[launcher] Desktop background modes partly implemented in GnomeBackground.qml

[Olivier Tilloy]

When the dash is displayed, the background image’s layout is supposed to match that of gnome.
Gnome offers various layout modes, and currently only a couple of them are correctly implemented by the dash. Moreover, what is actually correctly implemented doesn’t match what the comments state in GnomeBackground.qml.

 - wallpaper: doesn’t work
 - zoom: implemented, works
 - centered: not implemented
 - scaled: doesn’t work (misses the background color to pad the image)
 - stretched: implemented, works
 - spanned: not implemented

Note that this was tested with a screen resolution of 1920×1080, and a background image of 484×714, i.e. smaller than the screen resolution and with an opposite layout (portrait).

[Nick (soapduk)]

I think my problem matches the 'centered' aspect of this bug mentioned above in the description -
Basically when I click on the menu (dash?) it comes up with the background image with the black overlay as it should but where the image doesn't reach the sides of the screen (it's a 4:3 aspect ratio photo on a 16:10 monitor) the sides of the dash are white strips. These strips overlay the dash so you can't read menu items near the edges of the screen.

If my bug is not related let me know and I can start a new bug.

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

@Nick: what layout option did you choose in the Appearance configuration tool (go to the Background tab)?

[Nick (soapduk)]

Florian, it happens on the scale & span options. I use these to keep the aspect ratio locked. Funnily enough when I change the image sometimes the new image is on the desktop but the old one appears when the dash is up (and vice versa) and sometimes the image doesn't change at all. It does the same when I select the zoom option also.

Terminal sometimes says the following when I attempt happens:

(unity-2d-launcher:3125): Wnck-WARNING **: Received a timestamp of 0; window activation may not function properly.

Another another error:

QDBusError("org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.UnknownMethod", "Method "Xids" with signature "" on interface "org.ayatana.bamf.application" doesn't exist

[Nick (soapduk)]

It appears the white background overlay issue has been fixed now. Nice one! I'm not sure if everything Olivier reported has been fixed or not.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

I tested again all background layout modes with the same image and the same screen resolution (see original bug description), and the situation has not improved (nor has it regressed, for this matter).

@Nick: note that if you change the image, it’s not going to be taken into account automatically if the dash is already running (this is a separate issue). If you want the new background image to be used, you’ll need to `killall unity-2d-places`.

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

@Olivier: the background image used to be and has to be picked up dynamically, is the bug reported?

@Nick: the code to fix the background color should be pretty simple now, I'll have a stab at it.

[Olivier Tilloy (osomon)]

Sorry my last comment is wrong, the background image changes are indeed picked up "live", I verified that it works as expected.

[Florian Boucault (fboucault)]

https://code.launchpad.net/~fboucault/unity-2d/fix_background_color/+merge/47227 fixes Nick's issues. In fact it fixes both 'wallpaper' and 'scaled' modes.