[Bug] No more shortcuts

[aweisss]

Describe the bug

When I use OpenBoard (my favourite teaching/whiteboard tool!) on a hybrid notebook in class, I love making use of digital pen, mouse and keyboard shortcuts. However, most shortcuts don't seem to work anymore - since upgrading to the latest OpenBoard version v1.7.6.

To Reproduce

1. Go to board mode
2. Preselect any tool e.g. "pen" / or "mouse pointer arrow"
3. Make any change to board / elements, e.g. draw a new freehand line / or move an already existing object
4. Use keyboard shortcut by pressing e.g. "CTRL" + "Z" (to undo) / or "CTRL" + "M" (to change to text marker tool) / or "CTRL" + "D" to (change to document mode)

Expected behavior

The shortcut should trigger the desired action (undo last action / or select marker tool / or switch to document mode)

Actual behavior

Nothing happens (No undoing of last action / or: The previous tool is still selected / or: OB remains in board mode)

Screenshots

Unfortunately, screenshots can't show this behaviour. Sorry.

Additional resources

I know I used many of the very handy keyboard shortcuts before v1.7.6, as in the list here:
[(https://github.com//discussions/1233#discussioncomment-12267083)]

I've tried all of the following shortcuts:

These shortcuts sadly no longer work:

Ctrl+P - Pen
Ctrl+E - Eraser
Ctrl+M - Marker
Ctrl+F - Selector (Arrow)
Ctrl+G - Laser Pointer
Ctrl+J - Line
Ctrl+K - Text
Ctrl++ - Zoom in
Ctrl+S - Toggle Snap to grid
Ctrl+T - Toggle Tools
Ctrl+B - Show Board
Ctrl+W - Show Web Browser
Ctrl+D - Show Documents
Ctrl+Shift+H - Show Desktop
Ctrl+H - Hide
Ctrl+Z - Undo
Ctrl+Y - Redo
Insert - Add new page after current page

Still working properly, as before + as expected:

Ctrl+- - Zoom out
Ctrl+0 - Zoom to 100%
Ctrl+X - Cut
Ctrl+C - Copy
Ctrl+V - Paste
1 - Select color 1
2 - Select color 2
3 - Select color 3
4 - Select color 4
5 - Select color 5
PgUp, arrow left, arrow up - Previous page
PgDown, arrow right, arrow down - Next page
Pos1 - First page
End - Last page
Ctrl+arrow - Move page
Delete - Delete selected item

I tried to rule out the most obvious user mistakes:

• I also double-checked I hadn't accidentally pressed CAPS-LOCK or changed the keyboard layout (from German to English, switching "Z" and "Y" or the like).
• I haven't noticed any problems/changes with shortcuts in any other program. For example, CTRL + "Z" and CTRL + "Y" still work in text editors like MS Word or Notepad.

Context

• reproducibility : systematic
• OpenBoard version :
  • bug happens with : 1.7.6
  • bug doesn't happen with : I'm sure it hadn't happened before, with my previous version, which I think was 1.7.4
  • didn't check : (all other versions)
• OS :
  • bug happens with : Windows
  • bug doesn't happen with : -- (Sorry, no other OS available)
  • didn't check : Linux macOS
• Installation source : OpenBoard download page

Additional context

• OS(es) detailed version (for the ones you reproduced the bug on)
  • Windows : Windows 11 Pro (version 25H2) (64 Bit)
• number and resolution of monitors : 2 monitors (main notebook screen: 1920x1080, 2nd screen: 1920x1200) `
• if used, manufacturer and model of graphic tablet input device : --

[letsfindaway]

Thanks for reporting. That's actually strange and I can reproduce it here on Linux, Leap 16.0 with Qt 6.9.1.

To find out when this issue started to occur, I compiled OpenBoard versions 1.7.5, 1.7.4, 1.7.3 and 1.7.2, all with Qt 6.9.1. And the problem occurs in all those OpenBoard versions. The only shortcuts which are working are the system shortcuts Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+X, Alt+F4. And - very strange - also Ctrl+S works, to toggle the snap-to-grid function. This is in contrast to what the OP reported.

I still have no idea what happens here, but I'm quite sure it has to do with the Qt version.

Edit: When I start OpenBoard with the debugger, then the shortcuts are all working. By adding some debug output I could find out that the actions don't have the shortcuts attached when starting OpenBoard normally, but they are there when I start it with the debugger.

Edit 2: Also the shortcuts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 for the colors are working in all cases.

[letsfindaway]

It has to do with translations. In ui_mainWindow.h shortcuts are set as follows:

actionBoard->setShortcut(QCoreApplication::translate("MainWindow", "Ctrl+B", nullptr));

In this case e.g. it is translated to "Strg+B" for German. And setShortcut() seems no longer to work with translated strings. Shortcuts which are working currently have no translation. And when starting with the debugger I have always trouble loading the translations, so in this case the shortcuts also stay untranslated and therefore work.

So why does the Qt Form processor create these translations as in ui_mainWindow.h? And why do translated shortcuts no longer work?

[letsfindaway]

I have also noticed that in my environment I have not installed the qt6-translations. When starting OpenBoard I get the following two messages:

Qt gui translations in  "de"  are not available or could not be loaded
QtWebEngine translations in  "de"  are not available or could not be loaded

I found some indications that this would be necessary in order to recognize translated shortcut strings.

[aweisss]

Thank you for the effort and quick reply!

Is there anything one can do as a user, e.g. re-install OpenBoard, without translation (i.e., install with the original language = English?)

Or will that issue have to be solved by you programmers, probably in the next version? (BTW: Great respect for your work and engagement for this wonderful project! Helps me so much every day at school!)

[letsfindaway]

What you can do:

1. Locate your user configuration file OpenBoardUser.config. See Configuration for instructions on how to find it depending on your operating system.
2. Add the following to the end of this file:

[Shortcut]
actionPen=Ctrl+P, 0, 0
actionEraser=Ctrl+E, 0, 0
actionMarker=Ctrl+M,0, 0
actionSelector=Ctrl+F, 0, 0
actionPointer=Ctrl+G, 0, 0
actionLine=Ctrl+J, 0, 0
actionText=Ctrl+K, 0, 0
actionSnap=Ctrl+S, 0, 0
actionStylus=Ctrl+T, 0, 0
actionBoard=Ctrl+B, 0, 0
actionWeb=Ctrl+W, 0, 0
actionDocument=Ctrl+D, 0, 0
actionDesktop=Ctrl+Shift+H, 0, 0
actionHideApplication=Ctrl+H, 0, 0
actionUndo=Ctrl+Z, 0, 0
actionRedo=Ctrl+Y, 0, 0

3. Restart OpenBoard

Those user configurable shortcuts take precedence over the built-in ones - and they work independent of the translations. Have I missed one? Just ask me for the name of the corresponding action. Note: Insert and Ctrl++ should work independent of this problem, but you listed them also as "not working". Please check!

@kaamui : probably we should also add this (or an even extended version of it) to the OpenBoard.config file delivered with the application. It would also take precedence over any shortcuts defined in the MainWindow actions.

[kaamui]

It has to do with translations. In ui_mainWindow.h shortcuts are set as follows:

actionBoard->setShortcut(QCoreApplication::translate("MainWindow", "Ctrl+B", nullptr));
In this case e.g. it is translated to "Strg+B" for German. And setShortcut() seems no longer to work with translated strings. Shortcuts which are working currently have no translation. And when starting with the debugger I have always trouble loading the translations, so in this case the shortcuts also stay untranslated and therefore work.

So why does the Qt Form processor create these translations as in ui_mainWindow.h? And why do translated shortcuts no longer work?

What happen if we set these shortcuts the way it's done in QKeySequences doc: https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/qkeysequence.html#QKeySequence-3

Is it still breaking in German layout ? Did you find any related issue on Qt 's Jira ?

[letsfindaway]

What happen if we set these shortcuts the way it's done in QKeySequences doc: https://doc.qt.io/qt-6/qkeysequence.html#QKeySequence-3

Is it still breaking in German layout ? Did you find any related issue on Qt 's Jira ?

This is exactly what the form processor generates in ui_mainWindow.h. What I found was this very old post from 2017: https://www.qtcentre.org/threads/62774-Translation-of-Shortcuts?s=0f6f461c240baac3d64fcf0eebdbec58&p=298251#post298251

It mentions that translated shortcuts like Strg+B only work if Qt also has an idea how to translate Strg back to Ctrl. And this is part of the Qt translations.

As the OP is on Windows my question would be whether the Qt translations are correctly bundled in the installer and whether OpenBoard can find and load them.

[kaamui]

It could indeed be an issue with the Windows installer. On your side, installing qt6-translations made it work ?

[letsfindaway]

On your side, installing qt6-translations made it work ?

Unfortunately the openSUSE people forgot to publish the package qt6-translations at all for Leap 16.0. I already created a bug report on the openSUSE side.

I just tested it on Tumbleweed, Qt 6.10.2, and including qt6-translations. Here it works perfectly.

[kaamui]

OK great, thank you for your help. I'll search how to fix this on Windows for next release.

[aweisss]

Thanks a lot, letsfindaway, for the workaround! I appended the list of shortcut-commands to the .config-file and it works!

Note: Insert and Ctrl++ should work independent of this problem, but you listed them also as "not working". Please check!

I tried both shortcuts:

• Insert in fact works (and probably has worked ever since - sorry, my mistake!)

• Ctrl++ , however, does not work! I tried that several times: really no function. (To check whether it might be just a bug in my keyboard, I opened the Win11 editor, in which Ctrl+ + actually also zooms in (and Ctrl+ - zooms out): Here, both shortcuts do what they should.)

Sorry, I didn't want to make it all more complicated. You seem to have found the source of the by far biggest part of the problem - and should probably focus on that. Might be just my on my device/installation, if no one else reports that bug? So, just for the sake of completeness ... I can live with the "return" of all shortcuts minus that one ;-)

[letsfindaway]

• Ctrl++ , however, does not work!

The related shortcut action would be

actionZoomIn=Ctrl++, 0, 0

[aweisss]

Thank you again, but this command line, after adding it to the .config file, has a different effect: It only selects the magnifying icon in the tools bar, but does not zoom in.

The related shortcut (Ctrl+-) actually really does perform the desired action of zooming out (without selecting the icon in the tool bar).

[kaamui]

It is indeed an issue with the Windows installer. In OpenBoard's install folder (C:\Program Files\OpenBoard by default), simply replace the translation folder by the following and the error should be gone (you can remove the Shortcut section you inserted in the OpenBoardUser.config file)

Be careful to have the translations folder extracted not containing itself a translations folder. What is expected is a translations folder containing a single Qt6 folder

translations.zip

The error will be fixed in the next release. Thank you for reporting !