Description: As tested with the Flatpak version of LibreOffice 24.2, on Wayland GNOME 45.4 on Fedora 39 Linux with Intel graphics, the formula tips popover widget that appears above/below the cell while typing a formula: * Flickers a lot (on every character typed), creating/destroying itself on each keystroke instead of "reusing" itself * Switches between above/below position based on the number of parentheses, instead of actual vertical space availability. This is a bit hard to describe, so see the attached video. Steps to Reproduce: 1. In a Calc cell, type a formula like =sum(average(whatever 2. Pay attention to the position of the formula syntax tips popover (above vs below) Actual Results: It jumps up and down while you type. See attached video. Expected Results: No jumping, no flashing/blinking. Reproducible: Always User Profile Reset: No Additional Info: Version: 24.2.1.2 (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community Build ID: db4def46b0453cc22e2d0305797cf981b68ef5ac CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.7; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3 Locale: en-US (en_US.UTF-8); UI: en-US Flatpak Calc: threaded
Created attachment 193048 [details] Video demonstration
Created attachment 193049 [details] Video demonstration 2 - flickering-only formula bar typing Interestingly, the jumping up/down behavior only happens when typing formulas directly into cells in the canvas. This second video shows the "flickering without jumping" variant of the bug happening when typing into the toolbars' formula bar widget.
The switch between top and bottom is related to formula name autocomplete suggestion (top) vs argument documentation (bottom). I agree it is seems unnecessarily distracting at first, but I can see how separating them would be useful for some improvement of the tooltip behaviour: showing function suggestion at the same time as showing argument documentation (because sometimes, an argument will be another function). - This is what OnlyOffice does: suggests functions underneath (in a scrollable list), while argument documentation is above (single-line, stays visible). - Google Sheets and Office 365 (online) show both function suggestion list and argument documentation below (both are not single-line). What do you think? I think we should adopt OnlyOffice's behaviour – but this should be a separate enhancement request. However, I do agree that the flickering should be fixed, no need to show the canvas behind before repainting the tooltip. And it touches on accessibility, for users sensitive to motion / flashing. Version: 24.8.0.0.alpha0+ (X86_64) / LibreOffice Community Build ID: 53c5d570cab036b23f4969b858a648c8f0c24f93 CPU threads: 8; OS: Linux 6.5; UI render: default; VCL: gtk3 Locale: en-AU (en_AU.UTF-8); UI: en-US Calc: CL threaded Flickering not reproduced (or a lot less noticeable) with gen or kf5 VCL plugins. Let's focus on just flickering here, Jeff?
Yeah, if the flickering can be fixed as a first step, that'll already be an improvement. As for taking the onlyoffice approach, I'm not sure if you'd be able to have multiple popover widgets open at the same time, vs only one below that gets reused or one that combines the contents, but I guess that's something that can be figured out after the flickering problem indeed.