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Do Not Activate ArcGIS Pro Window While Loading if User has Switched Applications

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38
05-04-2021 03:36 PM
Status: Open
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NathanHeickLACSD
by
Frequent Contributor

Well, I'm not versed in the proper terminology for this, but I hate it when I open ArcGIS Pro and start it loading up and then I switch to another app to do work in the mean time.  Routinely, it will reactivate ArcGIS Pro, what seems like multiple times.  If I switch from ArcGIS Pro to another app while it is loading, it should keep loading in the background and not reactivate itself. 

38 Comments
DougFenske
by
‎03-22-2022 05:00 PM

I've always noticed this, too, ever since I started using Pro 4 or 5 years ago. I would LOVE to see this changed so it opens in the background instead of stealing the focus of my Windows session. I'm currently using Windows 10 and Pro 2.9. Please, @KoryKramer , can you try to help get this changed? I've had it happening while I was using a physical tower and now that I'm remoted in to a virtual desktop. Thank you to all of you for posting about this!

KoryKramer
by Esri Community Moderator
‎03-22-2022 05:06 PM

Hi @DougFenske you can see in the comments that I tried to reproduce this when the idea was initially submitted and asked for reproducible steps. Unfortunately, I do not see this behavior, and while we can all agree that it is frustrating for those who are experiencing it, I don't think that this is actionable at this time as an idea. 

If you have an environment/steps to reproduce focus stealing, it would be great if you could report a bug to Technical Support: https://support.esri.com/en/contact-tech-support That would be the best route to creating action around this at this point.

Thank you!

DougFenske
by
‎03-22-2022 05:09 PM

Thanks @KoryKramer for your quick response!

NathanHeickLACSD
by
‎03-23-2022 11:01 AM

If we have to submit a bug to Technical Support, then that's what we will have to do.  I just tested it once more.  It was not consistent.  It stole the focus from Google Chrome 1 out of 2 times.  It did not steal the focus from Outlook or Teams.  It definitely is better than when I created this idea, but it's very hard to see a pattern.

BillyBuerger
by
‎05-25-2022 01:44 PM

I can confirm this as well.  This is an ArcPro issue, not any other application. Here are the steps I performed...

1) Open ArcGIS Pro.  This can sometimes take a few moments.

2) Switch to another application and start typing.

3) When Pro is finished opening, it will steal focus and my typing now is sent to Pro.

4) Open a project in Pro.  This again can take a few moments.

5) Switch back to my other application and start typing.

6) When pro is finished opening the project, it steals focus again and my typing is now sent to Pro.

This happened with things like Firefox, Outlook and Remote Desktop.  I was using RDP one time and it was annoying that it kept interrupting me in the middle of typing my password twice.  But worse, that means my password was being typed into Pro which is a security risk.  This is something that really needs to be addressed.  Stealing focus should only be for critical things.  Not just while opening an application.  You're not that important.

DougFenske
by
‎05-25-2022 06:18 PM

Thank you so much, @BillyBuerger , for writing that great description of this problem. I have submitted a bug report for this per @KoryKramer 's recommendation above on 03-22-2022.

NathanHeickLACSD
by
‎06-01-2022 10:16 AM

I think the point is that some people experience this issue and others don't.  Reproducing it is as simple as opening ArcGIS Pro and switching to another application while it loads, but you have to do it on certain machines.  Since we  don't know what is different about our machines, we can't provide steps to reproduce the problem on an arbitrary machine.

DougFenske
by
‎08-01-2022 10:08 AM

Sara from Esri Support Services has now logged "BUG-000151047: ArcGIS Pro steals the cursor from another application when it is opened".

BradleyThompson1
by Esri Contributor
‎11-15-2022 10:00 AM

Hi all,

 

The defect above has been placed in a 'Need Info' status as, despite our best efforts, we've been unsuccessful reproducing this in-house on a gamut of different machines, either physical or virtual.

I'm working with the analyst who submitted the defect, Sara, to pose these questions to the end user this case was originally-logged against (if that particular user is on this thread, please do answer the questions to the best of your ability when she reaches out to acquire answers for them; don't hesitate to corroborate your answers here as well, but don't consider this valid in lieu of re-engaging Sara on your Support ticket). That being said, figured we'd do a bit of crowdsourcing to try and determine if any similarities begin to appear between affected parties. 

To all affected parties, could you please answer these series of questions to the best of your ability and respond to this thread with them? 

  • Are you using Pro on a physical machine, a VM, or either a physical/VM through RDP?
    • What version of Pro are you using & encountering this problem with?
  • Is this machine being used in a multi-monitor setup? If so:
    • How many monitors?
    • Does focus shift when Pro opens on your Main monitor (it should open there by default) and you're working within an application on a secondary/tertiary monitor; when Pro opens on your Main monitor and you're working within an application also on the Main monitor; or both?
  • Does this issue only occur while Pro is launching in Full Screen mode, in Windowed mode, or both modes?
  • Does this issue only occur while you're launching Pro standalone (i.e. searching for ArcGIS Pro in Start & launching it/double-clicking on the 'ArcGIS Pro' shortcut on your Desktop or Task Bar), when you're launching Pro via Opening a Project/aprx file, or both?
  • Do you have any custom configurations or admin settings that load while ArcGIS Pro is launching? If so, do any of these configurations modify the Home page that displays after Pro launches?
  • Do you have any custom Add-Ins installed?
  • Are there any observations you've made that don't fall into any of the questions above? If so, please include them. 

We'd be elated to get to the bottom of this one, but please do understand that the only reason we're kicking this back to information-gathering for now is out of necessity. Had this been caught on any of the test machines we took a stab at repro on, we'd have moved forward on this problem. 

BillyBuerger
by
‎11-17-2022 12:00 PM

I tested on my current desktop and I'm not seeing the issue right now with Pro 2.9.5 when running normally.  If I'm debugging using Visual Studio then I do get the focus stolen when Pro first starts up but I don't seem to be getting it when opening a project.  I'm not sure but I might have been running Pro 2.6.x when I commented previously.  I also don't recall if I was debugging at that time.  Perhaps that's part of where the issue was coming from.  I'll test on some other systems when I can to see if I can replicate it under different configurations.