Bug 2131 - Focus stealing after mail check
Summary: Focus stealing after mail check
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: Claws Mail (GTK 2)
Classification: Unclassified
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version: 3.7.2
Hardware: PC Linux
: P3 normal
Assignee: users
URL:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2010-03-01 17:18 UTC by Jesse Barnes
Modified: 2018-12-30 00:15 UTC (History)
0 users

See Also:


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Description Jesse Barnes 2010-03-01 17:18:34 UTC
Whenever Claws goes to check mail or switch folders, I lose focus on whatever I was doing.  For instance, if my cursor is in the quick search text box and a select a different folder, when the folder finally opens (sometimes takes awhile on my mail server) the focus ends up in the message list view.  This is really annoying since sometimes I've often started typing in the quick search field, and when the message list gets the view I end up deleting and opening messages because the input didn't end up in the text box.

Similarly, if I'm paging through a mail message with page up/down (with the focus on the message view) and Claws goes to check mail, the focus ends up getting stolen again to the message list, which makes page up/down select a different message.  Maddening!

I hope these are easy issues to fix; I have so few complaints about Claws in general; these only just started bugging me enough to file this report.
Comment 1 Holger Berndt 2010-03-01 19:08:30 UTC
> For instance, if my cursor is in the quick search text box and a
> select a different folder, when the folder finally opens (sometimes takes
> awhile on my mail server) the focus ends up in the message list view

Personally, I consider this to be a feature, not a  bug.

> Similarly, if I'm paging through a mail message with page up/down (with the
> focus on the message view) and Claws goes to check mail, the focus ends up
> getting stolen again to the message list, which makes page up/down select a
> different message

This would indeed sound like an issue, however, I wasn't able to reproduce it.
Comment 2 Jesse Barnes 2010-03-01 19:44:19 UTC
> --- Comment #1 from Holger Berndt  2010-03-01 20:08:30 ---
> > For instance, if my cursor is in the quick search text box and a
> > select a different folder, when the folder finally opens (sometimes
> > takes awhile on my mail server) the focus ends up in the message
> > list view
> 
> Personally, I consider this to be a feature, not a  bug.

Whoa, really?  This is by far the most annoying thing I run into.
Typical flow:
  - switch folders by clicking the mouse
  - click on the quick search field and start typing a search for the
    new folder
  - messages end up deleted in the new folder because my search
    happened to contain a 'd' (or forwarded due to 'f' or whatever)

This one drives me absolutely nuts.  In what cases do you consider
focus stealing a feature?  It seems like it's nearly always unexpected,
whether in window management or UI fields...

> > Similarly, if I'm paging through a mail message with page up/down
> > (with the focus on the message view) and Claws goes to check mail,
> > the focus ends up getting stolen again to the message list, which
> > makes page up/down select a different message
> 
> This would indeed sound like an issue, however, I wasn't able to
> reproduce it.

Hm, maybe it only occurs when new messages appear in the folder you're
in?  I just tried and didn't see it...  I may also have deleted some
messages though when I saw it last, maybe the focus gets stolen when
the messages are moved to the trash and the current folder is refreshed?
Comment 3 Holger Berndt 2010-03-01 21:37:23 UTC
> - messages end up deleted in the new folder because my search
>   happened to contain a 'd' (or forwarded due to 'f' or whatever)

These are not default keybindings, so you hardly blame Claws Mail for that. Maybe it's not such a smart idea to use single-letter shortcuts for "delete" then.

> In what cases do you consider focus stealing a feature?

Personally, I consider it unwanted if it is triggered by some automatism in the background. If I manually start an application, my window manager gives this one the focus, and I consider this to be a good thing.

That's why I think that (background) mail checks should not change focus, but (manual) folder switching can.
Comment 4 Jesse Barnes 2010-03-01 21:51:43 UTC
Yeah, I use my old mutt keybindings in claws because that's what I'm used to.  But even if you set aside the fact that in my config 'd' deletes a message when the messageview has focus, I still don't see why you'd want focus stripped from the quick search box when switching folders.  Assuming all your keybindings had a control prefix, you'd still end up with:
  - switch folders
  - click quick search box
  - start typing
  - once folder is selected nothing happens or only some of your typing appeared in the quick search box

Less annoying than deleted messages for sure, but still isn't that painful?  So yes, manual folder switching *can* change focus, but really, should it?  IMO no, but maybe I just switch around and search too fast...
Comment 5 Holger Berndt 2010-03-01 21:58:21 UTC
I use the keyboard shortcut to focus the quicksearch (/ by default), and I don't find it painful at all. Quite on the contrary.
Comment 6 Pawel Pekala 2010-03-02 20:01:20 UTC
I can confirm focus stealing but under some conditions - one of
this options must be selected:

1) Receiving->Go to Inbox - this I think is good behavior

2) Receiving->Show receive dialog set to show dialog - this looks like bug

Are you using any of those?
Comment 7 Jesse Barnes 2010-03-02 20:17:33 UTC
No, but I do have "close receive dialog when finished" set, even though I don't have a receive dialog option enabled.
Comment 8 Pawel Pekala 2010-03-02 22:35:18 UTC
I think I know where bug shows up, focus is lost when new mail arrives
in folder you are currently. This triggers folder content refresh and 
focus indeed is set on message view. Can you confirm this ?
Comment 9 Jesse Barnes 2010-03-02 23:21:17 UTC
That sounds like what I saw, yes.  Thanks for checking.
Comment 10 users 2018-12-30 00:14:05 UTC
Changes related to this bug have been committed.
Please check latest Git and update the bug accordingly.
You can also get the patch from:
http://git.claws-mail.org/

++ ChangeLog	2018-12-30 01:14:04.998753756 +0100
http://git.claws-mail.org/?p=claws.git;a=commitdiff;h=3982d3e615ab83b8da70617df46be2cf52ed1cc5
Author: Andrej Kacian <ticho@claws-mail.org>
Date:   Sun Dec 30 01:12:27 2018 +0100

    Respect quicksearch focus when refreshing summaryview to show new messages
    
    Fixes bug #2131: Focus stealing after mail check

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