escape "Windows selection popup list"

[wothke]

Description of the Issue

There is some annoying popup "open file selection list" window feature that forces the user to the select the file that the editor then brings to the front.

I never use this feature deliberately since it is quite redundant: It is so much more convenient to just use the normal tabs to switch between the open files. I don't even know how to open the popup functionality deliberately but it seems to be linked to some mouse or keyboard shortcut and every once in a while the damn thing pops up when I must have pressed a wrong key.

The problem is that it isn't possible to just press "escape" to get rid of the thing when I don't actually want to use it. Instead it is a modal dialog that blocks everything until one of the windows/files is selected.

Usability wise this is just very annoying.

Steps to Reproduce the Issue

Unfortunately I don't even kown how to deliberately start up that popup. (I checked the "Shortcut mapper" and did not see anything that might suggest this kind of functionality. Nor did I see anything in the various menus..)

I imagine that it might just be some builtin legacy feature that everyone that forgotten a long time ago - and the solution might be to just properly remove it.

Expected Behavior

Ideally I would like to get rid of the key/mouse binding so that I no longer accidentally start up the thing in the first place. (maybe this is a UI "defaults" thing that can be changed)

But the popup itself should abort/cancel/close when the user presses "escape". (Forcing the user to make a file selection - that he did't want to make - is just a bad UI.)

Actual Behavior

"escape" doesn't work.

[alankilborn]

Suggestion: Grab a screenshot next time it happens, and post it here. Otherwise, probably nobody knows for sure what feature this might be.

But as a wild guess, try Ctrl+Tab and see if that causes it to appear.

[wothke]

But as a wild guess, try Ctrl+Tab and see if that causes it to appear.

I am not sure if it might be the ctrl-tab list (it isn't the scenario how it pops up here, i.e. using ctrl-tab the selection would not stay open without me still holding down ctrl)

The annoyiung popup list looks silimar but it stays open as a blocking dialog (without me holding down any keys or mouse buttons) until one entry is specifically clicked on.. it is possible that it is the "ctrl-tab list" dialog and that there is some alternate way to open the widget (I had the impression that I had been doing something with my mouse before it happend) and that the dialog expects some "ctrl-key" release event and that it doesn't cope with some scenario where the ctrl key isn't even pressed at the point where it waits for the release event.. (maybe the focus was shiftet elsewhere without the widget noticing)

[alankilborn]

Sometimes people have trouble with the Ctrl+Tab list becoming "stuck" on screen, so that's why it came to mind with your problem. If what is getting you stuck doesn't appear identical (you said "similar") to the Ctrl+Tab list, then it is something else yet to be determined.

[wothke]

I think it actually is that widget and by some unexpected focus changes it ends up in that broken state where the only way to close it is to click on an entry, I found a way to reproduce the behavior - eventhough that probably isn't the exact path how I usually end up in that scenario.

1) press crtl-tab 2) while the popup is still open use the mouse to click on the Windows desktop (or another window)

I think that in this type of scenario (when the Notepad++ window loses the focus) the respective popup dialog should automatically be closed..

[alankilborn]

BTW, the widget is called the "Doc Switcher". It can be disabled in the Settings menu under Preferences... if it bothers you too much.

Your issue now that you have some repro steps sounds familiar... I think it is a long-standing problem. :-(

For this issue to be taken seriously by someone that could fix it, you need to provide Debug Information.

[wothke]

I can disable that garbage! :-) thanks that's good enough for me!

[alankilborn]

I can disable that garbage!

Well, it works for most. I don't use it, but I reenabled it and tried to repro your problem using 8.5.4 (current as of this writing) -- and could not reproduce any such problem.

[wothke]

Well, it works for most. I don't use it, but I reenabled it and tried to repro your problem using 8.5.4 (current as of this writing) -- and could not reproduce any such problem.

I have to admit that I am actually still using an older version - maybe the problem has meanwhile been fixed. Thank you for your tip with the settings - that works for me.

[victorel-petrovich]

• press crtl-tab
• while the popup is still open use the mouse to click on the Windows desktop (or another window)

I could reproduce those steps (on Win 7 32 bit, v 8.5.4). At step 2, you need to be still holding ctrl+tab or just ctrl when clicking with the mouse on a different application. When focus changes, you can release the ctrl but when you return to N++, you still see that yellow popup hanging there until you click in it with the mouse.

And thanks for the tip about disabling doc switcher, more predictable tabbing now and similar to other apps. (Yes, I knew it cycles based on recency).