Are there any focus window config options?

[f34r1335]

Hi,

Great app, semi new (less than 2 weeks) user here and I feel like I'm missing a basic option even though I think I've gone through them all.

The issues I have are mostly with windows not focusing when selecting them by clicking/alt+tabbing windows.

For example, some situations I've run into:

1. After selecting an ignored window(s), I cannot return to my last workspace until I select another workspace. So let's say I'm on WS1 (alt+1), click on an ignored window. Now alt+1 does not show me WS1, it stays at the ignored window. If I select another workspace, then alt+1 works again.
2. Selecting (clicking via taskbar, alt+tabbing, etc.) a window in a workspace always selects the last focused window instead of the window selected. If I am on WS2 and my last focused window on WS1 was "Window 1" and I click "Window 2", it shows me "Window 1" instead because it was the last focused window.
3. Launching an app that has a designated workspace seems to mostly end up in the background unless I'm already on the workspace set in workspace_rules.

Do these sound like the intended behaviors/limitations, or are they possible bugs? Thanks.

[LGUG2Z]

I think I'll need to see a video to understand 1

2 is likely focus stealing by other apps- there is not much I can do about this

3 is the app getting sent to the workspace you have assigned it to be on - this is the intended behaviour and again I probably will not accept any patches to make different behaviour configurable because of the maintenance burden

[LGUG2Z]

I am pretty confused at this point 😅 when you have time, sharing an annotated video would be a big help to get on the same page 🤞

[f34r1335]

I am pretty confused at this point 😅 when you have time, sharing an annotated video would be a big help to get on the same page 🤞

I haven't done any video recording before, I'll have to look into that. I'm probably terrible at explaining, but if you don't mind I'd like to try again with being as simple as possible.

For issue 1, I cleared my entire config file to make sure my setup wasn't causing any issues.

Now my komorebi.json file looks like this:

{
	"$schema": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LGUG2Z/komorebi/v0.1.33/schema.json",
	"app_specific_configuration_path": "$Env:KOMOREBI_CONFIG_HOME/applications.json",
	"ignore_rules": [
			{
				"kind": "Exe",
				"id": "firefox.exe",
				"matching_strategy": "Equals"
			},
	],
}

1. Now your on workspace 1 with the default BSP layout
2. Click on firefox, now has focus
3. Press alt+1 which should focus on workspace 1, but still just shows firefox

As simple as that, do you mean something different happens to you? Does pressing alt+1 actually show you workspace 1?

[CtByte]

Just gonna leave this here:

If it helps, you can use the built in win11 snipping tool to record a video. win+shift+s -> change to cam -> select the area -> hit record.

one drawback is that a long file is probably too big to just paste it here so you might need to link it from somewhere else :)

---

You can also use ScreenToGif to create a gif, that might be smaller. Just use the portable version

[LGUG2Z]

Now your on workspace 1 with the default BSP layout

Done

Click on firefox, now has focus

Done

Press alt+1 which should focus on workspace 1, but still just shows firefox

I am still on workspace 1, the ignored window is still ignored, but it is at the top of the Z order

This is expected behavior

Coming back to this:

If you test a workspace with floating with all full size apps, it becomes easier to notice.

I hate to do the Apple iPhone 4 meme, but I think you may be "holding it wrong" if you are using ignore rules and then maximizing ignored windows - you should use either the toggle-maximize or toggle-monocle commands, depending on your preference, if you want maximized windows

Ignored windows are just that - ignored, to komorebi they don't exist at all

[f34r1335]

This is expected behavior

Yea, I was kind of thinking that from the start. I was trying to understand what was happening so I did look at the logs and noticed that komorebic focus-workspace runs many process_command and process_event, around 15 in my case, but just 2 process_command after clicking an ignored window.

I know nothing about window apps (also a terrible coder in general), but I'm assuming that komorebi doesn't bother running the other commands because its already on the current workspace? For curiousity sake, does this mean that if it ran the rest of the commands it would actually do what I want?

if you are using ignore rules and then maximizing ignored windows - you should use either the toggle-maximize or toggle-monocle commands, depending on your preference, if you want maximized windows

Hmm, not sure what you meant by this. I thought you cannot run commands on any ignored windows, or did I misunderstand?

In any case, I think komorebi just isn't designed for mixed usage? Sometimes I use komorebi commands, sometimes I click windows, sometimes alt+tab, click to maximize windows, etc.

[f34r1335]

Happy to say I found an "okay" solution for issue 1. Since changing to a different workspace can retrigger the process, I precede my workspace focus hotkeys with command komorebic cycle-workspace next; . There are a couple minor downsides. One is you may notice a slight flicker which makes sense since your changing through two workspaces really quick. The second is there is a rare case it ends up on the next workspace. I'm not sure if the ; waits for the first command to complete all processes, so maybe the 2nd command started before the 1st completed? I can live with that for now.

For issue 2 I tried using stackbar instead and it seemed to fix my issue, or so I thought... Before when I was using ignored windows or floating windows both the z order and the focus wasn't updated. With stackbars, the z order is correct, but the focus is not, the focus still always goes to the last focused window. At first I thought "at least it's a little better than before", however there can be some dangerous situations:

1. On WS1 Window 2 (so window 2 is last focused)
2. Alt+2 to focus WS2
3. Click WS1 Window 3 from the taskbar (or alt+tab to it)
4. You see WS1 Window 3 correctly, however the focus is on Window 2

The stackbar highlights that you're on window 3, but the taskbar shows that you're on window 2. Because I thought I was on window 3 which was a window I didn't need anymore, I alt+q and unknowingly ended up closing the wrong window (my browser with all the tabs lol) which was actually window 2.

Ironically my previous setup would actually prevent this because with the z order not updating over ignored/floating windows I immediately know I'm on the wrong window, but in the scenario above it's easy to mistake that you're actually on that window when you are not.

One thought I had before to solve this whole issue was to place every window in its own workspace (for my purposes this is still semi okay) since the focus should always be correct, but of course pretty troublesome to do. Will keep on tinkering for now...

Edit: Heh, apparently for issue 1, came up with the worst solution first. It looks like focus-workspaces and focus-named-workspace actually work even after being on an ignored window, hurray. The former may not work well depending on your monitor set up, the latter is probably the most direct, so fastest, but more upkeep required if constantly changing workspace names.