280706 - All text fields refuse input after Javascript alert raised when browser window doesn't have focus

Status: RESOLVED EXPIRED

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Ryan Grove]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0

If a Javascript alert is raised by the onchange event of a text field when the
browser window doesn't have focus, all text input fields in Firefox (including
the address bar) refuse to accept input. See the attached testcase for a
demonstration. 

This may or may not be related to bug 269207, although that bug seems to occur
under different circumstances.

Workaround: After triggering the bug, switch to another window and then back to
Firefox again. Text input controls now behave normally until the bug is
triggered again.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Type some text in a text field with an onchange event that raises a
Javascript alert.
2. Switch focus to another (non-Firefox) application window.
3. Switch back to Firefox, dismiss the alert, and attempt to type in any text
input control.

Actual Results:  
Unable to type in any text input control.

Expected Results:  
All text input controls that previously allowed input should have continued
allowing input.

Comment 1

[Ryan Grove]

Attachment: Testcase for text input onchange alert focus problem

Comment 2

[Martin Bartlett]

Reproduced, AND VERY similar to a problem I am having. In my case I have a
pseudo-modal dialog "library" that allows a calling window to invoke a dialog
window and have it behave modally from a users point of view (i.e. user cannot
interact with calling window until modal window is closed). This is done by the
calling window splitting its functional code into two parts. This first calls a
library function that displays the modal window and sets the onfocus handler of
every frame in the calling window to a function that, while the modal window is
still open, will force the focus back to the modal window (modalwindow.focus()
followed by return false). When first displayed the form in the modal window
works fine. However, if the user clicks in the main window, although interaction
with the main window is successfully blocked and title-bar focus remains with
the modal window, input text fields in the modal window are unusable (buttons
and links work). To make them usable ANOTHER dialog from the modal window must
be displayed then closed (such as a right-click "View Page ..." dialog, or an
alert forced from a button or link on the modal window).

(p.s. if you're wondering what the second part of the callers functionality
does, it is in a function that is invoked by the onfocus handler when it detects
that the modal window has been closed).

Comment 3

[Martin Bartlett]

Sorry - reproduction platform was Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0;
en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041107 Firefox/1.0.

I should point out that on Mandrake 9.2 and 10, KDE 3.1 and 3.2, focus
management stuff seems to be completely ignored and modal dialogues (alert,
confirm, prompt and my own cludge) are not modal at all - so, strictly, neither
this bug nor my own similar problem can be reproduced!

Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is an automated message, with ID "auto-resolve01".

This bug has had no comments for a long time. Statistically, we have found that
bug reports that have not been confirmed by a second user after three months are
highly unlikely to be the source of a fix to the code.

While your input is very important to us, our resources are limited and so we
are asking for your help in focussing our efforts. If you can still reproduce
this problem in the latest version of the product (see below for how to obtain a
copy) or, for feature requests, if it's not present in the latest version and
you still believe we should implement it, please visit the URL of this bug
(given at the top of this mail) and add a comment to that effect, giving more
reproduction information if you have it.

If it is not a problem any longer, you need take no action. If this bug is not
changed in any way in the next two weeks, it will be automatically resolved.
Thank you for your help in this matter.

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Comment 5

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This bug has been automatically resolved after a period of inactivity (see above
comment). If anyone thinks this is incorrect, they should feel free to reopen it.