[Bug] Conflict with PowerPoint, can't add notes for a slide when Dock Exposé is running

[BingliangLi]

To reproduce: open Dock Exposé, open PowerPoint, click "Click to add notes" on the bottom of the screen, the text field will blink a sec but I can't add any text. Quit Dock Exposé and I'll be able to add text.

I think this may relate to Privacy & Security / Accessibility.

Workaround: change "View" to "Notes Page"

macOS Ventura 13.2.1 Microsoft® PowerPoint for Mac Version 16.71 (23031200)

[steventheworker]

After taking a closer look, I think it's a PowerPoint bug, or less likely a macOS bug.

Explanation: It looks like any app using AXUIElementCopyElementAtPosition triggers some sort of update on PowerPoint, as well. Each time it is called PowerPoint appears to focus/unfocus the "Click to add notes" input, based on where the mouse is at the time... and since contextMenuExists calls AXUIElementCopyElementAtPosition for a second time in the timer/interval, it tries to focus twice in a row, which is probably why it was so hard to type into. Removing the extra call to this function lets you type easily, at least.

A less hackish solution is to keep track of whether App Exposé is showing, if it's not, and the mouse is not on the dock area, then the interval function should stop early before AXUIElementCopyElementAtPosition is called.

For the time being, the current version has been patched to only drop the extra function call if PowerPoint is the frontmost app instead. (until I can get the more complex solution working)

[steventheworker]

update: v3.00.1 has working click mode...

as for hover mode, proposed solution/workaround (which may or may not work, I have to test it still): to check if the mouse is within the rectangle of the dock, we won't use AXUIElementCopyElementAtPosition unless exposé is open itself....

[BingliangLi]

Great work! I would say Dock expose is one of the best open source software I found in years, great features & actively maintained!