Active program loses focus

Hello. I've been playing with a Mac recently. I'm new to Mac, but I've years of Linux experience (so don't feel uneasy about having me muck about in the Terminal with vim). I noticed that on this machine the desktop refreshes very slowly, and when it does the active application changes to Finder.
The program on-screen doesn't change, but it loses focus. So if my browser is the active application, it loses focus, but its still on-screen and no application appears "over" it. The Finder toolbar also appears in the toolbar across the top of the screen (replacing the toolbar of the app which had focus immediately previous).
This slow refresh and change of active application takes place about every 90 seconds.
The only change which I know that happened to the machine was the installation of DivX and Xvid (both from the official homepages). Both have been uninstalled since then. The DivX version was causing unhandled exceptions in Toast 8 Titanium upon launch anyway.

Hi Adrian, and a warm welcome to the forums!
Thank you.
One way to test is to Safe Boot from the HD, (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, Test for action in Safe Mode...
I note when I boot this way there seems to be no visual indication that I've done a Safe Boot. Is this to be expected? It seems I have the same issue in Safe Boot mode also.
I checked the startup items you mentioned, the timestamps on each of the files in those 3 directories are all 2005 - 2008. This problem has only cropped up in the last 24 hours though.
I note that when Finder becomes the active program that top show `crashdump` is topping the list.
I'm currently grepping my home directory for "crashdump". (although I suspect its likely its being run as a side effect). Next step, the logs and the man pages I guess.

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Aperture loses focus, even in other programs

I developed a new problem over the past week or so. I'll be typing along in any program when it suddenly loses focus. I can click to re-establish but, once it starts. it happens every 10-15 seconds. I think I've isolated the issue to Aperture. Once I quit Aperture, the problem seems to stop. When I'm using Aperture, it's begun acting strangely: multiple clicks required to select photos, shift-click to get a range doesn't always work, right-click menus pop up then disappear or don't contain all items expected (e.g., Export only shows "Project as new library" as a sub).
I'm up to date on Yosemite (10.10.1) and Aperture (3.6 500021000000000.3 RAW 6.02/Build 768.6), and I'm struggling to key the start of this phenomenon to any particular update (assuming Aperture is winding down and Photos will come soon?) I haven't tried to reinstall Aperture, although I did have a repair situation a couple of weeks ago when I had a white screen of death in OS X.
Has anyone experienced this? Any suggestions beyond repair/rebuild? I've been exporting originals for a while with the expectation of changes ahead and will continue with that as best I can...

So, I had some time (and accumulated frustration) to check on this further, with no positive results.
I thought I might need to repair or rebuild my Aperture database. I tried following the instructions in the Help file (Control-Command-Click on Aperture database in Finder) but that did not yield the dialog to repair/rebuild, just launched Aperture.
I used Activity Monitor to try to see what was running, and I seem to get a process called "ReportCrash" that cycles into the CPU use column every time the focus changes. But, I haven't gotten the typical "Program has crashed. Do you want to send a report?" dialog. It happens every 3-10 seconds, and only happens when Aperture is open. I haven't tried reinstalling Aperture yet because I haven't had a chance to dig out installation disk stuff.
I may try to cross-post this to a Yosemite forum to see if it's just coincidence that it happens when Aperture is running.
Maybe it's just life telling me to ante up for LightRoom...

After recent update to ff 10 my ff loses focus when opening non-active window. ALready tried everything. Any sugestions?

After update to ff10 widnows lose focus when migrating to a different window. tried all possible options and still the same even after recent update to 11. Any suggestions?

After update to ff10 widnows lose focus when migrating to a different window. tried all possible options and still the same even after recent update to 11. Any suggestions?

While Printing using Print Button on Crysal Report Loses focus.

Hi all,
I am using CR XI along with VS2003 for developing my application.
My application uses a Treeview to list all the available reports, once user select one of the report. I am using another dll, which contain all the rpt files as Embedded Resource, for showing the report in Crystal report viewer.
Once report get loaded, I am using Print Button from Crystal report viewer to print the report.
report get printed properly..
However a strange behavior occurring, Form with Crystal report viewer control placed loses focus and immediate below window coming into focus (some other opened window get activated and bring to front and hiding my application).
Any suggestion would be appreciated.
Thank you
Riju K K

Hi Brian,
Thanks for you are reply.
I think I am not creating a separate process,
From my application, I am creating an instance of form (which is in another DLL) which is hosting Crystal report viewer.
If click "Print" button on the Crystal report viewer, I am getting a Printer selection form.
If I cancel from there ,my Crystal report viewer form get focus back.
If select a printer and click "OK". my Crystal report viewer form lost focus and some of the other window opened (word, ie, etc) before get focus.
My assumption is Crystal Report viewer's "Print" button may be using a separate thread for Printing.
that may creating this focus issue.
what you think?

JS CS3: ScriptUI - window and panel loses focus on Mac

Hi,
Have made a script to export selected textframes as text files.
When the script runs on a PC the script window stays in front of the document as intended.
Much to my surprise this is not the case on Mac, On Mac the script loses focus and goes behind the document.
Is this a bug or is there a workaround?
Using the folowing to create/start the UI.
var win = new Window( "window", "Text Exporter" );
win.myPanel = win.add("panel");
with(win){
win.Pnl = add('panel', undefined, 'Textframes for export');
win.Pnl.orientation = 'column';

Something is wrong.
That's not the behavior that I see using palettes.
The only way I can get a palette to become inactive is by switching to
a different document window. Even when it becomes inactive (greyed
out), it does not require extra clicks...
If you want to activate it programatically, it's win.active = true.
Harbs

When does a selection in a text field in a Finder window lose focus?

Hello,
this problem has emerged on account of an Applescript file that needs to access a text selection (portion of a filename highlighted) in an open Finder window.
The bare minimum code to demonstrate the problem is this:
*tell application "System Events"*
* *tell process "Finder"*
* *set selText to value of attribute "AXSelectedText" of text field 1*
* *end tell*
*end tell*
other variants also exist, using "keystroke" but that does not work either. I am not asking help with Applescript here, it is here only to give a sense of the problem.
My conclusion thus far is that the selection lose focus before the script process can access it. In the best case I get the full filename by using "attribute" and copy of the alias onto the clipboard by using "keystroke".
So my problem is this:
It seems that the focus stays alive when one clicks on a menubar item, any click on any other item on the desktop, including windows of irrelevant applications, changes the focus from the selection within the text field corresponding to a filename, to the filename itself.
And my question is this:
Is there a changeable setting within the OS that has to do with how long the focus stays alive on a selection within a text field corresponding to a filename? If yes, how do I change it?
Thanks

baltwo wrote:
Thanks for clarifying. Never heard it called a text field, just a label. So, exactly what are you trying to accomplish? Is it that you want AS to select the file, highlight its label so you can edit/change it with some other text? If so, have you checked out the Finder scripts installed on the machine, especially the Finder script *Add to Finder Names*?
UI Element Inspector calls the activated/editable filename a text field.
Actually I want to modify one of the stock Finder scripts. I want to be able to select part of the file name in the active text field of the Finder window, then activate the script, *have the script pick up the selection* as a text string then use it internally.
The bolded step is the one in question.
Every attempt fails on the fact that the focus is lost from the "text field" and it reverts to the label for the filename, if I may use this distinction, (or to "FinderItem" in the parlance of UIEI) as soon as another process begins, it seems. So when the script becomes active, but before any of the commands is executed, the selection disappears.
My guess is that it is not some absolute necessity but a setting that perhaps can be changed somehow.

I need to execute a formatted search when the field loses focus

Is this even possible? I do NOT want to force the users to press shift-f2 every time to validate/search on every field on the form. This is absurd. How can I trigger a formatted search on a field when it loses focus?
I tried activating menu item #7425, but it's not executing the one on the field that loses focus, but a different one. I guess it only works on the active field??
I tried catching an earlier event, but after it executes the formatted search on the right field, it places the value on whatever field just gained focus instead of the one it was assigned to.
Any ideas here? We cannot force our users to press shift-f2 on all these fields!
The only other idea I have is to not use a formatted search but instead try to create some sort of popup form with a grid and my own query. There has to be an easier way, right?

Bryan:
I use the following on a KeyDown event for when the User tabs out of a field after entering data if the data they entered is not valid. Perhaps you could try this in the LostFocus event:
g_B1Connection.Application.SendKeys("+")
Also, I have used this in the KeyDown event:
DisplayLookup("txtWO0")
Private Sub DisplayLookup(ByVal objText As String)
        Try
            WOItem = WOForm.Items.Item(objText)
            WOItem.Click(SAPbouiCOM.BoCellClickType.ct_Regular)
            g_B1Connection.Application.SendKeys("+")
        Catch ex As Exception
            g_B1Connection.Application.MessageBox(ex.Message, "Ok", 1)
        End Try
    End Sub
Thanks,
EJD

How to catch tablecontrol lose focus

When I using table cotnrol , how the program or application will know one table control is lose focus?
Best regards,

Hi,
Use SET CURSOR and GET CURSOR
For Further Info please go through the KEY word documentaion
Hope this will help you
Regards
Ramchander Rao.K

Frontmost app's Main window loses focus randomly

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I keep seeing these in the logs when it happens. It is obnoxious to be in an app and then hear the error noise because the app I am currently working in loses focus for the window I was working with. For example in Mail, I can be working and the window will lose focus so keyboard shortcuts stop working.

I am having the same problem, and here is what I have figured out so far;
I installed a stopwatch application so I can time it, and it is happening exactly every 5 minutes. Moving the mouse, changing the foremost app, activating the screensaver, or anything else I have tried doesn't interrupt the timer. It will still happen exactly every 5 minutes.
I am currently looking in the console logs trying to find anything that is going off every 5 minutes.
It happens even while typing suddenly I will get beeping because the top window I am typing on loses focus. The application name in the menu bar does remain the same as the current application, so another application doesn't seem to be coming forward, just the top window goes inactive.
If anyone else is working on this issue and wants to see if their problem is exactly 5 minutes also, you can install the stopwatch application here; http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/42353/timi
I will update here is I figure out which application is causing this problem.
The answer shouldn't be "reinstall your OS" for every little problem as Apple always says.
Hopefully we can figure this out without having to resort to such a drastic measure.

Webdynpro always in front of all active programs.

Hi all,
I need urgent help. I have customer who wants to have a webdypro which is always on top of the active program. The customer wants a webdynpro for time recording. In this webdynpro the customer want a time clock. When this time clock is activated by the user the webdynpro must by visible any time.
Has someone an idea how build this solution!
Richard Middelburg

If you're using the portal, you could create a page containing the webdynpro iview together with perhaps an KM-iview containing javascript.
Create a html page with javascript from here:
http://www.eggheadcafe.com/index/JavaScript_onblur_778ca24b-b584-47d7-9677-4fe0054eeb48.asp
(simply call self.focus() with setInterval)
If you can't use portal pages, you could add custom javascript to a webdynpro either with iFrame to an existing html page, or programaticly described in this thread:
JavaScript in WD
Adding custom javascript to your webdynpro isn't what SAP had in mind, so it might not be supported in the future.

Acrobat XI Loses Focus OSX8.2

I've noticed whether just opening a PDF or Editting a PDF That Acrobat loses focus and I have to use Command (⌘) -Tab to view which application is active. Turns out, the Finder is active.
When I click the Button for Acrobat Then I can continue.
Actobat is the only application that exhibits this.
I've already un installed and re-installed Acrobat.
System:
MacBook Pro
2.8 Ghz intel i7 Processor
8 GB DDR3 System RAM
500 GB Harddrive about 240 empty.
Any other Complaints similar?
Any suggestion is what to do to fix?

Hi Phillip,
I haven't seen this behavior myself. Have you installed 11.0.01? Has it made a difference for you?
-David

Password dialog box loses focus

I know this happens on my iMac Lion 10.7.4. I think I saw this recently on my MBA with MtLn. I do something that requires admin priviledges such as start a program install and a login dialog box pops up as it always has so I can log in as an administrator for the higher privilege. If I don't immediately start typing the password (wait even a few seconds) and the focus is lost by the dialog box. If I do a keystroke, I get a sound you hear if the keystroke has no place to go -- the focus has not been set to any window receptive to keystrokes.
However, if I beat that time out, or more usually, click the mouse on the text entry field and immediately type the first character of the password, it isregistered with the dot echo and the focus remains on that field while I enter the rest of the password. The only pointing devices attached to my system are the Apple Magic mouse and Apple Magic trackpad. Both are attached by Bluetooth.
Any ideas?

This was happening to my parents' computer too. Each time the admin password was required, the dialogue box would lose focus in less than a second. You had to time your keystrokes very quickly.
I reviewed in Console what was running and found that their dictation software (Dragon Naturaly Speaking Express) was the culprit. When I turned it off, the problem never returned. So perhaps it's along the same lines for you: that some service such as dictation software is causing this issue
Run your console log and place yourself in the very situation where it would normally occur and see what comes up in the logs. For me it was com.dragon.express.
Oh, and to let you know, they, too, have a mighty mouse connected by USB and a magic mouse (by Bluetooth) and these were not the problem.
Good luck! and Happy Holidays

Bug? InDesign CC/CC2014 loses focus when closing ScriptUI dialog window

When closing a "dialog" type window, created using ScriptUI from Extendscript, InDesign will lose focus as "active application" in Windows (7/8) and instead switch to another application in Windows altogether. This behavior does not occur on previous versions of InDesign (CS6 and earlier). I can easily reproduce the problem at my company on various machines (both on Windows 7 and Windows 8). The Mac OS version of InDesign does not seem to have this problem. Also, the problem does not seem to occur when using "palette" or "window" type ScriptUI windows.

That's in itself an interesting observation, but I have the focus problem
also with scripts that don't use ScriptUI at all.
Peter
On Mon, 13 Oct 2014 08:38:27 +0100, DirkEBM <[email protected]>

Firefox 3.6.8 does not recognize subsequent mouseclicks - window loses focus

After updating to firefox 3.6.8 on my macbook pro (OS X 10.4.11) Firefox fails to recognize subsequent mouse clicks. You can access the page initially, but then it seems to lose focus and become unresponsive to mouse clicks until you do something to break the cycle (clicking on desktop, minimizing and resizing window, etc). I reinstalled Adobe Flash update using full installer, since others have suggested that as a possible cause, but no joy. The browser window still does not recognize mouseclicks after an initially successful page load. You can tab to the next window (for example, if you want to enter something in search) but you cannot CLICK to enter the search window, nor can you click on links on the page, etc. It is totally unresponsive.
== This happened ==
Every time Firefox opened
== I updated Firefox to the version just before 3.6.8 -- then I updated to 3.6.8 to see if that fixed it -- it's still broken

This started happening to me yesterday. All plugins are disabled, didn't help. All plugins uninstalled, didn't help. Downgraded to SP3, didn't help. I've also noticed this happen in Thunderbird, though it seems OK now.
Sadly I've had to start using IE8 :(

Using web.show_document the first time makes new browser window lose focus

Hi,
In our application we use show_document(url, '_blank') to open our reports (as pdf) in a new window.
Our environment is Application Server 10g Release 2 with Forms 10g Release 2 and jinitiator 1.3.1.22.
The first time I call a report, the new browser window containing the pdf is shown but loses focus after about 1 second. The focus is then returned to the applet window. When calling a report again it always keeps the focus.
After closing the applet window and restarting the application, the same thing happens: first report called loses focus, all others keep the focus.
Does anyone have any idea why this is happening? We want the focus to stay on the new browser window every time...

Hi Jeroen,
I m also facing a problem something similar to yours. If you got any solution please let me know.
Problem-
Currently my application is running on Forms 9.0.4.2 and my form calls another third party which displays the image in image viewer in new browser. When user clicks on the button to display image, then I m using the following Code -
-- Method: displayDocuments ([Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/String;
FUNCTION displayDocuments(
obj ORA_JAVA.JOBJECT,
a0 ORA_JAVA.JARRAY) RETURN VARCHAR2 IS
BEGIN
args := JNI.CREATE_ARG_LIST(1);
JNI.ADD_OBJECT_ARG(args, a0, '[Ljava/lang/String;');
RETURN JNI.CALL_STRING_METHOD(FALSE, obj, 'com/hli/imaging/adapter/LK_FormsImagingAdapter', 'displayDocuments', '([Ljava/lang/String;)Ljava/lang/String;', args);
END;
Image is displaying fine but the focus is staying on the newly opened browser. I want it to get back the focus to the forms window.Is this possible ???
Thanks in advance
Sai

Active program loses focus

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