433531 - Allow making reminder alert popups modal (config option)

Status: NEW

(Calendar :: Alarms, defect)

Description

[Hans Deragon]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9b5) Gecko/2008050509 Firefox/3.0b5
Build Identifier: Lightning 0.8, Build 2008033118

The reminder alert popups are not modal.  Thus when a reminder pops up, it remains behind other windows and often goes unnoticed.  Of course, this render reminders useless.

They should be system wide modal.  Or at least, this should be the default option with the option of disabling it in the preferences if people prefer to have the choice.

Reproducible: Always

Comment 1

[Hans Deragon]

Moved this bug to 'critical'.  The #1 feature of a Calandar program is to remind people about events.  If alerts show up under other windows, the whole usefulness of the application is lost.

Comment 2

[Stefan Sitter [:ssitter]]

This request is similar Bug 250137, Bug 267925, Bug 313645, Bug 321910, Bug 377806, Bug 388073. 

In Bug 202620 it was decided to not force the window on top but use the platform dependent notification system (e.g. flash the taskbar, bounce the dock icon). 

I also proposed an alarm slider that displays on top of all windows but that proposal was requested (Bug 329676).

Comment 3

[Hans Deragon]

Well, under Ubuntu 08.04, the current solution is unacceptable.

As I mentioned before, make it the default but configurable in the Preferences.

We need a solution that remains on top of all windows and require the user to
click on it to remove it.  I understand the problem with modal windows, but it
is still, of all solutions, the best under Ubuntu 08.04.  I, as a user, want a
modal window that disturb me in what I am doing.  At least, give me this
option.

I started with Lightning last Friday and today I will revert back to Korganizer because of this issue.  Even if I have to manually enter the invitations into Korganizer, at least because of its modal alerts I will not miss any meetings.  I will continue to follow Lightning development and hope that a reliable solution will emerge.

Can someone switch the status of this bug report to 'NEW'?

Comment 4

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen] [:📆][:🧩]]

I doubt we should make this a user visible pref, but I can imagine a hidden pref in about:config. Maybe the prefname being:

calendar.alarms.showModal

Comment 5

[Orion Poplawski]

Likewise for me reminders are nearly useless because of this.  Running Fedora 14 KDE.

Comment 6

[Eric Tiffany]

This problem makes the alarms basically worthless.  There is a about:config option (on Lightning under Postbox on MacOS) that is called ui.use_native_popup_windows and defaults to false.  However, changing this to true just screws up all popups.

Comment 8

[khaos119]

Why isn't this getting any attention? Everyone is right, the alert is useless if you aren't being alerted. For this reason alone I have moved to using Chrome. I love FF for firebug and would love to use it more - I will not until this is fixed.

Comment 9

[Hernan]

This apparently change in TB 24 (at least in ubuntu precise), now the reminders list keep in forefront FOR EVER, the problem is that you can not send it to back, so now you can only use any other window of TB (main window, new message, ...) moving the reminder window around and around...

Comment 10

[David Weinraub]

(In reply to Hernan from comment #9)
> This apparently change in TB 24 (at least in ubuntu precise), now the
> reminders list keep in forefront FOR EVER, the problem is that you can not
> send it to back, so now you can only use any other window of TB (main
> window, new message, ...) moving the reminder window around and around...

Exact same issue. Why on earth is it desirable to make this modal? Sigh...

Comment 11

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen] [:📆][:🧩]]

Because it is meant to be a list of reminders: either you snooze them, or you dismiss them. If you just leave them open it turns into yet another todo list. Anyway, both methods are valid.

The change in tb24 is probably related to the window manager or the Mozilla Platform. We didn't change any code that would affect this, but possibly something further down is influencing this.

Comment 12

[David Weinraub]

(In reply to Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen] from comment #11)
> Because it is meant to be a list of reminders: either you snooze them, or
> you dismiss them. If you just leave them open it turns into yet another todo
> list. Anyway, both methods are valid.
> 
> The change in tb24 is probably related to the window manager or the Mozilla
> Platform. We didn't change any code that would affect this, but possibly
> something further down is influencing this.

Fair enough. But an option to restore the non-modal behavior would be desirable. Thanks for the explanation. ;-)

Comment 13

[u522202]

I willing to start work on the reminders if there is some support.  Please see
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1092552#c4

Comment 14

[David Weinraub]

I'm currently using TB on the Mac and not seeing the same behavior, so not sure I can add much info. Still, if you need something, happy to help where I can. Should I clear the needinfo flag?

Comment 15

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen] [:📆][:🧩]]

Please don't needinfo everyone just to get a comment, I've added the right needinfo on the bug you linked.

Comment 16

[u522202]

(In reply to Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen] from comment #15)
> Please don't needinfo everyone just to get a comment, I've added the right
> needinfo on the bug you linked.

This bug is also affected if work on bug-id 1092552 is started.  So, it's reasonable to have also some feedback of people interested in this bug.

Comment 17

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen] [:📆][:🧩]]

In that case a comment asking folks specific questions should be sufficient, they will all get email because they are on CC. You can needinfo "anyone" if you like. I guess its just formalities, lets not get hung up on it.

Anyway, I think its quite clear what we need in this bug: add a pref that allows making the alarm dialog modal, default to off. I'm not yet sure if this should be a user-visible pref, but we can reiterate this question when the code for the hidden pref is ready.

Comment 18

[khaos119]

Haven't used Firefox in over a year for this reason. Also, as a web developer, it's too slow for me. Removing myself from this list. Good luck!

Comment 20

[Merouane Atig]

I would like to work on this issue. Is it OK to reassign this ticket to me?

I already isolated the part where the alarm window is open as a dialog: https://dxr.mozilla.org/comm-central/source/calendar/base/src/calAlarmMonitor.js#126

I now have to create a hidden pref and set the dialog parameter accordingly. I'm thinking about calling it "calendar.alarms.modal" or "calendar.alarms.alwaysontop".

Comment 21

[Merouane Atig]

Attachment: 433531_v1.patch

Comment 22

[Philipp Kewisch [:Fallen] [:📆][:🧩]]

Comment on attachment 8640131 [details] [diff] [review]
433531_v1.patch

Review of attachment 8640131 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Does dialog=yes actually make it modal? IIUC then it was this way before, and for me on mac the reminder dialog is not modal. I'd appreciate if we could make sure the behavior is the same on all platforms. I'd expect this:


showModal = true: When the dialog shows up, the parent calendar window is not actionable until all reminders are dismissed
showModal = false: When the dialog shows up, it appears on top at first, but it can be switched to the main window with alt+tab

In that case, the default for showModal should be false, because this is how it has been for me before. Is this also what you would expect?

::: calendar/base/src/calAlarmMonitor.js
@@ +124,5 @@
>              this.mWindowOpening = Services.ww.openWindow(
>                  null,
>                  "chrome://calendar/content/calendar-alarm-dialog.xul",
>                  "_blank",
> +                "chrome,dialog=" + isDialog +",all,resizable",

nit: space after second +

Comment 23

[corentin.dupont]

Hello, what is the status with this bug?
I have this issue on Ubuntu 18.04.
The reminders from Thunderbird comes below other windows, making it useless.
I saw the patch from Merouane Atig on the file calAlarmMonitor.js, but I can't find this file on my system.
Thanks

Comment 24

[corentin.dupont]

By the way, is there a workaround?

Comment 25

[corentin.dupont]

OK, after some research I found a workaround working on Ubuntu.
The idea is to use Compiz "windows rules" to force any "Reminder" window from Thunderbird to be on top.

sudo apt install compiz
sudo apt install compiz-plugin

Then go in the "Windows Rules" and add:
"role=AlarmWindow" in the "Above" text field.

Comment 26

[Falguni Islam]

Hello, I am new to contributing to Bugzilla can you assigned me to this issue so that I can learn to fix these bugs and also suggest to me how can Is start working on this bug to fix it.

Comment 27

[Gunjan Yadu]

Hello, I am new to open source and I would like to work on this issue. Please assign me this issue, moreover please guide me inorder to solve this problem.

Comment 28

[Sunday Mgbogu [:digitalsimboja]]

Hello, I am new to Bugzilla. I am interested in fixing this bug. Please could this be assigned to me? I would also like a guide so as to setup to begin to solve this problem.

Thanks

Comment 29

[john]

Besides being on top of all windows, I would like to see it able to be on all workspaces. I have 4 workspaces on my Ubuntu login and frequently move to different workspaces. Many times I found that the reminder popped up on a different workspace than the one I was working on. Having it visible on all workspaces seems like the best implementation if the user chooses Modal on. I would like to add this request to the implementation.

Thanks to all.

Comment 30

[u679180]

Hello, I am new to open source. Can I be assigned this bug? I would also like suggestions on how to fix this bug.