GUI plugins open on other Desktop/Workplace on macOS

[philja]

The only thing I don't like is the behaviour on the MacBook when the plugin runner starts up on the desktop where Sigil is open, and then the window where the work is done flips to another desktop. But that's the same for all the edit plugins I've got, so it's not a fault of this new plugin - rather, it's a 'feature' of Mac. One that doesn't encourage me to do serious stuff on the Mac.

[KevinH]

I never see that on either of my Macs. Was a problem sometimes with the older Tk widget library but not with PySide6 so far.

Are you by chance telling macOS to open new apps on another Desktop/Workspace? Or maybe utilizing the Desktop tiling features that MacOS supports (but I personally hate).

[DiapDealer]

Curious if something like this would help avoid losing the gui widget on some machines:

my_widget.setWindowFlags(QtCore.Qt.WindowStaysOnTopHint)

placed just before:

my_widget.show()

There's also:

my_widget.setWindowFlags(QtCore.Qt.Tool)

Even though it doesn't seem to happen everywhere all the time, I think this behavior might have something to do with widgets that have no parent.

[BeckyEbook]

I tried adding:

editor.setWindowFlags(QtCore.Qt.Tool)

and tested it on Windows.

Unfortunately, it introduced an unwanted side effect. If I click on the Sigil main window while the plugin window is open, the plugin window disappears and I have no way to bring it back. Since it is a Qt.Tool window, it doesn't have its own taskbar button, so it becomes effectively inaccessible until the plugin is restarted.

With the current implementation, the plugin window has its own taskbar button on Windows, so even if it gets hidden behind Sigil, it can easily be restored.

I'll also test the suggested change on macOS, since I understand the behavior there may be different.

-----

However, if I use

editor.setWindowFlags(QtCore.Qt.WindowStaysOnTopHint)

the plugin window remains above all other windows system-wide, even after switching to another application, which is also not the behavior I'm looking for.

[DiapDealer]

Agreed. Neither of those options would be an acceptable solution.

[philja]

Originally Posted by KevinH

I never see that on either of my Macs. Was a problem sometimes with the older Tk widget library but not with PySide6 so far.

Are you by chance telling macOS to open new apps on another Desktop/Workspace? Or maybe utilizing the Desktop tiling features that MacOS supports (but I personally hate).

Interesting that you don't have it. I've never consciously told macos to open new apps in another workspace, but it generally does that. And in general, I'm a fan of multiple workspaces, each with a single app (on Linux, & then more recently on Windows 10/11, and also on the Macbook).

What's more confusing on Mac is that 'Desktop' does not equal workspace. If I look at what's there at this moment (which is typical), Finder is open in what is labelled Desktop 1, Firefox is open on Desktop 2, and Desktop 3 is vacant. I can switch freely between them using Control + arrow keys L & R. So, looking at Firefox in Desktop 2, I decide to open Sigil. I click on Sigil in the Dock, and it opens in another workspace. When I press the F3 key, it shows Sigil sitting between Desktop 2 and Desktop 3 and simply named Sigil. It's in a complete window on its own with no Desktop name.

I now run an edit plugin, plugin runner opens on top of Sigil, and then, whoops, I'm diverted to Desktop 1 where the working window of the plugin is displayed.

I searched Apple Settings and don't see any mention of a tiling feature or a switch to launch new apps in another workspace.

I just put it all down to a mac peculiarity - probably not worth spending much time on.

[DiapDealer]

I don't want to completely junk up Becky's plugin thread with this particular issue, so I'll probably move this conversation into its own thread eventually. But I've found a couple suggestions that the user can try to fix this problem.

1. Change the Dock Settings (Most Common)

macOS remembers where applications are allowed to open. If your Python environment has been assigned to a specific Space, it will force a desktop switch every time you launch it.

1. Launch your plugin so its app icon appears in the macOS Dock.
2. Right-click (or two-finger tap) the app icon in the Dock.
3. Hover over Options.
4. Under the Assign To section, change the selection from This Desktop or Desktop on Display X to None.

2. Tweak System Space-Switching Behaviors

macOS has a feature that automatically whips you across desktops if it thinks a window is already active elsewhere. You can disable this overarching setting:

1. Open your Mac's System Settings.
2. Navigate to Desktop & Dock in the left sidebar.
3. Scroll down to the Mission Control section.
4. Toggle off the setting: "When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application".

This all came from google searching, so forgive me if the instructions don't actually match macOS's reality.

[philja]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I don't want to completely junk up Becky's plugin thread with this particular issue, so I'll probably move this conversation into its own thread eventually. But I've found a couple suggestions that the user can try to fix this problem.

1. Change the Dock Settings (Most Common)

macOS remembers where applications are allowed to open. If your Python environment has been assigned to a specific Space, it will force a desktop switch every time you launch it.

1. Launch your plugin so its app icon appears in the macOS Dock.
2. Right-click (or two-finger tap) the app icon in the Dock.
3. Hover over Options.
4. Under the Assign To section, change the selection from This Desktop or Desktop on Display X to None.

2. Tweak System Space-Switching Behaviors

macOS has a feature that automatically whips you across desktops if it thinks a window is already active elsewhere. You can disable this overarching setting:

1. Open your Mac's System Settings.
2. Navigate to Desktop & Dock in the left sidebar.
3. Scroll down to the Mission Control section.
4. Toggle off the setting: "When switching to an application, switch to a Space with open windows for the application".

This all came from google searching, so forgive me if the instructions don't actually match macOS's reality.

Sorry - I hadn't meant to hijack Becky's plugin thread.

As for your two suggestions:

1. When an edit plugin is running, a Python icon appears in the Dock. Its Options/Assign to Section setting was already at 'None'

2. Change the Dock settings - this was already the way it was in my MacBook

Thanks for your efforts, DiapDealer - and please feel free to zap this problem to another thread.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by philja

Sorry - I hadn't meant to hijack Becky's plugin thread.

No blame. We all sort of did it.

Originally Posted by philja

As for your two suggestions:

1. When an edit plugin is running, a Python icon appears in the Dock. Its Options/Assign to Section setting was already at 'None'

2. Change the Dock settings - this was already the way it was in my MacBook

Thanks for your efforts, DiapDealer - and please feel free to zap this problem to another thread.

Well that's all I had. Oh well.

[KevinH]

And I can simply not recreate this with any Qt6/PySide6 plugin on either of my MacOS machines.

So some questions:

1. Are you by chance using an external python interpreter for plugins and not the one bundled into Sigil on MacOS?

2. Are you using MacOS 26 Tahoe? Could this be yet another Tahoe related bug?

When I run the EditMetaInEpub3 plugin, its window nicely pops up on top of Sigil and I have do not have to track it down in any way. The python icon in the Task bar can be clicked on at any time to bring the plugin window to the front if it ever gets pushed behind somethign else.

As I said, I am just not seeing this at all and haven't since we moved to PySide6 plugins and away from Tk based plugins.

I will try hunt down why I am not seeing this and you are?

[KevinH]

And I have attached a screenshot of the settings for "Desktop & Dock" that I use.

I always disable "Stage Manager", and turn off all ways to forcibly tile the windows.
And you can see those and my other settings in the screen shot that is attached.

I am a firm believer that the user putting app windows where he/she wants them and nothing should move or resize them. But that is me.

My guess is you have different settings under the "Mission Control" part of that Settings screen or something else.

You might want to also check your Accessibility settings as many Mac utilities can control desktop assignment and tiling.

Hope something here helps.