Mouser Help! Launchbar Commander keeps "stealing focus"

[wperkins48]

I have used - and loved - Launchbar Commander for years (at least as far back as 2006), but lately it has been "stealing focus". I found out mostly by happenstance.

I use Launchbar Commander as a Text Toolbar at the top of my screen, much like the old program "Appbar" - kind of Mac-like you might say. It is my Window in to my computer, basically to all my programs, files, websites, whatever (currently my tree file has 772 Nodes...).

I noticed a little while ago (many weeks ago) that something was "stealing focus" while I was working in a program (Word, for instance). I would be typing away in Word without noticing anything untoward, but if I went up to a drop-down menu item on Word's Toolbar/Ribbon, almost every time the menu would "drop down" and then instantly close back up. By continuing to select the drop down I would eventually get it to "stick" long enough to make a selection. I noticed that when this happened, Word's Title bar would change color slightly, indicating that Word no longer had "focus". I don't lose focus when I am typing, just when I "pull down" a menu in Word.

I couldn't figure out what was taking focus - until today. I was in Word and just happened to press Alt-F right after a drop-down menu had disappeared - and, lo and behold, the drop-down menu in my Launchbar Commander toolbar that started with "F"...dropped down. So, I played around and every time a program would lose focus, Launchbar Commander had "taken" it. I exited Launchbar Commander and the problem stopped.

I have scoured the "Configure Preferences and Options" looking for a setting, to no avail. I turned off all hot keys that I had to get to certain menus. Can you help me? Have I somehow done something? I simply can't (and won't) stop using the program.

BTW, I have it configured to be docked to the top, always visible and always on top (the way it has always been).

Any ideas? Thanx for the awesome program.

[mouser]

Hi wperkins.

Hmm that's interesting! I'm trying to think why it would steal focus..

772 nodes!  Perhaps it has become sentient at this point and just does what it wants to.

What might be nice to know is if turning off the option to "Keep launchbars on top" will make the problem go away.

Meanwhile I will search the code and see if i can find the problem.  I'm guessing it does have something to do with that.

ps. you should post a screenshot of your launchbar here.

[wperkins48]

Here's what I have done since my last post:

I have several archived versions of LaunchBarCommanderSetup.exe installation program (including one, minus the word "setup" from 2006), so I just started working backwards, installing versions. Here's what I found:

My latest version: v1.127.01 that I was running when I posted this subject.
Installed version: v1.112.01 and problem still existed
Installed version: v1.109.01 and problem still existed
Installed version: v1.83.01 and -- the problem went away...

I am currently running that version (v1.83.01) for a longer trial.

Hopefully this helps...

As far as posting any screen caps, my toolbar is the most boring Launchbar Commander toolbar one can imagine - just a sting of menu texts across the top of the screen, no icons, no textures or anything; you have to click on the menu text to see the menu drop-down before you see any icons. For me, Launchbar Commander replaced the old utility "Appbar", dating back to 1996, which mimicked the old Mac toolbar at the top of the screen.

Again, Mouser, thanks for your help. Great program!

[xjamms]

Are you using any nodes that automatically update - or do you have your toolbar configured to hide missing or find missing on other drives?
I wonder if something is causing it to refresh, therefore stealing focus.

Have you tried closing your current .mcf file and creating a new one with a few nodes to see if this problem continues.

You can also try closing your current .mcf file and using one of your back-ups that was created before you saw this problem begin, maybe you can narrow down if it is something in your file or with the application itself.