[OS X TeX] Two problems with TeXworks

[Alan T Litchfield]

On 24/02/2011, at 6:58 AM, Jonathan Kew wrote:

> On 23 Feb 2011, at 17:12, Manuel Pégourié-Gonnard wrote:
>
>> Le 23/02/2011 10:29, "M. Tamer Özsu" a écrit :
>>> On 2011-02-23, at 4:44 PM, Joseph Wright wrote:
>>>
>>>> On 23/02/2011 08:38, Manuel Pouring-Gonnard wrote:
>>>>> First, I noticed that when I "close" TeXworks by using the red  
>>>>> button at the top
>>>>> left of the main window, I can't reopen it later from the dock  
>>>>> as I would do
>>>>> with any other application (firefox, safari, OOo, etc). I need  
>>>>> to first quit it
>>>>> (either right clic -> quit from the dock or cmd-Q from inside  
>>>>> the app). Am I
>>>>> doing anything wrong? Is it a (known) bug?
>>>>
>>>> You need to do File -> New (Cmd-N) to get a new TeXworks window  
>>>> on the
>>>> Mac (I've always found it a bit odd, but I guess I've got used to  
>>>> it).
>>>>
>>>
>>> It is actually not that odd -- when you click on that red button,  
>>> you are not
>>> quitting the application, but only closing the window. If you  
>>> check it, you
>>> will see that TeXworks is still running. So, you need to open a  
>>> new window
>>> (as you indicate), not restart the application.
>>>
>> Thanks for the details. I understand that the red button doesn't  
>> close the app.
>> I simply would expect double-clicking the icon in the dock when the  
>> app is
>> running with all windows closed to Do The Right Thing, in that case  
>> open a new
>> window, rather than forcing me to think "what I want to do is open  
>> a new window,
>> so let's hit cmd-N."
>>
>> Not that it's a big problem, but that's what I'd come to expect  
>> from my very
>> short experience with other apps on OS X.
>
> Yes; if the app is running but has no windows open, clicking the  
> Dock icon ought to trigger the same response as launching the app  
> when it's not running at all - by default, a new window, unless you  
> change the startup action in the preferences.
>

Except that the application is already running and the Dock only  
provides a launch command when an icon is clicked. If it is not  
already launched then, then it will launch, but if it already running  
there is nothing to launch. If a person is use to running Windows then  
I can see why it may be confusing where clicking on the red cross (I  
think) quits an application, but Mac OS X is not Windows.

When the icon in the Dock to launch the application was clicked, It  
Did The Right Thing. It launched the application. To insist that it  
should open a new window each time it is clicked Does the Wrong Thing,  
in fact if it is already running, clicking on it brings the  
application to the front - so, should it do both? Ugh messy.

> We should fix that for the next release, really.

Perhaps you could have a right click option to open a new window from  
the Dock if there is not already a window open. This behaviour is  
normal but some applications do it badly, such as Groupwise where if I  
accidentally close the main window there is no option to open a new  
one because the New Main Window function exists `inside' the Main  
Window.

⌘-n is normal, isn't it?

Alan

>
> JK
>
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Alan T Litchfield
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