F11 does not show the Object Inspector in the Form Designer

[PeterPanettone 157]

The Keyboard Shortcuts GExpert shows all IDE shortcuts where the F11 key is involved:

 

 

As you can see, the F11 key (without modifier keys) is associated with the Object Inspector.

 

In Delphi 10.4, when the IDE Code Editor is active, F11 works very well - it focuses the Object Inspector with the cursor in the Search box:

 

 

But in the Form-Designer, F11 does not focus the Object Inspector! It shows the Code Editor instead!

 

This is ANNOYING, as it makes the concept of keyboard control in the IDE obsolete!

 

Can anyone confirm this?

Edited July 1, 2020 by PeterPanettone

[Anders Melander 1783]

7 minutes ago, PeterPanettone said:

it makes the concept of keyboard control in the IDE obsolete!

Hardly. Just press Enter instead or press F11 one more time.

[PeterPanettone 157]

2 minutes ago, Anders Melander said:

Just press Enter instead or press F11 one more time.

The Enter/Return key in the Form Designer only focuses the Object Inspector without setting the cursor inside the Object Inspector's Search field! (As the F11 key in the Code Editor does).

 

And pressing the F11 key one more time has already set me into the Code Editor - where I don't want to be, as I have pressed the F11 key in the Form Designer!

 

 

[Uwe Raabe 2057]

I see a different behavior here:

• when the focus is in inside the Form Designer and I press F11 the Object Inspector is shown and the focus is inside the search box. The Form Designer stays visible.
• when the focus is inside the Source Editor and I press F11 the Object Inspector is shown and the focus is inside the search box. The Source Editor stays visible.
• when the focus is inside the Object Inspector and
  a) the Form Designer is visible: the Source Editor is shown and focused
  b) the Source Editor is visible: the Form Designer is shown, but the Object Inspector keeps the focus

That way I can cycle through these states by continuously pressing F11.

[PeterPanettone 157]

1 hour ago, Uwe Raabe said:

when the focus is in inside the Form Designer and I press F11 the Object Inspector is shown and the focus is inside the search box. The Form Designer stays visible.

This is NOT the behavior I see here. As I said, when I press F11 in Form Designer the Object Inspector is NOT being focused. Instead, the Code-Editor is shown.

 

As I look at the Keyboard Shortcuts GExpert (sees screenshot above), the F11 key has only the Object Inspector function.

Edited July 1, 2020 by PeterPanettone

[Uwe Raabe 2057]

29 minutes ago, PeterPanettone said:

This is NOT the behavior I see here.

So there must be some difference between our systems. Tested with 10.3.3 and 10.4. No GExperts installed, though.

[PeterPanettone 157]

23 minutes ago, Uwe Raabe said:

So there must be some difference between our systems

It SEEMS. Or try this one:

 

After some more testing in Delphi 10.4, the following behavior has emerged:

 

Right after showing the Form Designer with F12, I select a visual component in the Form Designer with the mouse and then I press F11. Result: The Object Inspector is shown and the focus is inside the search box.

 

Then I again select a visual component in the Form Designer with the mouse to make the Object Inspector lose the focus. Then I press F11 again which does not focus the Object Inspector but instead this time shows the Code Editor!

 

This suggests that the Object Inspector keeps some sort of "hidden focus". This makes the Object Inspector "believe" it still has the focus, which when pressing F11 the second time, instead of focusing the Object Inspector shows the Code Editor!

 

All IDE plugins are temporarily disabled.

Edited July 1, 2020 by PeterPanettone

[Uwe Raabe 2057]

17 minutes ago, PeterPanettone said:

Then I again select a visual component in the Form Designer with the mouse to make the Object Inspector lose the focus. Then I press F11 again which does not focus the Object Inspector but instead this time shows the Code Editor!

I see that behavior, too, but I also noticed that the Form Designer doesn't receive the focus after selecting another component. You can see that when clicking the forms tab which only then changes to selected. This might be related to the fact that pressing <enter> in this situation focuses the Object Inspector with the last property selected (if available).

 

You should describe your expectations with (very) detailed steps in QP.

[Anders Melander 1783]

I see the same behavior in 10.3 and 10.4; Pressing F11 cycles focus: Designer -> OI -> Editor -> OI -> Designer etc.

 

While this doesn't work like I would expect (to the point where I think it unusable) at least it's consistent.

FWIW it's been like this since Delphi 4. From Delphi 1 to 3 you could toggle between OI and Designer with F11. The behavior changed when it became possible to dock the OI to the editor and I guess it changed again when the editor and designer merged.

 

2 minutes ago, Uwe Raabe said:

You should describe your expectations with (very) detailed steps in QP.

Good luck with that. There has been complaints about this behavior for as long as I can remember.

[PeterPanettone 157]

2 hours ago, Uwe Raabe said:

the Form Designer doesn't receive the focus after selecting another component

HERE lies the BUG: When selecting any element in the Form Designer (visual or non-visual component), the Form-Designer SHOULD automatically get the focus! This is the STANDARD BEHAVIOR in any other tool window of the IDE, where selecting a child element in the tool window causes the parent tool window to get the focus!

 

A Quality Report will be filed later today, where I kindly ask everybody to vote for it, to get this nasty BUG finally fixed.

Edited July 1, 2020 by PeterPanettone

[PeterPanettone 157]

22 hours ago, Uwe Raabe said:

You should describe your expectations with (very) detailed steps in QP.

A colleague has filed a Quality report here:

 

https://quality.embarcadero.com/browse/RSP-29906

 

Please everybody vote for this QP to have this nasty bug finally fixed! Thank you!

[PeterPanettone 157]

Would any IDE plugin author be able to implement an OPTION to automatically focus the Form-Designer TAB when the user selects a control/component on the form in the Form-Designer?

 

This would be very useful until in an unknown future the above bug is maybe getting fixed.

 

As an alternative, a plugin author could simply implement a simple command to focus the Search Box of the Object Inspector.

Edited July 2, 2020 by PeterPanettone