launcher setting ignored in preferences.txt

[processing-bot]

In GitLab by @hamoid on Aug 12, 2021, 09:08

Description

Executing "Open Sketch Folder" on Arch Linux with i3wm and fish does not open the folder. I used to work around this by specifying a custom launcher setting. This worked in Processing 3.4, but not in later versions.

This affects very few people I guess (maybe 1?) but it would be nice if the launcher setting was enforced if present, as an override. The related lines are found here:

https://github.com/processing/processing4/blob/master/app/src/processing/app/platform/LinuxPlatform.java#L118

Expected Behavior

I can use Open Sketch Folder

Current Behavior

I can't use Open Sketch Folder. It opens a terminal window with text being printed forever in a loop.

Steps to Reproduce

Press Ctrl+K

Your Environment

• Processing version: 4.0b
• Operating System and OS version: up to date Arch Linux
• Other information: using i3 window manager

Possible Causes / Solutions

I think a solution might be to tweak the order of the if statements: if a launcher is specified, use it, otherwise, try use the default approaches. But I don't know how messy touching any of that might be.

Old post about this issue:
https://discourse.processing.org/t/launcher-seems-to-be-ignored-in-the-preferences/10840/7

[processing-bot]

Created by: benfry

Yeah, I changed it to use Java's Desktop class instead so that we could avoid more custom code like this. (Meaning that your issue is really with Java, and how it implements Desktop…)

Maybe I could change it to see if you have a launcher setting specified, but that also means changing up some of that other logic, rewriting openFolderAvailable() so that it doesn't set launcher. Unfortunately, that also likely means that some people will be disappointed if they accidentally had a launcher value set and wanted the Desktop behavior. Will think about it.

[processing-bot]

In GitLab by @hamoid on Aug 13, 2021, 19:36

I was concerned that it might not be so easy, that's why I didn't mention it earlier.
If no one else is affected it's very ok to close this.

[Stefterv]

@hamoid is this still an issue?

[hamoid]

In which version should I test?

[SableRaf]

@hamoid can you try in 4.4.0 beta?

[hamoid]

Can I download 4.4.0 beta that is not a snap? I don't use snap. In the home page, the stable is linked to a tgz file, but not the beta.

[Stefterv]

Yes there is a portable release in the GitHub releases

[SableRaf]

For reference: https://github.com/processing/processing4/releases/tag/processing-1300-4.4.0

[hamoid]

Ok. I downloaded 4.4.0. The good thing is that 3D now works fine. I tried RotatingArcs. Then I tried "Open Sketch Folder" but it tells me to save the file first.

When I try to save the file, the dialog is unfortunately broken for me. The dialog is there, but it does not render. If I move the mouse, some gray rectangles appear. Every time I move the mouse a pixel, it shows this in the console:

(Processing:5752): Gtk-WARNING **: 21:06:32.988: drawing failure for widget 'GtkBox': error occurred in libfreetype

(Processing:5752): Gtk-WARNING **: 21:06:32.988: drawing failure for widget 'GtkPaned': error occurred in libfreetype

I guess this should be opened as a new issue? I'll try again with a sketch that is not an Example.

Update: this setting makes the save dialog work:

chooser.files.native=false

[hamoid]

BTW... the issue could be that I'm on the middle of updating my system. I'll try again after it's done.

I tried the feature discussed in this thread and I believe it continues to behave the same way.

I edited the preferences.txt and added a line like this:

launcher=/home/funpro/bin/showDirectory.fish

If I run that script manually, it creates a file in /tmp/AAA

If I do Show Sketch Folder, it does open a window, but the script is not executed and the /tmp/AAA file is not created.

[Stefterv]

When I try to save the file, the dialog is unfortunately broken for me. The dialog is there, but it does not render. If I move the mouse, some gray rectangles appear. Every time I move the mouse a pixel, it shows this in the console:

I just tried this on Ubuntu and shows the file dialog just fine so not sure what that is, what is your current Linux distro? I can make a VM another time

tried the feature discussed in this thread and I believe it continues to behave the same way.

Yeah looking at the code if (Desktop.isDesktopSupported()) { probably silently fails whilst returning true, I'll change it so that if the launcher variable is set it will use that by default

[hamoid]

I'm using Manjaro with i3wm, without a desktop. Actually I've had chooser.files.native=false for many years. In this case it was creating a new preferences.txt with the default which is true, which doesn't work for me. I don't know why.

The original devs described in GitHub why Desktop.isDesktopSupported() is used that way but I think I never understood it.