At 17:21 18/02/2008 +0100, Tom Ekeberg wrote:
Switching between program windows using Alt+Tab is common in Windows
and Linux. Selecting the File menu by pressing the Alt key too.
However, if I use Alt+Tab to switch to a OOo window, the File menu
is selected as if the OOo window had been active and I had pressed
only the Alt key, and I have to press Esc to bring focus back to
wherever the cursor is. It happens almost all the time, but not
entirely all the time. This is really annoying, particularly if I
don't notice and start writing by pressing a key that drops down one
of the menus (F for File, E for Edit, V for View etc).
* I use OOo 2.3.1, but I've had the same problem over several versions.
* I use Linux (several distributions) and Windows XP, the problem is
the same in all.
* I have the same problem on my desktop computer and my laptop, the
problem is the same irrespective of hardware.
* I have never experienced the same problem in any other program, ever.
Is this just a bug that has never been fixed, or is there some
setting I can use to fix it myself?
This is interesting!
I don't find (on my 2.3.1 for Windows XP) quite what you
suggest. Pressing Alt by itself does not select the File menu;
instead, *releasing* the Alt key after pressing it does
this. (Strictly, I suppose we should say that this selects the menu
bar, since the File menu itself doesn't actually drop down.) And if
I then press Tab whilst holding down Alt, I've left the original
window by the time I release the Alt key, so the situation you
describe doesn't arise. I can only conclude, then, that you are
perhaps tapping Alt twice, or at least that your system thinks that
you are. Is it possible that your system is insufficiently protected
against keyboard contact bounce? Or are you perhaps pressing Alt and
Tab together, rather than first pressing and holding down Alt and
then pressing Tab as well? I imagine not.
As a workaround, there is an easier way than pressing Esc to return
focus into your document: you can press (and release) Alt again. In
the circumstances, this may be easier than using Esc. But it doesn't
avoid the problem, of course.
But I have discovered how OpenOffice differs from other applications
and therefore why you see the problem only with it. If you press Alt
and then release it in other applications, you select the menu bar
just as you say. But if you then press Alt again, this selection is
cancelled. If you continue by using the Alt+Tab technique, then, the
menu bar will not be selected when you return to the original
application. But OpenOffice does indeed work differently. In order
to use the Alt key to cancel the menu bar selection, you need to
press *and release* the Alt key. So if - with the menu bar selected
from a first press of Alt - you press Alt for a second time but then
press Tab as well (to use the Alt+Tab technique), you will indeed
leave OpenOffice with its menu bar selected, and will find it
reliably in this state when you return to it later.
Is this a bug? That's a matter of opinion. But it's certainly a difference.
I trust this helps.
Brian Barker
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