Script interferes with Espanso on multi-screen setup

[mrmatteastwood]

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Install CachyOS on a PC with more than 1 screen
2. Install espanso-wayland from the AUR
3. If applicable, remember to specify keyboard layout in default.yml (cf. here: https://espanso.org/docs/install/linux/#install-on-wayland)
4. Open CachyOS System Settings > Apps & Windows > Window Management > KWin scripts
5. Click "Get new" button in top right corner and install "Remember Window Positions" script (cf. here: https://www.reddit.com/r/cachyos/comments/1p843w9/remember_window_positions_kde_kwin_script_restore/)
6. Open Kate and another app, e.g. Brave browser or even another Kate window on another screen
7. In Kate, type :espanso

Description:
Espanso pastes text strings in different windows than the one the user is in. This happens when more than 1 screen is connected to the computer and when the "Remember Window Positions" KWin script is active.

All details + conversation with Espanso developer:
I already reported this exact bug on the Espanso GitHub. Perhaps you can jump in there?
espanso/espanso#2630 (comment)

[rxappdev]

The issue is most likely due to Remember Window Positions restoring z-order of applications by giving them focus. I'll make a bugfix for that, it's been on my TODO list for a while so that it goes back to previous focused window, just that my TODO list is 20 items long so never got around to it.

It will probably not be perfect depending on how fast KWin handles focus change, but chances of wrong window having focus will be greatly reduced.

[rxappdev]

Hey. Sorry it took so long, had a lot of work in the pipeline. But I released the fix now.

v5.4.0 includes fixes that will always place previously active window on top and focused after a restoration attempt. (Previously another window could get a higer Z order and in some rare scenarios even focus).

It is now live on the KDE Store and can be updated via Discover.

If this does not solve the issue, then it's out of my control as there is nothing else I can do to give the previous window focus.

Please let me know if it solved the issue for you.

Thank you! :)

[mrmatteastwood]

Hi @rxappdev! Thanks for following up. I checked and the issue still occurs. I'll report back in the other bug report as well.

[rxappdev]

Sorry to hear. Could you post a short screen capture showing the issue in action? Maybe I missed something, but my understanding it the previous window should always have focus.

[mrmatteastwood]

Thanks! Yeah, I made a recording:
https://youtu.be/p_NjqK4ezSw

You can see that when I open Kate on my left and right screens without the script being activated, text expansion will work in whatever window I have active. When I try it with the script being active, it works on the left screen, but when I try text expansion in the Kate window on the right screen, the text will show up in the Kate window on the left screen.

Here's my xrandr output:

Screen 0: minimum 16 x 16, current 7040 x 1440, maximum 32767 x 32767
DP-1 connected 2560x1440+0+0 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 708mm x 398mm
   2560x1440     59.91*+
   1920x1440     59.90  
   1600x1200     59.87  
   1440x1080     59.87  
   1400x1050     59.86  
   1280x1024     59.89  
   1280x960      59.94  
   1152x864      59.78  
   1024x768      59.68  
   800x600       59.86  
   640x480       59.38  
   320x240       59.29  
   1920x1200     59.88  
   1680x1050     59.85  
   1440x900      59.89  
   1280x800      59.81  
   1152x720      59.75  
   960x600       59.63  
   928x580       59.88  
   800x500       59.50  
   768x480       59.38  
   720x480       59.71  
   640x400       59.20  
   320x200       58.14  
   2048x1152     59.90  
   1920x1080     59.88  
   1600x900      59.82  
   1368x768      59.88  
   1280x720      59.86  
   1024x576      59.90  
   864x486       59.45  
   720x400       59.27  
   640x350       59.28  
HDMI-A-1 connected 1920x1080+5120+177 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 621mm x 341mm
   1920x1080     59.96*+
   1440x1080     59.99  
   1400x1050     59.98  
   1280x1024     59.89  
   1280x960      59.94  
   1152x864      59.96  
   1024x768      59.92  
   800x600       59.86  
   640x480       59.38  
   320x240       59.29  
   1680x1050     59.95  
   1440x900      59.89  
   1280x800      59.81  
   1152x720      59.97  
   960x600       59.63  
   928x580       59.88  
   800x500       59.50  
   768x480       59.90  
   720x480       59.71  
   640x400       59.95  
   320x200       58.14  
   1600x900      59.95  
   1368x768      59.88  
   1280x720      59.86  
   1024x576      59.90  
   864x486       59.92  
   720x400       59.27  
   640x350       59.28  
DP-2 connected primary 2560x1080+2560+177 (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 798mm x 334mm
   2560x1080    143.82*+
   1440x1080    143.80  
   1400x1050    143.78  
   1280x1024    143.79  
   1280x960     143.86  
   1152x864     143.75  
   1024x768     143.66  
   800x600      143.83  
   640x480      143.30  
   320x240      142.05  
   1680x1050    143.88  
   1440x900     143.86  
   1280x800     143.67  
   1152x720     143.77  
   960x600      143.72  
   928x580      143.50  
   800x500      143.68  
   768x480      143.69  
   720x480      143.35  
   640x400      143.37  
   320x200      141.40  
   1920x1080    143.80  
   1600x900     143.81  
   1368x768     143.77  
   1280x720     143.67  
   1024x576     143.62  
   864x486      143.63  
   720x400      143.29  
   640x350      143.57  

On my PC, to the best of my understanding, two screens are connected to the dGPU while one is connected to the iGPU. It seems to have to do with the wiring in this laptop; one of the 3 screen ports is hardwired to the iGPU.

[rxappdev]

Ok thank you. Now I see clearly.

Yeah I'm 99% sure this has nothing to do with Remember Window Positions (as in I cannot fix it from my end).

I suspect espanso-wayland keeps track of windows internally, and it somehow thinks that the other Kate window is on top/active.

Remember Window Position re-orders windows so that they are in same z-order they had before they were closed and this is most likely not updated inside espanso.

https://github.com/rxappdev/RememberWindowPositions/releases/download/beta_releases/rememberwindowpositions-v5.4.0-no-z-restore-do-not-use.kwinscript

I made this version of the script for you, it does not restore z so it would be a workaround to the issue.

Please let me know if this solves the issue. If it does, I could add a checkbox in settings to disable z-restore.

[mrmatteastwood]

Nice, thanks! Alas, it doesn't fix the issue either :-(

[rxappdev]

Oh wow. Ok then I have no idea why it is happening.

The only things left that are restored are like X, Y, desktop, minimized, keepAbove, keepBelow and activity but only if you set those and use those features.

Btw, did you reboot after installing the script?

If not, the old version is still running. Sorry forgot to mention that. KWin/Plasma somehow caches the old version until you reboot/restart session.

[rxappdev]

Rebooting with the test script might solve the issue for you. But if it does not, you could uncheck (then a simple reload of the script by disabling it > Apply > enabling > Apply should apply new settings):

If the issue still persists, then I'm out of ideas.

But if unchecking solves the issue, then you could re-enable them until you find the one that causes the issue.

Sorry for inconvenience.

[mrmatteastwood]

I unchecked all except the first one:

Issue still persists.

I wonder if it has anything at all to do with this bug?

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=515264

Here's what the devs are working on to fix it: https://invent.kde.org/plasma/kwin/-/merge_requests/7101

Apart from that, I have this conversation that I had with AI a while ago where I learned that probably my screens are connected to different graphics cards:

https://www.getmerlin.in/chat/share/c3a993e1-5733-4f2d-b080-e2d1cfa592c8

Of course, it's AI, so grain of salt and all that.

[rxappdev]

Hmm, not sure. I found some strange behavior depending on which window was focused, just released v5.4.2 that solves that. Spent a few hours testing it, seems to work in all strange scenarios I could find.

No idea if this will solve your issue, but it might since focus was not correctly set previously in certain scenarios.

Make sure to update and activate the script it then reboot before testing.

Sorry for all the testing you have to to. Good night! :)

[mrmatteastwood]

Hey, no worries! I'm more than happy to test and appreciate you putting in all this effort.

Unfortunately, still no good news. Installed the latest version and set up my preferred config:

The issue still occurs unchanged.