Fullscreen behaviour on switching tasks (Alt+Tab)

For a moment I thought that I've solved it, but from what I've seen so far, on Windows the issue seems to appear and disappear. It is consistent within a session, which means that if the first time the window minimizes OK, all the next time it will be OK. The issue may appear again the next time Stellarium is started.

Some users reported that they experience a "flashing screen" issue that follows the same pattern - consistent within a session.

Is it possible that this is some kind of thread conflict?

During a "bad" session, if Stellarium is switched to windowed mode and then AltTab-ed, after that the behavior disappears even if Stellarium is restored to full screen mode.

Another parallel to the screen flicker problem.

A fix has been committed to Stellarium's code repository at SourceForge as revision 6063:
http://stellarium.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/stellarium?view=rev&revision=6063
Some parts of it may be redundant. This works both on Windows and Linux.

The fix caused the destructor of the Oculars plug-in to be called on exiting Stellarium, revealing a hidden bug - a segmentation fault. A fix has been committed as revision 6066:
http://stellarium.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/stellarium?view=rev&revision=6066

Fixing the Oculars bug also revealed the reason for the "QSqlDatabasePrivate::removeDatabase: connection 'oculars' is still in use, all queries will cease to work." error message on exiting Stellarium. A fix has been committed as revision 6065:
http://stellarium.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/stellarium?view=rev&revision=6065

I downloaded the revision 6110 for Windows. Ok, it's a beta, but I noticed that if I put Stellarium in a secondary monitor in full screen mode, when I click back in any window (also on the desktop) in the primary monitor, Stellarium suddenly is iconized and disappear from the secondary monitor. I think there is a problem in the patch... Could you please verify?

The work-around implemented by my patch minimizes the window when Stellarium loses input focus. :) So it doesn't work as expected on dual displays.

Someone will have to find another solution.

Mmmhh.... we use Stellarium on the secondary monitor, because the primary one is used by another application (the problem is the same if I switch the primary monitor with the secondary one or vice versa). IMHO, I think that if there isn't a definitive patch, the old version is preferable! Otherwise we would have serious problems to use Stellarium in our dome...

The screen starts to flicker also if you press F11. It seems that Stellarium, when run in full screen mode, tries to be the top-window. Perhaps, in the code (I don't have time to see if my argues are true!) there is a point in which the O.S. is notified to put Stellarium always on top. Probably, deleting that line, the problem is solved...

Moreover, if you put Stellarium in the secondary monitor, the bug disappears (I'm talking about the 0.10.4 version). This is a simple work-around for this bug... :-)

A new fix has been committed to Stellarium's code repository at SourceForge as revision 6155:
http://stellarium.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/stellarium?view=rev&revision=6155

Ross,

I have made another attempt at fixing this. Could you please try the latest test build (stellarium-svn6155-win32.exe)?

This revision (6155) has the same problems of the previous one (6110):
1) when Stellarium starts in full screen mode on the primary monitor, the screen continues flickering

and

2) as I click in another point of the screen (on the secondary monitor if Stellarium is in the primary one), Stellarium is minimized and disappears (I think the normal behaviour should be that it goes to the background).

If you put Stellarium in the secondary monitor, the flickering does not appear. But the work-around that minimizes Stellarium when it looses focus, is a serious problem for us... :-(

Hi,
I also observe this kind of problem at work on my dual screen setup. It's quite annoying and I preferred the previous behaviour.
Fab

The changes have been reverted:
http://stellarium.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/stellarium?view=rev&revision=6176

I don't have any more time to waste on this issue.

I have uploaded a new test build.

Sorry that it didn't work out. I didn't really looked at this issue before, but in fact I cannot reproduce the original tab bug neither on my Ubuntu 8.10 (on both screens of the dual screen, desktop effects deactivated) nor on my windows XP. This is after the revert.
Fabien

I don't want to make confusion, but I found this link (http://lists-archives.org/kde-devel/15915-do-not-use-qwidget-showfullscreen-etc-was-kde.html) in which a guy stated not to use QWidget::showFullScreen, but another function, like setWindowState(): http://doc.trolltech.com/3.3/qwidget.html#setWindowState

Could someone try to use this function?

Hope this help... :-)
Ross

Thanks Ross,
It's already coded like that (see StelMainWindow::setFullScreen(bool b))
Fabien

Mac OSX 10.6.3 on Mac mini (GMA 950 video chipset on Acer X163W monitor) with Stellarium flickering all over screen in fullscreen mode. I can tolerate it, but thought I should report it.

re-targeting for 1.0.0.

Do we think this is a Stellarium issue? Or - more likely - Qt or the OS?

I've posted another bug report that I've since noticed is most likely the same problem. It is Bug #887226 and while I noticed the issue when returning from hybernation, it acts just like this bug, and my laptop also replicates this one when switching tasks as well. I doubt it is an OS issue as I've never run any other software that does this. Perhaps it is an issue with how Stellarium interacts with the OS.

In case it helps, this issue also presents when the screen saver tries to activate while in full screen mode. Also, switching tasks while in a window, or even while maximised seems to work fine....its only when in full screen mode that the flashing occurs.

Ok sorry, please ignore my last two posts. I've fixed this problem on my end. A new driver was available for my graphics processor and after installing the new driver the flicker has gone away. It has also fixed the problem returning from hybernation and with screen saver activation.

There may be a bug here, but, it's either driver, Qt, or Windows related.

Newer, probably related bug:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/stellarium/+bug/1014281 (Windows key behaviour)

Another probable duplicate:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/stellarium/+bug/1016385

Hi, (very) confused about the status of this bug - orignal post is dated 2010... Anyway, for what it's worth, unfortunately with the 0.12.0 release I'm experiencing pretty much the behaviour described here - alt-tab has no apparent effect other than making Stellarium unresponsive, mouse clicking may restore focus to Stellarium (doesn't always). Same situation with Windows key - no effect other than Stellarium becoming unresponsive. Sometimes the clock in Stellarium keeps running, sometimes it doesn't. Stellarium inevitably crashes shortly afterwards. log.txt contains nothing untoward. Windows 7 pro SP1 on a Dell Latitude E6220 with Intel HD Graphics 3000 video bios 2089.11, resolution 32bit 1366 x 768. Using own landscape that's been fine up to this release...

This needs to be re-checked with Qt 5.1.1 or Qt 5.2, whichever we are going to use for the next release. (Reminder: I can't build Stellarium on Windows. :))

The issue still can be reproduce: http://www.astronomy.ru/forum/index.php/topic,21983.msg2922551.html#msg2922551

With Qt5.5 on Win7 and 10, I cannot reproduce it any longer. Alt-Tab switches well. Some of the window placement and behaviour code was changed within the last 2 years. So I think this should be closed, and a new report opened if necessary, as it may even have different reasons.

I have report on Russian Astronomical Forum that this issue has been fixed in version 0.15.0RC1.

Any confirmation that this has been fixed or vanished with ~Qt5.6?

After seven years, whatever remains of the original bug report is too dubious to still leave this open. I set this to "Incomplete" now and propose we let it expire. Else, please anybody confirm that exactly this bug is really still open, and under which circumstances (OS, GPU, dual screen, ...)

This bug is not dead, but it is a video driver problem, apparently. I just experienced it with Stellarium 0.15.1 under Windows 10 on a brand-new Lenovo Z50 laptop, which has ATI Radeon graphics.

To reproduce the problem: Put Stellarium on the screen in full-screen mode, then try to use Alt-Tab or Windows-D to get to another app or to the desktop respectively. Stellarium hangs.

In my case it seems to have gone away after I updated the ATI Radeon drivers.

Thank you Michael for the report! So this means it is a driver-only issue, and most likely fixed by a driver update? This is the usual first idea, already in the FAQ. I cannot confirm any Alt-Tab or Alt-D issues (Win10, Geforce960M or Intel HD530). We cannot fix AMD driver issues.

[Expired for Stellarium because there has been no activity for 60 days.]