498227 - Can't delete message thread w/ keyboard if Select Thread is invoked while Message Pane is focused

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 581932

(Thunderbird :: Mail Window Front End, defect)

Description

[Ashley Bischoff (blog at handcoding.com)]

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The short version:
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I believe this bug may be a regression brought about by this changeset from 2009-05-28:
http://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/3c87898162a3

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The longer version:
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If one selects a message within an already-expanded thread, then focuses the Message Pane and Selects Entire Thread, the thread can't be deleted with the Delete key.

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Steps to reproduce:
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1. Find a set of 2 or more threaded messages and select one of the messages in that thread. (Bugmail works great for this.)

2. Either expand just that thread or Expand All Threads (via "*").

3. Then, focus the message pane. (This can be confirmed by hitting the up-arrow or down-arrow; the message will only scroll within the message pane if it's focused.)

4. Press Cmd-Shift-A (Mac) or Ctrl-Shift-A (Windows) to select the entire thread.

5. Press the Delete key to try to delete the entire thread.

* Expected behavior: Entire thread is deleted.
* Observed behavior: System-error bonk/beep is heard; no messages are deleted.

(For what it's worth, if one is reading through bugmail -- in which it isn't not uncommon to have the Message Pane focused -- this means that it's not possible to select and delete an entire thread with the keyboard alone.)

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Triaging:
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This bug occurs in the current nightly build (Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1pre) Gecko/20090614 Shredder/3.0b3pre), but I've also gone back through previous builds to track down when this first started occurring. 

I discovered that:

(This build is ok:)
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1pre) Gecko/20090527 Shredder/3.0b3pre

(The bug first occurs in this build:)
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1pre) Gecko/20090528 Shredder/3.0b3pre

I then ran a query for comm-central checkins between "2009-05-27 04:00:00" and "2009-05-28 05:30:00":
http://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/pushloghtml?startdate=2009-05-27+04%3A00%3A00&enddate=2009-05-28+05%3A30%3A00

From there, assuming I did the hg.mozilla.org query correctly, it appears that the most likely candidate may be this checkin for bug 454829:
 http://hg.mozilla.org/comm-central/rev/3c87898162a3

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Variations that happen to work:
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I have found a few variations -- deviations from the steps-to-reproduce above -- that do happen to work (even in the current nightly builds).

* If you skip Step #3 above (about focusing the Message Pane), this works.
* Or, in Step #5, if you click the Delete button (instead of pressing the Delete key), this works.

Comment 1

[Ashley Bischoff (blog at handcoding.com)]

(Moving bug 454829 from Blocks to Depends-on. Guess that was a think-o when I originally filed this.)

Comment 2

[David Ascher (:davida)]

Thanks for the STR and the regression window checking.

This WFM on the mac right now. Is this still a problem for you with nightlies?

Comment 3

[Ashley Bischoff (blog at handcoding.com)]

(In reply to comment #2)
> This WFM on the mac right now. Is this still a problem for you with nightlies?

It does appears to still be an issue (even in Safe Mode). I'm using this build, fwiw:

Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.5; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3pre) Gecko/20090805 Shredder/3.0b4pre

(Admittedly, 2009-08-05 would seem that it could be a skosh old, given that today is August 7, but Help -> Check for Updates isn't showing me any more recent builds.)

As far as reproducing this, are you definitely focusing the message pane (step #3) before invoking Select Thread (step #4)? (If not, then the problem won't occur.)

Also, are you definitely hitting the Delete key rather than the Backspace key?

Comment 4

[David Ascher (:davida)]

I'm focusing the message pane by clicking in the message body area. I'm hitting the delete key on my mac.  

Weird.

Comment 5

[David Ascher (:davida)]

Do you see a thread summary, or nothing, in the message pane?

What version of what operating system are you using?

Denying blocking until we can get reproducible STRs.

Comment 6

[Ashley Bischoff (blog at handcoding.com)]

(In reply to comment #5)
> Do you see a thread summary, or nothing, in the message pane?

Before selecting all messages from the thread (via Cmd-Shift-A), I'm seeing the current message in the message pane; after selecting all messages, I'm seeing the thread summary.

I'll also attach a screenshot sequence in a moment in case that might help convey what I'm seeing.
 
> What version of what operating system are you using?

I'm runnning OS X 10.5.8 on an Intel-based MacBook Pro.

> Denying blocking until we can get reproducible STRs.

I may have discovered a reason behind how this could be reproducible for me but not for you. By chance are you using your laptop's keyboard? 

The reason I ask is that we may be hitting different "Delete" keys. 

On non-Mac operating systems, the key that deletes the character to the left of the cursor is labeled "Backspace", while the key that does this on Macs is labeled "Delete". Similarly, on non-Mac operating systems, the key that deletes the character to the right of the cursor is labeled "Delete", while on Macs this is known as "Forward Delete" as is accessed through Fn-Delete on portable Macs' built-in keyboard (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343).

I so happen to be using an external USB keyboard with my Mac; there, when I hit "Backspace", the character to the left of the cursor is deleted, while "Delete" is triggering the machine's "Forward Delete" functionality (which is what one might expect).

As a quick test, if you load this page (http://www.texotela.co.uk/keypress.php) and hit your Delete key, is the page conveying an e.keyCode of 46? While my external keyboard Delete key is generating '46', I found that I needed to hit Fn-Delete to get that same keyCode when using my laptop keyboard. (If hitting just my laptop keyboard's "Delete" key alone, without the Fn-key, I was getting a keyCode of 8.)

To try to summarize the past few paragraphs, I believe the "Forward Delete" character should be deleting that thread, but it doesn't appear to be doing so. (And, indeed, "Forward Delete" is still able to delete single messages.)

Comment 7

[Ashley Bischoff (blog at handcoding.com)]

Attachment: Screenshot sequence -- in case it helps -- as I go through the steps (1.6 MB PNG)

(In reply to comment #5)
> Do you see a thread summary, or nothing, in the message pane?

In case it helps, here's a stitched-together set of screenshots showing what I'm seeing from one step to the next.

Comment 8

[David Ascher (:davida)]

Still can't repro, whether I use a 8-keycode or 46-keycode generating keystroke.  Weird!

Can anyone else w/ a mac try to repro this and report if they can/can't?

Comment 9

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

(In reply to comment #8)
> Still can't repro, whether I use a 8-keycode or 46-keycode generating
> keystroke.  Weird!
> 
> Can anyone else w/ a mac try to repro this and report if they can/can't?

I can't reproduce either.

Comment 10

[Ashley Bischoff (blog at handcoding.com)]

Using the latest-comm-1.9.2 nightly builds, I'm finding that if the message pane is focused and I select all messages in a thread, I'm unable to delete the thread with either Backspace or Delete.

(In my original issue, it was only Delete that seemed not to work.)

Here're the steps I'm going through:
1. Make sure threading is enabled (View -> Sort By -> Threading).
2. Either expand-all-threads (via *) or expand one of the threads in a folder.
3. Select a message from that thread.
4. Focus the message pane (such as by clicking on it).
5. Press Cmd-Shift-A to select all messages from the thread.
6. Press Backspace or Delete to try to delete the entire thread.

At this point, for me, Backspace does nothing while Delete triggers an alert sound.

I'm using this build:
Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; Intel Mac OS X 10.6; en-US; rv:1.9.2.2pre) Gecko/20100221 Lanikai/3.1b1pre

David/Ludovic: By chance are either of you able to repro this?

Comment 11

[Ludovic Hirlimann [:Usul]]

(In reply to comment #10)

> David/Ludovic: By chance are either of you able to repro this?

I do reproduce that. And the Error console is empty.

Comment 13

[Wayne Mery (:wsmwk)]

copying marcoz's bug 545768 comment 3
It can be an [access] issue if someone decides to switch to the threaded view while focused on the message body using the keyboard. However, since most of the time users will be in the message/thread pane, they will probably not hit this issue. Moreover, blind users don't tend to use the mouse to shift focus to the preview pane. Their focus is most likely in the messages list/thread pane.