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Topic: «Drop-Down Menus not working in Firefox » on forum: Technical Support   Views: 19323
 
Pim Joosten
Resident
 
 Posts: 549
Joined: 11/11/2010
Posted: 05/21/2013 22:18:52
 
 
 Hello Jim,

The solution described above should also work when the name of Firefox's active tab is included (it does for me in FF 17.0.6 ESR), as long as you also select "substring match" for the window caption.


Quote
the workaround described above does not work. Has a more permanent solution to this problem been developed yet?
The method I described is the permanent solution, and not a workaround. As explained in my post dated October 31st, 2011, it is the way Firefox defines its windows and you have to have the correct settings in AWM in order for AWM to work properly. These settings may have to be different for every program, that really depends on the program. That is just how the interaction between AWM and other programs works.

I hope this helps!

Best regards.
 
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Bogdan Polishchuk
Administrator
 
 Posts: 4010
Joined: 04/04/2012
Posted: 05/22/2013 17:40:50
 
 
 Hello gentlemen

Pim, thank you for your explanation.

Jim, was the Pim's advice helpful?

Best regards.
 
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Jim McClintock
Registered user
 
 Posts: 11
Joined: 10/30/2012
Posted: 06/05/2013 03:59:22
 
 
 First, it seems rather unusual, if not presumptuous, for someone not affiliated with Actual Tools to speak authoritatively on behalf of Actual Tools with respect to what is or is not a permanent solution to an issue.

Second, I've seen few software companies adopt the position that "this is just how the interaction between [our software] and other programs works", as though that were a locked in stone, forever immutable position. Most would say something like, "this is how our program interacts with others NOW, however, as always, we continue to evaluate the most effective means for our software to interact with third party software in meeting our customers needs".

Third, the proposed solution, which is a workaround, because it works around the way the company describes its software to work (as further evidenced by all the default settings), does not work with Firefox Nightly. Why that's the case is beyond my knowledge. I do know that I use custom directory locations for Firefox, sometimes have as many as three different versions (Nightly, Aurora, Beta) installed and working normally, except for their interaction with AWM. Neither Nightly nor Aurora include the words "Mozilla Firefox" in their Windows Captions; in addition to Mozilla Firefox as the Window caption, I tried Nightly/Aurora. Neither worked. Since I don't currently have the Beta version installed, I haven't tried it.

The ONLY thing that works is for me to disable AWM - then Firefox Nightly and Aurora dropdown lists work normally as expected.
 
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Pim Joosten
Resident
 
 Posts: 549
Joined: 11/11/2010
Posted: 06/06/2013 04:59:01
 
 
 Hello Jim,

First, you're welcome! It is always nice to spend some of my spare time to help somebody and then get thanked by the word "presumptuous" and not "thank you".

Second, if you go to any support forum, like Acronis, McAfee or Norton for instance, you will find people not affiliated with a software company who answer posts and are marked "Guru" or whatever. I can say that I have been using Actual Window Manager for quite some time and have become rather proficient in using it. I still do not know some aspects of the program, but the ones that I think I know I can and will make certain statements indeed.

Third, again, the proposed solution IS NOT A WORKAROUND! Of that I am 200% certain. AWM detects windows by observing 3 characteristics of windows: (1) Window class, (2) Window caption, (3) Program. Various programs use and define these aspects often very differently, so it can very well be that the default settings will not work properly with a particular program, because that program has some divergent characteristics. In that case one has to adjust the detection mechanism a little by playing with the 3 above mentioned characteristics to make it work. This still falls within the normal operation parameters of AWM and therefore is not a workaround. AWM cannot know beforehand and include the proper settings for all programs out there. Firefox is such a program that behaves different fr om most programs. That is what my directions were for, to help people find the correct settings in order to make AWM work with Firefox.

Fourth, it may be that the current detection mechanisms of AWM could be improved to handle windows better. Some suggestions have been made in the past to do that, for instance this one. There is also another post, but after spending half an hour I still cannot find it. I wanted to find it, because I am a proponent too of being able to detect windows better by using more characteristics. However, this is not how I meant "permanent solution". Lacking some crucial information (see my next point), I said it to oppose your statement that the procedure for Firefox is a workaround. It seemed that you were upset that the "workaround" still had to be used after all this time, so I wanted to point out that the solution was inside the 3 window detection determinants mentioned earlier. I never meant to say that the detection mechanisms could not be improved.

Fifth, I have just tried Firefox Nightly 24.0a1, and got AWM to work with it (including drop-down menus) with the settings Window class: checked and MozillaWindowClass, Window caption: not checked and Program: checked and "\firefox.exe". It may however be that other Firefox windows are now also affected by the setting, because it can not be limited to just those windows that have "Mozilla Firefox" in their captions.

That last point is where you "set me on the wrong foot" as we say in Dutch. You did mention that the window caption includes the name of Firefox's active tab, but in your first post you did not mention that the words Mozilla Firefox are not included anymore. This apparently is crucial information, as now indeed the tips I gave for Firefox might not work anymore. But maybe with the pointers in my previous paragraph it still will.

@Bogdan, this issue with future Firefox versions is something you may want to look at, because the settings described above and now included as a default specific setting in AWM may not work well anymore with Firefox in the future. If "Mozilla Firefox" cannot be used as a window caption criterion anymore, the effect could be that specific settings for Firefox will also affect other Firefox windows on which the specific settings should not be applied. The download window (Library) is one of those windows I have noticed.

I truly hope this has been helpful.

Best regards.
 
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Jim McClintock
Registered user
 
 Posts: 11
Joined: 10/30/2012
Posted: 06/07/2013 07:21:15
 
 
 Don't have time to debate, so I'm bypassing all the rhetoric and going straight to the issue: your custom settings for Firefox Nightly did not fix the frozen dropdown lists I experience in Firefox. I tried the exact configuration you described; it did not work. I then modified the Program Name from \firefox.exe to equal the custom path to firefox.exe used on my machine. That didn't work either.

HOWEVER, the brief bit of education you provided me above about how AWM works gave me enough insight to begin experimenting with various configs, including ones to exclude Firefox from AWM interaction. Through that process, I discovered an existing Window rule for a sub-window of Firefox that opens when you want to customize tab reload settings. I have no recollectin of creating that rule, and see no reason to have done so, but it was there. After deleting it, the config you provided above still would not work (with either path to firefox.exe). What does work - either no rule for Firefox or an exclusion of Firefox. This behavior seems to indicate that the developer should heed your prescient concern/warning about the impact of "default" or custom configurations for Firefox.

For the time being, that frees me from the binary choice of AWM with screwed up FF, or no AWM and normal FF. If you, or the Actual Tools, or anyone discover a better solution, I will be listening.

Thanks!
 
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Bogdan Polishchuk
Administrator
 
 Posts: 4010
Joined: 04/04/2012
Posted: 06/17/2013 10:35:04
 
 
 Hello Gentlemen

Jim, this problem seems to be triggered by the "Move to monitor at startup" option enabled in the Settings for Firefox.

Try these criteria for the Firefox settings: Window class: MozillaWindowClass, Window Caption: Nightly (Substring match), Program: \firefox.exe. Apply these settings and then open the AWM log window (AWM system tray context menu > Show log window) and check the Enable logging checkbox. Then clear the logging history (right click in the log window > Clear log) and try to bring the dropdown menu, see in the log window what settings are applied to the newly appeared entry and let me know. If the default settings are applied to the dropdown windows, they should work properly.

Best regards.
 
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