443030 - add an option to run mochitest on a separate desktop

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Testing :: Mochitest, defect)

Description

[(not currently active) Ted Mielczarek]

Mochitest is very sensitive to focus. Windows has APIs for creating separate desktops. I have a patch that will let you run Mochitest on a separate desktop, so you don't have to worry about it.

Comment 1

[(not currently active) Ted Mielczarek]

Attachment: runondesktop + build system + automation.py bits

Turns out this still has problems. I don't feel like spending any more time on it, but I'll put it up here for posterity. This patch includes a small C++ program to run a program on a different desktop, an automation.py patch to use this program (didn't add an option, it just uses it by default), and the requisite build system bits.

Unfortunately I get tons of focus errors running with this, so it doesn't seem like a working solution.

Comment 2

[Zack Weinberg (:zwol)]

I suspect (based solely on skimming bits of MSDN) that a separate desktop is not enough, that no window on a desktop other than the current one is considered to have focus.

A window station *might* be enough, but there is weird stuff about "noninteractive" window stations ... I have a bad feeling that one will have to go even further and pull some of the tricks that Remote Desktop does.

Comment 3

[(not currently active) Ted Mielczarek]

Right, the separate desktop does not work, it just gets lots of focus errors (presumably exactly what you said, the window on the other desktop can't have focus). I didn't go down the Window Station route yet, although it should be a straightforward extension of this patch. I don't know what tricks RDesktop does, do you have a pointer to that info?

Comment 4

[Andrew Halberstadt [:ahal]]

Mass closing mochitest bugs that haven't had activity in the past 5 years. Please re-open or file a new bug with modern context if this is still relevant.