient::eventFilter() - as MyClient is now no longer QWidget, you need the event filter to call all the functions that used to be called directly. Usually, it's something like: ===== bool MyClient::eventFilter( QObject* o, QEvent* e ) { if ( o != widget() ) return false; switch ( e->type() ) { case QEvent::Resize: resizeEvent( static_cast< QResizeEvent* >( e ) ); return true; case QEvent::Paint: paintEvent( static_cast< QPaintEvent* >( e ) ); return true; case QEvent::MouseButtonDblClick: mouseDoubleClickEvent( static_cast< QMouseEvent* >( e ) ); return true; case QEvent::Wheel: wheelEvent( static_cast< QWheelEvent* >( e )); return true; case QEvent::MouseButtonPress: processMousePressEvent( static_cast< QMouseEvent* >( e ) ); return true; case QEvent::Show: showEvent( static_cast< QShowEvent* >( e ) ); return true; default: return false; } } ===== - In MyClient, 'this' will have to be often replaced with 'widget()', pay special attention to cases where this won't cause compile error (e.g. in connect() calls, which take QObject* ). - Also, many calls may need 'widget()->' prepended. - Layout is created in init(), so call createLayout() directly there (if it's implemented). - Remove calls to Client methods (Client::resizeEvent() and so on). - Replace Options:: with KDecorationOptions:: . - Replace 'options' with 'options()' in MyClient (which is KDecoration::options()), if often used outside of MyClient, you may want to create (this assumes your code is in its namespace): ===== inline const KDecorationOptions* options() { return KDecoration::options(); } ===== - Options for colors need 'Color' prepended (e.g. 'ColorButtonBg'). - Replace miniIcon() with getting the right pixmap from icon() (usually 'icon().pixmap( QIcon::Small, QIcon::Normal )' ). - Replace stickyChange() with desktopChange(), and test isOnAllDesktops(). - Replace Sticky with OnAllDestops. - Replace iconify with minimize. - Change activeChange(bool) to activeChange(), and use isActive() to check the state. Similar for desktopChange, captionChange(), iconChange(), maximizeChange(). - Replace 'contextHelp()' with 'showContextHelp()'. - WindowWrapperShowEvent() is gone, simply use showEvent() filtered by the event filter if needed. - Change 'animateIconifyOrDeiconify()' to 'animateMinize()', if it's empty, simply remove it. Make sure it doesn't reenter the event loop (no kapp->processEvents()). - Buttons should use explicit setCursor() if they don't want cursor set by mousePosition(). I.e. usually call setCursor( ArrowCursor ) in your MyButton. - In the part where you insert windowWrapper() into the layout, i.e. something like ===== layout->addWidget( windowWrapper()); ===== replace it with something like ===== if( isPreview()) layout->addWidget( new QLabel( i18n( "