Problem in Ubuntu with certain commands depending on mouse position

Problem in Ubuntu with certain commands depending on mouse position

[Jonathan Ganc]

Hi,

I am running Emacs 25.1 in Ubuntu 16.10. Whenever I have two frames open 
and the mouse is positioned over
the other frame (i.e. not over the active one), certain commands like 
'yank-pop' and 'dabbrev-expand' don't work properly. I figured out that 
the issue is that, in these situations, the Alt key is producing a 
<switch-frame> event on key-down.

I don't know enough about x-windows/emacs input to know why this event 
is being produced in this situation. I filed a bug 
https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=26104 but the one 
responder also didn't know the significance of the <switch-frame> being 
produced here.

I don't mind trying to do some delving into the code and seeing if I can 
fix the problem. However, I was wondering if anyone had any insight into 
what was happening and why...?

Jonathan

Re: Problem in Ubuntu with certain commands depending on mouse position

[Bingo]

On March 29, 2017 11:06:01 AM GMT+05:30, Jonathan Ganc <jonganc@gmail.com> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I am running Emacs 25.1 in Ubuntu 16.10. Whenever I have two frames
>open 
>and the mouse is positioned over
>the other frame (i.e. not over the active one), certain commands like 
>'yank-pop' and 'dabbrev-expand' don't work properly. I figured out that
>
>the issue is that, in these situations, the Alt key is producing a 
><switch-frame> event on key-down.
>
>I don't know enough about x-windows/emacs input to know why this event 
>is being produced in this situation. I filed a bug 
>https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=26104 but the one 
>responder also didn't know the significance of the <switch-frame> being
>
>produced here.
>
>I don't mind trying to do some delving into the code and seeing if I
>can 
>fix the problem. However, I was wondering if anyone had any insight
>into 
>what was happening and why...?
>
>Jonathan

Since frame is an Emacs term, i assume switch-frame event that you mention is an Emacs event. Correct me if i an wrong here.

You could check what X is sending to Emacs when you press Alt, by 

C-h k Alt

If Emacs is configured to take any action on simply the key down of Alt, it should show the exact action and the mode that told Emacs to behave like that. It would also tell you what exactly X is sending to Emacs on key down of Alt.

As far as X is concerned, run the command "xev" in a terminal, and when the window is in focus press Alt. Or should tell you if X is misinterpreting Alt to be something completely different.