"Focus on raise" with "focus follows mouse"?

jun0 · 2014-11-08 14:29:36

Hi there! I'm using Xfce 4.10.1 on Ubuntu 14.04, and I'm having a hard time with its focus behavior.

I want to enable "focus follows mouse" in the window manager settings, but when I do this, windows no longer receive focus when I bring them up via the tasklist. For example, when I'm browsing in Chrome and want to bring up Emacs, I click on Emacs in the tasklist on xfce's panel. Emacs's window comes to the front, and I expect to be able to start typing right away, but Chrome still has the focus. I have to move my cursor off of the tasklist and onto Emacs, before I can type anything.

I want focus to follow my mouse, but also want it to automatically focus on a window that just raised itself to the top (until I move the mouse again). Is there a way to do this? I tried changing settings in the "Focus" tab of xfwm4-settings-tweaks, but it did no good.

MountainDewManiac · 2014-11-08 15:47:07

It looks like those two things are mutually exclusive. Have you tried using Alt-Tab to switch application windows? Using the Window Buttons panel applet and selecting your focused application window via them instead of "tasklist" (what is tasklist, anyway? I couldn't find it in the menu or by using XFCE's Application Finder.)?

You could try replacing Xfwm4 with KWin. It seems to be a bit extreme to me, but if you're really attached to the "focus follows mouse" function, from the screenshots on the webpage that has instructions on making the switch, it looks like it has its own "Focus" options.

http://thelinuxrain.com/articles/tutorial-how-to-use-kwin-window-manager-with-xfce

Regards,
MDM

sixsixfive · 2014-11-08 16:14:48

another replacement: http://openbox.org/wiki/Help:Configuration#Focus

ToZ · 2014-11-08 17:07:19

It works fine for me here on 4.10. Focus follows mouse is set, web browser is the top window, click on emacs on tasklist and start typing.

If possible, can you test this out on another account on your computer to see if its a configuration issue in your profile?

Can you also post your xfwm4 settings:

xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -lv

jun0 · 2014-11-08 20:35:22

Thanks for your quick replies!

MountainDewManiac wrote:

Have you tried using Alt-Tab to switch application windows? Using the Window Buttons panel applet and selecting your focused application window via them instead of "tasklist" (what is tasklist, anyway? I couldn't find it in the menu or by using XFCE's Application Finder.)?
You could try replacing Xfwm4 with KWin.

sixsixfive wrote:

another replacement: http://openbox.org/wiki/Help:Configuration#Focus

Yes, I do use Alt-Tab, but I subconsciouly reach for the mouse pretty often, and I want to have that working too. I also routinely work with 3+ windows, in which case Alt-Tab becomes a bit awkward.

By "tasklist", I meant the Window Buttons applet. I saw it being called tasklist elsewhere and mistook it for its name. Sorry. Replacing the WM is a bit extreme, but it is a last resort. Thanks for the suggestion.

ToZ wrote:

It works fine for me here on 4.10. Focus follows mouse is set, web browser is the top window, click on emacs on tasklist and start typing.
If possible, can you test this out on another account on your computer to see if its a configuration issue in your profile?
Can you also post your xfwm4 settings:
xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -lv

I tried creating a fresh account, with an empty home directory, but the problem persists. I selected "default panel settings" in the "you launched xfce for the first time" dialogue (NB: the messages are not verbatim, I'm translating them from a non-English locale). I didn't change anything besides the "focus follows mouse" setting.

I also noticed something odd about the Window Buttons applet, which looks like a bug to me. When I'm in Chrome and click on Emacs' window button to raise emacs, the window button for Chrome remains depressed, so that both Emacs' and Chrome's buttons are depressed. If I click on Chrome's window button again, *without leaving the Window Buttons applet's area*, then Chrome minimizes. It's as if Chrome's window button registered a button-down event with no corresponding button-up. The buttons then remain depressed, even if I un-minimize them but clicking on the window button again. Any number of window buttons can be simultaneously depressed in this manner, but when more than two windows are involved, a click on a depressed window button sometimes causes the window to minimize but sometimes to be raised. The applet returns to a normal state, with exactly one button depressed (the one with the focus) if I move the mouse cursor to the window (NB: not the window button, but the window proper) to bring it into focus.

This is all tested with the fresh account, so it has nothing to do with per-user settings. I don't remember fiddling with system-wide settings, but I can double-check that if you can tell me how. Does this sound like a bug? If it is, I'll try filing it on the Ubuntu BTS.

The output of xfconf-query (in the fresh account) is:

/general/activate_action                 bring
/general/borderless_maximize             true
/general/box_move                        false
/general/box_resize                      false
/general/button_layout                   O|SHMC
/general/button_offset                   0
/general/button_spacing                  0
/general/click_to_focus                  false
/general/cycle_apps_only                 false
/general/cycle_draw_frame                true
/general/cycle_hidden                    true
/general/cycle_minimum                   true
/general/cycle_workspaces                false
/general/double_click_action             maximize
/general/double_click_distance           5
/general/double_click_time               250
/general/easy_click                      Alt
/general/focus_delay                     5
/general/focus_hint                      true
/general/focus_new                       true
/general/frame_opacity                   100
/general/full_width_title                true
/general/inactive_opacity                100
/general/maximized_offset                0
/general/mousewheel_rollup               true
/general/move_opacity                    100
/general/placement_mode                  center
/general/placement_ratio                 20
/general/popup_opacity                   100
/general/prevent_focus_stealing          false
/general/raise_delay                     250
/general/raise_on_click                  true
/general/raise_on_focus                  false
/general/raise_with_any_button           true
/general/repeat_urgent_blink             false
/general/resize_opacity                  100
/general/restore_on_move                 true
/general/scroll_workspaces               true
/general/shadow_delta_height             0
/general/shadow_delta_width              0
/general/shadow_delta_x                  0
/general/shadow_delta_y                  -3
/general/shadow_opacity                  50
/general/show_app_icon                   false
/general/show_dock_shadow                true
/general/show_frame_shadow               false
/general/show_popup_shadow               false
/general/snap_resist                     false
/general/snap_to_border                  true
/general/snap_to_windows                 false
/general/snap_width                      10
/general/sync_to_vblank                  false
/general/theme                           Default
/general/tile_on_move                    true
/general/title_alignment                 center
/general/title_font                      Sans Bold 9
/general/title_horizontal_offset         0
/general/title_shadow_active             false
/general/title_shadow_inactive           false
/general/title_vertical_offset_active    0
/general/title_vertical_offset_inactive  0
/general/toggle_workspaces               false
/general/unredirect_overlays             true
/general/urgent_blink                    false
/general/use_compositing                 false
/general/workspace_count                 4
/general/workspace_names                 <<UNSUPPORTED>>
/general/wrap_cycle                      true
/general/wrap_layout                     true
/general/wrap_resistance                 10
/general/wrap_windows                    true
/general/wrap_workspaces                 false

lottin · 2014-11-09 00:51:59

jun0 wrote:

I also noticed something odd about the Window Buttons applet, which looks like a bug to me. When I'm in Chrome and click on Emacs' window button to raise emacs, the window button for Chrome remains depressed, so that both Emacs' and Chrome's buttons are depressed. If I click on Chrome's window button again, *without leaving the Window Buttons applet's area*, then Chrome minimizes. It's as if Chrome's window button registered a button-down event with no corresponding button-up. The buttons then remain depressed, even if I un-minimize them but clicking on the window button again. Any number of window buttons can be simultaneously depressed in this manner, but when more than two windows are involved, a click on a depressed window button sometimes causes the window to minimize but sometimes to be raised. The applet returns to a normal state, with exactly one button depressed (the one with the focus) if I move the mouse cursor to the window (NB: not the window button, but the window proper) to bring it into focus.

This is very odd and I'm pretty sure it's related to your original problem. When a button appears depressed in the task bar this means that the corresponding windows is focused. For example, with focus follows mouse activated, if I move the mouse away from the Firefox window and on the terminal window, in the task bar I can see that the Firefox button automatically stops being depressed and the Terminal window button becomes depressed. Having two buttons depressed at the same time is theoretically impossible because it would mean that 2 different windows have focus! Clearly something is wrong here.

The output of xfconf-query (in the fresh account) is:

I have the same settings as you, except for raise on click which I have it set to false, and I don't see the behaviour that you describe.

ToZ · 2014-11-09 02:10:44

@jun0, yes, "tasklist" is Window Buttons. I tested with them.

And I agree with @lottin, something seems wrong with your setup. Though I'm not sure what could be causing it.

jun0 · 2014-11-10 14:00:55

I'm following the source code now, and it looks like it could be a problem with libwnck (3.4.7). The tasklist is calling wnck_window_activate_transient() but this is somehow not activating the corresponding window. Not sure if I can work more on this any time soon, but I'll take it to the dev-list or bug tracker if I can't. Thanks for your help!

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#1 2014-11-08 14:29:36

"Focus on raise" with "focus follows mouse"?

#2 2014-11-08 15:47:07

Re: "Focus on raise" with "focus follows mouse"?

#3 2014-11-08 16:14:48

Re: "Focus on raise" with "focus follows mouse"?

#4 2014-11-08 17:07:19

Re: "Focus on raise" with "focus follows mouse"?

#5 2014-11-08 20:35:22

Re: "Focus on raise" with "focus follows mouse"?

#6 2014-11-09 00:51:59

Re: "Focus on raise" with "focus follows mouse"?

#7 2014-11-09 02:10:44

Re: "Focus on raise" with "focus follows mouse"?

#8 2014-11-10 14:00:55

Re: "Focus on raise" with "focus follows mouse"?

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