Xfce Forum

cvillelk

Member

Registered: 2012-09-07

Posts: 5

Panel "Window Buttons" Issue, Show windows from all monitors

I have a 3 monitors with an XFCE panel assigned to each. "Window Buttons" are assigned to each panel and configured to only show those windows on the panels monitor. This works great on boot and for some time after.

Every now and then, the third monitor decides to display buttons for windows on the second monitor. Example:

On Boot
Panel 1: "Window Buttons" for all windows on Monitor #1
Panel 2: "Window Buttons" for all windows on Monitor #2
Panel 3: "Window Buttons" for all windows on Monitor #3

Several Hours Later
Panel 1: "Window Buttons" for all windows on Monitor #1
Panel 2: "Window Buttons" for all windows on Monitor #2 
Panel 3: "Window Buttons" for all windows on Monitor #2

I can open the panel properties, edit Panel 3s Window Buttons, check "Show windows from all monitors" and immediately uncheck the item and the problem usually goes away. (only once or twice it hasnt corrected the issue)

Assuming no one has an easy fix, since this is a very sporadic occurrence, I'm hoping someone can give me troubleshooting advice for the next time it happens.

Few additional details: Running XFCE on Arch, single Nvidia GPU driving all three monitors configured using proprietary drivers.

Last edited by cvillelk (2012-12-19 02:04:49)

Maxim

Member

Registered: 2012-12-29

Posts: 2

Re: Panel "Window Buttons" Issue, Show windows from all monitors

You're not alone on this matter. I noticed this soon after installing Xubuntu 12.04 and setting up my dual monitors. I'm use a laptop with an Intel chipset, and just two monitors. I see a similar behavior only on the second monitor, and the work around is to toggle the "Show windows from all monitors" setting in "Window Buttons".

The behavior that I see is exactly the same. The window buttons that appear on the left monitor, are on the right monitor as well. It will appear as though there are no windows open on the screen. If the windows are minimized there is no visible indication that a window is open at all. An Alt-Tab will allow access to the windows.

A note about this behavior, moving the window from one monitor to the other doesn't fix the issue. In the left panel the button will appear when >50% of the window is on that montior. Moving the window back to the right desktop, the button does not appear.

Bringing the window back to the foreground with Alt-Tab does not make the button appear.

One thing that I'm not sure about is when it actually occurs. I only have noticed that the buttons aren't there, I haven't actually seen them disappear. I'll do some more testing the next time it happens and see if I can find out more.

xfce4-panel 4.8.6 (Xfce 4.8)

I'm not sure of the Window Buttons plugin version, it appears to be included with xfce-panel since it's included in the source package as "tasklist"

Edit: Since it happened again I see that it's the same behavior.

I've also noticed that creating adding a second Window Buttons plugin (to the right monitor panel) functions properly while the previous one still exhibits the bug. The added plugin, after adjusting the settings works correctly. Having left both Window Button plugins on the second panel, and using the machine for a couple of days (shutdown at the end of each morning, and evening), the bug appears in both displayed plugins. That is to say that it happens to both of the displayed plugins after something like a reboot, or a log in.

Edit: This also happens on LinuxMint with xfce4-panel 4.10.0 (Xfce 4.10).

Last edited by Maxim (2013-02-14 10:55:50)

Erik_dc

Member

Registered: 2013-12-30

Posts: 1

Re: Panel "Window Buttons" Issue, Show windows from all monitors

I have the same issue here, and its very annoying. Running Linux Mint XFCE 15.

I also see a similar behavior only on the second monitor, and the work around is to toggle the "Show windows from all monitors" setting in "Window Buttons".

Maxim

Member

Registered: 2012-12-29

Posts: 2

Re: Panel "Window Buttons" Issue, Show windows from all monitors

In my time since this post I was able to identify a way to reproduce it, or a reason for the behavior. I configured both panels after I had applied an xrandr configuration to place my monitors. When my session logs in, the panels are located on both monitors, but XFCE's display manager (not sure of the name) only offers to configure the monitors in a mirror (both monitors display the same image, IE: a single screen). Then during my login session, I have configured an auto-start which configures the monitors properly. The xfce4-panel Window Buttons (AKA, tasklist), however, don't reflect this change and stick with the original monitor association that they had when they started. The result is I have two screens with both Window Buttons pointing to the same monitor.

The fix for this was to reload xfce4-panel after applying my xrandr config. So I have a script which loads my xrandr, and then after it I have the command:

xfce4-panel -r

This reloads xfce4-panel and the plugins and then the monitor associations work again.

T200proX7

Member

Registered: 2020-11-10

Posts: 6

Re: Panel "Window Buttons" Issue, Show windows from all monitors

I still have this bug on Debian Buster with xfce4-panel/stable,now 4.12.2-1 amd64
Is there meanwhile any fix?

alcornoqui

Member

Registered: 2014-07-28

Posts: 832

Re: Panel "Window Buttons" Issue, Show windows from all monitors

Seems like bug #10725, there's a workaround mentioned on comment 30, and a fix at the end. Not sure in which version it's resolved...

See if it helps, welcome to the forum!