Bug 255052 - KWin should not pass the focus to the topmost client when the focus'd client is lowered
Summary: KWin should not pass the focus to the topmost client when the focus'd client ...
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: kwin
Classification: Plasma
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Ubuntu Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: KWin default assignee
URL: http://kde-look.org/content/show.php?...
Keywords:
: 294019 324297 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2010-10-23 18:01 UTC by hvm
Modified: 2018-06-12 18:54 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
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Description hvm 2010-10-23 18:01:46 UTC
Version:           unspecified (using KDE 4.5.1) 
OS:                Linux

"Lower Window" shortcuts makes the lowered window lose focus.

I like in KDE that I can keep windows that I work in beneath unfocused windows. I don't let the mouse raise windows when clicking them. I only use the "Raise Window" and "Lower Window" shortcuts. 

This worked great in KDE 3.x.x but in 4.x.x there is a minor yet important change for me: the lowered window loses focus so I can't just raise it back. I used this extensively when I just wanted to take a peek at a window below and then get back to the one I'm working right now.

So if you can please return the previous behaviour (or ideally add an option for that) I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

Reproducible: Always
Comment 1 hvm 2011-05-31 07:56:39 UTC
I know this is not a very important issue but is there any chance this might get resolved?
Comment 2 Thomas Lübking 2011-05-31 10:20:21 UTC
the "lower window" / "raise window" shortcut indeed drops the focus, while the "toggle lower/raise" shortcut does not.
Clicking the titlebar toggles the focus.

No idea, but there's a chance that this was intended implicit behaviour for the actions. -> Gonna have a look later this day ;-)
Comment 3 Thomas Lübking 2011-05-31 19:41:37 UTC
code comment:
        // As this most likely makes the window no longer visible change the
        // keyboard focus to the next available window.

so it's inteded behaviour, personally i don't see this justified (only relevant for non mouse driven focus policies & just activating the most top client is a bit arbitrary either) but wouldn't call it a bug either.

Marking as wish, Martin has to decide ;-P

@hvm
The toggleRaiseLower shortcut does not exhibit this behavior, if this fits you, you might as well close the wish and resolve martin from taking a random decision ;-)
Comment 4 hvm 2011-06-01 08:45:08 UTC
Well the shortcuts are not consistent then, it would be nice for all of them to work the same. 

I'm not complaining though, you gave me a pretty good solution, it's just I really liked the workflow when I could use those 2 shortcuts. It's better because you don't have to think whether the window you have focused is at the bottom or top. Also, with toggleRaiseLower you can't lower a window in the middle of the stack (they get raised, you can lower them with a second keypress).

I'm also a little concerned that sometime later, the behaviour of toggleRaiseLower will change to match the other two :D

So, if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to keep the report open for now.
Comment 5 David North 2011-12-09 02:22:23 UTC
(In reply to comment #3)
> code comment:
>         // As this most likely makes the window no longer visible change the
>         // keyboard focus to the next available window.
> 
> so it's inteded behaviour, personally i don't see this justified (only relevant
> for non mouse driven focus policies & just activating the most top client is a
> bit arbitrary either) but wouldn't call it a bug either.

I've been using the lower shortcut for years under 3.x and the behavior change is certainly a little unexpected. I'd call it at least almost-a-bug... :)

Having two different behaviors for 'lower' ... one for 'toggle lower' and one for just 'lower' doesn't seem quite right. And as a side note: lower_and_lose_focus doesn't work for my workflow at all.

> Marking as wish, Martin has to decide ;-P
> 
> @hvm
> The toggleRaiseLower shortcut does not exhibit this behavior, if this fits you,
> you might as well close the wish and resolve martin from taking a random
> decision ;-)

The toggle is a good enough workaround for me, although I'd prefer the old behavior --- Just one user's opinion --- thanks!
Comment 6 hvm 2011-12-09 10:12:53 UTC
Thank you! Finally someone who understand me :D
Comment 7 Thomas Lübking 2012-02-13 21:47:24 UTC
*** Bug 294019 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 8 Thomas Lübking 2012-02-13 22:56:44 UTC
https://git.reviewboard.kde.org/r/103975/
Comment 9 hvm 2012-02-14 11:06:02 UTC
Uhm, doesn't MouseLowerOp refer to lowering the window with the mouse? I'm talking about lowering the window with the keyboard shortcut "lower window" from the kwin shortcuts.

Or are you saying that the keyboard shortcut somehow uses the same code to lower the window thus making the next active window the one under the mouse?
Comment 10 Thomas Lübking 2012-02-14 14:51:26 UTC
No, sorry - actually the code is more or less just doubled there.
The changes were introduced because of bug #182146

We'd however need a different heuristic for the keyboard shortcut - it's basically a matter of reading the users brains ... :-(
Comment 11 Kirill 2012-02-14 15:19:33 UTC
Why don't then have separate actions: Lower, and Lower and Blur (or Lower and Adjust Focus)?

Or keeping focus in the window under the mouse could be also good decision. 
If after you have lowered window it is still under the mouse then the window may stay active (nothing covers it at lease where mouse is => it is not confusing).
Otherwise, if another (second) window is now becomes the mouse (which means that it is covering the first window) it is not so confusing to switch focus to the second window. Especially if we have Focus under mouse policy.

When we do it with keyboard... well, it's harder, because some users may in this situation completely ignore mouse. And therefore it is better to have actions separated to allow users to tune settings (have Lower for mouse action and Lower and Blur for one hot key, and keep Lower for another hot key).
Comment 12 hvm 2012-02-14 15:24:10 UTC
That's what I was saying. When I use the "lower window" keyboard shortcut I still expect that window to have the focus because I set all my focus policies to ignore the mouse. I'd really like the old (KDE's 3.5) behaviour back.
Comment 13 Thomas Lübking 2012-02-15 16:27:28 UTC
FTR
----

At least IceWM and OpenBox indeed act like the current shortcut implementation (on alt+esc)

This seems to be (and demanded as) however some sort of "inverse tabbox" and does actually not fit the shortcut title (see bug #182146 and following http://lwn.net/Articles/316860/) so to me it seems a feature request was implemented as behavioral change - between KDE 4.2.0 and 4.2.1 (so in a minor release...) and leading to an inconsistency regarding the toggling shortcut.

Since this means a regression and because the alt+esc shortcut seems a valid feature request (common among some WM, not compiz though) I'll propose a patch to introduce the current behavior as new feature and restore the former behavior.

However since this requires the addition of a new visible string (requires translation) this has unfortunately to wait for 4.9.

Changing the behavior right now and re-introduce the current behavior is not an option (to me) since it would mean another regression and I was educated in the sense that doing wrong to fix sth. wrong is still doing wrong.
Comment 14 hvm 2012-02-15 16:47:29 UTC
OK. Good enough. I'll keep in mind to check it out when 4.9 comes out. Thank you for your patience regarding a tiny little detail like this :)
Comment 15 hvm 2012-02-15 16:48:47 UTC
Also, make sure it's not the "toggle raise/lower" keyboard shortcut. It's the "lower window" shortcut. The toggle one maintains the old behaviour for some reason. Maybe that's what you meant but I wanted to be sure.
Comment 16 Thomas Lübking 2012-02-21 17:14:46 UTC
Git commit c4e133e5008f73f46da9654011bcc71748a92aaf by Thomas Lübking.
Committed on 13/02/2012 at 23:50.
Pushed by luebking into branch 'KDE/4.8'.

Focus window under mouse after MouseLowerOp
REVIEW: 103975

M  +23   -16   kwin/activation.cpp
M  +12   -8    kwin/useractions.cpp
M  +2    -0    kwin/workspace.h

http://commits.kde.org/kde-workspace/c4e133e5008f73f46da9654011bcc71748a92aaf
Comment 17 Thomas Lübking 2013-08-31 08:40:52 UTC
*** Bug 324297 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 18 Thomas Lübking 2013-08-31 08:45:14 UTC
re-opening as the shortcut wish for plain lower behavior w/o any focus alteration is still open - however i guess this is rather a candidate for "bring your own script"
Comment 19 hvm 2013-08-31 08:48:14 UTC
What do you mean by "bring your own script" ?
Comment 20 Thomas Lübking 2013-08-31 08:54:56 UTC
writing a kwin script to lower the window and binding a shortcut to it
Comment 21 hvm 2013-08-31 08:56:59 UTC
Hmm, I didn't know I could do that. I'm going to look into it, thanks.
Comment 22 Thomas Lübking 2013-10-10 10:26:00 UTC
Fixed by thirdparty script - install via "kcmshell4 kwinscripts" / "Get new scripts" -> "Lower active window"
http://kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=161046
Comment 23 hvm 2013-10-10 20:36:08 UTC
wow, very nice. Thank you :)
Comment 24 Aqa-Ib 2018-06-12 15:45:31 UTC
I am glad we can add a third party script to fix this issue. But it is not common sense that you select in KDE system settings options to order the alt tab function by "recently used" and you have the current behaviour. 

"Recently used" does not imply whether the window is minimized or not. So I call this a bug, or at least a poor explanation of the "recently used" option for the alt tab function.

Regards.
Comment 25 Aqa-Ib 2018-06-12 18:04:56 UTC
Also, the third party plugin for kwin is not working as expected. It does not work if there are more than one windows maximized. 
I would consider reopening this bug, because it really breaks the work flow on Plasma Desktop.
Comment 26 Aqa-Ib 2018-06-12 18:08:23 UTC
I mean, the third party plugin does not work at all in Plasma 5.12.5.
Comment 27 Aqa-Ib 2018-06-12 18:19:21 UTC
Hmmmm, the plugin works but only using a shortcut to minimize. It would be a lot more preferable to be able to minimize with the mouse instead.
Comment 28 Aqa-Ib 2018-06-12 18:54:32 UTC
Actually I am not sure if this bug is about the thing that I have in mind. The thing I am referring to is explained in this post: https://forum.kde.org/viewtopic.php?f=289&t=143414