Bug 158120

Summary: Desktop grid shows taskbar from current desktop in all desktops displayed in grid
Product: [Plasma] kwin Reporter: Rich Johnson <rjohnson>
Component: compositingAssignee: KWin default assignee <kwin-bugs-null>
Status: RESOLVED INTENTIONAL    
Severity: wishlist CC: andrei.ilie, aneurin.price, diego.ml, guitarist198, ivan.reche, jonathan.schluessler, katoda, kojot350, naringas, nbigaouette, poletti.marco, roey.katz, thomas.luebking
Priority: NOR    
Version: unspecified   
Target Milestone: ---   
Platform: Ubuntu   
OS: Linux   
Latest Commit: Version Fixed In:

Description Rich Johnson 2008-02-20 20:05:20 UTC
Version:            (using KDE 4.0.1)
Installed from:    Ubuntu Packages
OS:                Linux

Copying information from report filed in Ubuntu Launchpad (#190743)
https://launchpad.net/bugs/190743

I was able to confirm this report with both my Kubuntu packages and my install from trunk.
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Binary package hint: kde4

With the KDE4 taskbar set to "only show tasks from the current desktop", each desktop only shows its tasks as it should; however, when I launch the desktop grid with Ctrl+F8, the taskbars from all desktops reflect the contents of the active one.

In case its needed, I'm currently running the 64-bit version of Kubuntu Hardy + KDE 4.0.1 on a Gateway NX860XL laptop. I'm running the 169.09 Nvidia driver from the repos on an Nvidia GeForce Go 7900 GS GPU, and an Intel Core2 Duo T7200 processor.
Comment 1 Lubos Lunak 2008-03-07 22:27:13 UTC
You are welcome to provide a magic patch that somehow makes one taskbar show in several different ways at the same time or live with the fact that representations of something don't necessarily match the original.
Comment 2 Lubos Lunak 2008-03-07 22:31:01 UTC
*** Bug 158122 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 3 lucas 2008-06-21 11:09:51 UTC
*** Bug 164559 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 4 Karthik Periagaram 2008-08-05 03:10:58 UTC
One possible solution to this is to make Desktop Grid temporarily disable the option to show windows only from one desktop. So, in the Desktop Grid view, the taskbar shows all windows from all desktops. When the user exits Desktop Grid view, the taskbar can revert back to showing only the windows from the chosen desktop.

If this is not easily implementable, other solutions should be sought. The current behavior, as described in this wishlist (bug?) is clearly unexpected.

[Wishlist = Things work logically - perhaps could work (better?) differently; Bug = Things don't work logically - unexpected behavior]
Comment 5 lucas 2008-08-05 07:21:27 UTC
Bug = Unintentional behavior
Wish = Change of intentional behavior

The taskbar and desktop grid work exactly as how they were designed therefore there is no bug.

To fix the bug as mentioned by the reporter Plasma will need to duplicate its panel once per desktop, increasing memory and processing requirements proportionally to the amount of desktops all the time (But this method may be possible when desktop-based activities are introduced?). To fix it according to your comment, although much easier and less burdensome to the system, is just not worth the time spent coding it (There are much more serious things to fix).

If a clean patch is produced and submitted I do not see it being declined however. The patch will require adding new Plasma<->KWin bindings and additions to the effects API.
Comment 6 lucas 2008-08-05 07:25:41 UTC
There is also another method: Just add some bindings to Plasma/taskbar and have the effect manually call them itself.

(Also I refer to all reports on b.k.o as "bugs" so I didn't mean to contradict myself on my "to fix the bug" comment ^_^; )
Comment 7 lucas 2008-12-20 11:27:28 UTC
*** Bug 178262 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 8 Aneurin Price 2009-02-01 14:38:11 UTC
So WONTFIX is the final ruling on this bug - is that because it's too difficult, or because it's actually *desired behaviour*?

If the former, then what's the problem with leaving it open? Perhaps somebody will fix it in the future. If it's the latter, then could there be some explanation of why anyone would want this behaviour?

(Also it's absurd to label an obvious bug as wishlist. This isn't a feature request; it's a request to fix incorrect behaviour. If you believe it isn't incorrect, then some explanation of why is warranted. It's understandable that it might have to be that way to avoid creating additional panels, but that's an *implementation* issue and not a description of why the *behaviour* is correct.)
Comment 9 Martin Flöser 2009-02-01 14:56:13 UTC
It's a wontfix because it is just technically impossible. There is only one panel which is shown on all desktops. It's the same as keeping any window on all desktops.

So there is only one panel which is painted several times. How should it work? We would have to change the desktop each time a panel get's painted so that plasma can repaint the panel. That would result in at least 4*25=100 changes of desktops per second if you do not want to see flickering. I don't think that's an option.

The other option has already been stated by Lucas: having one panel per desktop. That is IMHO a total waste of ressources as it would only be needed for things like desktop grid.

Btw cube effect has the same "bug" and Compiz probably as well.

If you have better ideas to implement this, please tell us.
Comment 10 Aneurin Price 2009-02-01 15:53:00 UTC
How much of a waste of resources it likely to be incurred by having separate panels per desktop? I can easily see other possible uses for that so it doesn't seem like a completely extravagant option. Would that be appropriate for an entirely separate wishlist item, or would it be rejected out of hand?

Regardless, part of my problem with this was that the resolution appeared to be saying that this wouldn't be fixed because it wasn't considered a bug, but it appears I've slightly misunderstood the meaning of 'WONTFIX' and was thinking a little more on the lines of 'INVALID', so I apologise for that.
Comment 11 Martin Flöser 2009-03-30 20:50:39 UTC
*** Bug 188503 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 12 Jonathan Thomas 2009-04-09 01:36:17 UTC
*** Bug 189145 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 13 Martin Flöser 2009-04-30 14:21:59 UTC
*** Bug 191138 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 14 Paweł Prażak 2009-04-30 14:37:53 UTC
Why this is WONTFIX? It is clearly a bug and if someone ones intentional "design" it is bug by design.
I understand this is a demanding or even challenging one, but it's not impossible just because we don't know yet how to fix it.
For me it is logical that when I want to see grid of my desktops I want grid of my desktops not the grid of the same desktop with different windows.
Maybe we don't need to show the task bar at all, just show icons of open apps in lower-left corner, this way we would have functionality we need (to show what app usre have on different desktops) and no need for constructing complicated objects - icon will be sufficient IMHO.

What do you think?
Comment 15 Martin Flöser 2009-04-30 14:56:43 UTC
It's a wontfix as it's just a mission impossible. It has been discussed in this bug report and on kwin mailinglist. But as said in comment #1 everybody is welcome to provide a patch that makes it possible.
Comment 16 Martin Flöser 2009-06-02 22:53:56 UTC
*** Bug 195033 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 17 Martin Flöser 2009-08-14 10:14:11 UTC
*** Bug 203801 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 18 Martin Flöser 2009-10-05 08:54:08 UTC
*** Bug 209494 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 19 Martin Flöser 2009-11-25 18:12:31 UTC
*** Bug 216120 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 20 Marco Poletti 2009-11-25 19:26:10 UTC
What if the panel remains a single process, but displays a widget for each desktop? This shouldn't be a major resource hit, because the panel's width is only a fraction of the monitor's size.
If displaying a 30-pixel panel in 4 desktops is resource intensive, then if you have 4 maximized windows in 4 desktops you would be using much more resources, and this is not true IMHO. Is the panel handled in a different way? Does it refresh when nothing changes, too?
Comment 21 Thomas Lübking 2009-11-25 20:33:28 UTC
see comment #5
Comment 22 Martin Flöser 2010-04-22 18:20:17 UTC
*** Bug 235075 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 23 Martin Flöser 2010-04-26 22:04:58 UTC
*** Bug 235430 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***