Google Docs broken insert mode

[Massimo-B]

Where are all the issue from the previous issue tracker?

There was: Current Google Docs has broken insert mode. Tables are working fine. This was described as focussing issue. This is broken since several months now. Even if Google is changing their interface often, this seems to be as is now for a long time and Pentadactyl doesn't support it. This requires me to start another FF session or a different browser.

[Massimo-B]

Can't find the old discussion anymore.

This issue is still there, there is now workaround by passthrough. For editing Google Docs (only text docs, table sheets are working), I need to disable Pentadactyl completely, which is easy by :extdisable, but to restart it I need to open about:addons every time.

Any news about that issue?

[krompus]

I don't use Google Docs, so I'm not the best person to test this, but I just messed about in some files and I didn't have any issues at all. Any specific examples?

Note that you can also use an :autocmd to enable passthrough every time you change to the buffer; This can be pretty handy for lots of different sites:

:autocmd LocationChange 'https://docs.google.com/*' :normal! <C-z>

[Massimo-B]

I already use the passthrough like this in my .pentadactylrc:

" Pass-through
:autocmd LocationChange docs.google.com :normal! <C-z>
:autocmd LocationChange drive.google.com :normal! <C-z>

But no matter if passthrough is enabled or not, I'm not able to enter any text in the text document.

[krompus]

It's very strange that you can't insert text (that :autocmd won't affect this, but you probably already knew that).

What version of Firefox and Pentadactyl are you running? I've got FF44 running a Penta nightly from a few days ago, on Arch Linux. Input on Google Docs works fine. Maybe try updating?

Does it not work AT ALL, or is it a sporadic thing?

[Massimo-B]

It does never work and does not for years now, over around 10 Firefox versions and various git builds (Pentadactyl is built from latest git sources). We should look at the old bug report where several users were affected by the issue and some devs have accepted the issue and explaining the issue about the weird API changes often done by Google. Where is the old bug tracker?

[krompus]

Here's a screenshot, to demonstrate that it's working on my end.

Can you please list some specific key combinations or a series of actions that fails?

I played around with it some more, and I think I see what you're talking about.

What works for me is disabling the :autocmd for passthrough mentioned above, and then pressing gi to focus the input field (the page in this case). When I use the :autocmd you are currently using to enter passthrough mode, sometimes the alpha keys don't respond, but I suspect that it's simply a case of the page becoming "unfocused". When I click on the page, this goes away.

I've been testing this, and it seems to work very well:

:autocmd LocationChange 'https://docs.google.com/*' :normal! gi

This puts you into insert mode when you select the tab. It works 100% of the time for me.

Of course, this means you can't use the Google Docs keyboard shortcuts...if you want to use them, just enable passthrough mode WHILE you're in insert mode (<C-z>), and they'll work.

I tried adding the to the new :autocmd mentioned above, but it doesn't work.

Does this solve your problem?

[Massimo-B]

Wow that works. You solved a years old bug.

But weird, gi only enters the INSERT mode, but before that worked in the Google Doc. I always got to INSERT mode when clicking the edit area, but was not able to enter any character. Re-clicking the page did not help, also clicking the menu and then the text again. I remember it was some focussing issue in the last discussion with devs about that. I have now both in the rc:

:autocmd LocationChange docs.google.com :normal! <C-z>
:autocmd LocationChange docs.google.com :normal! gi

In pass-through the insert still works while being able to use the Google shortcuts.

So there is nothing to be fixed in Pentadactyl, only the :autocmd is required to make Google Docs work?

[krompus]

I'm glad you've solved the issue! Happy writing!

So there is nothing to be fixed in Pentadactyl, only the :autocmd is required to make Google Docs work?

Well...I wouldn't go as far as to say "there is nothing to be fixed in Pentadactyl". :P

I don't see why there was an issue in the first place...it seems that it's just a conflict with how Pentadactyl behaves by default, and is fixed using the above :autocmds.

The way you've asked that question implies that you think I might be one of the devs. To clarify, I'm just a user who follows the issues in order to learn more about it, and help others with their troubles. I've been using Penta for a year, and I want to see it thrive. :)