[Xfce-bugs] [Bug 15743] New: Thunar's side pane tree has bad usability with keyboard (auto-expanding directories)

[bugzilla-daemon at xfce.org]

https://bugzilla.xfce.org/show_bug.cgi?id=15743

            Bug ID: 15743
           Summary: Thunar's side pane tree has bad usability with
                    keyboard (auto-expanding directories)
    Classification: Xfce Core
           Product: Thunar
           Version: 1.8.4
          Hardware: PC (x86_64)
                OS: Linux
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: Medium
         Component: General
          Assignee: xfce-bugs at xfce.org
          Reporter: finnpanther at yahoo.com
  Target Milestone: 1.8.8

For the steps I describe, you have to have subdirectories in your home
directory, and some of those subdirectories should also contain subdirectories.

When I was using Xubuntu 18.04 with Thunar 1.6.15, the tree view inside the
side pane worked like this:
1. Focus a directory on the side pane tree view (say, my home directory).
2. Press the right arrow key to expand it.
3. I can go through its subdirectories (move the focus down along the tree)
using the down arrow.
4. I press the right arrow key to expand the subdirectory I want to dive into.

*Steps to reproduce this bug:*

Now, after upgrading to Xubuntu 19.04 with Thunar 1.8.4, it works like this:
1. Focus a directory on the side pane tree view (my home directory).
2. Press the right arrow to expand it.
3. When I press the down arrow, it automatically expands the focused
subdirectory (if it has subdirectories). To actually go down the tree view
using the down arrow, I first have to close the just expanded subdirectory
using the left arrow. Expected result is as above in steps 3-4.

This makes navigating directories really cumbersome, as I cannot just blindly
use "down, left" either to actually go down: if a subdirectory focused with the
down arrow key does not have subdirectories of its own, pressing left arrow key
moves the focus back to the parent directory.

Note: I can go through the "root" items in the tree view using the down arrow
without them expanding automatically. By root items I mean: my home directory,
Trash, Network, volumes, File System etc.

I *suspect* (I'm not sure) this has something to do with the following commit
and file:
    git log -p 85a79 -- thunar/thunar-tree-view.c

and searching for gtk_tree_view_expand_to_path there are lines such as these:

    -                {
    -                  /* just expand everything up to the row and its children
*/
    -                  gtk_tree_view_expand_to_path (GTK_TREE_VIEW (view),
ancestor);
    -                }
    -              else if (!gtk_tree_view_row_expanded (GTK_TREE_VIEW (view),
ancestor))
    -                {
    -                  /* just expand everything up to the row, but not the
children */
    -                  parent = gtk_tree_path_copy (ancestor);
    -                  if (gtk_tree_path_up (parent))
    -                    gtk_tree_view_expand_to_path (GTK_TREE_VIEW (view),
parent);
    -                  gtk_tree_path_free (parent);
    -                }

    +              gtk_tree_view_expand_to_path (GTK_TREE_VIEW (view), path);
    +              gtk_tree_view_set_cursor (GTK_TREE_VIEW (view), path, NULL,
FALSE);
    +              gtk_tree_path_free (path);

So the gtk_tree_view_expand_to_path seemed to receive a different second
argument at some point.

If this is the intended functionality, this bug might just as well be a feature
request: a checkbox for the side pane tree options - "automatically expand
focused directories". I'll create one if this is not a bug.

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