Bug 513116

Summary: Network refreshing can re-order the list items just before you were about to click on one of them
Product: [Plasma] plasmashell Reporter: grundik
Component: Networks widgetAssignee: Plasma Bugs List <plasma-bugs-null>
Status: CONFIRMED ---    
Severity: normal CC: kde, nate
Priority: NOR Keywords: usability
Version First Reported In: 6.5.3   
Target Milestone: 1.0   
Platform: Debian unstable   
OS: Linux   
See Also: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=390607
Latest Commit: Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:

Description grundik 2025-12-09 02:42:04 UTC 
SUMMARY

When networks list is refreshed, networks widget just renews. Often it happens right under the cursor, just before the click. So when I, for example, clicking to connect to one specific network, list suddenly refreshes the millisecond before I press the button, and click goes onto totally different network. There are no indications when list will be refreshed, it happens instantly and suddenly.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. open list of networks
2. point your cursor to some wifi network
3. wait a little

OBSERVED RESULT

Observe, when list refreshes, you are now pointing to different network (if unlucky), but you cant predict when it will happen.

EXPECTED RESULT

There should be some indication, that network scanning is in progress and list will be refreshed soon. Maybe by something like small progress bar, like in popup windows.

SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Linux/KDE Plasma: 
KDE Plasma Version: 6.5.3
KDE Frameworks Version: 6.20.0
Qt Version: 6.9.2

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This behavior was reported before, as part of https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=390607
Comment 1 David Redondo 2025-12-09 09:20:40 UTC 
Unfortunately networkmanager doesnt expose the scanning state of the device. But since the applet requests scans itself it should be possible to do something
Comment 2 grundik 2025-12-09 21:18:35 UTC 
Thank you for considering it. I can suggest possible solution: just show a progress bar for couple of seconds, as a warning. Yes, this will delay the refresh, but scanning is not instant anyways.

Its possible to not wait, and refresh the list instantly, if cursor is away from the list. But this cant take into account possible touch input, so this approach are potentially problematic.