Re: Octave plot window input focus

[Ben Abbott]

On Jan 31, 2010, at 1:26 AM, Michael D Godfrey wrote:

> I was checking on matlab behavior and noticed that
> when a command that creates a plot window is
> executed:
> 
> In matlab, the plot window has focus, but keyboard input goes
> to the command window without having to switch focus.
> 
> In Octave, the plot window has focus, but keyboard input
> does not go to the command window.  Focus has to be switched
> to the command window for input.
> 
> This has been true, at least on X11  Linux systems for many years.
> But, it has always seemed to me that it would be much better if
> input focus stayed with the command window.
> 
> Do people agree that this change would be a good idea (not
> just for matlab compatibility)?  And, if so, any ideas where to look in the
> Octave code to implement the change?
> 
> There are two possible changes:
> 
> 1. Do just like matlab.
> 
> 2. Keep focus with the command window so that it is more obvious that
>    the window will accept keyboard input.
> 
> Michael

There are times when matlab's plot window does have focus. For example, when 
typing into a uicontrol box.

On MacOS X, the differences I see between octave and matlab are;

(a) When matlab's plot window appears to visibly have focus, keyboard input 
switches to the focus to the command window and places the command window over 
the plot window (except in the uicontrol case).

(b) When a change is made to the plot windows objects (change in axes scaling 
for example) Octave's plot window is updated and drawn over the command window. 
For Matlab, keyboard input elevates the command windows over the plot window. 
Thus the effect of subsequent plot commands may not be visible.

(c) Mouse-clicking of an octave plot window switches focus to it. In the case 
of the gnuplot backend, that allow for mouse and keyboard actions. For matlab 
keyboard input always goes to the command window (except for uicontrols).

For gnuplot backend, maintaining mouse and keyboard actions may mean not 
changing anything (?).

When typing commands into command window I prefer having the plot window 
continue to float over the command window. If it did not. things like "rundemos 
plot" would be a pain since each demo plot may need to be accompanied by a 
mouse click to make the plot window visible (as it may be hidden behind my 
command window).

Ben