can't focus Contact List while a conversation window is open

[Sean Fitzpatrick]

If I have a conversation window open in Empathy, it is not possible to get the contact list back in focus - even if I move the contact list to another workspace. If I try to use Alt-Tab instead of the mouse, the contact list does not even show up as a selection choice.
I can however click on the contact list to open another conversation or change my status.
This wouldn't be a big deal except that I'm running 11.04 with Unity. And of course, in Unity, it is not possible to access the menus for a program unless a window is in focus, thanks to the global menu. This means that it is impossible to change a setting in Empathy without closing an open conversation - the conversation window does have an entry for Edit->Preferences; only the Contact List has this.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: empathy 2.34.0-0ubuntu3.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-10.46-generic 2.6.38.7
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-10-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: fglrx
Architecture: amd64
Date: Thu Aug 18 09:55:41 2011
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.04 "Natty Narwhal" - Release amd64 (20110427.1)
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: empathy
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[Sean Fitzpatrick (sean-fitzpatrick)]

Correction: this seems to be a Unity bug - similar to how you don't get proper focus in Firefox if you use the keyboard to change workspaces instead of choosing the program from the launcher. So, to reproduce you have to open Empathy and a conversation window, go back to another workspace (eg to check your email) and then return. Closing the Contact List and then using the Chat/Email indicator icon in the panel to reopen it gets things working again.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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

[Sean Fitzpatrick (sean-fitzpatrick)]

I should add that this remains a problem in the latest version of Unity in 11.10. The general bug summary is the following:
1. There are never problems if the Unity launcher is used to select a window - this always results in proper window focus.
2. To reproduce the bug (it doesn't happen 100% of the time, but it will always happen after a couple of tries) have Firefox or Empathy open on one workspace, and switch to another, and do something there (eg check email in Thunderbird). Then, return to the original workspace using the keyboard (Ctrl-Alt-Arrows) and use the mouse to select the window by clicking on it.
3. In the case of Empathy, you will not be able to get the application menu to show in the global appmenu. In the case of Firefox, things will seem to be working (eg clicking links will be fine) until you try to do something with a context menu (eg right clicking, or the drop-down menu in the URL bar). Sometimes clicking will fail to bring up the context menu at all, and when it does, it will disappear as soon as the mouse cursor is moved.
4. If I unfocus the window (eg by clicking on the desktop or changing back to another workspace) and then use the Launcher to refocus, normal behaviour returns.

[Kieran Hogg (xerosis)]

I've noticed this more in 12.04 for some reason, most of the time I have the contact list and chat window open but behind firefox, clicking the Chat entry in the messaging menu wiggles the empathy unity icon but doesn't raise the window.