No workspace switching with mousewheel with compiz

Compiz has an option accessible via the big compizconfig interface to enable switch-on-mousewheel, but somehow it's not on by default. I don't understand the reasoning for that either.

The workspace switcher applet of the gnome-panel (gnome-panel/applet/wncklet/workspace-switcher.c, function applet_scroll) should use the viewport functions instead of the workspace functions when Compiz is used. As it already has support for Compiz, this has obviously just slipped through.

BTW, Metacity forces you to use keyboard shortcuts to move windows to other workspaces - why would anyone consider such an incomplete window manager by default?
(You see, it's just a matter of perspective.)

No, with Metacity, you can just right-click a window title and select "Move to another workspace".

And with compiz you just move the window. :)

If you load compizConfig and then unselect the viewport switcher plugin, the desktop switching will start working with the mousewheel.
This is the Oct 8th build of Ubuntu.

Doesn't fix it for me.

Doesn't fix for me too, but when "reset to defaults", the viewport is activated and it's possible to switch desktops by scrolling the mousewhell... directly on the desktop!

If viewport would work with the workspace switcher, I think it would be more appropriate :)

I got few comments from my customers about this bug. People really don't understand what's happening when their computer switch to the Desktop #3 because they just used the mousewhell directly on the Desktop. From what I've experienced, this behavior is pretty un-convenient for unexperienced people. Especially laptop users who uses touchpads.

So I suggest at the same time to remove this compiz behavior.

Saïvann: this particular irk (scrolling on the desktop now switches desktops, while before Gutsy it didn't) is described in bug #175986 . Should that one be marked as duplicate of this bug (and both be resolved together)?

Oliver Gerlich : Thanks for your comment! I believe that these bugs should stay separate as they will involve different teams so I'll continue to work on that bug. I'm glad to see it because it will be better like that.

This bug isn't fixed as of January 30th in Gutsy. Has it been fixed upstream / in Hardy?

No, this is unfortunately not fixed in Hardy.

To Saïvann and Oliver: I also think that this bug is /not/ a duplicate of bug #175986 because here, the aim is to _add_ the feature of changing the viewport by scrolling the mouse wheel over the Desktop Switcher whereas the other issue is to _change the default to "disabled"_ of the feature of changing the viewport by scrolling the mouse wheel over the Desktop Background.

This bug is still not fixed in Ubuntu intrepid.

According to the last comment of this bug:

  http://bugs.opencompositing.org/show_bug.cgi?id=703

it should have been fixed in libwnck 2.22. Intrepid has version 2.24 and the bug is still there.

I don't want to sound rude, but this bug now has been reported 15 months ago, has there been any progress? obviously libwnck 2.22 has not fixed the bug.

Nope, no progress. As this bug is so old, I don't think there's any shame in being rude any more. It's such a basic usability bug, and this is been dragged on for too long. It's plain unacceptable.

It seems to be a tricky bug, but the bigger problem obviously is, that nobody really feels responsible.
and i don't quite understand this, because this particular bug affects my work everyday. sure you don't want to abandon compiz for that bug, but i dont think this affects to few people...please pay attention to this bug again!

there is some thousand open desktop bugs there and only a small team working on those, most of the contributor being volunteers who do work after their work hours so no being rude is not acceptable and that will rather discourage volunters to look at your issue than anything else there

This is an easy fix. Obviously the people who do this in their spare time
don't consider this important (myself included.) For all the people
complaining, spend your efforts trying to fix the code instead, or you can
pay someone to do it. I charge £50 an hour.

hello sebastien and alexander!

like i said, i had no intention of being rude (if i was, i'm sorry) and i'm very well aware of bugfixing and much more being a community process of volunteers. i think i don't have to explain myself, i'm just not the coder type, while doing other things in the community.
my only intention was, that somebody (a coder type) pays attention to this again, because imho this is an underestimated issue. it sure takes away a little of the usability of the gnome desktop managing. whereas you gain a lot of extra usability by using compiz, you are loosing some in comparison to metacity regarding the managment of multiple desktops.
again, i'm not ignorant saying "fix this bug", i am kindly asking of rethinking your position on this bug.
btw. with nobody feeling responsible i didn't mean a specific person, i was refering to a post in the compiz bug tracker, which made me think that nobody seems willing to say which code i "responsible" for the bug.

thanks for reading,
flo

p.s.: Alexander, thanks for the offer, can i then keep the fix for myself? ... just kiding ;)

We want to remove the ability to switch desktops with the mousewheel all together (or provide a config, off by default)

Why? I use it all the time, works great having at a corner (Fitts law).
However, if its configurable then sure - the problem (as I remember) is that the configuration dialog for this is different between compiz and non compiz.
Maybe I could hack something up, but not sure about the gui stuff - if I could get some help....

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Marcus Carlson<email address hidden> wrote:
> Why? I use it all the time, works great having at a corner (Fitts law).

Because many people scroll over it by accident and have *no* idea what
happened. The right thing to do is make it configurable so people who
don't get dizzy by it can still use it :)

--
Martin

I'll see if I could add some gconf setting for this tonight, but I think I'll need some help reviewing and fixing schemas and stuff.

Martin, i understand your point, but consequently you have to disable
workspcae switching when scrolling on the desktop as well. first time users
get confused with this alot!
I would appreciate it to be an option though very much, because i personally
think it is a great usability feature (both desktop and switcher applet)

On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 5:29 PM, Martin Albisetti <email address hidden>wrote:

> On Mon, Jun 22, 2009 at 12:17 PM, Marcus Carlson<email address hidden>
> wrote:
> > Why? I use it all the time, works great having at a corner (Fitts law).
>
> Because many people scroll over it by accident and have *no* idea what
> happened. The right thing to do is make it configurable so people who
> don't get dizzy by it can still use it :)
>
>
> --
> Martin
>
> --
> No workspace switching with mousewheel with compiz
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/150443
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

I actually use Metacity rather than Compiz solely because it allows me to use the scroll wheel on the pager, so you can count me among the people who find this super useful.

Also, thought I'd mention, there is a bug in Gnome bugzilla about this complete with patch to make the functionality work with Compiz: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=520779

OK, here's a quick patch to disable scrolling (and enable with gconfig setting).
I'm not sure how this schema thing works so that must be done.
Patch is against jaunty.
Needs review.

Don't know if anyone (other than me) still cares about the original issue re: mousewheel + workspace switcher in Compiz, but I tested the first patch on the ticket in Gnome bugzilla (http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=520779) at it works for me in both Compiz and Metacity. I would love to see it get integrated even if it's only as an optional feature.

David, well I do - I use scrolling a lot, not using compiz because of problem with graphics driver. But if I would, I'd miss the scrolling.

there is a karmic version with the change on lp:~amaranth/gnome-panel/scroll_with_viewports now waiting for review

sorry, but how to apply the patch ???? I also want to have desktop/workspace switching with the mouse wheel, someone could help me ?

Ugh. Suffering from the same bug in Lucid. :(

Same in 10.10 as of all updates today.

Switching with the mouse wheel over the active programs works!

So do not use the workspace, but the running programs bar.

It does this just to begin and the end. It does not roll over.

That was never broken and is completely unrelated to this bug.

I'm suffering from this bug in 10.04
Please resolve conflicts and integrate the patch :)

I'm out of the office until 1st August.

On 16 Apr 2011, at 14:57, Maciej Kwidziński
<email address hidden> wrote:

> I'm suffering from this bug in 10.04
> Please resolve conflicts and integrate the patch :)
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a member of
> Papercutters, which is subscribed to One Hundred Paper Cuts.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/150443
>
> Title:
>  No workspace switching with mousewheel with compiz
>
> Status in Desktop panel for GNOME:
>  Confirmed
> Status in One Hundred Paper Cuts:
>  Invalid
> Status in “gnome-panel” package in Ubuntu:
>  Triaged
>
> Bug description:
>  Binary package hint: compiz
>
>  In metacity (and in other window managers) you can switch virtual
>  desktops/workspaces by hovering your mouse pointer over the
> workspace-
>  switcher and rolling the mousewheel up and down.
>
>  Compiz breaks this, and forces users of multiple workspaces to use
> the
>  keyboard shortcut.