Closed Bug 917027 Opened 11 years ago Closed 10 years ago

"check spelling as you type" periodically breaks for the duration of the process

Categories

(Thunderbird :: Message Compose Window, defect)

Product:
Thunderbird
Component:
Message Compose Window
Version:
24 Branch
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
major

Tracking

(thunderbird_esr24+)

Status:
RESOLVED WORKSFORME
Tracking Flags:
Tracking Status
thunderbird_esr24 + ---

People

(Reporter: al_9x, Unassigned)

References

(
URL
)

Details

(Keywords: regression, Whiteboard: [gs][workaround: set mail.compose.max_recycled_windows 0][regression:TB24.0])

Attachments

(1 file)

SpellCheck.jpg
51.46 KB, image/jpeg
Details 
TB 24.0.0b3

I don't know how to repro reliably, not clear what triggers this, but fairly regularly tb stops underlining misspellings.  This lasts until it's restarted.
present in 24.0.0

intermittently broken spell checking is a significant regression in core functionality, which makes TB24 not worth using.
Keywords: regression
trying with all extensions disabled
can repro without extensions
Thunderbird 24.0 on Windows XP SP3 32 bit

Steps to reproduce:

Pre-conditions:
1. Have dictionaries installed (I have English, Spanish, and German installed). The English one is the default dictionary, don't know if that matters.

Breaking the spell checker:
2. Write and send a mail.
3. Compose a second mail with spelling errors in the body.

Actual result:
Second mail (and subsequent ones) are not checked for spelling errors. But writing a typo in the subject of the second mail got the red underline.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
tracking-thunderbird24: --- → ?
Ever confirmed: true
This is bug 891904 rearing its ugly head again.

I thought I had fixed it in bug 880595 but it turns out that there was another code path that was triggering it that I had overlooked.

What happens here is that in ComposeProcessDone we enable the editable fields. At this point I'm not sure whether we can tell whether we're about to close the window, as the caller is in nsMsgCompose.cpp, but if we do, then as part of closing the window we disable the spelling checker. Unfortunately it hasn't finished enabling itself when we enabled the editable fields, and so gets itself into an invalid state, and never manages to finish enabling itself next time.
I can't reproduce this in win7 with current trunk.
can try tomorrow on my work laptop with winxp although I didn't notice the problem there.
Only one dictionary installed here. Maybe that's the diff
Ref: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=880595#c22
OK..easily reproducible on my winxp laptop. (Tested both beta and current trunk)
What I think I missed in testing is that you have actually send or send later the first message before the symptoms appear. (I guess that's a requirement to get the recycled compose window logic involved)
What I found is that any new message checks the spelling correctly as you type (underlines).  Reply to any message and the check spelling as you type does not work (no underlines).  Setting mail.compose.max_recycled_windows to 0 works with both new messages and when you reply.  I only have the english dictionary installed.

(Windows 8 / Thunderbird 24.0)
Sorry Joe, didn't mean to create a duplicate bug.  I did look at the existing bugs I swear.  This one didn't fit my description at first glance so I thought I had a new bug.
I can also reproduce this on Mac OS X.
OS: Windows XP → All
Hardware: x86 → All
Hi. I confirm it also on MAC OS X Lion 10.7.5 with Polish and English dictionary installed simultaneously.
I confirm for Windows XP 32 bit.
At times, spell checking breaks and only starts working again after TB is restarted.
I would like to second the opinion given above:
===
intermittently broken spell checking is a significant regression in core functionality, which makes TB24 not worth using.
===
TB is worth of using, we just must help programmers to fix the bugs :). TB is the best email client for me on MAC, and I tried many. Report bugs, send crash reports, activate telemetry, and your issues will be fixed.
Yes, TB is worth using, it's the best, I know. I've been using it since 2010. I even contributed to the code and testing (bugs 207156, 547119, 250878, 309932). However, this version 24 is pretty fatal. Not picking up spelling mistakes is fatal, since you don't even notice when the spell checker stops working. So unless this is fixed, version 24, IMHO, is not worth using.
I understand Jorg K. It is good idea to downgrade. Did you managed to downgrade successfully with full profile migration? I have third bug to report right now. I plan to use 24 till the end of the week to help track down bugs in features I am using, after that I will try to downgrade to get better efficiency with old version.
Lets vote above to increase importance of this issue.
One report above indicates that merely saving a draft and then composing a new mail will trigger the bug in the new mail, but in my case I have to actually send a mail to trigger the bug in the new mail.

I'm on TB 24 under Win Vista x64, with just an English dictionary installed.

One work-around for this problem is to set Tools: Options: Composition: Spelling: Check spelling before sending.
Confirming on WinXP SP3 32 bit, TB 24.0 release, 3 dictionaries installed.

Test procedure: see comment 4. Bug does not depend on the dictionary used (tried US English 7.0.1 and German (de-DE) with Hunspell 20130905).

Work-around: see comment 8 (setting mail.compose.max_recycled_windows to 0).
P.S.: I use the text-only composition mode, if that matters.
Attached image SpellCheck.jpg — 
Im using Thunderbird V 24 the 24.0 release with Windows XP.
The "check spelling as you type" option checked, no longer works : the wrong words are not underlined.
The language (French) is selected
I use html composition mode and issue also occurs, so probably composition mode is irrelevant.
Are there any side effects of mail.compose.max_recycled_windows fix? For me after modification of this field it started working instantly without restart.
Opening compose windows may be slightly slower. But, i believe recycling was broken for a long time an no-one noticed. (IIRC it was indeed not working for tb17.)
(In reply to Magnus Melin from comment #26)
> Opening compose windows may be slightly slower. But, i believe recycling was
> broken for a long time an no-one noticed. (IIRC it was indeed not working
> for tb17.)

I wouldn't say no one noticed! ....just no one took the time to report it.  :)
comment #26 - Good point olen :)
Two identical machines both fail. Linux Mint 14 operating sytem Thunderbird 24.0 
After starting Thunderbird first create email spelling errors are underlined. After sending an email, follow on create new emails do not spell check on the fly.
Workaround in comment 20 seems to work.  Needed to install add-on ViewAbout. Then go to view/viewabout/about:config and set 1 to zero.
Rich, you can also go to Options->Advanced, select the "General" tab, and then choose "Config Editor" to change the mail.compose.max_recycled_windows setting to 0.
Just in case anyone's confused, the full 'path' is: *Tools* > Options > Advanced, and click 'Config Editor' on the General tab. Search for mail.compose.max_recycled_windows, double click it, and change the '1' to '0' in the 'Enter integer value' window that pops up.

It's working for me with TB 24.0 in Windows 7 (Pro)-64 bit.
W7 Pro 32 bit also appears to be functioning properly with the mail.compose.max_recycled_windows band-aid.  Thank you for the suggestion.
Whiteboard: [workaround: set mail.compose.max_recycled_windows 0]
OS - Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS
Linux Kernel Info - Linux gurvinder 3.2.0-54-generic #82-Ubuntu SMP Tue Sep 10 20:08:42 UTC 2013 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux
OS Arch - 64 BIT
Thunderbird Version - 24.0

Changing mail.compose.max_recycled_windows value to 0 seems to be working fine on my system as well.
Duplicated by bug 910848
Bug 891904 has now been fixed, so the next nightly shouldn't have this problem.
With TB 20131004050151..Inline spellcheck worked fine on 3 successive sent HTML messages.
Depends on: 891904
Feistybird added the following comment to Launchpad bug report 1229172:

this works for me , thanks!

-- 
http://launchpad.net/bugs/1229172
Thunderbird 24.0.1 is now released which includes the fix from bug 891904 and should address this issue.
URL: https://getsatisfaction.com/mozilla_m...
Whiteboard: [workaround: set mail.compose.max_recycled_windows 0] → [gs][workaround: set mail.compose.max_recycled_windows 0][regression:TB24.0]
Can this bug be resolved? I was fixed in Oct. 2013.
(In reply to Jorg K from comment #43)
> Can this bug be resolved? I was fixed in Oct. 2013.

For sure Jork K!  TB is by far the most awesome email client I've ever used but this has got to be the single most annoying aspect of the WHOLE program.  Instead of typing away on a long email without breaking my thought AND THEN going back to check if there are any spellings flagged; I instead have to stop as soon as one is flagged and correct it.  If I don't, then the "flagging" goes away and then I don't remember which words I had misspelled.  You would think something like this would be elementary but apparently not because I've been dealing with this for years.  I'm being literal.
This bug is about a fault in TB v 24 which was fixed in 24.0.1.
The error was that inline spell-checking didn't not work at all.

The effect that you're observing is a different bug that I have reported in bug 1100966.

Once again: Please close this bug.
Flags: needinfo?(vseerror)
(In reply to Jorg K from comment #45)
> Once again: Please close this bug.

I never saw this issue, so I don't feel it's my call to close it. al_9x, :aryx and others can better decide.
Flags: needinfo?(vseerror)
Flags: needinfo?(archaeopteryx)
Flags: needinfo?(al_9x)
though I thought I set mail.compose.max_recycled_windows to 0, it's now 1 and I'm not experiencing the symptoms, so must be fixed
Flags: needinfo?(al_9x)
(In reply to Jorg K from comment #45)
> This bug is about a fault in TB v 24 which was fixed in 24.0.1.
> The error was that inline spell-checking didn't not work at all.
> 
> The effect that you're observing is a different bug that I have reported in
> bug 1100966.
> 
> Once again: Please close this bug.

Sorry Jorg K, I didn't realize that.  You just created the 1100966 bug report today so obviously I wasn't able to see it before.  From the description in this one, it sounded to me like this was the same issue.
I'll comment on the other bug report instead.
@al_9x@yahoo.com: Please resolve the bug.

There are too many inactive bugs in the system with unknown state dangling around for years.
This bug is resolved, it should be marked resolved.
Flags: needinfo?(al_9x)
@al_9x@yahoo.com: Please resolve the bug.
Resolved Worksforme with Thunderbird 24.8.1 on Windows 8.1

@Jorg K: Please be more patient. Asking more than once in two weeks in unnecessary.
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 10 years ago
Flags: needinfo?(archaeopteryx)
Flags: needinfo?(al_9x)
Resolution: --- → WORKSFORME
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