Xfce Forum

va9iff

Member

From: Baku

Registered: 2024-04-23

Posts: 18

Bug when cancelling (esc) the Alt Tab switcher on "show desktop" mode

kinda specific but this action flow is something that I do very often and this bug just makes me feel on an incomplete environment (I like Xfce, it's just the bug)

- click (or hit the keyboard shortcut which I do more) to "show desktop"
- hit Alt Tab and start cycling. don't release the Alt key
- without releasing the Alt Key (which would activate the selected window) hit Esc key

so intuitively, this actions say "okay, go to the... never mind" but Xfce says "No! you said go, then we go! there's no going back" when I'm "showing desktop". bug is not there normally. it cancels the Alt Tab cycle right now. but when I hit Ctrl D and while it's active, hit Alt Tab, I can't escape from it and when I hit Esc it activates the first element in the cycling (not sure if it's a correct word) list. there's something with the "show desktop" thing.

here's a video. first, I release the tab on the selected entry. but then you see, while the currently active entry/entry with focus does not get activated instead the firs one in the list is getting activated. I press Esc key on those cases.
Go to video
https://imgur.com/a/sZ7tIOL

wondering the issue. is it something about interfering shortcuts? a few months earlier, I had a bug where I could not cycle back with Alt Shift Tab and the reason was that I bound Alt Shift to switch the keyboard layout. now I'm using Super Space for that and the issue is solved. but this "show desktop" condition makes it very hard to guess the problem.. anyways, is this a case for you as well? if so, when will it be fixed? if not, what can cause?

va9iff

Member

From: Baku

Registered: 2024-04-23

Posts: 18

Re: Bug when cancelling (esc) the Alt Tab switcher on "show desktop" mode

updates: it happens even if "show desktop" is not active. just no open window is enough

Last edited by va9iff (2024-04-24 13:17:09)

ToZ

Administrator

From: Canada

Registered: 2011-06-02

Posts: 11,485

Re: Bug when cancelling (esc) the Alt Tab switcher on "show desktop" mode

What version of Xfce and xfwm4 are you running? Also what distro?

Edit: Actually I can replicate the issue on the latest version. Might be worth creating a bug report.

Last edited by ToZ (2024-04-25 01:41:04)

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va9iff

Member

From: Baku

Registered: 2024-04-23

Posts: 18

Re: Bug when cancelling (esc) the Alt Tab switcher on "show desktop" mode

I'm actually surprised that something as fundamental as task switching is buggy in Xfce. thought it was my distro's fault, since Xfce is known for its stability. honestly, I've encountered a few bugs but they were not that annoying and rare to face. the ones I consistently get and hate were 2 - one is this task switching and the other was about xfce panel window buttons. when I use middle click to close windows while having "group windows by application" enabled, sometimes the whole panel tears down. I can't come up with a consistent condition for you to replicate but just because of this bug, I stopped using grouping. probably should have opened another thread.. anyways, this task switcher thing is very annoying and I have another word to say about your task switcher:

it just starts at the index 2 (starting to count from 1) no matter what. fair enough, since the first app is your current app. you want to switch and hitting tab twice wouldn't make sense, right. but some windows are not supposed to show up in switcher. then the first entry in the switcher becomes another app. usually your "last switchable window". all makes sense, except starting to switch from 2, which passes the 1st entry. since my current window won't show up in the switcher, the first element can be the last window that I activated, and hitting Alt Tab will pass it and go to the second one, as I hit Alt Tab twice in a switchable window.

let me give you an example so you can see it yourself.
bind a keybinding (Alt K for eg) for `xfce4-terminal --drop-down` (cuz its window is unswitchable)
open 2 programs (Sublime Text and FireFox for eg)
first focus to ST and then focus to FF
now hit Alt K and do something like `ls`
hit Alt Tab to switch back to FF (since it was your last switchable window and hitting Alt Tab once should go to that)
surprise surprise, you're at Sublime Text cuz FF was first and we count from 2.

so many times I've done it and had to go through switcher again. starting from a logically correct index would make switcher lot better but honestly, I don't have an idea about what this "logic" should be. maybe checking the last window id. idk, I'm not experienced enough to tell how hard it is to implement or even possible.

I love Xfce's vision. y'all steady and go slow, so we can run and and go fast)
just having new bugs introduced is against this principle or perhaps your testers failed.
and ToZ, I've seen you so many times on the net. you've helped me a lot to understand linux and Xfce better. it was just so nice to get a reply from you)
thanks.

Linux Mint 21.3
Xfce version - 4.18
xfwm4 version 4.18.0 (revision 7e7473c5b)

Last edited by va9iff (2024-04-26 13:51:16)