[Solved] Intermittent delay in focus

SteveLamont · 2015-06-22 23:23:54

Since I installed xfce4 on my Ubuntu system I've noted a bit of intermittent strangeness when I move from one window to another.

I have "Focus follows mouse" set and I've noticed that occasionally when I begin typing text into a window the first character typed is lost.

At first I thought perhaps this was somehow my doing but it has happened frequently enough that I suspect a keyboard event is somehow being lost.

Since it is an intermittent occurrence, I can't replicate it at will, but it happens with sufficient regularity that it's annoying as all get out.

Here are my window manager settings, if that somehow helps.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<channel name="xfwm4" version="1.0">
  <property name="general" type="empty">
    <property name="frame_opacity" type="int" value="100"/>
    <property name="show_frame_shadow" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="show_popup_shadow" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="theme" type="string" value="Daloa"/>
    <property name="use_compositing" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="workspace_count" type="int" value="4"/>
    <property name="workspace_names" type="array">
      <value type="string" value="Bob"/>
      <value type="string" value="Carol"/>
      <value type="string" value="Ted"/>
      <value type="string" value="Alice"/>
    </property>
    <property name="activate_action" type="string" value="none"/>
    <property name="box_move" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="box_resize" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="button_layout" type="string" value="CH|MT"/>
    <property name="button_offset" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="button_spacing" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="click_to_focus" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="focus_delay" type="int" value="5"/>
    <property name="cycle_apps_only" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="cycle_draw_frame" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="dbl_click_time" type="empty"/>
    <property name="focus_new" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="full_width_title" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="maximized_offset" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="placement_mode" type="string" value="center"/>
    <property name="raise_delay" type="int" value="5"/>
    <property name="raise_on_click" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="raise_on_focus" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="repeat_urgent_blink" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="shadow_delta_height" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="shadow_delta_width" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="shadow_delta_x" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="shadow_delta_y" type="int" value="-3"/>
    <property name="shadow_opacity" type="int" value="50"/>
    <property name="show_app_icon" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="show_dock_shadow" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="snap_to_border" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="snap_to_windows" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="snap_width" type="int" value="10"/>
    <property name="title_alignment" type="string" value="left"/>
    <property name="title_font" type="string" value="Sans Bold 9"/>
    <property name="title_horizontal_offset" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="title_shadow_active" type="string" value="false"/>
    <property name="title_shadow_inactive" type="string" value="false"/>
    <property name="title_vertical_offset_active" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="title_vertical_offset_inactive" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="urgent_blink" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="wrap_resistance" type="int" value="100"/>
    <property name="wrap_windows" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="wrap_workspaces" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="double_click_time" type="int" value="250"/>
    <property name="double_click_distance" type="int" value="5"/>
    <property name="mousewheel_rollup" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="borderless_maximize" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="cycle_hidden" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="cycle_minimum" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="cycle_workspaces" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="double_click_action" type="string" value="none"/>
    <property name="easy_click" type="string" value="Alt"/>
    <property name="focus_hint" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="inactive_opacity" type="int" value="100"/>
    <property name="move_opacity" type="int" value="100"/>
    <property name="placement_ratio" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="popup_opacity" type="int" value="100"/>
    <property name="prevent_focus_stealing" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="raise_with_any_button" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="resize_opacity" type="int" value="100"/>
    <property name="restore_on_move" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="scroll_workspaces" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="snap_resist" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="toggle_workspaces" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="unredirect_overlays" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="wrap_cycle" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="wrap_layout" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="sync_to_vblank" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="tile_on_move" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="cycle_preview" type="bool" value="true"/>
    <property name="cycle_tabwin_mode" type="int" value="0"/>
    <property name="horiz_scroll_opacity" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="titleless_maximize" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="zoom_desktop" type="bool" value="false"/>
    <property name="margin_top" type="int" value="0"/>
  </property>
</channel>

I do notice that the "focus_delay" parameter is '5'. It is set all the way to "Short" in the "Delay before window receives focus" slider in the Focus Model setting of the Window Manager->Focus tab. I'm not sure what the units are and why it's not settable to zero.

Any clues would be appreciated.

Edited to note that I'm running xfce 4.12, if that matters.

Last edited by SteveLamont (2015-06-22 23:32:40)

ToZ · 2015-06-23 04:59:34

Try manually setting the focus delay to 0 to see if that helps:

xfconf-query -c xfwm4 -p /general/focus_delay -s 0

SteveLamont · 2015-06-25 23:00:22

Thanks.

I tried that (actually, I edited it through the Settings Editor panel, which is effectively the same thing) and it seems to work.

A few other focus or window manager-related oddities:

1) When I close a window and a window underneath is exposed, focus does not seem to be transferred to the newly exposed window, even if the mouse is positioned within it.

2) When an application pops a window, it steals focus even though I have "Automatically give focus to newly created windows" unchecked in Window Manager->Focus. This is mildly annoying.

3) Sometimes when a new window is created, it does not appear at the top of the stack but is buried underneath somewhere. This happens particularly when there is another window of the same class (emacs or xterm, for instance) that is also buried.

Last edited by SteveLamont (2015-06-25 23:00:55)

ToZ · 2015-06-26 01:57:41

Which distro and what version of Xfce and xfwm4 are you using? (Nevermind, I see from above Xfce 4.12 on Ubuntu).

1) When I close a window and a window underneath is exposed, focus does not seem to be transferred to the newly exposed window, even if the mouse is positioned within it.

I can't replicate this on 4.12. Does it happen with only specific apps?

2) When an application pops a window, it steals focus even though I have "Automatically give focus to newly created windows" unchecked in Window Manager->Focus. This is mildly annoying.

Can you give an example? If an application opens its own dialog box, its still the same application. Maybe the pop-up forces focus?

3) Sometimes when a new window is created, it does not appear at the top of the stack but is buried underneath somewhere. This happens particularly when there is another window of the same class (emacs or xterm, for instance) that is also buried.

There was a recent patch that fixed an issue like this but I can't seem to find it. Maybe this one?

SteveLamont · 2015-06-26 13:31:50

I can't replicate this on 4.12. Does it happen with only specific apps?

I can't replicate it now, either, of course. It seems to be somewhat unpredictable. For the nonce, I'll chalk it up to user misperception.

Can you give an example? If an application opens its own dialog box, its still the same application. Maybe the pop-up forces focus?

I seem to recall it happening when running audacity. If you're not familiar with it, the audio editing tool audacity has a facility for running what it calls "chains" -- essentially macros which allow multiple operations. Some of these operations pop status windows. They don't require user input, they just provide information on progress. If I'm doing something in another window, these will sometimes steal focus, even though they do not pop up over the active window.

Again, it's a bit difficult to replicate and may just be my own missing something else going on.

There was a recent patch that fixed an issue like this but I can't seem to find it. Maybe this one?

Thanx. I'll check it out.

Provisionally marking this one closed.

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#1 2015-06-22 23:23:54

[Solved] Intermittent delay in focus

#2 2015-06-23 04:59:34

Re: [Solved] Intermittent delay in focus

#3 2015-06-25 23:00:22

Re: [Solved] Intermittent delay in focus

#4 2015-06-26 01:57:41

Re: [Solved] Intermittent delay in focus

#5 2015-06-26 13:31:50

Re: [Solved] Intermittent delay in focus

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