44490 - Disabled widgets shouldn't steal focus

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Core :: XUL, defect, P3)

Description

[Blake Ross]

Build ID: 2000070208

Disabled widgets shouldn't be able to steal the focus.  Such behavior is 
witnessed in the Find in this Page dialog -- if there's no text in the 
textfield and you click the disabled Find button, focus leaves the textfield.

Comment 1

[Mike Pinkerton (not reading bugmail)]

saari, is this focus or just bad xul/css?

Comment 2

[saari (gone)]

Yes, a CSS issue, there should be a rule to set user-focus:ignore in the disabled 
rule for the widget. 

I could ad this check into EventStateManager as an alternative. 

Comment 3

[Blake Ross]

Would fixing it in EventStateManager fix it globally (and subsume the need to 
add the CSS rule)?

Comment 4

[saari (gone)]

It would fix it globally, but it is of course a more limiting move. The most 
flexible way to fix it is in CSS. If I fix it in event state manager, then 
disabled things will never be able to get focus. <shrug> 

Comment 5

[Blake Ross]

I think it should be fixed globally...I'd imagine that most people will forget 
to add the css rule for the disabled state (esp. considering that even some NS 
devs forgot), and many will probably assume that by default disabled widgets do 
not steal focus.  I agree that it's best to keep power in the hands of the 
developer (i.e. allow him to customize the style of widgets and widget states), 
but I think we need to define a basic, common set of characteristics for 
widgets and widget states.  To me, at least, the fact that disabled widgets 
can't get focus is a standard rule (since they have no need to get focus).  
Because it seems to me to be more common, I feel that that should be the 
default behavior (and others can change it if they wish)

Comment 6

[Blake Ross]

Oops -- rereading your comment, I realize now that in fixing the event state 
manager, there'll be no way for others to allow disabled widgets to have the 
focus if they so desire.  I still think the change should be globally made, 
however (if there's no way to make user-focus: ignore a "default" rule of the 
button, but changeable)...I don't believe that people should have to go to 
extra trouble to make a standard widget behave as it does natively in pretty 
much every OS (afaik).  John: your thoughts?

Comment 7

[John Morrison]

My small brain sez ... There aren't many situations where allowing a disabled 
element to get focus is desirable. However, I note that win32 native menu
behaviour is that disabled menuitems get at least ':hover' (although I don't
know if they actually get ':focus').'

A second point is that most of the base focus behaviour for the core widget
set is defined in xul.css and effectively inherited by anyone who was to,
for example, redefine 'button' in a custom package. (Although, for new 
widget's that extend core widgets, the base set of style rules will not 
apply to the derived widget).

Comment 8

[Stephen Koren]

saari, how hard is it to fix the event state manager?  these are some basic but 
important focus issues.

Comment 9

[saari (gone)]

Targeting mozilla 1.0

Comment 10

[Aaron Leventhal]

Good news - this appears to be fixed.
I tried it on Linux, Win 2000 and Win98 and it works in all 3. 
Unless someone disagrees, let's take it off Saari's back.

Comment 11

[Blake Ross]

Yeah, this is pretty much fixed.