xfce4-panel: why the change in d&d icon?

[Olivier Brunel]

On Sat, 29 Oct 2016 16:37:36 -0400
Graeme Gott <graeme at gottcode.org> wrote:

> On 10/29/2016 01:01 PM, Olivier Brunel wrote:
> > Hi,
> > 
> > I've recently updated to xfce4-panel 4.12.1, released just a few
> > days ago, and noticed a changed in the icon used when performing
> > drag&drop with the buttons.
> > 
> > That is, using no sort order (to allow d&d) and showing button
> > labels. Instead of the usual image of the button itself (so icon &
> > label), only the icon of the application is now being used.
> > 
> > This is due to commit 8dc83f50[1]. I'm not sure what the motivations
> > were behind this - the commit doesn't say, and adds a FIXME
> > referring to repaint error and bug 11283, but that bug[2] doesn't
> > talk about this, or even xfce4-panel for that matter.
> > 
> > However, I dislike this change, notably because I often have many
> > terminal emulators open, and now when doing a d&d I always get the
> > same icon, instead of having the label as well, which helps
> > identifying which window button I'm actually dragging (it's also
> > why I show labels in the first place).
> > 
> > Any chance to see this reverted? Or maybe only when labels are
> > used/shown?  
> 
> As far as I know, that change is to prevent out-of-process plugins
> (like Whisker Menu) from becoming black squares in that exact
> scenario (drag & drop with no sort order). I think the comment was
> supposed to reference bug 10656 as that is where the patch came from.

Thanks, yes bug 10656 seems indeed to be the right one.

However, this patch isn't a fix at all, only a "workaround" at best to
hide things, all the while "breaking" other things, since losing labels
during d&d is - IMHO - a bad thing.

I did some quick tests, and could reproduce the issue (from bug 10656,
using xfce4-panel 4.12.1 with commit 8dc83f50 reverted), however I also
noticed that when it happens, if I move the panel from the top of the
screen to e.g. the middle, then in the Whisker button properties switch
e.g. from Button to Label then back, and move the panel back on top,
the issue appears gone.
IOW, after this odd trick, I can d&d buttons (and their labels) fine,
and the Whisker menu button doesn't go back anymore.

In fact, if you lower the panel only a little (instead of to the middle
of the screen) you can see the black rectangle getting smaller, lower it
more and it'll shrink some more, until it eventually disappears
completely.

Seems to me like a bug in gtk maybe, anyhow this commit is far from
a fix. A better solution would be nice, but I don't know gtk2 nor do I
have much time these days, so I'll just keep my xfce4-panel w/ the
offending commit reverted for now.

Hopefully someone can come up with a real fix at some point, and bring
back buttons & their labels during d&d operations for everyone.

Cheers,