Alt-tab - When alt-tab is open, the user should be able to left click with the pointer on a specific app/window in order to select it

[Jeremy Bícha]

1. Open up several apps (for instance, a web browser, a game, a file manager and a terminal). Don't have the apps maximized.
2. Press Alt+Tab. Hold down the Alt key and click the tab selector so that the game is active.
3. While continuing to hold down Alt, use your mouse to click the terminal tile
Expected behavior: Unity should switch to the terminal since the mouse click overrides where the tab happened to end up.

Alternate example:
3. While continuing to hold down Alt, change your mind and click to the actual file manager in the background.
Expected behavior: Unity should switch to the file manager since the mouse click overrides the Alt+Tab behavior.

Other notes:
Gnome Shell works the way I expect; it would be nice for Unity to do the Right Thing also.

User testing notes:
In user testing we found that several users tried to use the pointer to select applications/windows when alt-tab was open.

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Desired solution:

- The requested change is to enable the use of the pointer and left click to select a specific app/window. Left clicking on a app/window should close the alt-tab and bring the selected item into focus.
- Additionally the mouse scroll wheel should be active and allow the user to change focus in either direction

[John Lea (johnlea)]

Thanks Jeremy, well spotted!

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

given the current situation where screen is grabbed as soon as the switcher is invoke so I guess this would involve changing how the switcher currently works

[Marco Trevisan (Treviño) (3v1n0)]

Using the scrolling wheel for switching the apps while pressing the Alt key could be a nice addition too.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Adam Niedling (krychek)]

The situation is still the same in Ubuntu 13.04.

[PS Jenkins bot (ps-jenkins)]

Fix committed into lp:unity at revision None, scheduled for release in unity, milestone 7.1.1

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package unity - 7.1.0+13.10.20130812.1-0ubuntu1

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unity (7.1.0+13.10.20130812.1-0ubuntu1) saucy; urgency=low

  [ Brandon Schaefer ]
  * Add ibus.py to the tests/autopilot/unity/emulators from
    lp:autopilot. (LP: #1210661)
  * Don't make the ScopeView/DashView/ScrollView Visible on start up
    (bool wise, causing things to think its ok to render). (LP:
    #1201631)
  * Adds the ability to use the mouse in the switcher. (LP: #824965)

  [ Andrea Azzarone ]
  * Add edge barriers to unity::panel::PanelView. (LP: #931384)

  [ Marco Trevisan (Treviño) ]
  * ApplicationLauncherIcon: Create a local desktop file when sticking
    an app that has not Also make icon sticky only if both the icon
    itself and the inner app is sticky as well. (LP: #1209320, #753305,
    #765466, #754334, #704046)

  [ Ubuntu daily release ]
  * Automatic snapshot from revision 3462
 -- Ubuntu daily release <email address hidden> Mon, 12 Aug 2013 06:49:01 +0000

[Stephen M. Webb (bregma)]

Fix Released in Nux Unity 7.1.1.