FancyZone editor setting button can't actually launch settings due to z-index

[crutkas]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.61.1

Running as admin

• Yes

Area(s) with issue?

FancyZones Editor

Steps to reproduce

In the editor, click the settings button. Settings will launch UNDER the editor versus on top.

Fix is to remove setting button as there are multiple ways to get to settings.

@marypcbuk was the wonderful community member that flagged me.

✔️ Expected Behavior

No response

❌ Actual Behavior

No response

Other Software

No response

[davidegiacometti]

This is hitting only Windows 11.
Working as expected on Windows 10 21H2.

[Jay-o-Way]

Working as expected on Windows 10 21H2.

Same here on Win.10, with the side note that "as expected" only is true when the Settings windows is not visible. If it is already open (including minimized) then nothing happens at all.

[davidegiacometti]

[Jay-o-Way]

we'd have to make the Settings window AoT to solve the edge cases. If we didn't do this solution, a user could click the editor overlay and then still lose settings.

@crutkas I believe there are plenty of other options, like explicitly set SW flags (like SW_SHOWNORMAL or SW_RESTORE) in code

[Jay-o-Way]

we'd have to make the Settings window AoT to solve the edge cases

If the Settings window receives $WS_EX_TOPMOST after it's been called from the Color Picker Editor window (which also has topmost state) that's going to be another "conflict", making this whole situation more and more complicated. Please lean back and let's think of a logical solution.

[marypcbuk]

Working as expected on Windows 10 21H2.

Same here on Win.10, with the side note that "as expected" only is true when the Settings windows is not visible. If it is already open (including minimized) then nothing happens at all.

Yes, this is the bug I originally reported and it happens on multiple Windows 10 versions on Arm and Intel systems leaving me with the impression that the Settings cog was broken or had no functionality (I'll document which Win 10 builds I've seen this on if helpful but I would not say this is working as expected on Windows 10 unless you expect it to be confusing!)

[Jay-o-Way]

@crutkas So, is this an issue with Z-indices? I don't think so. It's about the window state flags and setting focus to the window when it is shown. In other words: "why is the following code not working as expected?"

PowerToys/src/runner/settings_window.cpp

Lines 463 to 473 in dae63ce

	if (lStyles & WS_MAXIMIZE)
	{
	ShowWindow(hwnd, SW_MAXIMIZE);
	}
	else
	{
	ShowWindow(hwnd, SW_RESTORE);
	}
	SetForegroundWindow(hwnd);
	return FALSE;

Maybe we should use BringWindowToTop or SwitchToThisWindow in stead of SetForegroundWindow ?

CC: @SeraphimaZykova