loss of field focus and cursor position when switching apps

Henry · Post by **Henry** » Sat May 06, 2006 10:12 am

I don't know if this has been brought up before (couldn't find anything in the forum with various searches) but I am encountering a couple of annoyances:

1. I am in the reference window, editing text within a field, say the notes field). I switch to another application, say Preview, to check the pdf of the reference. When I switch back to BookEnds, the notes field no longer has the focus, and I have to click on the field at the right place in the text to go back to editing. Can the field focus and cursor position be maintained through switches to another app?

2. Similar behavior if I'm editing in the notes tab of the info drawer in list view.

Henry

eleuteruiz · Post by **eleuteruiz** » Sat May 06, 2006 1:26 pm

It doesn't happen to me. It seems to keep the focus when switching to any applicationâ€¦

Post by **Jon** » Sat May 06, 2006 1:34 pm

I also can not replicate that behavior in the reference window -- the field that has the focus retains the focus when I switch back.

But I can in the Note field of the List View. That's because whenever you bring that window to the front it geneates the Notes field from scratch (in case any editing/deleting/etc. has occured in the reference window view. I hadn't bothered trying to come up with a workaround because I thought it was a pretty minor issue.

Jon
Sonny Software

Henry · Post by **Henry** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:14 pm

Your response about the list window and its drawer clued me in: the behavior I describe happens when the reference window drawer is open. When the drawer is closed, the focus is retained.

Is this a feature, or a bug

Henry

Post by **Jon** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:25 pm

Hi Henry,

It's neither. It's just a byproduct of the way Bookends updates the interface when you leave and then return to a window. The alternative is not to update the window, but in some circumstances that will be even more annoying. As I said, it's possible I could come up with a workaround, but it would probably be a fair amount of work for such a minor issue. But I'll poke around a bit and see...

Jon
Sonny Software

Henry · Post by **Henry** » Sat May 06, 2006 2:48 pm

I was doing a bit of experimentation to get a better idea of what happens on window redraw. I included the notes field as one of the displayed fields in the list view; if I enter something in the notes field in a reference window, it will show up in the notes column in list view, and also in the notes tab in the info drawer.

However, if I enter text into the notes tab in the info drawer, even tho it shows up in the reference window, I cannot make it appear in the list view column except by closing the window and then re-opening the file.

Henry

Post by **Jon** » Sat May 06, 2006 4:19 pm

Yes, I see this too. An oversight. It's fixed for the next update.

Jon
Sonny Software

thecritic · Post by **thecritic** » Sun May 07, 2006 2:22 pm

Henry wrote:I was doing a bit of experimentation to get a better idea of what happens on window redraw. I included the notes field as one of the displayed fields in the list view; if I enter something in the notes field in a reference window, it will show up in the notes column in list view, and also in the notes tab in the info drawer.

This is also true for Call Number, and I had previously reported this to Jon. Will this be fixed for the next update as well?