Inconsistent / confusing middle-click behaviour on Bookmarks & History.

[guigirl42]

Steps to reproduce

1. Enable Bookmarks & History in the Navigation bar.

2. Make Settings as per pic's yellow highlight

3. Change from active Tabs panel to Bookmarks panel.

4. Find one or many bookmarks, then one by one middleclick on it/them.

5. Change back to the Tabs panel & observe if any bookmarks were opened there.

6. Change to History panel.

7. Find one or many old tabs, then one by one middleclick on it/them.

8. Change back to the Tabs panel & observe if any recovered tabs were opened there.

9. Change to History panel again.

10. Find one or many old tabs, then one by one leftclick on it/them.

11. Change back to the Tabs panel & observe if any recovered tabs were opened there.

Expected behaviour

In each case, the requisite BMs or old tabs should have opened in the Tabs panel.

Actual behaviour

• At point5, many many times nothing will have been opened, but sometimes, inexplicably, the operation will have worked perfectly. I've been confused by this inconsistency / unpredictably for weeks [ie, spanning Betas 25, 26, 27].
• At point8, always, nothing will have been opened.
• At point11, always[?], the correct tabs will have been opened.

Debug info

Addon data

{ "settings": { "nativeScrollbars": true, "nativeScrollbarsThin": false, "nativeScrollbarsLeft": true, "selWinScreenshots": true, "updateSidebarTitle": true, "markWindow": false, "markWindowPreface": "[Sidebery] ", "ctxMenuNative": false, "ctxMenuRenderInact": true, "ctxMenuRenderIcons": true, "ctxMenuIgnoreContainers": "", "navBarLayout": "horizontal", "navBarInline": true, "navBarSide": "left", "hideAddBtn": false, "hideSettingsBtn": false, "navBtnCount": true, "hideEmptyPanels": true, "navActTabsPanelLeftClickAction": "none", "navActBookmarksPanelLeftClickAction": "none", "navTabsPanelMidClickAction": "none", "navBookmarksPanelMidClickAction": "none", "navSwitchPanelsWheel": true, "groupLayout": "list", "skipEmptyPanels": false, "dndTabAct": false, "dndTabActDelay": 750, "dndTabActMod": "none", "dndExp": "none", "dndExpDelay": 0, "dndExpMod": "none", "dndOutside": "win", "searchBarMode": "dynamic", "warnOnMultiTabClose": "collapsed", "activateLastTabOnPanelSwitching": false, "showTabRmBtn": true, "hideInact": false, "activateAfterClosing": "next", "activateAfterClosingGlobal": false, "activateAfterClosingNoFolded": true, "activateAfterClosingNoDiscarded": true, "askNewBookmarkPlace": true, "tabsRmUndoNote": true, "nativeHighlight": true, "tabsUnreadMark": true, "tabsUpdateMark": "all", "tabsReloadLimit": 7, "tabsReloadLimitNotif": true, "showNewTabBtns": true, "newTabBarPosition": "after_tabs", "tabsPanelSwitchActMove": true, "tabsUrlInTooltip": "full", "openSubPanelOnMouseHover": false, "colorizeTabs": false, "colorizeTabsSrc": "domain", "moveNewTabPin": "start", "moveNewTabParent": "last_child", "moveNewTabParentActPanel": true, "moveNewTab": "end", "moveNewTabActivePin": "start", "pinnedTabsPosition": "panel", "pinnedTabsList": false, "pinnedAutoGroup": false, "tabsTree": true, "groupOnOpen": true, "tabsTreeLimit": "none", "hideFoldedTabs": false, "autoFoldTabs": false, "autoFoldTabsExcept": 5, "autoExpandTabs": false, "rmChildTabs": "none", "tabsChildCount": true, "tabsLvlDots": false, "discardFolded": false, "discardFoldedDelay": 7, "discardFoldedDelayUnit": "sec", "tabsTreeBookmarks": true, "treeRmOutdent": "first_child", "colorizeTabsBranches": false, "colorizeTabsBranchesSrc": "url", "warnOnMultiBookmarkDelete": "collapsed", "autoCloseBookmarks": false, "autoRemoveOther": false, "highlightOpenBookmarks": true, "activateOpenBookmarkTab": true, "showBookmarkLen": true, "bookmarksRmUndoNote": true, "loadBookmarksOnDemand": false, "pinOpenedBookmarksFolder": true, "loadHistoryOnDemand": false, "fontSize": "xxs", "animations": true, "animationSpeed": "fast", "theme": "compact", "colorScheme": "ff", "sidebarCSS": true, "groupCSS": true, "snapNotify": true, "snapExcludePrivate": true, "snapInterval": 7, "snapIntervalUnit": "min", "snapLimit": 3, "snapLimitUnit": "snap", "hScrollAction": "switch_panels", "navSwitchPanelsDelay": 128, "scrollThroughTabs": "panel", "scrollThroughVisibleTabs": true, "scrollThroughTabsSkipDiscarded": true, "scrollThroughTabsExceptOverflow": true, "scrollThroughTabsCyclic": true, "scrollThroughTabsScrollArea": 0, "autoMenuMultiSel": true, "multipleMiddleClose": false, "longClickDelay": 500, "wheelThreshold": false, "wheelThresholdX": 10, "wheelThresholdY": 60, "tabDoubleClick": "none", "tabsSecondClickActPrev": true, "shiftSelAct": true, "activateOnMouseUp": true, "tabLongLeftClick": "none", "tabLongRightClick": "none", "tabCloseMiddleClick": "close", "tabsPanelLeftClickAction": "none", "tabsPanelDoubleClickAction": "tab", "tabsPanelRightClickAction": "menu", "tabsPanelMiddleClickAction": "tab", "newTabMiddleClickAction": "new_child", "bookmarksLeftClickAction": "open_in_new", "bookmarksLeftClickActivate": false, "bookmarksLeftClickPos": "default", "bookmarksMidClickAction": "open_in_new", "bookmarksMidClickActivate": false, "bookmarksMidClickPos": "default", "syncName": "", "syncSaveSettings": false, "syncSaveCtxMenu": false, "syncSaveStyles": false, "syncSaveKeybindings": false }, "permissions": { "allUrls": false, "tabHide": false, "clipboardWrite": false, "webRequest": false, "webRequestBlocking": false }, "storage": { "size": "130 kb", "props": { "containers": "1.9 kb", "contextMenu": "1.45 kb", "expandedBookmarkFolders": "175 b", "favDomains": "12.8 kb", "favHashes": "1.38 kb", "favicons": "93.3 kb", "groupCSS": "755 b", "lastSnapTime": "13 b", "prevTabsDataCache": "1.4 kb", "profileID": "14 b", "settings": "3.6 kb", "sidebar": "1.24 kb", "sidebarCSS": "3.1 kb", "snapshots": "6.95 kb", "tabsDataCache": "1.57 kb", "ver": "10 b" } }, "sidebar": { "panels": { "firefox-default": { "type": 2, "id": "firefox-default", "name": "len: 20", "color": "purple", "iconSVG": "icon_tabs", "iconIMGSrc": "", "iconIMG": "", "lockedPanel": false, "skipOnSwitching": false, "noEmpty": true, "newTabCtx": "none", "dropTabCtx": "none", "moveTabCtx": "none", "moveTabCtxNoChild": true, "urlRulesActive": false, "urlRules": "", "bookmarksFolderId": -1, "newTabBtns": [] }, "nOTtcRKp1dRl": { "type": 2, "id": "nOTtcRKp1dRl", "name": "len: 20", "color": "orange", "iconSVG": "icon_gamepad", "iconIMGSrc": "", "iconIMG": "", "lockedPanel": false, "skipOnSwitching": false, "noEmpty": true, "newTabCtx": "none", "dropTabCtx": "none", "moveTabCtx": "none", "moveTabCtxNoChild": true, "urlRulesActive": false, "urlRules": "", "bookmarksFolderId": -1, "newTabBtns": [] }, "bookmarks": { "type": 1, "id": "bookmarks", "name": "len: 9", "iconSVG": "icon_bookmarks", "iconIMGSrc": "", "iconIMG": "", "color": "green", "lockedPanel": false, "tempMode": false, "skipOnSwitching": false, "rootId": "root________", "viewMode": "tree", "autoConvert": false }, "history": { "type": 4, "id": "history", "name": "len: 7", "color": "toolbar", "iconSVG": "icon_clock", "tempMode": false, "lockedPanel": false, "skipOnSwitching": false, "viewMode": "history" } }, "nav": [ "firefox-default", "nOTtcRKp1dRl", "bookmarks", "history", "sp-0", "search", "settings" ] }, "containers": [ { "id": "firefox-container-3", "cookieStoreId": "firefox-container-3", "name": "7", "icon": "...", "color": "green", "colorCode": "#37adff", "proxified": false, "proxy": null, "includeHostsActive": false, "includeHosts": "", "excludeHostsActive": false, "excludeHosts": "", "userAgentActive": false, "userAgent": "" }, { "id": "firefox-container-6", "cookieStoreId": "firefox-container-6", "name": "25", "icon": "...", "color": "yellow", "colorCode": "#37adff", "proxified": false, "proxy": null, "includeHostsActive": false, "includeHosts": "", "excludeHostsActive": false, "excludeHosts": "", "userAgentActive": false, "userAgent": "" }, { "id": "firefox-container-8", "cookieStoreId": "firefox-container-8", "name": "10", "icon": "...", "color": "red", "colorCode": "#37adff", "proxified": false, "proxy": null, "includeHostsActive": false, "includeHosts": "", "excludeHostsActive": false, "excludeHosts": "", "userAgentActive": false, "userAgent": "" }, { "id": "firefox-container-9", "cookieStoreId": "firefox-container-9", "name": "9", "icon": "...", "color": "orange", "colorCode": "#37adff", "proxified": false, "proxy": null, "includeHostsActive": false, "includeHosts": "", "excludeHostsActive": false, "excludeHosts": "", "userAgentActive": false, "userAgent": "" }, { "id": "firefox-container-12", "cookieStoreId": "firefox-container-12", "name": "7", "icon": "...", "color": "turquoise", "colorCode": "#37adff", "proxified": false, "proxy": null, "includeHostsActive": false, "includeHosts": "", "excludeHostsActive": false, "excludeHosts": "", "userAgentActive": false, "userAgent": "" }, { "id": "firefox-container-13", "cookieStoreId": "firefox-container-13", "name": "4", "icon": "...", "color": "toolbar", "colorCode": "#37adff", "proxified": false, "proxy": null, "includeHostsActive": false, "includeHosts": "", "excludeHostsActive": false, "excludeHosts": "", "userAgentActive": false, "userAgent": "" } ], "sidebarCSSLen": "3056", "groupCSSLen": "734", "windows": [ { "state": "normal", "incognito": false, "tabsCount": 17 } ], "bookmarks": { "bookmarksCount": 8898, "foldersCount": 1186, "separatorsCount": 9, "maxDepth": 12 } }

Logs

NB: No messages appeared.... BUT, today once i decided finally to open this Issue, when i tried to replicate the problem i could not, eg, BMs did indeed properly open from middleclick, hence probably it's unsurprissing that no logs arose? The irony is that before today, all the many other times that i could not get the operations to work, maybe if i had been watching the Console there might have been logs. It is a Catch22.

[mbnuqw]

Thank you for the report. I can't reproduce described behavior with bookmarks middle click - everything work as expected. But I found a few bugs with hiding native tabs and unhandled-URL page, that can be related to this issue (I'll try to fix them in the next beta).

In case of history panel - middle-click is just not implemented yet.

[guigirl42]

I can't reproduce described behavior with bookmarks middle click - everything work as expected.

Unfortunately, today was another day when this failed every time i tried it. I did not have time to do further diagnostics... but tbh, this ongoing unpredictability has caused me to feel rather despondent.

---

Literally only seconds after posting the above, i tried it again, & this time it worked fine. I wish to goodness i could be confident it would always work for me, not only occasionally.

[albino1]

I've only reported a couple of things, but FWIW, when I have I've made a point of trying to recreate the behavior in a completely clean fresh Firefox install using a portable version:

https://portableapps.com/apps/internet/firefox_portable

That way I can be sure it's not something on my end that's causing it, and if it is, then I can try and troubleshoot that first to figure out what's causing the issue on my actual install. For example, other tab management addons, ones dealing with New Tab behavior, etc, are all things I've noticed this way.

On the plus side, because of that Sidebery has allowed me to remove several addons that were no longer necessary because Sidebery is now managing those things for me :)

[guigirl42]

@mbnuqw | Max, before i investigate any further [including in a clean profile], can you pls advise me if there are any other Sidebery MMB settings that, if i have them enabled, could possibly create a race-condition when using MMB on bookmarks? If under a specific combination of settings a race might arise, it could explain the unpredictability i've been having, with this operation.

[mbnuqw]

@guigirl42 No, there are no such settings. I tried to reproduce this issue again using the settings you provided (from debug info) and modifying them, but without success.

Could it be something in the custom styles (some transparent overlay in some viewport area)? Or maybe it's some specific URLs that sidebery refuses to handle?

[guigirl42]

Thanks.

I'm really quite perplexed now. So far, all morning here, it has worked fine [in my default daily FF-Beta profile]. Yesterday, it worked fine [in my default daily FF-Beta profile]. The night before that, it worked fine both in my default daily FF-Beta profile and in my virgin FF-Nightly profile.

I feel now a bit like the software is gaslighting me, in that atm i have no current proof of any malfunction... so now it seems like i only imagined/dreamed the numerous previous times it didn't work. I just have no logical explanation for this. As for your suggestions, sorry, but i don't know.

On the basis of neither you nor i [currently] being able to reproduce this, it seems that this Issue probably should be closed, maybe even deleted.

🤷‍♀️🤯