You are not logged in.

#1 2013-02-01 04:11:39

jamtat
Member
Registered: 2008-03-13
Posts: 224

[Solved] Alt-Tab window switching no longer working after update (JWM)

The next issue I am trying to straighten out after a recent, long-overdue pacman -Syu, is the loss of window-switching functionality using the alt-tab key combination. This is under the JWM window manager, by the way. The alt key seems to work as expected when, for example, firefox has focus: if I hit alt left arrow, the browser goes back to the preceding page. But if I hit alt and tab together, say, in the browser or when a terminal has focus, it seems to be read as though I were pressing only the tab key. So, with two windows maximized on the desktop, the alt-tab combination does not toggle between them. If the terminal has focus I can see the cursor jumping over a tab space each time I press the key combination.

Can anyone offers pointers on how I might resolve or begin diagnosing this issue? I should mention that another change I did in the wake of the update was to make the system log me in and start the GUI each time I boot the machine (as discussed at https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/St … h_profile). I'm not sure why that would have any effect but I thought I should mention it. I think this is just a pretty standard pc105 keyboard by the way.

Input will be appreciated.

Thanks,
James

Last edited by jamtat (2013-02-01 17:07:32)

Offline

#2 2013-02-01 05:08:50

anonymous_user
Member
Registered: 2009-08-28
Posts: 3,059

Re: [Solved] Alt-Tab window switching no longer working after update (JWM)

Does alt-tab work with the default/example config file (/etc/system.jwmrc)?

Offline

#3 2013-02-01 17:06:38

jamtat
Member
Registered: 2008-03-13
Posts: 224

Re: [Solved] Alt-Tab window switching no longer working after update (JWM)

Thank you for your input, anonymous_user. I decided, on reading it, to compare my .jwmrc with the /etc/system.jwmrc file. I noted that, in my .jwmrc, the keybindings section was empty, while that section in the /etc/system.jwmrc had several entries--and even one that seemed to refer to the alt-tab key combination. So I copied that section into my .jwmrc, restarted JWM, and the key combination now seems to be working as it should. Granted, it's a bit strange in that it doesn't open some kind of dialog box with the names of open windows, showing you in list form the windows you're scrolling through. But it does take you to other open windows when, after you've hit the tab key one or more times, you release the alt key. So the issue is resolved and was pretty simple.

James

Offline

#4 2013-02-04 00:26:00

jamtat
Member
Registered: 2008-03-13
Posts: 224

Re: [Solved] Alt-Tab window switching no longer working after update (JWM)

As a further follow-up and clarification, I found that the line <Key mask="A" key="Tab">nextstacked</Key> as found in /etc/system.jwmrc was not producing quite the type of behavior I was hoping for. I determined that modifying that entry to <Key mask="A" key="Tab">next</Key> resulted in something closer to what I was expecting: with that line so modified, hitting alt-tab doesn't pop up a menu of open windows, but it does bring each open window into the foreground in succession. I can live with that sort of behavior.

James

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB