1859927 - Cannot switch tabs using keyboard shortcut when message list has focus

Status: NEW

(Thunderbird :: Toolbars and Tabs, defect, P1)

Description

[Calum Mackay]

This issue first appeared between Daily 20231012 (good) and 20231015 (bad). 20231018 remains bad.

MacOS Ventura 13.5.2 (22G91). I don't have TB on any other platforms to test if it's the same there.

On MacOS, TB has a keyboard shortcut to move between tabs: ⌥ ⌘ (i.e alt/option cmd) left-/right-arrow.

On 20231012 and earlier, this works regardless of where the focus is in the 3-pane: Folder Pane, Message List, Message Reader.

In 20231015 on, it still works when the focus is in the Folder Pane, or the Message Reader, but it no longer has any effect when the focus is in the Message List. In that case, nothing happens at all; nothing in the Error Console either.

Comment 1

[Calum Mackay]

20231013 shows the problem too, so that would seem to be the build that introduced it.

I'd not previously noted that, since 1013 also has a serious font display issue (bug 1859049) that prevented me from using it.

Comment 2

[Calum Mackay]

An (obvious) easy keyboard workaround: the TAB key will change the focus from the message list to the message reader, where the switch-tabs shortcut still works.

Comment 3

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

20231013 bad
20231012 good
I don't see anything obvious in https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/pushloghtml?startdate=2023-10-12+8%3A00%3A00&enddate=2023-10-13+10%3A00%3A00

Comment 4

[Magnus Melin [:mkmelin]]

Probably https://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/57511b27e92bee5e07718bf1a1cd8609c0e206be#l3.39 - bug 1843486.

Comment 5

[Elizabeth Mitchell]

I'll look into this.

Comment 7

[Alfred Peters [:infofrommozilla]]

Please take a look: Bug 1860477 Comment #3

Comment 8

[Calum Mackay]

see also bug 1899751

Comment 9

[Fred Stluka]

(In reply to Calum Mackay from comment #0)

MacOS Ventura 13.5.2 (22G91). I don't have TB on any other platforms to test if it's the same there.
...
In 20231015 on, it still works when the focus is in the Folder Pane, or the Message Reader, but it no longer has any effect when the focus is in the Message List. In that case, nothing happens at all; nothing in the Error Console either.

Callum,

In Bug 1935799, which I reported 2 days ago, you said that it might be a duplicate of this bug.
I've read the description here, and I think it is NOT the same.

You said the bug happens only when the keyboard focus is in the Message List. For me, that is not true. It happens in all 3 panes of the main message window.

You also said the bug behavior is that nothing happens when you hit Cmd-Opt-Left/Right. For me, that's also not true. When I hit Cmd-Opt-Left or Cmd-Opt-Right, it acts as though I had hit Opt-Left or Opt-Right, without holding down the Cmd key.

I'm using TB 128.5.1esr nebula on macOS 13.2.1 Ventura.

I'll post this same comment on ug 1935799.

Thanks!
--Fred

Comment 10

[Fred Stluka]

(In reply to Fred Stluka from comment #9)

When I hit Cmd-Opt-Left or Cmd-Opt-Right, it acts as though I had hit Opt-Left or Opt-Right, without holding down the Cmd key.

For me, this turned out to be a false alarm.
A 3rd-party add-on was causing the problem.
See Bug 1935799 Comment #10.

--Fred

Comment 11

[Fred Stluka]

OK. Now that the bug is fixed in my add-on, I now DO see this bug in TB.

And I think I can guess exactly where the bug is in the code, and what should be changed.

Exactly as Calum described, I see that Cmd-Opt-Left and Cmd-Opt-Right do NOT switch tabs when the keyboard focus is in the Message List. They work fine when the focus in the message body, and when the focus is in the folder tree, but NOT when it's in the message list.

Calum said those keys do absolutely NOTHING for him, in that case. I'm seeing a slightly different behavior, that may also be true for Calum.

The behavior I'm seeing in that case is exactly as if I'd hit Left or Right without holding down Cmd or Opt. For me, the following key combinations all do exactly the same thing when the keyboard focus is in the Message List:

• Cmd-Opt-Left/Right
• Opt-Left/Right
• Cmd-Left/Right
• Left/Right

So, when the Left/Right keys are being processed, they seem to entirely ignore the Cmd and Opt modifiers.

For me, there are 3 cases:

1. When the message that has the keyboard focus in the Message List is the topmost message of a threaded conversation, the keys contract/expand that conversation.
2. When the message is a nested message of a threaded conversation, the keys move to the previous/next message in the conversation.
3. When the message is not part of a threaded conversation at all, the keys do nothing.

Those 3 cases describe exactly the expected behavior of the Left/Right keys without any modifiers.

So, I'd guess that the Message list is catching the Left/Right keystroke events, and doing it's expected behavior. But it is NOT checking for the modifiers. And it is NOT allowing the events to bubble/propagate to the parent window which is perhaps where the "switch tabs" behavior is implemented.

If so, the fix would be to add tests for the modifier keys, act on the event only when none of them are pressed, and allow the event to bubble/propagate.

Hope this helps!
--Fred

Comment 12

[Fred Stluka]

BTW, my current workaround for this is F6.

That is, when I hit Cmd-Opt-Left/Right and it doesn't work because the keyboard focus is in the Message List, I hit F6 to move the keyboard focus away from the Message List and hit Cmd-Opt-Left/Right again.

FYI,
--Fred

Comment 13

[Fred Stluka]

This same bug occurs when the keyboard focus in the Address List of the Address Book.

That is:

1. Cmd-Opt-Left/Right work fine in the Address Book tab when the focus is in the tree of address books and mailing lists. Just like they work fine in the main mail window when the focus in in the tree of accounts and folders.
2. They also work fine in the Address Book tab when the focus is in the details pane of a single contact. Just like they work fine in the main mail window when the focus in the pane of a single mail message.
3. They do NOT work in the Address Book tab when the focus is in the list of contacts. Just like they do not work in the main mail window when the focus in the Message List.

Makes sense, since the Address Book is now just another tab that looks much like the main window. Probably shares the code that has the bug.

FYI,
--Fred