can't select text from the start of a line on a vertically split terminator shell

[tjaalton]

Expected Behavior

Selecting text on a vertically split terminator window should work properly.

Actual Behavior

You can't start the selection from the first character of a line, instead it'll try to resize the split shell.

Steps to Reproduce the Problem

1. open terminator
2. split the window vertically
3. try to select text from the start of a line
4. notice you can't include the first character, since the mouse cursor is changed to resize the widget

Specifications

been there since cosmic, now using disco

[clobrano]

Hi @tjaalton, thanks for contributing to Yaru :+1:

Could you confirm that this issue is not reproducible in Adwaita?

[tjaalton]

hmm adwaita is affected too, ambiance isn't which is what I seem to be using on 18.04

[clobrano]

I see. Just to clarify, is this what you meant?

[tjaalton]

try to select from the terminal on right, you can't start the selection from the first character of the line

[Feichtmeier]

Is that a gtk2 app?

[tjaalton]

no, gtk3

[clobrano]

The problem is that when the cursor changes functionality from select to drag window when you try to select the first character. From the top of my head, I can say that some padding might help, but this looks more an issue in Terminator, that should provide that padding by himself.

Closing this now, unless Terminator maintainer shows it's actually a theming issue.

[Feichtmeier]

Maybe it's using the dark theme and my ugly wildcard is hitting again because it's a custom style class? @clobrano

[clobrano]

It doesn't seem, since it's reproducible in Adwaita as well

[tjaalton]

the "width" of the drag widget seems to be ~10 pixels with adwaita/yaru, whereas on ambiance it's 2

[clobrano]

This is interesting, I'll investigate on it

[clobrano]

I noted that on tilix selecting text is perfectly doable in the same condition

[tjaalton]

not here, exactly the same problem with yaru/ambiance

[tjaalton]

I mean yaru or adwaita

[clobrano]

[tjaalton]

You probably started the selection from the line where it says 'lsusb', right after it? That works of course, but try selecting two lines from the middle of that output, starting from the first character of the line

[tjaalton]

you get something like this

[clobrano]

You probably started the selection from the line where it says 'lsusb', right after it? That works of course

of course not

[clobrano]

[tjaalton]

your tilix has something extra between the shells, it doesn't look like that on disco

[tjaalton]

between terminals I mean, the vertical bar

[clobrano]

Yes, I noticed that, but I was testing it on disco daily build. It seems like the scrollbar is disabled in your copy, but it should be at the left of the separation line

[tjaalton]

oh you've enabled "use a wide handle for splitters" from the prefs.. that's cheating? :)

[clobrano]

hmm adwaita is affected too, ambiance isn't which is what I seem to be using on 18.04

Indeed, the wide handle was set, but not on purpose for this issue :) However, we don't have a custom handle and we use Adwaita's one here, so the issue should be reported and fixed upstream

[clobrano]

here it is https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/issues/1768

Closing this now, let's reopen it later in case of updates

[iafilius]

Hi, perhaps a workaround available or even better a solution? perhaps any kind of update? The issue on https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gtk/issues/1768 is basically pointing back to app (and closed issue too), and meanwhile i feel quite stupid always not copy-ing the first char (on splitted window) Using Ubuntu 20.04/Yaru Dark/terminator

Thanks

[clobrano]

https://github.com/ubuntu/yaru/issues/1243#issuecomment-473452784

oh you've enabled "use a wide handle for splitters" from the prefs.. that's cheating? :)

Does this workaround still work?

[iafilius]

Hi Clobrano, sorry, but looked (multiple times) for "use a wide handle for splitters" in the terminator prefs, but can't find it here. Also a search on internet only this thread returns. Would you please so kind to guide me a bit where to find it? thanks a lot!

Tried to set 'Terminal separator size' to max 20, but did'n notice any difference. probably the wrong 'handle'

[clobrano]

My bad, I thought you were talking about Tilix. Tilix is quite similar to Terminator and does have the "wide handle" setting in Settings>Appearance

[iafilius]

Hi Clobrano, In Tilix i can find it, and the wide setting fixes it. But in Terminator/Preference/Appearance the slider "Terminal Separator size" can be changed from -1 to 20. (So slightly difference as you wrote, but i guess that is what you mean) But actually i don't see/notice any difference, so the copy/select of 1st char in right window (on left side) issue is still there for me.

Thanks,

[clobrano]

Yes, on Terminator the setting seems useless. I know it might seem silly, but when using terminator I simply select from the end of the line to the beginning, so that I can get all the text. I know this workaround might sound questionable, but we do not plan to change the drag widget size anytime soon.

[iafilius]

Thanks for your feedback and workaround suggestion Clobrano. trying to get used on Tilix for now, and don't mind the extra speed.

[aaronsuns]

Still no workaround? Using terminator on default ubuntu 20.04, can't select first char is annoying.

[aaronsuns]

One work around is that triple click the line you want to select and then hold shift to drag for the rest.

[clobrano]

I'm sorry, but there's still no fix for this. Another workaround is to start selection from the end of the line and then drag to the left. Out of cut curiosity, is the problem the same using adwaita, or is yaru specific?

[aaronsuns]

Only know this behavior with defaults Ubuntu 20.04. Default version from Ubuntu repo.

the problem is that some time you are in the middle of a big log file, you want to select long paragraph from one place, hard to identify the start point since similar log can be repeated several times. From bottom right to top left would be pain. I’d rather manually type the first chat after copy or use triple click + hold shift way.