1820423 - Quick filter message list update voids subsequent keystrokes

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, defect, P2)

Description

[Steve Edmonds]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:102.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/102.0

Steps to reproduce:

Started typing into the quickfilter with Filter by sender active.
Each key press the list of results updates.

Actual results:

Key presses during the search refresh are ignored, so typing 'theo albert' may result in the search field 'to alert'

Expected results:

The keystroke are buffered so characters are not lost.

Comment 1

[Steve Edmonds]

This issue is resolved for me on openSuse in 112.0b2.

Comment 2

[Calum Mackay]

I used to see this, but can no longer reproduce it on:

113.0a1 (2023-03-20) (64-bit); MacOS Ventura 13.2.1

[edit: it returned, so is intermittent, at least for me]

Comment 4

[Nicolas Mandil (:NicolasWeb)]

I still see this today with 113.0a1 build 20230321105728 ; macOS 10.13.6 ; Ram 4 Go

Confirming then.

Comment 6

[Nicolas Mandil (:NicolasWeb)]

STR:

1. While typing in quick filter bar, make a small pause, so Message list is refreshing. Then type again.
2. Make a second small pause while typing

Actual results:

• Key presses during the search refresh are ignored, so typing 'theo albert' may result in the search field 'to alert'
• Every key pressed after the 1st pause is deleted as soon as the filtered results are shown in Message list
• if you make 2 pauses, the keys pressed after 1st pause are ignored and the typing continues with the keys pressed after 2sd pause

This makes the quick filter totally unreliable.

Expected results:

• Message list should stop refreshing and consider new input keystrokes to refresh again

Works okay in 102

Comment 7

[Steve Edmonds]

It's back again this afternoon on 112.0b2

Comment 8

[Calum Mackay]

yup, for me too, yet the other day it was fine, so seems intermittent. Or I need more coffee.

Comment 10

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Do we know whether this also fails/failed with 111.0b1, i.e. the very start of supernova?

Comment 11

[Steve Edmonds]

Now working fine in 113.0b1 for me.

Comment 13

[km]

I still see it in 113.0b1 Linux

Comment 14

[Steve Edmonds]

What linux, openSuse 15.4, KDE, X11 still has not faulted.

Comment 16

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Magnus, can you reproduce?

reproduces about 50% of time if I use backspaces.
pick a large folder.
type a common word that will be found
backspace 2-3 characters
type a couple more
backspace

at some point, some typed characters don't appear or some recently typed disappear.

Comment 17

[Steve Edmonds]

With a struggle, I can partially reproduce the above, most frequently failing to catch the backspace key stroke before the next search character is typed. 113.0b2

Comment 18

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

I don't seem to be able to reproduce.

Comment 19

[km]

You may need a vary large mailbox with a lot of partial matches as you type and it scrolls. I still see it on 113.0b2 Ubuntu.

Comment 20

[Steve Edmonds]

The degree of effect seems to change with the number of messages in the folder and the places selected to search (recipient/sender/subject/body).
113.0b2 freezes, or I haven't waited long enough, when I search in body requiring me to kill TB and while searching ignores keystrokes into the quickfilter. 102 still works fine. IMAP folders, no local synchronisation. Is there a setting telling Thunderbird to search on the server.

I also notice a difference between 102 and 113.0b2 running >ps aux | grep thunderbird. I have no idea if this means anything.
102 seems to have 2 instances of thunderbird-bin while 113.0 only has 1

Comment 21

[Steve Edmonds]

In 102 the first instance of thunderbird-bin is created when TB loads. It loads with the message pane (in classic view) blank. The second instance of thunderbird-bin is created when the message pane is populated.

Comment 22

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

The degree of effect seems to change with the number of messages in the folder and the places selected to search (recipient/sender/subject/body).

Like bug 1827003?

Any better with b4 or current daily?

Comment 23

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

I find that repeated alternating backspacing and typing is more effective at triggering this. But still not 100%

Comment 24

[Steve Edmonds]

(In reply to Wayne Mery (:wsmwk) from comment #22)

The degree of effect seems to change with the number of messages in the folder and the places selected to search (recipient/sender/subject/body).

Like bug 1827003?

Any better with b4 or current daily?

Better, but still there in b5, can nearly get it 100% of the time. If you are a slow typer you may not notice it.
If you are a slow typer, hit 10 keys randomly counting as you go then see how many characters are in the filter. Entry level typing is about 50 words a minute, what's that, ~3 or 4 characters a second.

Comment 25

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Also reproduces in vertical view. And yes, more prominent as folder gets larger. Performance profile https://share.firefox.dev/3HOcxST

Sean, does this intersect with the message list speed improvements you are looking at?

Comment 26

[Sean Burke [:leftmostcat]]

This looks to be separate. It's spending most of it's time in database code to create a view and run the search. Ideally, this wouldn't happen in the main thread since they look to be pretty long-running tasks.

Comment 27

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Is the code trying to redisplay earlier contents of the quick filter field contents when it populates the filter results?

Comment 28

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

The problem is we update all of the widgets to match the current state when the search finds something. This is a bit weird now that we're not sharing the quick filter bar across all tabs, but it's also necessary because that's how some things (like the list of tags) get told to appear, IIRC.

I think I can implement a cheap hack to prevent the text box value from changing if the update was caused by the text box value changing. What we really need is a rethink of how the bar works, which should happen with the global message database work.

Comment 29

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Attachment: Bug 1820423 - Stop updating the QFB text field if it's active. r=#thunderbird-reviewers

Comment 30

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/170c4d8fc5f1
Stop updating the QFB text field if it's active. r=freaktechnik

Comment 31

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Comment on attachment 9336698 [details]
Bug 1820423 - Stop updating the QFB text field if it's active. r=#thunderbird-reviewers

[Approval Request Comment]
User impact if declined: QFB eats keystrokes if the messages load while you're typing
Testing completed (on c-c, etc.): landed a week ago
Risk to taking this patch (and alternatives if risky): low

Comment 32

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Comment on attachment 9336698 [details]
Bug 1820423 - Stop updating the QFB text field if it's active. r=#thunderbird-reviewers

[Triage Comment]
Approved for beta

Comment 33

[Rob Lemley [:rjl]]

Thunderbird 115.0b2:
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-beta/rev/14679c2f68eb