254386 - delete button & menu item sporadically incorrectly disabled

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, defect)

Description

[Dan Mosedale (:dmosedale, :dmose)]

Many times a day using Thunderbird on WinXP, Thunderbird will incorrectly
disable the toolbar, menu item, and keyboard shortcut for deleting a message (eg
cmd_delete and button_delete).  Dragging the message to the trash always works.
   After the button becomes disabled, it rarely gets re-enabled, though it's
possible that with enough playing around it occasionally might.  Extremely
frustrating.

Some preliminary investigation shows that when a message is selected immediately
prior to the commands being incorrectly disabled,
nsMail3PaneWindowsCommands.js:DefaultController.isCommandEnabled is not being
called.  Instead, the isCommandEnabled() function on some other controller is
being called.

Whether or not commands are incorrectly disabled, the command updates always
seem to happen when mailWindowOverlay.js:goUpdateMailMenuCommands() is called
with the mailToolbarItems commandset.

In the bug case, goUpdateMailMenuCommands() calls
toolkit/content/globalOverlay.js:goUpdateCommand(), which calls
top.document.commandDispatcher.getControllerForCommand(), which itself calls
nsXULCommandDispatcher::GetControllerForCommand(), which passes through to 
nsFocusController::GetControllerForCommand(), which is where the interesting
stuff happens.

I still need to figure out whether we're actually getting an incorrect
controller, or if we're getting a different but correct controller that has a
bug in it.  I'm betting on the former.

More as I figure it out...

Comment 1

[David :Bienvenu]

I've seen this with the delete button in the folder pane, but not so much the
message pane. But in that case, the menu item still works...

Comment 2

[Dan Mosedale (:dmosedale, :dmose)]

Turns out that the focus controller is incorrectly returning the
FolderPaneController instead of the DefaultController for cmd_delete and
button_delete, but not for any other of the commands that I can see.

bienvenu: I've seen that problem too.  I kind of suspect that it's a different
problem, since I see it much less frequently than this one.

Comment 3

[chris hofmann]

any closer to a patch?  

Comment 4

[Dan Mosedale (:dmosedale, :dmose)]

Unfortunately not.  I've added a bunch of PR_LOG scaffolding to the focus code
in my tree, but it looks like I'm gonna need a bunch more really figure out
what's going on.  I'll continue to post updates here as they happen.  

Comment 5

[chris hofmann]

if we get closer to a patch renominate.  I'd think we would definitely take it. 

Comment 6

[Mike Cowperthwaite]

Likely the same problem as bug 122854, which itself is likely a dupe of 
bug 57510; see in particular bug 122854 comment 24.

Comment 7

[Ken Zalewski]

I am seeing the same behavior.  I cannot reproduce it at will, but every so
often, my Delete button goes inactive (greyed out), and the Delete menu item is
also greyed out.

Seldomly, I am able to bring it back to life by clicking around various places.
 Usually, though, I need to restart the mail client.

In my case, this is happening on Linux (2.6.12.2) with Mozilla Mail 1.7.8.

Comment 8

[Alexander Dietrich]

Two more observations:

When this happens to me, the "Copy" (to clipboard) function also disappears.

I can always bring the "Delete" button (and the "Copy" function) back to life by viewing the message source (CTRL-U).

I'm using TB 1.5.0.9 on Windows XP, with IMAP servers.

Comment 10

[Dan Mosedale (:dmosedale, :dmose)]

Assigning bugs that I'm not actively working on back to nobody; use
SearchForThis as a search term if you want to delete all related bugmail at
once.

Comment 11

[emily chen]

Reproduce steps for this bug: 
1. click on one mail folder, (Do not select any mail in this folder), only the 'delete' button in the tool bar will enable;
2. click on the account name, then switch back to the mail folder, the 'delete' button in the tool bar will disable;
3. click on other folder then switch back to the first folder, the 'delete' button in the tool bar will enable.

The bug is happened on step #2, which can be reproduced on TB2.0x and TB trunk. 

This bug also happened on Linux, Solaris and Mac, so change it to all platform. 

Comment 12

[Iavor Raytchev]

I am adding a comment here. Not sure if it should be a new bug. Had 1.5.10 and upgraded to 2.0.0 2-3 days ago and the delete button in my IMAP account was disabled. In my POP3 account it was not. Downgraded to 1.5.12 - same. Downgraded to 1.5.10 - works OK.

Comment 13

[David :Bienvenu]

Iavor - that's bug 377900, which is fixed in 2.0.0.4 pre builds

Comment 14

[Iavor Raytchev]

Thanks David! Could not find it and did not want to inflate Bugzilla, that's why I wrote a note here.

Comment 15

[Stuart Rogers]

I am seeing this behaviour also in "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.5) Gecko/20091204 Thunderbird/3.0" but I cannot determine how to reproduce it.  When it occurs, the Delete menu item is disabled and the Delete button at the top of the message is missing (not disabled; it's not there at all). Closing and re-opening the message brings back the button and enables the menu command.

Comment 16

[Stuart Rogers]

Attachment: screenshot of message with disabled delete command and no delete or archive button

I noticed today that it's not just the Delete button that disappears, it's also the Archive button.

Comment 17

[Stuart Rogers]

Attachment: the same message after closing and reopening it -- buttons and command restored

Comment 18

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy y'all,

having what seems to be this problem, plus i know how to reproduce it! [*grin*] 

os = win xp, sp3
tb = 3.0.1

- problem
delete button on msg header disappears IF ...

- set tbird to show msgs in a window
[tools/options/advanced/reading/open-new-msgs-in/an-existing-window]
- turn OFF msg pane
- open a msg from folder-1 [inbox will do]
- using the folderpane, change to folder-2 [_any_ other folder]
- open a new msg by dbl-clk

at this point the delete button in the header will have disappeared. if you've added a delete button to the msg window toolbar, it will be grayed out and will NOT work. interestingly, the delete button i added to the main window will still be normal and WILL work - it deletes the msg and closes the msg window.

this happens in any account folder that i've tried - local folders, pop, imap. it also happens in safe mode AND in a new profile.

there's a thread at mozillazine about this. it's been confirmed by one other person. here ...
- delete button in msg window header disappears
http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=1717245&start=0

should make a new bug for this? this one is kinda OLD.

hope that helps,
lee

Comment 19

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy y'all,

i've found a slightly different method to produce the bug.

1 - config to open msgs in existing window
[tools/options/advanced/reading/open-new-msgs-in/an-existing-window
2 - open a msg in any folder via double-click
3 - note the delete button shows in the header area
4 - switch to the main window
[i did so by clicking the main window title bar, but any method seems to work]
5 - open any other msg in the same folder via double-click
6 - note the delete button is NOT showing in the header
[if you have added a delete button to the mail toolbar, it will be grayed out]

take care,
lee

Comment 20

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

Lee, 
I can reproduce using your steps, which are described in bug 545675. The workaround of comment 8 doesnt' work for me. And your steps don't sound too different from comment 11. 

Dmose, has enough changed that your original report is no longer relevant to v3?

Comment 21

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy wayne,

comment 11 is similar but not [in my opinion] detailed enuf. [*grin*] also, i _never_ had this prob in tb2.x, as this fist happened for me when i moved to tb3. which, btw, was a fresh install and fresh profile that i later imported the desired stuff into. 

looks like bug 545675 otta be duped to this - or the other way 'round since that one seems to be actively worked on.

take care,
lee

Comment 23

[Torrey McMahon]

Not that it helps much but I'm seeing this on 3.1beta 1 but I've had the problem for a long time. Can't recall exactly but I "lose" the delete button at least five times a day. Pressing the delete button on my keyboard doesn't work either. Using a recent build of lightning 1.02b2pre installed but, again, I've seen this for some time now. (Various builds of TB3 and lightning.) Closing the message window seems to help bring it back.

Comment 24

[Torrey McMahon]

I opened the error console on my 3.1beta instance of Tbird and see the following when the delete button goes away.

Error: uncaught exception: [Exception... "Component returned failure code: 0x8007000e (NS_ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY) [nsIMsgHeaderParser.extractHeaderAddressMailboxes]"  nsresult: "0x8007000e (NS_ERROR_OUT_OF_MEMORY)"  location: "JS frame :: chrome://messenger/content/msgHdrViewOverlay.js :: anonymous :: line 529"  data: no]

Comment 25

[Mark Banner (:standard8)]

Torrey: that's bug 549931 and not this one.

Comment 29

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

(In reply to comment #22)
> *** Bug 545675 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

Can we learn anything different from Marc's case Bug 545675?  

He says this ALWAYS happens, but for the majority of people in this bug the issue is characterized as intermittent.  (except dmose's initial report)

Comment 30

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy wayne,

for me the bug is ABSOLUTELY repeatable. see comment 19 for str. it may not be a perfect match for this bug as my str requires using a msg window [as in bug 545675]. still, it is _always_ repeatable - in and out of tbird's safe mode.

as an aside, i think bug 545675 ought NOT to be marked a dupe of this one. perhaps the other way around ...

take care,
lee

Comment 31

[Lee_Dailey]

howdy y'all,

tb = 13.0.1

this problem no longer exists for me. not in my normal profile OR in a new, unmodified profile. i have no idea what fixed it, but it seems to be fixed. i don't know when it started working correctly cuz i had become so habituated to the problem that i always worked around it. today i decided to test and ... surprise! it works properly now. [*grin*] 

would someone please close this bug?

take care,
lee