ALT + TAB causes Explorer tree view to fully collapse in multi root workspace

[bluenote10]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

• VS Code Version: 1.63.2
• OS Version: Ubuntu 18.04

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Create a multi-root workspace with nested workspace folders. I'm using a structure like this:

some_multi_language_project  <-- Workspace folder
├── example.code-workspace
├── python
└── rust                     <-- Workspace folder
    ├── Cargo.toml
    └── src
        └── lib.rs

Small bash script to create the example project

#!/bin/bash
mkdir -p some_multi_language_project
cd some_multi_language_project

mkdir -p python
mkdir -p rust/src

cd rust

cat > Cargo.toml << EOF
[package]
name = "example"
version = "0.1.0"
EOF

cat > src/lib.rs << EOF
pub fn hello_world() {
    println!("Hello world");
}
EOF

cd ..

cat > example.code-workspace << EOF
{
    "folders": [
        {
            "path": "."
        },
        {
            "path": "rust"
        }
    ],
    "settings": {}
}
EOF

Or for direct download: some_multi_language_project.zip

2. Run code --disable-extensions some_multi_language_project/example.code-workspace

3. Work on a file. Notice that the source tree is unfolded in the Explorer view, and the currently active file is properly selected.

4. Press <ALT> + <TAB> to switch to a different application, and <ALT> + <TAB> again to go back to VSCode

5. Notice that the source tree in the Explorer view has fully collapsed. The currently active file is not selected any more.

Note the problem doesn't seem to be fully deterministic. In the tiny example workspace it happens with perhaps ~50% probability. In a bigger real world workspace, it happens with more like ~95%.

---

From a practical point of view this issue is more disconcerting than I have expected initially, because every time it happens I feel like I have lost my orientation due to the fully collapsed source tree.

[YunHsiao]

Can confirm the same behavior on windows.

And Mac #136258

[dynalz]

For me doesn't even need to be in multi root workspace.
Just doing ALT + TAB to anything and coming back to vscode and everything gets collapsed. Its very disruptive.

Is there any setting regard this behavior?

[starball5]

Related on Stack Overflow: VS Code collapses folder in Explorer View when it gets focus for multi-root workspaces

[xaxazak]

Occurs on linux when building VSCode from source.
Happens on both multi-root workspace and regular workspace.
Setting "skipRefreshExplorerOnWindowFocus": true, in settings.json doesn't help.

Version: 1.85.0
Commit: Unknown
Date: Unknown
Electron: 25.9.6
ElectronBuildId: undefined
Chromium: 114.0.5735.289
Node.js: 18.15.0
V8: 11.4.183.29-electron.0
OS: Linux x64 6.6.3-arch1-1

[bpasero]

We have logic to refresh the explorer whenever the window gets focus:

vscode/src/vs/workbench/contrib/files/browser/explorerService.ts

Lines 134 to 139 in 34e1f76

	// Refresh explorer when window gets focus to compensate for missing file events #126817
	this.disposables.add(hostService.onDidChangeFocus(hasFocus => {
	if (hasFocus) {
	this.refresh(false);
	}
	}));

I do not see an option to disable this though.

Is there some reliable steps how to reproduce this? In my basic testing I was not able to. Maybe also play around with explorer related settings that could have an impact 🙏