Losing focus on Linux

I'm not sure if we have a more fresh thread on this topic but anyway, I do keep losing focus on Linux. I'm a Gnome 3 user and whenever I type fast in IntelliJ to an Open by Name (ctrl+N) popup, it keeps entering letters into the editor window below the popup. I can reproduce if about once out of 5 attempts, so it happens quite a lot during daily work.

System details:
Arch linux (rolling distro, pushed to latest)
Gnome 3.12
IntelliJ Idea 13.x (happened with 12 too)

thanks..
K

@Scott this thread is quite old. A lot of work has been done in IDE focusing system since. If you are experiencing similar problems it is likely some another issue.

Please try 2018.2 from https://www.jetbrains.com/idea/nextversion. 2018.1.4 version has several focus issues (mainly https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-191839) which are not present in 2018.2 or were fixed. 2018.1.5 version will also contain the fixes.

If problem remains, please file a bug at https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issues/IDEA, describing the steps and the behaviour you are seeing and attach idea.log after IDE restart. Thanks.

Shane Witbeck wrote:

When using IDEA on Linux (RedHat+Gnome) the editor seems to loose
focus. I have to click somewhere on the project tree and then click
back in the source pane in order to type anything.

I've had this problem in various degrees with different builds, and
using different windowmanagers. fvwm2 was almost unusable, fluxbox was
better, KDE (kwin) about the same, openbox is (almost) flawless. The
only problem still left is that ever so often my cursor disappears, and
I cannot get it back, no matter where I click in the ide windows. Mouse
& menus still work, though.

Btw, this only cropped up in the (eap's for) the 5.x series - 4.x was
fine. I'm guessing it's also somewhat JDK related.

Regards,
Edwin

I have the same problem on RHAS 4 in KDE. Clicking on the project tree
(or anywhere in idea) does not help though. the cursor is not coming
back and I cannot type in the editor window any more.
This is getting very anoying. pls JetBrains fix it.

On Sun, 2005-08-28 at 23:43 +0200, Edwin van Ouwerkerk Moria wrote:

Shane Witbeck wrote:

When using IDEA on Linux (RedHat+Gnome) the editor seems to loose
focus. I have to click somewhere on the project tree and then click
back in the source pane in order to type anything.

I've had this problem in various degrees with different builds, and
using different windowmanagers. fvwm2 was almost unusable, fluxbox was
better, KDE (kwin) about the same, openbox is (almost) flawless. The
only problem still left is that ever so often my cursor disappears, and
I cannot get it back, no matter where I click in the ide windows. Mouse
& menus still work, though.

Btw, this only cropped up in the (eap's for) the 5.x series - 4.x was
fine. I'm guessing it's also somewhat JDK related.

Regards,
Edwin

So far, my fix is to roll back to the 5.0 release. Glad to hear I'm not the only one with this issue although it seems to be serious enough that JetBrains should fix it right away.

Any estimate of when this will be addressed?

I'm using mandrake and I often have to switch to some other app and then back to IDEA to get control of the editor. It seems to happen most often after returning to idea from some other app... which happens quite a bit.

KDE 3.2 on mandrake 10 to be exact... i think i'm still running update #1 for my 1.5 JDK... is everyone else having focus issues on the current update?

I believe some of IDEA's focus lost issues on Linux were fixed when
running on jdk1.5.0_03 or higher. Perhaps that is something to try out?
Can't confirm it myself since I'm not on Linux.

Bas

Dan Bachelder wrote:

KDE 3.2 on mandrake 10 to be exact... i think i'm still running
update #1 for my 1.5 JDK... is everyone else having focus issues on
the current update?

No help with the upgrade.

I am using jdk1.5.0_04 on Fedora Core 4 with Gnome and the problem still exist.

I'm seeing this on my RHEL 3 with KDE 3.4 box. It's strange though, it looks like the editor still has focus (the cursor is blinking in the editor tab, and the cursor movement keys still work), but you just can't type in any text.

I had to revert back to IDEA 5.0. Filed as http://www.jetbrains.net/jira/browse/IDEA-4894.

-Stephen

Hi,

We've been seen this on various suse (10.0 and 9.2) with KDE 3.4.x. It seems jdk-1.5.0_05 made all the difference for us.

Espen

I'm seeing the same thing, running Ubuntu. I assumed it was since I run the Vim-emulation. 

I know that's been flaky in the past, understandably since it affects the entire input layer. But I have tried turning off Vim-mode, and still see the same thing. Some editing sequences cause the entire Idea pane to blur - and I have to do some OS-level switch to get focus back.

It's really annoying!

I've got the same problem as @Scott, it started to occur when I came back from vacation and updated my kernel, IDEA and JVM/JDK.

I followed Andrey's advice and installed 2018.2. Problem solved - focus issues are resolved and IDEA works as well as ever. If you're having similar issues - upgrade to the EAP version for now and relief is in sight.