[MEGATHREAD] Quake Mode & Global Summon

[DHowett]

[Original thread: #653] [Spec: #9274, doc] [Project]

See also Quake Mode FAQ

1.9 tasks

• Add support for win in keybindings (PR: Add support for the win key in keybindings #9783)
  • this is in dev/migrie/f/win-in-keybindings
• _quake window opens in focus mode, on the top half, and can't be moved or resized (except on bottom) (PR: Make the window name _quake special #9785)
  • This is in dev/migrie/f/653-special-_quake-window
• quakeMode action activates the _quake window (or creates one) (PR: Add globalSummon action #9854)
  • This is in dev/migrie/f/653-QUAKE-MODE
• quakeMode summons the window to the current desktop (PR: Add desktop param to globalSummon; set _quake = toCurrent #9954)
  • This is implemented in dev/migrie/f/quake-toCurrent-desktop
• quakeMode/globalSummon hides the window if it's currently active (PR: When the window is summoned and is already active, minimize it. #9963)
• quakeMode does the dropdown dance on entrance (PR: Add property to control dropdown speed of global summon #9977)
  • Started this in a6cd981 but that feels really hacky and bad. See dev/migrie/f/quake-dropdown for more progress
  • dev/migrie/f/quake-dropdown-2 has the most research notes in it, for future readers.
• Exempt the _quake window from window glomming (PR: Exempt the _quake window from glomming #9956)
• quakeMode summons the window to the current monitor

2.0 tasks

• globalSummon to summon a window by name (PR: Add globalSummon action #9854)
  • This is in dev/migrie/f/653-QUAKE-MODE
• Basic globalSummon action (PR: Add globalSummon action #9854)
  • Add support for the toggleVisibility property (PR: When the window is summoned and is already active, minimize it. #9963)
  • Add support for the desktop property to control how window summoning interacts with virtual desktops
    • This is implemented in dev/migrie/f/quake-toCurrent-desktop
  • Add support for the monitor which monitor the window appears on.
    • "monitor": "toCurrent"|"any" for on the current vs where it is (PR Add "monitor": "any"|"toCurrent"|"toMouse" setting to globalSummon #10092)
    • "monitor": "toMouse" for to where the mouse pointer is (PR Add "monitor": "any"|"toCurrent"|"toMouse" setting to globalSummon #10092)
    • "monitor": "onCurrent"
  • Add support for the dropdownDuration property (PR: Add property to control dropdown speed of global summon #9977)
• We need a commandline arg to force the window to ignore initialPosition and use the current monitor instead.
• Add the minimizeToTray setting, and implement it without any sort of flyout
  • _quake window is hidden when minimized (PR: Hide _quake window on minimize ALWAYS #10113)
  • Add tray icon when quake window is minimized Add tray icon when quake window is minimized #10179
  • Add a list of windows to the right-click flyout on the tray icon
  • Add support for the alwaysShowTrayIcon setting
• Exiting _quake mode should restore the focus mode state, window position that the window had before.
• There should maybe be a default action like:

{ "name": "Promote to quake window", "command": { "action": "renameWindow", "name": "_quake" } }

• KNOWN ISSUE: If you try to summon the window while task manager is focused, the window will not get activated. Presumably this can happen with other apps as well. UWP OneNote seems affected as well.
• Wrong size on Quake mode with hetero sized screens Wrong size on Quake mode with hetero sized screens #10182
  • Quake window location with Windows Magnifier #10805
• Quake Mode has incorrect window size after toggling fullscreen mode Quake Mode has incorrect window size after toggling fullscreen mode #10199
• 1px window border of the quake dropdown terminal "leaks" onto horizontally adjacent monitor: 1px window border of the quake dropdown terminal "leaks" onto horizontally adjacent monitor: #10201
• Make Quake mode work with a German keyboard layout Make Quake mode work with a German keyboard layout  #10203
• Quake Mode multi monitor setup Quake Mode multi monitor setup #10274
• More...

Backlog

• Add per-window-name global settings Add per-window-name global settings #9992
  • READ: "configure the _quake window to have some different set of settings - size, profile, etc."
• Allow the tabs to be visible in quake mode / don't force _quake into focus mode. This might be best served by Add per-window-name global settings #9992
• Allow other, non-_quake windows to be locked to the top half of the display. Probably should be a global setting. Consider Add per-window-name global settings #9992 when authoring this.
• Allow windows to be docked to other sides of the display? That might be insane though.
• Enable globalSummon / quakeMode to work even when there isn't a running Terminal Enable globalSummon / quakeMode to work even when there isn't a running Terminal #9996
• globalSummon a new tab in explorer CWD globalSummon a new tab in explorer CWD #10202
• Quake mode hot-key stops working after a while. Restart of terminal fixes it Quake mode hot-key stops working after a while. Restart of terminal fixes it #10340
• Terminal should be able to auto-minimize on focus lost #10660
• Adjust styling of quake window (default height, etc) #11162
• Quake Mode - Allow Horizontal resizing #11174
• Quake mode has rounded corners in Windows 11 #10534
• The animation is wonky:
  • Quake Mode reveal animation tears/flickers #12293: The dropdown animation could be better. It would be better if it animated the whole window frame, but it's gotta look good. Add property to control dropdown speed of global summon #9977 has notes on what I tried and didn't work for me.
  • Quake mode sometimes leaves ghost window frame #12121
• Quake mode: Add support for reserved tabs #10279
  • Also: Command-line to toggle visibility #13276, for wt summon
  • Closely related is Summon window and switch to profile #12135, for wt summon --profile
• Exclude Quake window from FancyZones #10197
• Minimized quake mode restores to the monitor with the tray #10672
• Quake mode does not consider vertical taskbar width #10999
• Quake command palette entry doesn't work #11014
• Quake mode doesn't scale width when changing monitor size #11125
• Elevated profile doesn't open Quake terminal #12173
• Quake Mode should remember its size #12594
• Setting launch mode to full screen also applies to Quake mode #12894
• Show/Hide maximized terminal window resizes it briefly #12944
• Quake mode full screen doesn't reopen with full heightwhen closing and resummoning #16175
• More...

[kulkalkul]

Couldn't find the issue about task manager focus, so posting it here. It also happens with IntelliJ IDEs.

[Nacimota]

KNOWN ISSUE: If you try to summon the window while task manager is focused, the window will not get activated. Presumably this can happen with other apps as well. UWP OneNote seems affected as well.

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere (I did do a quick search), but I imagine this is UIPI related? If so, my understanding is that you would normally solve that by requesting UIAccess=true, though I wouldn't be able to test that because it needs to be signed and so on to work. I'm not sure how applicable that approach is to this project, so maybe someone who knows more can chime in?

Curiously enough, when I have Task Manager (or any other high integrity/UWP app) in focus, I can summon the quake window if it is not currently shown, but once it is visible on the desktop I cannot dismiss/focus the quake window using the hotkey (if taskmgr/whatever is in focus). I'm not entirely sure why that is, but (assuming my experience isn't unique) I suspect what's actually happening when a user says they can't summon the window is that is was already present on the desktop, but perhaps out of focus and hidden by other windows (like a maximized browser or something) and it's not capturing the hotkey so it doesn't take focus again.

If so that raises a couple of questions in my mind:

1. Should the quake window be always-on-top?
   I feel like it's kind of transient UI in much the same way that (for example) the start menu is, in the sense that it floats on top of everything else while you're using it and disappears when you're done. But if you don't manually dismiss it with the hotkey and get distracted with other windows, you might mistakenly think you've dismissed it when it's actually still there.
2. Should the quake window automatically dismiss itself when it loses focus?
   Following on from above, I think this makes a fair bit of sense. I don't think the expectations for how a quake-style window would behave are exactly the same as a regular window (or at least, I don't think they are for me). This also has the added benefit of potentially solving the Task Manager problem, assuming the hotkey does consistently work to summon the window when it isn't currently shown.

The problem also appears to go away for programs like Task Manager if you run the terminal as admin, though that doesn't seem like much of a solution. This doesn't appear to work for UWP apps, though, presumably because of AppContainers and various other things that they do which might as well be magic as far as I know.

[zadjii-msft]

this is UIPI related? If so, my understanding is that you would normally solve that by requesting UIAccess=true,

I honestly don't know. The way we make this work is admittedly pretty hacky:

terminal/src/cascadia/WindowsTerminal/IslandWindow.cpp

Lines 1511 to 1527 in e2b2d9b

	const auto windowThreadProcessId = GetWindowThreadProcessId(oldForegroundWindow, nullptr);
	const auto currentThreadId = GetCurrentThreadId();
	LOG_IF_WIN32_BOOL_FALSE(AttachThreadInput(windowThreadProcessId, currentThreadId, true));
	// Just in case, add the thread detach as a scope_exit, to make _sure_ we do it.
	auto detachThread = wil::scope_exit([windowThreadProcessId, currentThreadId]() {
	LOG_IF_WIN32_BOOL_FALSE(AttachThreadInput(windowThreadProcessId, currentThreadId, false));
	});
	LOG_IF_WIN32_BOOL_FALSE(BringWindowToTop(_window.get()));
	ShowWindow(_window.get(), SW_SHOW);
	// Activate the window too. This will force us to the virtual desktop this
	// window is on, if it's on another virtual desktop.
	LOG_LAST_ERROR_IF_NULL(SetActiveWindow(_window.get()));
	// Throw us on the active monitor.
	_moveToMonitor(oldForegroundWindow, toMonitor);

I never dug to far into it, but I just assumed that Task Manager was protected s.t. I couldn't AttachThreadInput to it.

Whatever the solution to this is, utimately, it should work for non-quake windows as well. Quake mode is the most visible implementation here, but whatever we come up with should work for any old window.

[Nacimota]

I never dug to far into it, but I just assumed that Task Manager was protected s.t. I couldn't AttachThreadInput to it.

Yeah, I am fairly confident UIPI is the mechanism at play there. My understanding is that you're not allowed to AttachThreadInput (among several other things) to a process running at a higher integrity level than you, which in practice applies not just to Task Manager but presumably any app running as administrator. It's the same reason that PowerToys needs to run as admin for shortcuts to work when elevated windows (like taskmgr) are in focus. PowerToys doesn't seem to have problems with UWP apps though... but UWP is a bit of a mystery to me.

Anyway, requesting UIAccess is basically a way of bypassing UIPI without running as admin, but I don't see it used very often. I suppose because it involves a bunch of extra hurdles (process must be in a trusted location [system32/program files], authenticode signed, etc.) that are less convenient than requiring admin, especially for portable installations. I'm not sure that UIAccess is the right solution here either, I'm just saying I do suspect UIPI is the cause.

Whatever the solution to this is, utimately, it should work for non-quake windows as well. Quake mode is the most visible implementation here, but whatever we come up with should work for any old window.

Yep, that seems reasonable. Though it may not be the best solution for the problem at hand, I'd still propose always-on-top/auto-dismiss behaviours for quake mode have merit regardless, but that is a separate discussion I guess.