Chat window does not open when I get a message, and icon not blinking

[ghost]

When a friend sends me a chat message, Steam "opens" a minimized window instead of really opening the chat window. I know after reading #266’s comments that this is the intended behaviour. However since the window is not open, and its icon in the panel is not blinking, it often takes me at least half an hour to notice the message.

Some way to make it more obvious that a message has been received would be nice:

• I’d prefer if the chat window actually opened, preferably without grabbing the focus of course.
• Or perhaps the friend’s name in Steam’s friends list could change colors, or blink…
• Or I think someone mentionned in another bug report using the WM URGENCY hint to make the icon blink in the panel. http://standards.freedesktop.org/wm-spec/wm-spec-1.4.html#URGENCY

Arch Linux 64 bit with Xfce 4.12.

[asantos3]

its icon in the panel is not blinking

I miss tons of messages because of this.

Having conversations and then going afk or something I don't remember to view the messages because you know, I don't have a visual indicator like the icon blinking.

[ChrisLauinger77]

I get a notification in gnome tray when my DOTA2 matchmaking is ready. Why chat cannot make the same notification when a new message appears ? I would easily catch it because I use this gnome shell extension: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/150/message-notifier/

[tsumaru720]

Having read https://github.com/ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux/issues/266 I am having this exact same issue. I am running Kubuntu 14.04.03 LTS.

(This issue already references #266 and is still open so thought i'd respond here)

When a friend of mine messages me, I get the sound and notification, but no chat window appears in my taskbar.

I can confirm my steam settings are:

"Always open a new chat window rather than a tab" in the friends section of settings.

[14droplets]

Can confirm this on same archlinux with xfce4 (xfwm4.12.3 (revision 7fdcb53)) This became really annoying issue, since I miss every message and notice it about an hour after.

I tested Qt function QApplication::alert() and it works fine with my setup. Internally QApplication::alert uses xlib call xcb_send_event with _NET_WM_STATE_DEMANDS_ATTENTION param. You can see code here https://github.com/qtproject/qtbase/blob/9c1d3bc253abd4418f3050d19ec5f05bef3ada97/src/plugins/platforms/xcb/qxcbwindow.cpp#L2753

GTK call gtk_window_set_urgency_hint also seems to work as tested with this example: https://gist.github.com/Snork2/bde417e1a501a4443944

Hope this can save some of your time.

[ghost]

I came up with a partial workaround using devilspie2 and this config file:

win = get_window_name()
if string.find(win, "%- Chat$") then
    unminimize()
end

Put this in ~/.config/devilspie2/steam.lua, install and run devilspie2. This will automatically open any new chat window. Unfortunately I think it will also steal the focus. (And it doesn’t help with noticing new messages after the window was opened.)

You can also add set_window_workspace(4) on a new line after unminimize() if you want the window to appear on a specific workspace (number 4 in this case).

EDIT: it doesn’t actually work :(.

[xpander69]

same issue here, doesnt blink even wen (always flash) is enabled. its been like that quite some time... MATE desktop, Xfwm, but doesnt work with default marco wm either, so i dont think its an WM/DE issue at all

[Commander-Zal]

Can confirm this issue still exists on KDE, Xfce, and MATE (and likely every other DE available for Linux, but I only tested those 3).

[Termuellinator]

Just want to add my voice to this - either blink or at least show the number of unread messages in window title...pretty please ;)