Objo appears to freeze -- settings dialog behind main window

bgrommes

I don't know if this is a bug, and if it is it may be platform-specific. This is Objo 26.8.3 on Windows Server 2022 Datacenter.

I had Objo Studio maximized and left the Settings dialog up and then switched away from Objo for a long time to do Other Things. At some point I pressed Windows-M to minimize all windows so I could get to the Recycle Bin. Objo Studio remained stubbornly at full screen after all other windows minimized.

At first I thought Objo was hung -- I pressed Windows-M a couple of other times and Objo Studio's icon in the task bar flickered but no other response. I clicked on Studio's main window and it wasn't responding. After fiddling a bit, I figured out that the settings dialog had somehow gotten itself completely behind Objo Studio's main window, where it could not be seen. I don't recall what I did to shake it loose, maybe switched away and back with Alt-Tab and then I saw the settings dialog again. Aha, sez I, that's modal so of course Objo can't minimize until it's dismissed. I closed the settings dialog and Studio became responsive again.

Hopefully there's some way to prevent this from happening or to force any modal windows to the front when the OS moves focus to Studio. But -- if this isn't fixable and just a quirk of Windows (or Windows Server) then unfortunately it could be an occasional customer support question ("help, Objo is frozen and I had to kill it in Task Manager") concerning which you can now ask probing questions ;-)

Garry

Thanks for reporting this, it was a real bug, although Studio itself was not actually frozen.

Settings was being opened as a modal window, which disabled the main Studio window until Settings closed. On some Windows versions, Minimize All could minimise or hide Settings while leaving the disabled main window visible. That made Studio appear hung, and explains why Alt-Tab brought Settings back and restored normal operation.

I’ve fixed this for the next release by removing that failure mode:

Settings is now non-blocking, so the workspace remains usable while it is open.
Settings can no longer be minimised independently.
Opening Settings again brings the existing window forward rather than creating another one.
Preference changes continue to apply immediately.

For anyone encountering this in 26.8.3, the workaround is to use Alt-Tab to find the hidden Settings window and close it. Thanks again for the detailed description - the Windows-M sequence made the cause much easier to identify.

bgrommes

Garry Thanks again. It occurs to me that this could also be a failure mode for About, or any other modal window.