1833134 - Focus in message body not preserved in tabs unless you tab into the message

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Thunderbird :: Message Reader UI, defect)

Description

[B.J. Herbison]

Using 114.0b1 on Ubuntu with XFCE.

Paging up and down in a message works in a new tab, but when switching to another tab and back the page up and page down no longer work. Clicking in the body allows page up and page down to work while viewing the tab, but this stops again after switching tabs.

I found two ways to preserve page up/down across tab switches:
A) Select the window and tab until focus is in the body. Then page up/down will work, and keep working when returning to the tab.
B) Select the window, click in the body, press tab. Then page up/down will work, and keep working when returning to the tab. (This was only done in a message with an element that could be tabbed to. It might be possible to have a simple message where this doesn't work.)

Steps to reproduce:

1. Open a long message in a tab.
2. Press Page Down.
3. Click the primary Thunderbird tab.'
4. Click the message tab.
5. Press Page Down.
6. Click in the message body.
7. Press page down.
8. Click the primary Thunderbird tab.'
9. Click the message tab.
10. Press Page Down.

Expected:
2, 5, 7, 10) The Page Down press causes the message body to scroll.

Actual:
2, 7) The Page Down press causes the message body to scroll.
5, 10) The Page Down press has no apparent effect.

This problem doesn't occur with Thunderbird 102.10.0 (but the message in a tab scrolls to the top each time the message is opened -- bug 1786302).

Comment 1

[Thomas D. (:thomas8)]

Confirming for Daily 115.0a1 (2023-05-17) (64-bit), Win10, exactly as described.
Weirdly, depending on how the message body was focused, it may work or fail.
As summary indicates (but not mentioned in steps yet), the following works:

• When returning to message tab from another tab, use Tab to focus message body.
• Then focus another tab like 3-pane, and go back to message tab.
  -> Page up/down will still work. But when message body originally had auto-focus, or mouse focus, it won't work after returning to the tab. Weird!

Comment 2

[Geoff Lankow (:darktrojan)]

Attachment: Bug 1833134 - Fix several problems with restoring focus on tab switch. r=aleca

• Focus is set on the message pane of message tabs restored at start-up.
• The active element is correctly identified and saved when switching tabs.
• Containers with an ARIA active descendant are given focus, instead of their descendant.

Comment 3

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/1388ce1cc6a7
Fix several problems with restoring focus on tab switch. r=aleca

Comment 4

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Comment on attachment 9335611 [details]
Bug 1833134 - Fix several problems with restoring focus on tab switch. r=aleca

[Triage Comment]
Approved for beta

Comment 5

[Daniel Darnell [:dandarnell]]

114.0b6:
https://hg.mozilla.org/releases/comm-beta/rev/943449c7e32a

Comment 6

[B.J. Herbison]

I installed beta 6 and the issue is fixed. Thank you!