ediff control frame doesn't start with focus

ediff control frame doesn't start with focus

[Joe Riel]

When launching ediff (emacs 26.1) the floating frame that controls the session
isn't automatically being selected, I have to do so manually.  Is there a way
to configure it so that it is selected at the launch?

-- 
Joe Riel

Re: ediff control frame doesn't start with focus

[Alan D. Salewski]

On Mon, Feb 1, 2021, at 16:16, Joe Riel wrote:
> When launching ediff (emacs 26.1) the floating frame that controls the session
> isn't automatically being selected, I have to do so manually.  Is there a way
> to configure it so that it is selected at the launch?
> 
> -- 
> Joe Riel

Though not an answer to your specific question, if you customize
ediff-window-setup-function to be ediff-setup-windows-plain, then no extra
frame will be created when you launch ediff. The ediff control window will be
a small (one line) window beneath the windows of the buffers being compared,
and it will have the focus so you can just start driving ediff.

-Al

-- 
a l a n   d.   s a l e w s k i
ads@salewski.email
salewski@att.net
https://github.com/salewski

Re: ediff control frame doesn't start with focus

[Michael Heerdegen]

Joe Riel <joer@san.rr.com> writes:

> When launching ediff (emacs 26.1) the floating frame that controls the
> session isn't automatically being selected, I have to do so manually.
> Is there a way to configure it so that it is selected at the launch?

As far as I recall, the behavior you want is the default behavior, and
has been for a long time.

The control frame is only not selected if it is already existing and
iconified, or if `ediff-use-long-help-message' is set to a non-nil
value, or if your window manager prevents Emacs from setting input
focus.

Could one of these points be true for you?

Michael.

Re: ediff control frame doesn't start with focus

[Janusz S. Bień]

On Tue, Feb 02 2021 at 22:06 +01, Michael Heerdegen wrote:
> Joe Riel <joer@san.rr.com> writes:
>
>> When launching ediff (emacs 26.1) the floating frame that controls the
>> session isn't automatically being selected, I have to do so manually.
>> Is there a way to configure it so that it is selected at the launch?
>
> As far as I recall, the behavior you want is the default behavior, and
> has been for a long time.

It used to be the default behaviour, but since some time (several years
if I remember well) it is not.

>
> The control frame is only not selected if it is already existing and
> iconified, or if `ediff-use-long-help-message' is set to a non-nil
> value, or if your window manager prevents Emacs from setting input
> focus.
>
> Could one of these points be true for you?

None is true for me.

Janusz

-- 
             ,   
Janusz S. Bien
emeryt (emeritus)
https://sites.google.com/view/jsbien

Re: ediff control frame doesn't start with focus

[Michael Heerdegen]

jsbien@mimuw.edu.pl (Janusz S. Bień) writes:

> None is true for me.

Do you observe this with emacs -Q?

Michael.

Re: ediff control frame doesn't start with focus

[Stefan Monnier]

>> The control frame is only not selected if it is already existing and
>> iconified, or if `ediff-use-long-help-message' is set to a non-nil
>> value, or if your window manager prevents Emacs from setting input
>> focus.
>> Could one of these points be true for you?
> None is true for me.

I wonder how you can be so sure that it can't be that "your window
manager prevents Emacs from setting input focus".  I think most people
who have worked on this part of Emacs's code would find it hard to
answer this question definitively.


        Stefan

Re: ediff control frame doesn't start with focus

[Joe Riel]

On Tue, 02 Feb 2021 22:06:02 +0100
Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> wrote:

> Joe Riel <joer@san.rr.com> writes:
> 
> > When launching ediff (emacs 26.1) the floating frame that controls the
> > session isn't automatically being selected, I have to do so manually.
> > Is there a way to configure it so that it is selected at the launch?  
> 
> As far as I recall, the behavior you want is the default behavior, and
> has been for a long time.
> 
> The control frame is only not selected if it is already existing and
> iconified, or if `ediff-use-long-help-message' is set to a non-nil
> value, or if your window manager prevents Emacs from setting input
> focus.
> 
> Could one of these points be true for you?

I recently upgraded my Debian distro from 9 to 10.  That's when
the behavior changed.  I recall that, some years ago, the default
behavior was for the ediff control frame to not get focus initially.
Then it started working (either with change to Emacs or distro, don't recall).
Now its back to not working [my opinion].

I verified that ediff-use-long-help-messages is nil and that the
frame doesn't already exist.

-- 
Joe Riel

Re: ediff control frame doesn't start with focus

[Tomas Nordin]

Joe Riel <joer@san.rr.com> writes:

> On Tue, 02 Feb 2021 22:06:02 +0100
> Michael Heerdegen <michael_heerdegen@web.de> wrote:
>
>> Joe Riel <joer@san.rr.com> writes:
>> 
>> > When launching ediff (emacs 26.1) the floating frame that controls the
>> > session isn't automatically being selected, I have to do so manually.
>> > Is there a way to configure it so that it is selected at the launch?  
>> 
>> As far as I recall, the behavior you want is the default behavior, and
>> has been for a long time.
>> 
>> The control frame is only not selected if it is already existing and
>> iconified, or if `ediff-use-long-help-message' is set to a non-nil
>> value, or if your window manager prevents Emacs from setting input
>> focus.
>> 
>> Could one of these points be true for you?
>
> I recently upgraded my Debian distro from 9 to 10.  That's when
> the behavior changed.  I recall that, some years ago, the default
> behavior was for the ediff control frame to not get focus initially.
> Then it started working (either with change to Emacs or distro, don't recall).
> Now its back to not working [my opinion].
>
> I verified that ediff-use-long-help-messages is nil and that the
> frame doesn't already exist.

At work on ms windows the behavior was always that the ediff frame gets
focus when started. On my Debian (as far back as I can remember, a few
debian versions), it never got focus. Me too prefer get focus. I never
understood why and just assumed it had something to do with the relation
Emacs/Gnome.

--
Tomas

Re: ediff control frame doesn't start with focus

[Joe Riel]

On Mon, 01 Feb 2021 17:49:41 -0500
"Alan D. Salewski" <ads@salewski.email> wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 1, 2021, at 16:16, Joe Riel wrote:
> > When launching ediff (emacs 26.1) the floating frame that controls the session
> > isn't automatically being selected, I have to do so manually.  Is there a way
> > to configure it so that it is selected at the launch?
> > 
> > -- 
> > Joe Riel  
> 
> Though not an answer to your specific question, if you customize
> ediff-window-setup-function to be ediff-setup-windows-plain, then no extra
> frame will be created when you launch ediff. The ediff control window will be
> a small (one line) window beneath the windows of the buffers being compared,
> and it will have the focus so you can just start driving ediff.

Thanks Al.  Finally got around to trying this, and it is a suitable workaround.


-- 
Joe Riel