Losing focus of front window?

When you hide safari (version 2.0 in conjunction with 10.4) and then return, the front window is not the one you left it with.
The front window becomes the first window you opened, with the focus remaining on the old front window.
For example, if you have two windows open (apple.com and bbc.co.uk respectively), hide safari and return, apple.com will be the front window (hiding the other), but when you hit apple-R, the 'back window' (bbc) will refresh.
Can you fix this - it's really bugging me.

Hi Ric,
Despite toby's first post here I can confirm his problem because I have exactly the same problem. And I think there are other people effected by this Focus problem also assuming Toby and I are not the only ones.
The problem is Exactly as Toby describes in his post. The focused window disappears behind another window, when two or more windows are open, when you return to Safari after a command H to hide the program.
The focus is still on the same window (which was at the front) when leaving Safari (noticed by the red yellow and green focus buttons top left) BUT the window has moved to the back of the stack, leaving you with a different (unfocused, hence the grey dots) window when you return after a hide command.
This is extremely annoying and is definitely something having to do with either Tiger (10.4.2/1) or the new Safari because under Panther and Safari 1.3 this problem was not there...
So help to this bug would be appreciated and passing this bug along to the Safari dev team would also help (I think).
Thanks .

Similar Messages

Window losing focus

Hi all,
I was wondering if it were at all possible for a JFrame or JWindow to listen for an event when the window is about to lose focus - ie it is losing focus (as opposed to lost focus).
WindowEvent and the subsequent WindowFocusListener interface only caters for handling a window having already lost or gained focus, however I need to make things happen before the window actually loses its focus.
Can anyone help?
Regards,
Andrew.

Hi Andrew,
I don't know a possibility to get an event like you want to have - and I do think such an eevnt does not exist.
But I do think you really wouldn't need such a possibility. Perhaps you can give a short explanation why you need this possibility. If the problem is to regain the focus there is a post from me a few minutes ago (I'm sorry about not knowing how to reference to other posts but I hope since years I will learn such things). If you have other problems please explain the problem - perhaps there is another way of solving it.
HTH and greetings from
Holger

JTable custom cell editor losing focus

This is a followup to Re: Tutorial on AWT/Swing control flow wherein I ask for pointers to help me understand the source of focus-loss behaviour in my JTable's custom cell editor.
I have done some more investigations and it turns out that the focus loss is a more general problem with custom cell editors which call other windows. Even the color-picker demo in the JTable tutorial at http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/uiswing/examples/components/index.html#TableDialogEditDemo has this problem, IF you add a text field or two to the layout BEFORE the table. The only reason the table in the demo doesn't lose the focus when the color-picker comes out is because the table is the only thing in the window!
Here is the demo code, augmented with two text fields, which are admittedly ugly here but which serve the desired purpose:
* Copyright (c) 1995, 2008, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
* Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
* modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
* are met:
*   - Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
*     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
*   - Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
*     notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
*     documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
*   - Neither the name of Oracle or the names of its
*     contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived
*     from this software without specific prior written permission.
* THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS
* IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
* THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
* PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR
* CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,
* EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,
* PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR
* PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF
* LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING
* NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
* SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
import javax.swing.*;
import javax.swing.border.Border;
import javax.swing.table.AbstractTableModel;
import javax.swing.table.TableCellEditor;
import javax.swing.table.TableCellRenderer;
import java.awt.*;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
public class TableDialogEditDemo extends JPanel {
    public class ColorEditor extends AbstractCellEditor
            implements TableCellEditor,
            ActionListener {
        Color currentColor;
        JButton button;
        JColorChooser colorChooser;
        JDialog dialog;
        protected static final String EDIT = "edit";
        public ColorEditor() {
            //Set up the editor (from the table's point of view), which is a button.
            //This button brings up the color chooser dialog, which is the editor from the user's point of view.
            button = new JButton();
            button.setActionCommand(EDIT);
            button.addActionListener(this);
            button.setBorderPainted(false);
            //Set up the dialog that the button brings up.
            colorChooser = new JColorChooser();
            dialog = JColorChooser.createDialog(button, "Pick a Color", true, //modal
                    colorChooser, this, //OK button handler
                    null); //no CANCEL button handler
         * Handles events from the editor button and from the dialog's OK button.
        public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) {
            if (EDIT.equals(e.getActionCommand())) {
                //The user has clicked the cell, so bring up the dialog.
                button.setBackground(currentColor);
                colorChooser.setColor(currentColor);
                dialog.setVisible(true);
                //Make the renderer reappear.
                fireEditingStopped();
            } else { //User pressed dialog's "OK" button
                currentColor = colorChooser.getColor();
        public Object getCellEditorValue() {
            return currentColor;
        public Component getTableCellEditorComponent(JTable table,
                                                     Object value,
                                                     boolean isSelected,
                                                     int row,
                                                     int column) {
            currentColor = (Color) value;
            return button;
    public class ColorRenderer extends JLabel
            implements TableCellRenderer {
        Border unselectedBorder = null;
        Border selectedBorder = null;
        boolean isBordered = true;
        public ColorRenderer(boolean isBordered) {
            this.isBordered = isBordered;
            setOpaque(true);
        public Component getTableCellRendererComponent(
                JTable table, Object color,
                boolean isSelected, boolean hasFocus,
                int row, int column) {
            Color newColor = (Color) color;
            setBackground(newColor);
            if (isBordered) {
                if (isSelected) {
                    if (selectedBorder == null) {
                        selectedBorder = BorderFactory.createMatteBorder(2, 5, 2, 5,
                                table.getSelectionBackground());
                    setBorder(selectedBorder);
                } else {
                    if (unselectedBorder == null) {
                        unselectedBorder = BorderFactory.createMatteBorder(2, 5, 2, 5,
                                table.getBackground());
                    setBorder(unselectedBorder);
            return this;
    public TableDialogEditDemo() {
        super(new GridLayout());
        JTextField tf1 = new JTextField("tf1");
        add(tf1);
        JTextField tf2 = new JTextField("tf2");
        add(tf2);
        JTable table = new JTable(new MyTableModel());
        table.setPreferredScrollableViewportSize(new Dimension(500, 70));
        table.setFillsViewportHeight(true);
        JScrollPane scrollPane = new JScrollPane(table);
        table.setDefaultRenderer(Color.class,
                new ColorRenderer(true));
        table.setDefaultEditor(Color.class,
                new ColorEditor());
        add(scrollPane);
    class MyTableModel extends AbstractTableModel {
        private String[] columnNames = {"First Name",
                "Favorite Color",
                "Sport",
                "# of Years",
                "Vegetarian"};
        private Object[][] data = {
                {"Mary", new Color(153, 0, 153),
                        "Snowboarding", new Integer(5), new Boolean(false)},
                {"Alison", new Color(51, 51, 153),
                        "Rowing", new Integer(3), new Boolean(true)},
                {"Kathy", new Color(51, 102, 51),
                        "Knitting", new Integer(2), new Boolean(false)},
                {"Sharon", Color.red,
                        "Speed reading", new Integer(20), new Boolean(true)},
                {"Philip", Color.pink,
                        "Pool", new Integer(10), new Boolean(false)}
        public int getColumnCount() {
            return columnNames.length;
        public int getRowCount() {
            return data.length;
        public String getColumnName(int col) {
            return columnNames[col];
        public Object getValueAt(int row, int col) {
            return data[row][col];
        public Class getColumnClass(int c) {
            return getValueAt(0, c).getClass();
        public boolean isCellEditable(int row, int col) {
            if (col < 1) {
                return false;
            } else {
                return true;
        public void setValueAt(Object value, int row, int col) {
            data[row][col] = value;
            fireTableCellUpdated(row, col);
    private static void createAndShowGUI() {
        JFrame frame = new JFrame("TableDialogEditDemo");
        frame.setDefaultCloseOperation(JFrame.EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        JComponent newContentPane = new TableDialogEditDemo();
        newContentPane.setOpaque(true);
        frame.setContentPane(newContentPane);
        frame.pack();
        frame.setVisible(true);
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        javax.swing.SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                createAndShowGUI();
}When you come back from choosing a color, tf1 is given the focus, instead of the table. This is because bringing the color picker window to the front causes a focus lost event for the cell editor component; it's temporary, as it should be, so why on earth is the system losing track of who has focus in the window??
I see the following in Window#getMostRecentFocusOwner():
public Component getMostRecentFocusOwner()
    if (isFocused())
      return getFocusOwner();
    else
      Component mostRecent =
        KeyboardFocusManager.getMostRecentFocusOwner(this);
      if (mostRecent != null)
        return mostRecent;
      else
        return (isFocusableWindow())
               ? getFocusTraversalPolicy().getInitialComponent(this)
               : null;
}My app has a custom focus traversal policy, so I'm able to see who is being called, and indeed, getInitialComponent() is being called. Clearly, the KeyboardFocusManager is actually losing track of the fact that the table was focussed at the point where control was transferred to the color picker! This strikes me as completely unreasonable, especially since, as noted, this is a temporary focus loss event, not a permanent one.
I'd be grateful for any wisdom in solving this, since similar behaviour to this little demo -- without focus loss, naturally -- is an essential part of my application.

Looks like it is because the 'restore-focus-to-previous-after-modal-dialog-close' is in a later event than when the control returns to the action performed (which I guess makes sense: it continues the action event handler and the focus events are handled later, but I needed two chained invoke laters so it might also be that the OS events comes later).
The following works for me (in the actionPerformed edited):
           // create the dialog here so it is correctly parented
           // (otherwise sometimes OK button not correctly the default button)
           dialog = JColorChooser.createDialog(button, "Pick a Color", true, //modal
                        colorChooser, this, //OK button handler
                        null); //no CANCEL button handler
                //The user has clicked the cell, so bring up the dialog.
                button.setBackground(currentColor);
                colorChooser.setColor(currentColor);
                button.addFocusListener(new FocusListener() {
                    @Override
                    public void focusLost(FocusEvent e) {}
                    @Override
                    public void focusGained(FocusEvent e) {
                        // dialog closed and focus restored
                        button.removeFocusListener(this);
                        fireEditingStopped();
                dialog.setVisible(true);but a simpler request might be better (althoug I still need an invoke later):
// rest as before except the FocusListener
                dialog.setVisible(true);
                button.requestFocusInWindow();
                EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
                    public void run() {
                        fireEditingStopped();
                });And a quick fix to the renderer so you can actualy see the focus on it:
                if(hasFocus) {
                    Border border = DefaultLookup.getBorder(this, ui, "Table.focusCellHighlightBorder");
                    setBorder(BorderFactory.createCompoundBorder(
                            border, BorderFactory.createMatteBorder(1, 4, 1, 4,
                                    ((MatteBorder) getBorder()).getMatteColor())));
                }

Airport Losing Focus??

I have a Mac set as an FTP server at a second location for backing up. My server at my first location will start backing up, completing some files. After a while, the network light on the modem at location 2 will stop blinking (indicating no traffic). The message from my backup software is "(FTP: server disconnected or timed out)". I can browse the web with no problems when this is happening. Is my Airport Extreme just losing focus?
Also, pod casts will not down load to same FTP server. I'll get anywhere from 1/8 to 1/2 of a pod cast before the network traffic light stops blinking.
Help! Boss is getting nervous. Thanks.

Thanks JJMack. I was hoping it wasn't the card I was using. This is the first time I've used a geforce card on my work PC. However it's not the first time I've used them with Adobe's apps. For years my personal PCs had them and usually without issues like this. We chose to attempt to use this new Geforce GTX980 card because of how much further advanced it is over midrange Quadro cards at the moment, and because of some of the other software I am using that is more viewport and video ram dependent. Adobe applications are still my mainstay but we couldn't justify the purchase of older technology midrange K4000 cards that were supposedly newer than my older 4000. As these still had older PCI connections than the HP workstations we built, among other tech such as cuda core amounts that are drastically behind the times. Jumping up to 6000 level Quadro cards for up to date technology just isn't in the budget as the prices are astronomical. As with the Titan cards cards that are high priced and yet older tech. So we made the decision to try the GTX card for a while. Right now this sporadic window focus issue seems to be the only new issue I've run into so far. I'm sure I will see more in the near future doing something if the card is the issue. Maybe the new types of hardware being used such as the PCI express hard drive, or very recent photoshop updates can be blamed. Just not figuring it out just yet.
I was informed by an IT professional here that has application creation experience that this truly seemed like an application problem more than a graphic card problem. But until someone can corroborate that thought I guess I'm going to keep blaming the newer GTX card or wait to see if an App update makes this go away quietly. No one else has chimed in yet. Thanks for the link.

Focus disappears from window

Hi
I have tried to find the solution for this problem, with no
luck.
I have to navigate my menu with arrows alone, so i need to
have focus on my application when my html-window is launched.
at the moment im doing this:
username.focusManager.showFocus();
username.setfocus();
it results in that i can see the focus, but i cant navigate
unless i click on the window with the mouse.
PLEASE help me

Thank you for the suggestions so far, Tom and Tracy; however, I don't think I have explained myself clearly enough.
The selected track isn't playing. This 'problem' occurs when I'm browsing through the library. If I find a track browsing through the library sorted by song titles ['Name'], select that track [not play it], but then decide that I want to see which other songs are on that album, I click 'Album' to resort the library and my selected track 'loses focus' from the window [i.e. it isn't there in front of me, on the Library screen]. I have to scroll all the way through my library to find the track [which is still selected, just not in view].
So, is there a way for iTunes to show the selected track in the Library window after you have sorted by a different criteria.
I could show you this simply in 2 seconds. Writing about it, however, is a different matter entirely!
Thank you again...

Is there a way to create an action or keyboard shortcut to set Crop tool to the front window size?

Is there any way to create an action or keyboard shortcut to set the Crop tool to the front window size in Photoshop CS6?
I find that I use that several times a day. I got used to it being the top choice in the Crop tool presets menu.
Thanks.

It depends on whether you have the cloud version or perpetual license version.
For the cloud version press I (eye)
For the perpectual version press F

"Move focus to next window" shortcut in full screen mode

Does anyone know how to use the "Move focus to next window" sortcut when in "full screen" mode?
When using a smaller screen (Macbook Air) full screen mode is a nice idea but I keep turning it off becauase the normal shortcut doesn't work.
Any pointers in the right direction would be much appreciated.
Cheers

I can't duplicate your problem with my setup. Try deleting the iPhoto preference file, com.apple.iPhoto.plist, that resides in your User/Library/Preferences folder and see if that will help. Often a damaged or corrupted pref file will cause some very unusual performance issues with iPhoto.
Also you can try rebuilding the library while selecting just the option to rebuild the database.
TIP: For insurance against the iPhoto database corruption that many users have experienced I recommend making a backup copy of the Library6.iPhoto database file and keep it current. If problems crop up where iPhoto suddenly can't see any photos or thinks there are no photos in the library, replacing the working Library6.iPhoto file with the backup will often get the library back. By keeping it current I mean backup after each import and/or any serious editing or work on books, slideshows, calendars, cards, etc. That insures that if a problem pops up and you do need to replace the database file, you'll retain all those efforts. It doesn't take long to make the backup and it's good insurance.
I've created an Automator workflow application (requires Tiger), iPhoto dB File Backup, that will copy the selected Library6.iPhoto file from your iPhoto Library folder to the Pictures folder, replacing any previous version of it. It's compatible with iPhoto 08 libraries and Leopard. iPhoto does not have to be closed to run the application, just idle. You can download it at Toad's Cellar. Be sure to read the Read Me pdf file.

Front window desing

while writing code in block window my block window scrolls right and so is the front window . i want that my fron window shouls not scroll irrespective of the length of the block window. i want to display the controls at specific postion on front window but due to scrolling to right it is not possible at least i could not do it.is there any way to remove scrolling from front window.
2.i am using config vi in acquiring data. ihave place config vi out of my while loop. i have connected this config vi to a control but every time i need to give channel list is it possible that i can assign the channel list just one time and when ever i start program it takes it automatically.

There are very few actions on the block diagram that would trigger scrolling of the front panel. Double-clicking on a control or indicator terminal to find the front panel control would do that IF it is otherwise outside the windows boundary. (This often happens if you "create control" or "create indicator" from block diagram items.)
It is not possible to remove scrolling during an edit session. This is a run mode option.
For the second question you have at least two options. (1) Make the current values default. (2) replace the controls with diagram constants if you never need to be able to change them at run time.
LabVIEW Champion . Do more with less code and in less time .

Return to front window the image changes back to the first one

I have two images loaded in sequence. After loading the second
image, I put the frame into the background. When I open the image
frame (to the front window), the first image is shown (but not the
second as expected). Why and how to show the lastest image?
Thank you.

I got the problem solved. Looks like that java keeps all the
panel objects (even if I assign a panel pointer to null, the
panel object is still in the Panel object pool); and when
the buried screen is up to the front window again, java
calls paintComponent() for all panels, and thus the first
image panel and 2nd image panel, and so on, but with
the last created image panel' paintComponent() called
first, and thus creating the illusion that the iamge is
returned to the original one and not the lastest one.
So the solution is to use an integer to label the lastest
imag panel and use if ( == latest) then draw() in
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When my most front window is a safari one and I use the shortcut key "Command N", it opens a new finder window and a new safari window at the same time. Why does it happen?

When my most front window is a safari one and I use the shortcut key "Command N", it opens a new finder window and a new safari window at the same time. Why does it happen?

I just found the solution!
Niel
Re: Why is my Finder window popping up when I open my Safari window?
Jan 20, 2008 7:58 PM (in response to alak)
Open the General tab of the Safari preferences and correct the home page; the default page is this one. If it has become set to a folder on an FTP server or a local drive, that request will be sent to the Finder. (28252)
iMac Late 2007 Core 2 Duo, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Applescript can't get name of front window

The AppleScript support seems broken or unreliable (at least on OSX 10.10.1).
For example, this little, very basic script worked in Firefox 33 but now (34?, 35 or 36) NOT anymore:
tell application "Firefox"
name of front window
end tell
==>
error "plugin-container got an error: Can’t get name of window 1." number -1728 from name of window 1
Hint: If you check the output of the next applescript snippet, you see that the 'windows' don't even get a correct id.
tell application "Firefox"
windows
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A further hint (tested on firefox version 35 and 36):
In the script, application 'Firefox' gets replaced by 'plugin-container' when compiling the script !!!

AWT and focusing on different windows

Hey guys.
I have a problem, I'm trying to set the focus a window but can't.
I have two windows A and B.
I also have a Events being picked up set on window A.
So the set of events are detailed as follows.
Window A display's and responds to events.
When a particular event occurs it loads up a new window (WindowB) and focus is given to that window.Wasn't a problem until we realised that there was a delay between Window A being displayed and Window B being displayed, enough to cause a problem.
So the code was changed like follows.
WindowB.pack();
WindowB.setVisible(true);
WindowA.setVisible(false);When it was changed to the above, we lost the ability to pick up keyboard events, as WindowA was still the window with focus.
I've had a look at the KeyboardFocusManager where it seems that focus can be change between components.
However is also states for method setGlobalFocusWindow() that it can only be set if it is in the same context.
Which it is not.
Is it possible to set focus to the window before the window has been set visible? Is KeyboardManager the right class to look at?
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hello,
the following link may help: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/docs/api/java/awt/doc-files/FocusSpec.html
wrappingduke

Vivado 2015.2 , 'focus' changes in windows.

may be some one else can check this for us.
Running vivado 2015.2 on windows 7 pro 64 bit.
Also running notepad++ .
Vivado does lots of thigns in the back ground, including compiling IP blocks.
It seems when vivado finishes a section of IP, it pops up a little window bottom right to say done etc.
Well, I have been running vivado on a big job, and I have been editing some big data files with Notepad++ using macro's at the same time whilst waiting for vivado.
It seems that when vivado pops up the message, focus of the window jumps from notepad++ to the vivado window,
which rather upsets the notepad macro as it has lost focus.
Dont know if this is a notepad problem or vivado should not do this, and its rather anoying,
and wonder if anyone else has any thoughts on where I should ask ?
just wondered , I now know not to run vivado whilst using macro's.

Let me check this and get back to you

Changing the first item being focused in a window

Hello fellow programmers. I'm developing an application that contains a number of radio buttons as well as a PLAY and STOP button. I would like the PLAY button to be focused whenever the window is opened. I was able to get this done by calling the requestFocusInWindow() method after the initComponents() method in my form class. I also had to call the requestFocusInWindow() method in the STOP button's ActionPerformed method. I noticed for a split second, another button was getting the focus whenever the STOP button was pressed (until the requestFocusInWindow()) was called).
I've tried adding the requestFocusInWindow() method in just about every location in the PLAY button's code with no success. The only thing that works is what I described. Is there a better way of accomplishing this?
Thanks in advance.

You'll need a custom focus traversal policy, see [the tutorial|http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/uiswing/misc/focus.html#customFocusTraversal].

Safari auto switches between windows, makes the front window inactive...

Hi all,
I'm having a really annoying problem with Safari...
When I'm browsing quite often the front window kind of deselects itself, say for instance I have a couple of browser windows open and the downloads window, it will automatically bring the downloads window to the front! Meaning I then have to click on the browser window to make it active so I can then continue whatever I am doing... I am not pressing any key commands for this to happen (I know cmd and ~ (tilde) does this as I use it often to switch between windows). It just does it off it's own back, it's like someone else is controlling the window...
Funnily enough, it's just happened then again! when i'm typing this message, it brought the downloads window to the front and then this one back to the front, in the space of a second or so...
Thanks in anticipation as this is one **** of an annoying problem!

HI and Welcome to Apple Discussions...
Try maintenance...
From the Safari Menu Bar, click Safari / Empty Cache. When you are done with that...
From the Safari Menu Bar, click Safari / Reset Safari. Select the top 5 buttons and click Reset.
Go here for trouble shooting 3rd party plugins or input managers which might be causing the problem.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1594
And make sure Safari is not running in Rosetta. Right or control click the Safari icon in your Applications folder then click Get Info. In the Get Info window click the black disclosure triangle so it faces down. Where you see Open using Rosetta... make sure that is NOT selected.
If you still have problems with Safari, go to the Safari Menu Bar, click Safari/Preferences. Make note of all the preferences under each tab. Quit Safari. Now go to ~/Library/Preferences and move this file com.apple.safari.plist to the Desktop. Relaunch Safari. If it's a successful launch, then that .plist file needs to be moved to the Trash.
Carolyn

Losing focus of front window?

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