WindowTop often doesn't work on discord

[Vino4]

Hello friends :D

I love this product so much- it's literally exactly what I wanted for years so thank you so much <3

Issue

There's a bug which prevents me from putting discord into PiP mode

Steps

• Open discord and login
• Get on a call with someone
• Have them share their screen
• Pop-out the shared screen
• Attempt to put any discord window in shared screen mode

Expected

• You're able to hover at the center of the window and click PiP put the window in PiPmode
• OR you're able hover on the minimize button of the window click PiP to put the window in PIP more
• OR you're able to use the assigned keyboard shortcut to put the window in PiP mode

Actual

• Hovering at the center of the window does not show the WindowTop toolbar
• Hovering on the minimize button does not show the WindowTop toolbar
• Using the keyboard shortcut does not put the window in PiPmode

Notes

• While I am specifically interested in PiP, none of the other features of window top work on discord either
• All other windows still work fine and you're able to put them in PIP mode
• My OS is Windows 11 version 22H2
• WindowTop version is 5.21.2
• Discord version is Stable 227102 (fe42a93)
• Restarting WindowTop doesn't help
• Restarting discord doesn't help
• Restarting the computer sometimes helps
• sometimes this issue goes away and everything works, but more often than not it doesn't
• I'm not really sure about this but I have more of a chance to get the PIP mode to work if it's a shared screen in a server call rather than a direct call

[gileli121]

Thanks for the report. I am trying to reproduce

[gileli121]

@Vino4 I see that the app detects the window (you have a toolbar). At least the login window.

Do I have to do all the other steps? Please make sure that the app is not excluded:

Go to

Make sure that Discord is not listed here

Or if it is listed, it can be listed only if "Whitelist the specified programs" is checked (and then WindowTop will ignore all other windows except this app and anything other than listed)

In addition, you may want to try v5.22-beta9 from here: https://github.com/WindowTop/WindowTop-App/releases/tag/v5.22.0

I made many changes and feature improvements for the PiP and the Crop in this version.

I noticed that beta 9 seems to be very stable now so it is probably one version before the final release of 5.22

[Vino4]

Thank you for being super responsive @gileli121 ^^

Discord is not on the list (it's empty) and the list's mode is set to "Blacklist the specified programs" I logged out of discord and I can see the WindowTop bar on the login page and on the main discord app now- This issue seems to be specifically tied to something that happens when the other steps are done :)

I will download the beta and try it tomorrow when I have people around to test with :D

[Vino4]

@gileli121 Just a little update for you:

• The issue is indeed very specifically appears when you pop-out someone's shared screen in a direct-call, it starts on that particular popped-out window!
• I have not had a chance to test the beta sadly, I'll try again tonight :)

[Vino4]

Potentially helpful, additional info: I tried to shrink the subject window on 5.21.2 and got:

[Vino4]

@gileli121 I just tested v5.22-beta9 beta and here are the results:

• Cropping the original window works great!
• I can see and use the hotbar on a popped out shared-screen window while on a server call
• I cannot see nor use the hotbar on a popped out shared-screen window while on a direct call

So as far as the hotbar issue goes, it's similar to v5.21.2, it's just refusing to show on this particular window :)

[Vino4]

@gileli121 Now I'm seeing another issue (currently on v5.22-beta9)

• When I crop a window that's being shared on a discord server-call (regardless of whether it's popped out or not), the entire cropped window turns grey
• Uncropping it (if it's popped out) doesn't fix the video feed unless I pop it back in
• Putting the window in PiP mode does the same thing
• I've seen this happen in v5.21.2 only once when putting it PiP mode
• This issue does not happen on other windows other than Discord's shared-screen window (example, a browser playing netflix)

[gileli121]

@Vino4 Thanks, I hope to get to an investigation of it today. In the last two days, I have been working on improving the hotkeys configuration, fixing some bugs, and adding improvements that allow you to edit the main toolbar hotkeys from the toolbar page. The part in green was added:

I think that I will start working on this bug today.

[gileli121]

I just reproduced it

Investigating

[gileli121]

This is the problem.

Because the title is ""

I probably did it as some kind of bad workaround for something that later solved properly.

I think that need to remove the "" condition.

[gileli121]

Fixed

But I am wondering if somehow it can detect windows that it should ignore. The fix is to allow empty titles

[gileli121]

Crop + PiP is working

But title is indeed empty. I will add condition that if the title is empty, the PiP title will show the process name

[gileli121]

But I am wondering if somehow it can detect windows that it should ignore.

Yes

[gileli121]

The simple fix was to keep using the _WINDOWTOP_INTERNAL_UI_ title. It was developed later but not used enough. After adding it to the Anchors and other UI elements, it works fine.

Now, it does not show the arrow above the anchors

[gileli121]

I will add condition that if the title is empty, the PiP title will show the process name

Done.

The same condition also used by its Anchor (same issue was also there)

[gileli121]

@gileli121 Now I'm seeing another issue (currently on v5.22-beta9)

• When I crop a window that's being shared on a discord server-call (regardless of whether it's popped out or not), the entire cropped window turns grey
• Uncropping it (if it's popped out) doesn't fix the video feed unless I pop it back in
• Putting the window in PiP mode does the same thing
• I've seen this happen in v5.21.2 only once when putting it PiP mode
• This issue does not happen on other windows other than Discord's shared-screen window (example, a browser playing netflix)

Reproduced

[gileli121]

@gileli121 Now I'm seeing another issue (currently on v5.22-beta9)

• When I crop a window that's being shared on a discord server-call (regardless of whether it's popped out or not), the entire cropped window turns grey
• Uncropping it (if it's popped out) doesn't fix the video feed unless I pop it back in
• Putting the window in PiP mode does the same thing
• I've seen this happen in v5.21.2 only once when putting it PiP mode
• This issue does not happen on other windows other than Discord's shared-screen window (example, a browser playing netflix)

Reproduced

Fixed. Used the same hack from https://github.com/WindowTop/WindowTop-App/issues/146

[gileli121]

Potentially helpful, additional info: I tried to shrink the subject window on 5.21.2 and got:

This may happen less due to a fix in recent betas of 5.22

Improved app stability by removing almost all thread-locking mechanisms and replacing them with a less drastic approach. Freezing is now a very rare case.

You used 5.21

It is a different bug. now should not happen / less happen

[gileli121]

@Vino4

Please try beta 11 from here:

https://github.com/WindowTop/WindowTop-App/releases/tag/v5.22.0

Let me know if all issues are resolved. And please try the INTERACT mode (you will see this button on the PiP view..) I want to know if it works fine with it. If so, I will add it to the default apps that interact is enabled by default.

The interact mode allows you to control the window via the PiP view.

[Vino4]

@gileli121 Thank you so much!!!! I will test it tonight and report back 😁

[Vino4]

@gileli121 I've tested v5.22.0 and everything is amazing!!!

• Discord works well with PiP/Crop
• Crop works well with videos
• Interact mode is super cool, both smart drag and read mode are awesome!!

Once again thank you so much for your amazing software!! I sincerely appreciate it and I have been actively recommending it to everyone I know since the moment I discovered it last month because it is SO GOOD!!!😁

[gileli121]

@Vino4 Great to hear!

WindowTop is a secret software. Because I am nobody and not using the brand "Microsoft" (unlike PowerToys, which is also mostly developed by nobody people but uses the brand "Microsoft"...), you are not likely to hear about it every time a new feature is released. But this app's power is its quality level, and this is not my job to say. My job is to provide it. Users like you say it. So, this app is 100% promoted by users themself. No blogs, no YouTube videos, nothing. Only by users like you :) The business depends on users who spread the word.

If you try to compare the crop here with what they did, you will probably laugh a lot, or you won't believe it, and this is the point - the fact that famous bloggers talk about something doesn't necessarily mean that the product is good.

This world is made of fanboys, money, and interests so this is how it is. Don't expect it to be promoted by tons of bloggers just because it is good like you saying. I know what I am saying.

You and users like you need to spread the word :) This is probably one of the reason why the price is low