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QAP loose "keyboard focus"
- QAP loose "keyboard focus"
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QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-08 07:53
Hi!
This is not an error as such (I think), but something I mentioned in another post a while back.
Sometimes QAP looses "keyboard focus".
That is, if I trigger QAP, the keyboard doesn't work and f.ex. arrow keys acts on the application window in the background, not on the QAP menu in the foreground.
As far as I know this is possibly triggered by an application, I have a couple on my suspect list, but it does not happen all the time so it is a pain the backside to troubleshoot.
When this happen QAP looses focus forever. The only way to get the keyboard working is to close and restart QAP.
This is starting to get annoying since I get this across several machines.
So, I wonder, is it possible to get QAP to forcefully grab the keyboard upon activation, either as an option in the settings or as a permanent feature?
Cheers,
joeNOR -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-05-08 08:45
Hi Joe,
This never happened to me. I usually use the QAP menu with the mouse. Anybody else ever faced this issue?
> When this happen QAP looses focus forever. The only way to get the keyboard working is to close and restart QAP.
Is the mouse still able to select an item in the menu? If yes, this does not restore the capability to control it with the keyboard?
> So, I wonder, is it possible to get QAP to forcefully grab the keyboard upon activation, either as an option in the settings or as a permanent feature?
After it is built and displayed by QAP, the menu becomes fully under Windows control until an item is selected in the menu. I don't know an option or command that would help avoiding this issue.
Jean
Jean
Do you mean -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-08 08:57
Yeah, the mouse always works.
But, as you know, I prefer the keyboard
I wouldn't post this if it was just one machine, but as you know, I'm kind of a heavy QAP user.
This problem has reared it's ugly head on several different machines with very different configurations.
F.ex.
Three of my standalone machines
One of my lab machines, running in an Active Directory domain
One of my "office rat" work machines, this is a box in an Azure Domain, fully managed by Azure and Intune (and my team), and I don't even have admin privilege's. It is fully locked down.
So, they are nothing alike.
Hence my question/cry for help!
Cheers, Joe
EDIT: And, no, clicking with the mouse does not fix it. The next time I activate QAP the keyboard is still gone. The only way to get this working again is to restart QAP....until the error triggers again. -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-05-08 10:01
If it is the same issue, this would be an old issue. See this post on AHK forum. I will test this fix in a beta release and let you know. -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-08 10:08
Weeell... I know nothing about AHK and that developer/coding stuff you coder dudes do....
But, if You fix this, I will roll you in gold and put you on a plinth in Ottawa!
This problem is a really big pain in the a%&....
Cheers,
Joe -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-05-11 15:43
As reference, this is your older post on the same issue:
https://forum.quickaccesspopup.com/showt...p?tid=1369
I will start investigating this shortly and make a beta release to test any solution. Subscribe to the Beta users forum to be alerted when there is a new beta release. -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-15 13:11
Some additional info.
It is the "main" QAP window that loose focus (I activate it by double tapping CTRL).
I also have a fast-menu, where I keep the most used items. This menu is activated with CTRL-Win-X, and the keyboard works fine there, even if the main window don't react.
Cheers,
Joe -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-05-15 15:44
Oh! I thought it was the popup menu that was loosing focus. I'll take this in consideration in my investigations on this, starting shortly. -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-05-16 10:05
> It is the "main" QAP window that loose focus (I activate it by double tapping CTRL).
Let me clarify this again. When you said "the "main" QAP window" in your previous post, I associated this to the QAP "Customize" window (where you edit your favorites). But if it is what you open with the double Ctrl keypress, this must be the QAP menu itself.
To help in our troubleshooting, to me "QAP window" refers to the "Customize" window or one of its dialog boxes. And to me, when this is about the menu" where you launch favorites, etc., I call it the "QAP popup menu" or "QAP menu". -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-16 15:13
Ok, to avoid any confusion that I may have created!
It is the "QAP popup menu", arrow keys, ESC to close, letters to jump to items etc does not work, the keypresses acts on any application window in the background.
Example 1: I am reading a web page, then double taps CTRL, the "QAP popup menu".... pops up. if I then f.ex. use up or down arrow to (try to) move around in the menu, the web page in the background scrolls up and down.
ESC does not work or close the "QAP popup menu" and I can't use any letters to jump to items in the menu.
To close the "QAP popup menu" I have to click on an item in the menu.
Example 2: While I have this problem, using a hotkey-combo to launch a (shared) submenu works and the keyboard works as expected, that is, arrow keys, letters and ESC acts on that submenu. I use CTRL-Win-X to launch the submenu.
(This is done with the "QAP popup menu" hidden/closed/gone/not displayed on screen).
I hope this clarifies any confusion created by yours truly, and btw, the problem posted by darkstream55 seems very similar/the same.
Cheers,
joeNOR
PS! The web browser in example 1 is just an example application. The keyboard works on any application in the background. -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-20 00:38
Some more additional information on this headscratcher!
I did a test/the following:
1. Double tap CTRL to bring up the "QAP popup menu", the keyboard is not working so I click an item to close it.
2. I then bring up the "QAP popup menu" with QAPmessenger (ShowMenuLaunch), and the keyboard works as expected.
3. Tried CTRL double tap again, and now the keyboard works as expected.
So, I'm kinda confused atm!
Regards,
joeNOR -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-05-20 06:52
Thanks for the additional info. Hard to tell what is happening because is it not strictly speaking QAP doing something or not. It is Windows or a background application stealing the keyboard focus to QAP.
Could you try temporarily to disable the Double tap Ctrl option and use another keyboard shortcut to open the menu?
Jean -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-20 22:09
Hi!
1. I disabled CTRL dbl tap, and assigned CTRL-WIN-A. Same problem, keyboard not working in the "QAP popup menu".
2. This problem is now very close to 100% whenever I reboot a machine and logs in (QAP is set to Run at Startup).
3. As a workaround I have a favorite that calls QAPmessenger ShowMenuLaunch. This solves the problem (until next reboot)
Regards,
joeNOR -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-21 08:55
Another little set of observations.
I never have this problem on the Server Core machines.
So, atm I am convinced this is a Win GUI/AutoHotkey problem. Emphasis on AutoHotkey.
It is the scripting language/compiler that bugs out with regards to the Win GUI and keyboard, especially during logon.
Both in my personal lab and at work I/we literally have hundreds of combinations of Win GUI/application interactions.
Everything from C#, Java Swing et al (phat clients) to highly tuned web applications running on clients (Win 10 PCs) to Windows Servers with and without Citrix Desktop.
Never ever seen this kind of problem before.
This is not a Windows problem, this is a AHK problem. (Feel free to argue that point )
Regards,
joeNOR -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-05-21 10:24
This can make sense. There is no recent posts on the AHK forum about this issue however. I'll report the issue on it soon.
For now, I released the beta version v11.3.0.9.1 where I tried an old solution to a similar issue (see the old forum post I referred to earlier). It is to move the mouse pointer over the menu when the menu is triggered by a keyboard shortcut (including Ctrl+Ctrl). This was reported as keeping the keyboard focus on the menu. As I cannot reproduce this issue, I cannot say if it this solution still works. At this stage, all I can do is ask you to run it and see...
You can download this beta release here:
https://forum.quickaccesspopup.com/showt...p?tid=1562
Thanks for your help on this. -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-21 10:43
Thanks Jean, you are the man, but I can't promise I'll test this immediately! Too much work stuff going on.
Too many machines running QAP and I don't upgrade until there is a reason to do so, stability is the key.
That is why I'm still running 11.2 on all 16 of them, at this point in time, probably gonna go up to 20 when I get the time to upgrade my test environment.
I can debug it if you want.
Time permitting, and you sending over the source code for the latest version, but as I said, pretty sure this is not a QAP problem.
This is AHK fcuking things up.
Your call.
Cheers,
joe -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-05-21 12:23
> I can't promise I'll test this immediately! Too much work stuff going on.
No problem. When you have time to test it at least on one of your machines, let me know.
Thanks,
Jean -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-22 03:18
I just now installed the beta on one of the machines where this happens after each reboot/logon.
And, it seems to be fixed, a bit early to tell, so I'll install the beta on some more machines in the next couple of days.
So far, so good.
Cheers,
joeNOR -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-05-22 09:12
Yes, good news, so far.
Question: in "Options, Popup Menu", what is your selection for the first section "Popup the menu:" ? -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-22 09:19
"Near the mouse pointer"
The setting "Attach all dynamic menus to QAP main menu" is selected.
-jN -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-05-23 08:45
A short update.
Installed the beta on another PC with the same problem.
1. Triggered "QAP popup menu" with ctrl dbl tap after a reboot/logon. The keyboard was not working.
2. Closed the menu by clicking on a (text) item.
3. Tried again (ctrl dbl tap), and now the keyboard works.
So, although the problem seems to be still there it's much more manageable with the fix in the beta.
Ok by me, I don't reboot my machines that often anyway!
Cheers,
jN -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-05-23 09:08
Thanks for the update, Joe.
Jean -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-05-25 10:44
The changes regarding the menu keyboard focus issue that you tested in the beta release are now included in v11.3.0.1 released today.
https://forum.quickaccesspopup.com/showt...p?tid=1577 -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
Jean Lalonde > 2021-07-29 15:52
Hi Joe,
It seems that the change I did in v11.3.0.1 had a side effect...
Change: try to mitigate the "menu keyboard focus issue" (probably caused by Windows) by moving the mouse pointer at the menu position when the menu is open with a keyboard shortcut
Side effect: sometimes cause the error message "201 hotkeys have been received in the last 0ms"
This error does not occur in v11.3 and the only change in v11.3.0.1 that could explain this side effect is the one related to the issue you were facing.
In order to investigate this issue, I added an option in beta release v11.3.0.9.6 that determines if the mouse move is done or not when the menu is open using a keyboard hotkey. For now (until we have a verified solution), this option has to be inserted in the quickaccesspopup.ini file in your QAP Settings folder. Under the [Global] section, enter:
MovePointerAfterHotkeyKeyboard=1
This will execute the mouse move when the menu is open with the keyboard hotkey as in v11.3.0.1. If the value is absent or is 0, QAP will behave as in v11.3 and before (not moving the mouse pointer).
Also, I will try other changes with the user who reported the "201 hotkeys" issue by email.
Please, if you have time, let me know if you can install v11.3.0.9.6, add the MovePointerAfterHotkeyKeyboard=1 option in the quickaccesspopup.ini file and if you the "lost focus" issue is still gone.
Thanks,
Jean -
RE: QAP loose "keyboard focus"
joeNOR > 2021-07-29 16:20
Cheers!
Of course, I'll look into it.
Give me a couple of.... or three or four days, currently on vacation, I'll dig into it when I'm back at my lab!
-joe