Some modal dialogs can be hidden by the main window
Some modal dialogs can get hidden behind the main window by clicking on the window.
This is a big UX problem, as the main window becomes unresponsive to clicks with no indication that there is a modal dialog behind it. This is also the root cause of the issue https://musescore.org/en/node/53386.
This doesn't apply to all modal dialogs, though, so tracking down the culprit here should mean comparing the dialogs that work correctly against those that don't. Perhaps a different type of dialog is being used for some dialogs? Since it seems to affect Linux users, perhaps the way GNOME or GTK handles these different types is at the core of the issue?
You can see the different way the dialogs are handled in the attached screenshots.
When it works correctly, the main window is darkened and clicking on it does nothing. The modal dialog stays at the forefront.
When it doesn't, the main window is brought to the front, but it's non-actionable. It feels frozen.
Modal dialogs that don't work correctly:
* Restore session dialog (screenshot)
* About MuseScore
* About MusicXML
* Start Center
* Print
* Info
* Album
* Parts
* Save Online
* Add/Remove Line Breaks
* Transpose
* Page Settings
* Edit Text Styles
* Plugin manager
* Resource manager (tested in v2.0, crashes in nightly)
Modal dialogs that do work correctly:
* Save changes dialog (screenshot)
* About Qt
* New
* Open dialogs
* Save dialogs
* Instruments
* Preferences
* New Workspace
* Edit (General) Styles
OS: Ubuntu Gnome 14.10
MuseScore versions tested:
* MuseScore v2.1 pre-release: revision 953c0fa
* MuseScore v2.0.0: revision 6e47f74
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| not-working.png | 67.55 KB |
| working.png | 136.6 KB |
Comments
FWIW, it's not a Linux thing necessarily, as I have never seen any problems like this. The dialogs listed as 'not working" above all work fine for me - they are modal and cannot be hidden by any sequence of steps I have found. Or maybe you have some specific unusual series of steps that you are following that hides them? I'm on Ubuntu 14.04 with xfce 4.
Could you try this within Gnome (using the default Adwaita theme)? I think it might be related to that.
No unusual series of steps, just opening the dialog and then clicking on the main window behind it.
As far as I know I don't have Gnome installed - mine is a very minimal setup, due to being on a Chromebook with only a 16GB SSD.
I can confirm that I do get this issue on Ubuntu 14.10 in MuseScore 2.0 from the PPA.
I can also confirm that I do not get the issue with the latest nightly build (compiled from the GitHub reporsitory), and I also do not get the issue with the tagged 2.0 release from the GitHub repository.
There seems to be something wrong with the PPA version.
That's odd -- I just built MuseScore from source (f8d46c3) and I get the issue there as well. I also get the issue with the aforementioned nightly from this website.
How does your compiled build act? If you click on the main window behind the Start Center, does the SC remain at the top? Is the main window in the back darkened?
Seems maybe we are looking at a difference in Qt versions? I have 5.4.1, and all works as expected for me.
That might be the case -- using 5.3.0 here. I hope test a newer version when the next Ubuntu Gnome comes out (which should be relatively soon).
That could be it. I have no issues with the compiled versions and I use Qt 5.4. If the PPA release comes pre-packaged with Qt 5.3 that would explain why I get the issue with the PPA version and not the compiled versions.
So the solution could either be to pre-package the PPA with Qt 5.4, or to package with 5.3 but use a later version if it is detected on the user's system.
So it seems the problem is likely to be with the version of Qt packaged with the PPA, but here is the behaviour on my system anyway:
In the official 2.0 release from the PPA, if I open the Start Centre (or another affected window like the "About" window) and then click on the main MuseScore window the child window loses focus and goes behind the main MuseScore window.
If I do this in a compiled build absolutely nothing happens; the child window stays on top and retains focus as it should. (See attached photos. Note: in the compiled version it is not possible to have two child windows open at the same time, such as the "Start Centre" and "About" windows. In fact it is not possible to do anything with the main window until the child window is closed, as you would expect.)
Should be addressed in 3.0. Can someone check the case with current master branch or with the latest nightly?
I am working with the Nightly MS4. Found that this happens if you are working with two monitors, with the score open on Monitor 2.