GNU bug report logs - #23174
Windows : Emacs frame stays on top after Alt-Tab

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Message #5 received at submit <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: devi8 <at> null.net
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: Windows : Emacs frame stays on top after Alt-Tab
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2016 11:17:26 +0200

GNU Emacs 24.5.1 (i686-pc-mingw32) of 2015-04-11 on LEG570

On Windows (7 Professional), after (?) switching from a Aero Desktop Theme back to a non-Aero Desktop Theme,
pressing Alt-Tab will switch application windows, but the Emacs Window ("Frame"?) will stay on the foreground, which is wrong behaviour.
Only after exiting and restarting Emacs is the correct behaviour restored again, and Alt-Tab works as expected.

I saw some discussions on the use of SetForegroundWindow and some bug reports that might relate to this.
https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=6468
https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=11513
https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13954
https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=11513

In general I despise applications that use SetForegroundWindow, because almost all of them fail to do what the user wants, because of lack of knowledge of other active applications and the user's intentions.
This bug report is also an example of such behaviour.

Why not totally remove the use of SetForegroundWindow (except maybe for sys_kill and some places that try to fix "bugs"), or at least make it customizable so that I can disable it?

Message #8 received at 23174 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: devi8 <at> null.net
Cc: 23174 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#23174: Windows : Emacs frame stays on top after Alt-Tab
Date: Fri, 01 Apr 2016 10:02:09 +0300

> From: devi8 <at> null.net
> Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2016 11:17:26 +0200
> 
> GNU Emacs 24.5.1 (i686-pc-mingw32) of 2015-04-11 on LEG570
> 
> On Windows (7 Professional), after (?) switching from a Aero Desktop Theme back to a non-Aero Desktop Theme,
> pressing Alt-Tab will switch application windows, but the Emacs Window ("Frame"?) will stay on the foreground, which is wrong behaviour.
> Only after exiting and restarting Emacs is the correct behaviour restored again, and Alt-Tab works as expected.
> 
> I saw some discussions on the use of SetForegroundWindow and some bug reports that might relate to this.
> https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=6468
> https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=11513
> https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13954
> https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=11513
> 
> In general I despise applications that use SetForegroundWindow, because almost all of them fail to do what the user wants, because of lack of knowledge of other active applications and the user's intentions.
> This bug report is also an example of such behaviour.
> 
> Why not totally remove the use of SetForegroundWindow (except maybe for sys_kill and some places that try to fix "bugs"), or at least make it customizable so that I can disable it?

You may be right, but please explain how are the calls to
SetForegroundWindow related to the problem you describe.  IOW, please
tell the details of how Alt-TAB winds up calling that API, or how the
call to that API interferes with Alt-TAB.

Emacs calls SetForegroundWindow in only 2 specific situations: when it
was requested to direct a focus to a frame, and when it was requested
to raise a frame.  I don't necessarily see how is that related to the
issue at hand.

I also couldn't reproduce the problem, on Windows 8.1 and Emacs 24.5.
Maybe I don't quite understand what you did, so please describe the
recipe for reproducing the problem step by step, preferably starting
with "emacs -Q".

Message #13 received at 23174-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
To: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
Cc: devi8 <at> null.net, 23174-done <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#23174: Windows : Emacs frame stays on top after Alt-Tab
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 2019 07:36:53 +0200

Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org> writes:

>> From: devi8 <at> null.net
>> Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2016 11:17:26 +0200
>>
>> GNU Emacs 24.5.1 (i686-pc-mingw32) of 2015-04-11 on LEG570
>>
>> On Windows (7 Professional), after (?) switching from a Aero Desktop Theme back to a non-Aero Desktop Theme,
>> pressing Alt-Tab will switch application windows, but the Emacs Window ("Frame"?) will stay on the foreground, which is wrong behaviour.
>> Only after exiting and restarting Emacs is the correct behaviour restored again, and Alt-Tab works as expected.
>>
>> I saw some discussions on the use of SetForegroundWindow and some bug reports that might relate to this.
>> https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=6468
>> https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=11513
>> https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=13954
>> https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=11513
>>
>> In general I despise applications that use SetForegroundWindow, because almost all of them fail to do what the user wants, because of lack of knowledge of other active applications and the user's intentions.
>> This bug report is also an example of such behaviour.
>>
>> Why not totally remove the use of SetForegroundWindow (except maybe for sys_kill and some places that try to fix "bugs"), or at least make it customizable so that I can disable it?
>
> You may be right, but please explain how are the calls to
> SetForegroundWindow related to the problem you describe.  IOW, please
> tell the details of how Alt-TAB winds up calling that API, or how the
> call to that API interferes with Alt-TAB.
>
> Emacs calls SetForegroundWindow in only 2 specific situations: when it
> was requested to direct a focus to a frame, and when it was requested
> to raise a frame.  I don't necessarily see how is that related to the
> issue at hand.
>
> I also couldn't reproduce the problem, on Windows 8.1 and Emacs 24.5.
> Maybe I don't quite understand what you did, so please describe the
> recipe for reproducing the problem step by step, preferably starting
> with "emacs -Q".

More information was requested, but was not given within three years.
I'm therefore closing this bug report.  If anyone can reproduce this
issue, please reopen.

Best regards,
Stefan Kangas

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