unity-2d multi-window selector does not show 'file copy' dialog
| Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| unity-2d |
Invalid
|
High
|
Unassigned | ||
| unity-2d (Ubuntu) |
Invalid
|
High
|
Unassigned | ||
Bug Description
If there are multiple windows open for an application, clicking on its launcher icon twice normally shows all the windows so the user can choose one.
However, unity-2d does not show the file copy dialog at all if it is one of the open windows and you click on the 'home' folder icon. If there is one other nautilus window open, only this is shown. If two are open, only these two are shown, etc.
ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: unity-2d 4.8.0-0ubuntu1
Uname: Linux 3.1.0-rc6-
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu1
Architecture: amd64
Date: Fri Sep 16 14:14:10 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Beta amd64 (20110330)
PackageArchitec
SourcePackage: unity-2d
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to oneiric on 2011年09月15日 (0 days ago)
- Dependencies.txt Edit (6.6 KiB, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
- ProcEnviron.txt Edit (141 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")
What's more it doesn't show up in the tray, so the only way to get back at it is by moving all the other windows away.
Nautilus has a patch in Ubuntu (11_copy_
same for gnome3, the copy dialog (file operations dialog) does not appear in the windows overview if you hit the window-key nor does it appear if you use alt+tab. you have to move the windows on your screen around and minimize them to find the dialog...
In GNOME3, IIRC, they planned to create a "progress center" as a top-bar menu, that would aggregate all running tasks, where you could always access them and act on them (pause, cancel, maybe queue?). I would love to see that in Ubuntu, too. A common API could be useful here (we already have stuff that lets us set up a progress bar on the launcher item).
There was a "notification applet" for longer fily copy processes in natty, wonder where that is now.
This is a result of the fix for bug 784804. When a progress window was the only Nautilus window open, clicking the "Home Folder" item did not open the home folder, it focused the progress window, and there was no easy way to open a new window. The solution implemented was to ignore the progress window for window-switching purposes entirely.
Unfortunately, that just replaced one problem with another. And it doesn't work for any other examples of the same window posture. For example, it doesn't let you open a browser window when the only open Firefox window is the Downloads window. And it doesn't let you open Thunderbird's main window when the only open Thunderbird window is the Address Book Print Preview. To do either of those basic things, you need to use a third-party launcher such as Gnome Do.
There are several other ways the original problem could be fixed without introducing this problem.
(1) Let applications know when their launcher item is clicked. Alter Nautilus so that if its launcher item is clicked while it has a window focused but no folder windows open, it opens the home folder. (This is basically the approach followed by Web browsers on the Mac, for example.)
- Pro: Would work nicely with the subconscious "if it didn't work, try it again" model. Clicking the first time would focus the progress window; clicking a second time would open the home folder.
- Con: Would require moving the application spread behavior to a different gesture (such as long-click or double-click).
(2) Have the Nautilus progress window inherit the menus of a folder window (with appropriate items insensitive), so you can still access the "New Window" item.
- Pro: Should be done anyway for other reasons. You shouldn't be unable to connect to a server, access the help, etc merely because a progress window is focused.
- Con: Not so obvious (especially while bug 732653 isn't fixed).
(3) Separate the Nautilus application launcher item from any "Home Folder" bookmark launcher item.
- Pro: Would also fix bug 761093 (clicking "Home Folder" often doesn't open the home folder, just focuses a different folder).
- Pro: Would involve allowing folder bookmarks in the launcher at all, which would be useful in general.
- Con: By default, the file manager would be represented by two items in the launcher a lot of the time.
(4) Add "New Window" to the Nautilus quicklist, and show an application's quicklist whenever showing the application spread.
- Pro: Would involve minimal changes to the current interaction choices.
- Con: Would make the application spread a bit less elegant.