Bug 68051 - UI: Contextual dialogs steal focus when hidden/shown again
Summary: UI: Contextual dialogs steal focus when hidden/shown again
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
3.6.7.2 release
Hardware: Other Linux (All)
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard: BSA
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Dialog Writer-UX
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Reported: 2013-08-13 10:24 UTC by freddi34
Modified: 2020-03-09 13:28 UTC (History)
5 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


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Description freddi34 2013-08-13 10:24:16 UTC
Problem description: 
Certain dialogs and toolbars are contextual and hide when a different item is selected. For example when a frame or image is selected, certain the cross-reference dialog is hidden. When clicking into a paragraph to continue writing, these dialogs are shown again and catch focus. The focus should be where the click event happened (document window where text cursor has been placed).

Steps to reproduce:
1. Insert an image or frame.
1. Open the fields dialog (menu Insert → Cross-Reference).
2. Select the image or frame: the Fields dialog hides.
3. Click into the paragraph.

Current behavior:
The Fields dialog shows again and catches focus.

Expected behavior:
The paragraph in the document window should keep focus.
              
Operating System: Ubuntu
Version: 4.0.1.2 release
Comment 1 ign_christian 2014-07-04 05:06:01 UTC
I can see same behavior in 4.2.5.2 and 3.6.7.2 - Ubuntu 12.04 32bit.

But I'm not familiar with that function, so I let status UNCONFIRMED
Comment 2 sophie 2014-08-07 16:15:42 UTC
Hi, there is a step that I miss to reproduce:
- when I do Insert -> Cross-reference, I can't access the document behind, the dialog doesn't allow me to go back to the document. I'm using verion 4.3.0.4 on Ubuntu. Could you shed some light to help to confirm your bug? Thanks - Sophie
Comment 3 Buovjaga 2014-11-05 13:38:29 UTC
I confirm that this happens, but I'm only setting this as an enhancement and some UX person can consider, if it should be accepted as NEW.

Win 7 64-bit Version: 4.4.0.0.alpha1+
Build ID: b7d8a58ff2698ffc6e22943f64aa97c5ea253bd9
TinderBox: Win-x86@42, Branch:master, Time: 2014-11-05_00:40:38
Comment 4 freddi34 2014-11-11 16:33:59 UTC
Here I have a more detailed description of the procedure. I found that this issue also depends on the exact workflow.

1. Insert an image: Edit → Image → From file…
2. Right-click the image → Description… (or Label)
Now we pretend to continue writing the text, and refer to the image in the text.
3. Open the fields dialog: Insert → Cross-Reference
4. Choose type 'Figure', select the figure in the list and click "Insert".
5. Click into the document to focus it. Here I clicked on the image, which makes the dialog hide. It turns out when you directly click into the paragraph, the here described situation does not occur.
6. Then I clicked into the paragraph to continue writing.

Current behavior:
The Fields dialog shows again and catches focus.

Expected behavior:
The paragraph in the document window should keep focus.
Comment 5 Robinson Tryon (qubit) 2014-12-22 04:05:16 UTC
(In reply to Beluga from comment #3)
> I confirm that this happens, but I'm only setting this as an enhancement and
> some UX person can consider, if it should be accepted

Handing to the UXers

Status -> NEW
Comment 6 Heiko Tietze 2016-08-02 14:16:16 UTC
The fields dialog is amodal in order to insert many references at once. Not only to have something like "cf.<chapter>p.<page>" but to step through your text and add many references at different positions.

While there might be a few users of this feature the drawback is worse. So please make the "fields" dialog modal. And as a guideline: Dialogs are always modal. If the workflow requires repeated interaction it has to be supported via sidebar.

This is clearly an EASYHACK. Please add codepointers.

(component ux-advice -> Writer)
Comment 7 jani 2016-08-03 05:34:17 UTC
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #6)
> The fields dialog is amodal in order to insert many references at once. Not
> only to have something like "cf.<chapter>p.<page>" but to step through your
> text and add many references at different positions.
> 
> While there might be a few users of this feature the drawback is worse. So
> please make the "fields" dialog modal. And as a guideline: Dialogs are
> always modal. If the workflow requires repeated interaction it has to be
> supported via sidebar.
> 
> This is clearly an EASYHACK. Please add codepointers.
> 
> (component ux-advice -> 

Missing "topic<foo>", difficulty<foo> to be a easyhack, please remember to add those

Missing code pointers, means it should have status "NEEDINFO"
Comment 8 jani 2016-08-03 05:37:10 UTC
(In reply to jan iversen from comment #7)
> (In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #6)
> > The fields dialog is amodal in order to insert many references at once. Not
> > only to have something like "cf.<chapter>p.<page>" but to step through your
> > text and add many references at different positions.
> > 
> > While there might be a few users of this feature the drawback is worse. So
> > please make the "fields" dialog modal. And as a guideline: Dialogs are
> > always modal. If the workflow requires repeated interaction it has to be
> > supported via sidebar.
> > 
> > This is clearly an EASYHACK. Please add codepointers.
> > 
> > (component ux-advice -> 
> 
> Missing "topic<foo>", difficulty<foo> to be a easyhack, please remember to
> add those
> 
> Missing code pointers, means it should have status "NEEDINFO"

Here is an example from another UI bug:
difficultyBeginner, easyHack, skillCpp, skillUI, topicUI
Comment 9 Xisco Faulí 2016-09-27 10:36:06 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 10 Xisco Faulí 2020-03-09 13:28:18 UTC
Please add keyword 'needsUXEval' and CC 'libreoffice-ux-advise@lists.freedesktop.org' if input from UX is needed.