Special keystrokes, including shortcuts and multimedia keys, cease to function when certain applications and menus are open

[eZFlow]

keyboard shortcuts not working when in a fullscreen app, by keyboard shortcuts i mean the multimedia buttons like volume up/down and mute. so when inside a game and you want to quickly turn down the volume it's impossible. this also happens when you open up a menu, the keys won't register. a fix is badly needed!

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

Thanks a lot for reporting this, however I have been unable to replicate the behaviour you describe. To test this bug, I started up a game that defaulted to fullscreen mode and attempted to manipulate the volume, which I was successfully able to do.

Looking at the timestamp on the bug report, it appears that this report was targeted at Lucid. Can you please verify that the problem still exists in Maverick? Can you also verify that this is not an issue related to your own system setup? Help with this may be sought at http://ubuntuforums.org and http://askubuntu.com.

[eZFlow (breakdevize)]

This behavior still exists in Maverick. Just tested in fullscreen with
"world of goo" and the volume buttons on my keyboard have no effect. The
same is still true when a menu is clicked in the panel or context menu on
desktop, applications etc..
To be more clear i'm talking about the volume up/down and mute buttons on
the keyboard, but other buttons/keyboard shortcuts are effected as well, for
ex. alt+F2 when a menu is open does not function. In short if a menu is
opened it blocks the use of many keyboard shortcuts and multimedia buttons
on the keyboard.

On Tue, Jan 11, 2011 at 10:55 PM, Chris Wilson <email address hidden> wrote:

> Thanks a lot for reporting this, however I have been unable to replicate
> the behaviour you describe. To test this bug, I started up a game that
> defaulted to fullscreen mode and attempted to manipulate the volume,
> which I was successfully able to do.
>
> Looking at the timestamp on the bug report, it appears that this report
> was targeted at Lucid. Can you please verify that the problem still
> exists in Maverick? Can you also verify that this is not an issue
> related to your own system setup? Help with this may be sought at
> http://ubuntuforums.org and http://askubuntu.com.
>
> ** Changed in: hundredpapercuts
> Status: New => Incomplete
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/623922
>
> Title:
> keyboard shortcuts not working when in a fullscreen app
>
> Status in One Hundred Paper Cuts:
> Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> keyboard shortcuts not working when in a fullscreen app, by keyboard
> shortcuts i mean the multimedia buttons like volume up/down and mute.
> so when inside a game and you want to quickly turn down the volume
> it's impossible. this also happens when you open up a menu, the keys
> won't register. a fix is badly needed!
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/hundredpapercuts/+bug/623922/+subscribe
>

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

Thanks you for confirming. I have just tested this with the copy of 'World of Goo' I purchased from the Software Center and can confirm that the multimedia keys do not function while the application is in fullscreen mode. I was unable to verify that the keys would work when 'World of Goo' was not in fullscreen mode as I was unable to minimize the game using any of the keyboard shortcuts - ALT+TAB, CTRL+ALT+DEL and <SUPER>+SPACE (opening Gnome Do) would not function.

I was not able to replicate this behaviour in 'Brukon', another game I purchased form the Software Center, leading me to rule out a bug in USC. Can you please confirm whether or not you purchased 'World of Goo' from the Software Center?

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

Can you please also specify what other applications you find this bug in?

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

I can confirm that the keyboard is not being completely deactivated while 'World of Goo' is running, as I was able to activate CAPS Lock while running the game.

Steps to reproduce:
1) Type some text into a field and note the case.
2) Start 'World of Goo' and press the CAPS Lock once.
3) Quit 'World of Goo'.
4) Enter text into a field. The case should be opposite to that of the text entered before starting the game.

[eZFlow (breakdevize)]

Thanks for testing with me. It for sure is not an USC issue as i tested many
games from USC, all depends of the game/app. I confirm the same with World
of Goo, ALT+ENTER and ALT+F4 do work for example.
Just tested with a game called Osmos and the volume keys and all seem to
function , although it does show the desktop for a second when changing the
volume. I installed both games from the humble indie bundle.

I think Ubuntu should implement some way to force the keys to work in ALL
apps otherwise this will stay inconsistent and annoying.

Can you also confirm this behavior when for example you clicked on "Places"
in the top panel and trying shortcuts or volume keys? Happens in ALL menus,
been bugging me since i switched to ubuntu few years ago..

On Wed, Jan 12, 2011 at 2:05 AM, Chris Wilson <email address hidden> wrote:

> I can confirm that the keyboard is not being completely deactivated
> while 'World of Goo' is running, as I was able to activate CAPS Lock
> while running the game.
>
> Steps to reproduce:
> 1) Type some text into a field and note the case.
> 2) Start 'World of Goo' and press the CAPS Lock once.
> 3) Quit 'World of Goo'.
> 4) Enter text into a field. The case should be opposite to that of the text
> entered before starting the game.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/623922
>
> Title:
> keyboard shortcuts not working when in a fullscreen app
>
> Status in One Hundred Paper Cuts:
> Incomplete
>
> Bug description:
> keyboard shortcuts not working when in a fullscreen app, by keyboard
> shortcuts i mean the multimedia buttons like volume up/down and mute.
> so when inside a game and you want to quickly turn down the volume
> it's impossible. this also happens when you open up a menu, the keys
> won't register. a fix is badly needed!
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/hundredpapercuts/+bug/623922/+subscribe
>

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

I can confirm that the multimedia keys are non-functional while the 'Places' menu is open. This makes me think this is a problem with GTK+ in some way.

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

eZFlow , can you please confirm whether or not you have to hold down a function key (Fn, probably with blue text) while using your multimedia keys i.e. is it <Fn>+<Up arrow> to raise the volume on your system? The problems we've confirmed so far seem to arise from the use of multiple keys for whatever task we are trying to do, whereas the Capslock was only a single keystroke which did work.

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

I've just attempted to take a screenshot of the right-click menu of a pdf file on my desktop, and the screenshot shortcuts <PrtSc> did not work despite only being a single keystroke.

Steps to reproduce:
1) Right click on a file or folder on your desktop
2) Press the key assigned to the 'Take screenshot' actions (this is <PrtSc> by default) without closing the right-click menu.
3) If this does indeed result in no screenshot being taken, close the right-click menu and verify that the screenshot app is working, which I did.

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

Marking this as high priority as losing the use volume keys can be extremely problematic while in a fullscreen app, and especially in a game where sound features very prominently in the user experience.

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

Scratch that last remark. I think this is a critical bug for the same reason I stated in comment #10 because gaming is one of the places Linux has traditionally fallen down, and while this is not directly related to gaming, it can certainly detract from the user experience should this bug also rear it's head when the user is playing any big name games that make their way to Linux in the future.

[Chris Wilson (notgary-deactivatedaccount)]

I feel I should clarify that I have mentioned gaming in comment 10 and comment 11 since these are the applications most likely to default to a fullscreen mode, and where a windowed environment, where the user could access the sound menu, could result in a negative impact on the user experience.

[eZFlow (breakdevize)]

Chris, thanks a lot for marking this critical, finally someone who is
understanding my frustration!
I'm sure a lot of people are bugged by this but sadly it's not spoken out
and this has been going on since the very beginning. (I submitted a bug
report before but none cared to reply so i figured papercuts get more
attention although even here it took a while)

I can confirm everything you said, my keyboard does not use FN for the
volume buttons so it's a single stroke and i use it a lot. I do have a bunch
of FN keys on the F buttons but never use those.

Please push this so it gets fixed in Natty :)

On Thu, Jan 13, 2011 at 5:41 PM, Chris Wilson <email address hidden> wrote:

> I feel I should clarify that I have mentioned gaming in comment 10 and
> comment 11 since these are the applications most likely to default to a
> fullscreen mode, and where a windowed environment, where the user could
> access the sound menu, could result in a negative impact on the user
> experience.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/623922
>
> Title:
> Special keystrokes, including shortcuts and multimedia keys, cease to
> function when certain applications and menus are open
>
> Status in GTK+ GUI Toolkit:
> Unknown
> Status in One Hundred Paper Cuts:
> Triaged
> Status in “gtk+2.0” package in Ubuntu:
> New
>
> Bug description:
> keyboard shortcuts not working when in a fullscreen app, by keyboard
> shortcuts i mean the multimedia buttons like volume up/down and mute.
> so when inside a game and you want to quickly turn down the volume
> it's impossible. this also happens when you open up a menu, the keys
> won't register. a fix is badly needed!
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/gtk/+bug/623922/+subscribe
>

[Vish (vish)]

The hot keys not working with menus is a know issue and is a wontfix. And is a dup of Bug #10905
As for the importance , this is not a critical bug. for more info about importance:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Importance

[Vish (vish)]

And as for the volume keys part , it is Bug #388547