Epic: Default-by-default fall-out, long-term plans, and community feedback

[DHowett]

"it’s much easier to accept mediocrity than to pursue adequacy"

NSAT Blockers

• Terminal launches quickly
  • WT should start up fast: profile the startup path and trim anything that takes a while #5907
• Terminal fits into my existing workflows
  • [DefApp] Pass LNK/EXE data from OpenCon to ITerminalHandoff #9458
    • Hardcore console users -- our bread & butter -- carry around customized console app shortcuts that Terminal ignores today.
    • Support exe/dll paths in the 'icon' setting #1504
    • Feature request: wt.exe should display shortcut icon in taskbar #4768
    • Feature request: create new profile from .lnk file #1793
    • Icon of console application doesn't get used #14372
  • conpty uses default history buffer length #2558
  • Admin shortcuts do not open in Terminal Preview #10276
    • This isn't "fixed", it's just blocked on the COM team
• Terminal "blends in" and gets out of the way
  • Terminal should dodge the onscreen keyboard slightly better #8983
  • People may be unhappy about Terminal's default "stay open after a process fails" behavior. That behavior may cause enterprise management scripts to leave useless Terminal windows laying around.
    • https://stackoverflow.com/a/72872289/1481137
    • MSFT:38270604
    • [DxD] closeOnExit should be sensible when launched via defterm #13325
    • Can we exit terminal completely when command exit is called? #11179 (comment)

Windowing Completion

• Other applications open behind the Terminal window - (ConPTY window handle z-order shenanigans with GetConsoleWindow) #2988 (comment)
  • "Things open in the wrong z-order relative to the terminal"
• Terminal doesn't respect "start /max" and "/min" parameters when running a console app as default terminal #12154
  • /max fixed in Respect the "/max" parameter when starting console apps with defterm enabled #14222
• Terminal: add support for Window Manipulation (CSI t, resize), or reject it explicitly (and force a client resize) #5094
  • Iffy on whether this one is important. Console apps can resize themselves. This is more difficult in a multi-tenant environment.
• People do weird things with GetConsoleWindow
  • https://stackoverflow.com/questions/72512085/inconsistent-behavior-when-removing-minimize-button-from-windows-terminal
  • Bring back ShowWindow functionality #13248
  • Internal thread about SW_HIDE'ing (NOT minimizing) the Terminal window
  • Pseudoconsole hosting window position and size do not match the Terminal window #13525
• Individual console sessions were easily identifiable on the taskbar. All Terminal sessions show up as just "Terminal" windows
  • Refer to MSFT:41251452
  • See also Feature request: wt.exe should display shortcut icon in taskbar #4768 (comment) has the most comprehensive summary of the problem space

  • now in my taskbar git cmd doesn't show as open, so I instead have to fish through a bunch of terminal windows to find which one is git.

  • Display current tab's icon as the taskbar icon #6556
  • Feature Request: Preview of open tabs in task bar #687
  • Terminal should support Taskbar.AppId so that different Terminal groups can glom separately on the taskbar #8216
  • Also Support exe/dll paths in the 'icon' setting #1504
  • Also Feature request: wt.exe should display shortcut icon in taskbar #4768

Settings Parity

Not "the settings UI has parity with the settings JSON", but "the Terminal settings UI has parity with the Console propsheet"

• SUI: Add settings for initalPosition, centerOnLaunch #9075

Accessibility

• Cannot see cursor on white background - should have an invert option #7118
• Make certain that the cursor can invert/not-occlude/display the character under it #9610

Will this come back to bite us later?

• Terminal env vars (WT_SESSION, etc) aren't set when set as the Default Terminal #13006 "am I running in terminal?" - defterm launches don't set WT_SESSION
  • mentioned in Terminal: add support for Window Manipulation (CSI t, resize), or reject it explicitly (and force a client resize) #5094 (comment)

  • However, when WT is set as the default terminal, AllocConsole opens a new instance of WT [which doesn't set WT_SESSION]

• Soft Landing/SCOOBE
• Leverage the Windows Info Protection APIs to unblock enterprise clipboard contents #10680
  • Terminal doesn't support WIP, but conhost does (private APIs)
• Add an option to toggle the width of ambiguous-width characters #153
  • conhost and Terminal differ in their approach here; this may cause compatibility issues for CJK users
• LVB Gridlines do not transit ConPTY (Win32 "underline", overline, left/right) #8037
  • "grid lines" are also used primarily by CJK applications
  • We have little to no visibility into how we're used in those languages.
• Cannot scroll buffer in Terminal with inbox telnet client #6056

Conpty process weirdness

• Process.CloseMainWindow() and Process.Close() are ignored for processes running in terminal #11823
• Terminal window/tab is not closed when console application calls FreeConsole #14416
• TODO: find more of these, there's many
• that one vscode thread niksa tried to solve years ago

Running programs as admin still launches conhost

No terminal application can register as the handler for elevated command line sessions. This requires platform support from COM team.

• Publicly "tracked" in Admin shortcuts do not open in Terminal Preview #10276
• Internally at MSFT:39500755

Surf line?

• Add support for tab tearoff and tab merge #1256
  • Each Terminal instance consumes more memory than an equivalent conhost; we can save memory and start-up time (NSAT blocker) by attaching all tabs to the same window while educating users about tabbing.
    • We can only do that if they're going to be able to tear them out afterwards.

Works today in conhost, but may be OK missing for v1

• Add support for Double-Height and Double-Width text to Windows Terminal #11595
• Support EnableColorSelection in Terminal #9583
• Selection Color should invert selected text color #3561
• Display current tab's icon as the taskbar icon #6556
• Suggestion: ability for terminals to set their tab icon #1868
  • Apps can set their icons on the console window, but they can't on the tab. Probably OK.
• Automatically populate icons for the associated profiles #705
• PowerShell argument WindowStyle -Hidden is not respected when the default terminal application is Windows Terminal #12464
  • Is this a Windowing bug?

Works today in conhost, but may be OK rejecting

• Any way to achieve something like [Console]::SetWindowPosition? #9622