Combobox focus issue

Desktop & Console
1

Xojo 2020r2.1
Desktop project
MacOS Catalina

I am calling me.setFocus from within the the lostFocus event of a combo box. Interesting result. The focus indeed shifts back to the comboBox but the cursor is absent until I click the control. When I try typing, despite the absent cursor, nothing appears until I click the form, anywhere will do, and then the characters that were typed make an appearance. The point of this is to accommodate data entry by a touch typist.

Is this a bug, am I misunderstanding, do I expect too much?

Anyone know of a workaround?

//ComboBox
Sub LostFocus() Handles LostFocus
  // refresh existing customer record
  If Data.dbIsNameKey(name) Then
    RefreshCustomer
    Return
  End If
  
  //customer name alias does not exist
  Var dlg As New MessageDialog, result As MessageDialogButton  
  if NewCustomerDialog(name, dlg) = dlg.CancelButton Then
    Me.SetFocus
    Return
  End If

  //create new alias  
End Sub
2

Probably related to the MessageDialog removing focus from the entire window. Even though focus eventually goes back to the window after the dialog is dismissed, not sure that has happened yet at this point in your code.

You could comment out the dialog part to verify whether it works (soon as you tab or click off it should go right back).

You might could also try using a fully qualified name (window + control) instead of Me for the SetFocus call. (the point being referencing the window directly may shift the focus immediately)

3

hmmmmm …
I’d thought the same as @jmadren that some how the message dialog was messing things up

But in a quick test I’m not seeing that here
I have a textfield and combobox on a layout in 202r2.1 on Catalina
Combobox1.lostfocus is the ONLY event implmeneted

//customer name alias does not exist
Var dlg As New MessageDialog
Var result As MessageDialogButton  
dlg.CancelButton.Visible = True

result = dlg.ShowModal
If result = dlg.CancelButton Then
  Me.SetFocus
  Return
End If

if I run and tab into then out of the combobox

  • the combo loses focus
  • the msgdialog shows
  • if I press cancel focus returns to the combobox and I can type immediately

so something else may be responsible for what you’re seeing

4

Given this fact, other things to ask/investigate (for the OP) are:

  • Do you have anything in the GotFocus event?
  • What type of window is this on?
  • Is it in a conainercontrol?
  • Does the issue always occur whether you tab off the combobox or you just click elsewhere in the window?
  • Is there another open window that might be interfering?
  • Does it still occur if you place a combobox with just this event on a new window?
5

What kind of control is the very first control in the tab order
A xojo control or one from a plugin ?
There was a bug where layouts with a control from a plugin couldn’t be first in the tab order

6

As far as I can remember, using SetFocus in the LostFocus event of a control doesn’t usually work. I’m surprised you’re getting a visual indication of focus, I would say the control doesn’t have focus if there’s no cursor and typing doesn’t do anything.

Try offloading the SetFocus from the LostFocus event stack using a Timer (0ms will do, it just needs to not be in the LostFocus event stack).

7

This is a good idea

8

Thanks everyone. I took another look this morning.

I suspect the issue is something to do with this bit of input validation. Forgot it was there to be honest.

Function KeyDown(Key As String) Handles KeyDown as Boolean
  Const validKeys As String = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789_#"
  
  //accept control characters used to edit field
  If (Asc(key) < 32) Or (Asc(key) = 127) Then
    Return False
  End If
  
  Return (validKeys.IndexOf(key.Uppercase) < 0)
End Function

I say ‘suspect’ because yesterday I was in the office using Catalina and this morning I am at home using Monterey and can not reproduce the issue. I spent an hour on it yesterday so I’m definitely not imagining it.

I’m now wondering whether the odd behaviour is down to something in system preferences or a Catalina peculiarity. Anyhow the feature is not so important that I need to get bogged down by it. If it occurs in production they will just have to live with a mouse click.

Thanks again. I had forgotten how useful it can be to write your problem down and have others throw their oar in. [Without the pack descending to defend the indefensible by attacking the question.] Keep up the good work.

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