I often use the urgent feature from XFCE, in special with Pidgin when new messages arrive and so on. I've enabled the setting which causes windows to blink. Not sure, but I think this concerns to xfwm4 as the window manager. If so, this is my exact version: xfwm4-4.6.1-5.fc12.x86_64. Also important to know is, that I've enabled the icon box instead of the taskbar to show up window lists. Now, when a window is marked as urgent it blinks, and also the icon in the icon box, the blinking icon is global for any workspace. Unfortunately I couldn't find any setting to disable this, so that the urgent window icon blinks just for the workspace which actually contains the window, so please consider this bug as a feature request to implement such functionality and setting. :)
The window manager has nothing to do with that, the icons in the taskbar and iconbox are namaged by the relevant widgets and apps (namely libwnck and xfce4-panel).
[moved to xfce4-panel / iconbox]
The same behavior for me: After updating to 4.8: 1. Window stops blinking after 8 blinks (no matter if I use "Keep urgent windows blinking repeatedly" option) 2. Urgent windows from other desktops are not shown in the "Window Buttons" taskbar. I found this problem for Skype and Pidgin.
(In reply to comment #3) > The same behavior for me: > > After updating to 4.8: > 1. Window stops blinking after 8 blinks (no matter if I use "Keep urgent > windows blinking repeatedly" option) Nothing changed here for 4.8 in xfwm4, maybe these apps remove the urgent flag after some time. Just checked, from xfwm4 point of view (the WM makes the window decoration blink) it works just fine, infinitely, or at least as long as the urgency hint is set.
No the panel does that, it blinks a number of seconds and then stays 'highlighted', same we did in 4.4/netk.
Created attachment 3385 Reproducer program You can try by yourself, just save and build the attached source file with: gcc urgent.c -o urgent `pkg-config gtk+-2.0 --cflags --libs` Then run it and focus some other window and contemplate the window decorations blinking forever.
(In reply to comment #5) > No the panel does that, it blinks a number of seconds and then stays > 'highlighted', same we did in 4.4/netk. But that's the *panel*, the entries in the taskbar, not the windows (comment #3 says "window stop blinking")
> But that's the *panel*, the entries in the taskbar, not the windows (comment #3 > says "window stop blinking") I meant both: "Window Buttons" panel and window. > You can try by yourself, just save and build the attached source file with: > > gcc urgent.c -o urgent `pkg-config gtk+-2.0 --cflags --libs` I tried. There was no blinking (I clicked "urgent" button, but it didn't started blinking). > Nothing changed here for 4.8 in xfwm4, maybe these apps remove the urgent flag > after some time. I am using Arch, after I updated to 4.8 the behavior changed (I din't change configuration for Skype nor Pidgin). And what about second issue? > 2. Urgent windows from other desktops are not shown in the "Window Buttons" > taskbar.
(In reply to comment #8) > I tried. There was no blinking (I clicked "urgent" button, but it didn't > started blinking). After you focused some other window as instructed in comment #6? Urgency is only useful to bring user attention when the window is not focused obviously, so you have to focus some other window...
(In reply to comment #9) > After you focused some other window as instructed in comment #6? Urgency is > only useful to bring user attention when the window is not focused obviously, > so you have to focus some other window... You're right, that was my mistake. Anyway, following behavior was observed: I. "Keep urgent windows blinking repeatedly" selected 1. Window frame is blinking. 2. Window button on taskbar is NOT blinking 3. Window button is NOT visible on all workspaces II. "Keep urgent windows blinking repeatedly" NOT selected The same behavior as above, but window frame is not blinking as well (i.e. there is not any visible information that window is urgent). I think the problem is with "Window Buttons" plugin on taskbar - after 8 blinks the button should remain highlighted.
During the weekend i did following tests: 1. Added new user with empty configuration. The behavior is the same as for my usernam (i.e. after 8 blinks window button remains gray, not blue). 2. Installed Linux on different computer (also Arch with all updates installed). The problem is not observed there. The question is: what might cause this problem? Panel plugins are the same on both computers, I tried new user with empty configuration which (in my opinion) suggests it is not configuration related error. I am not using any global configuration (different than default) for XFCE not Xorg.
I have these same two problems (only 8 blinks and only for windows of that workspace). This is a real problem, as it is extremely easy to miss notifications.
I'm finding the same lack of global workspace blinking for windows requiring attention to be a problem. I'd love to see this implemented.
Same issue here. I don't see my email client blinking after receiving a message unless I'm working on the same desktop. FWIIW, I'm using an up-to-date wheezy. xfce-panel version : 4.8.5-1
Same problem here. (In reply to comment #13) > I'm finding the same lack of global workspace blinking for windows requiring > attention to be a problem. I'd love to see this implemented. This *used to be* implemented, I used to be able to see the taskbar buttons blink, and I *used to be* able to see the window blink on other desktops too. My initial coming here was due to not seeing any window blinking at all, but this appears to have been due the theme I am/was using. However after changing my theme the issue is still not solved because the window-manager-tweaks "Keep urgent windows blinking repeatedly" means something different than what I (and some of the other commenters here) seem to mean (I have always had this setting disabled btw). This setting has no effect on the blinking that is intended here. What is meant here is the blinking of the buttons in the taskbar ('window buttons' panel plugin). The behaviour of this plugin used to be: - receive an instant message (amsn, pidgin, etc) - message-window-taskbar-button starts to blink - the message-window's entry in the window menu button is now blinking too - if message-window is on another desktop, the (now blinking) button is added to the current desktop's window-button-list as well - switching desktops does not stop any of the blinking - switching windows (besides to the blinking window) does not stop any of the blinking - clicking or typing does not stop the blinking - The only way to stop the blinking is to focus the blinking window - Upon focusing the blinking window, the blinking stops and the window's window-button-list button is again visible only on the originating desktop. Somehow this has changed to: - receive an instant message (amsn, pidgin, etc) - message-window-taskbar-button starts to blink - the message-window's entry in the window menu button does *NOT* blink - if message-window is on another desktop, the (now blinking) button is *NOT* added the current desktop's window-button-list (and so remains unseen) - switching desktops stops the blinking - after 8 blinks the blinking stops on its own I think everyone would greatly appreciate the ability to configure the window-buttons plugin to behave in the way that it used to behave. These settings however seem to be missing from the window-plugin's configuration dialog. Finally I've noticed that the posted urgency window example code does not actually blink in the taskbar in the manner that is intended. Currently I have both the test-window and several amsn windows open. When I receive a message the amsn windows blink (briefly), but the urgency window does not. (I did press the 'urgency' button, and enabling the "Notify of urgency by making the window's decoration blink" does indeed show that window's decoration blink. However at the same time the amsn windows do *NOT* have blinking window decorations, although they *DO* have blinking window buttons...
Same here. Can Nick Schermer comment on this? Please increase the importance as this makes the urgency hint basically useless.
I created a patch for this (cf http://mail.xfce.org/pipermail/xfce4-dev/2012-May/029832.html). And I've requested for comments from developpers.
Thanks Mathieu for the patch. I applied it to 4.8.6 on Ubuntu 12.04 and it works great. Previously I used Florian's patch in https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=5167. In this aspect perhaps a duplicate ? I would very much like to to see this be adopted in the standard ? It's really annoying not to be notified about Skype windows, etc.
Hi Kees, Funny I never found about Florian's patch though I looked for a while before I started hacking my own. So yes, in a way mine is a duplicate of his. That said I made it an optional feature (through the "Show all blinking windows" option). I'll be looking at his patch to see whether I could have done things differently. I've yet to receive comments on the mailing list about mine so I don't know what needs to be done to have it included. Given it's non intrusive (by default it's off so it doesn't change the standard behaviour), I do think we should be able to get it merged after I get it reviewed and after I polish it. And yes, I agree with you, it's annoying to miss events: that's why I started hacking. By the way the patch works on 4.10 too (that's what I use).
Hi Mathieu, I just upgraded to Ubuntu 12.04 and just found out I could get 4.10 through a ppa. I'll try that in a couple of days. But ... glad with your patch. Cheers, Kees
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 5167 ***