Window modal QFileDialog pushing parent to background after exec()

Question

I stripped my problem down to what it necessary, so don't mind that is does nothing useful as shown here.

I have my MainWindow which is a QMainWindow with a QPushButton inside, and I connected the clicked() signal of that button to the following slot of the QMainWindow:

void MainWindow::followingSlot()
{
    OpenFileDialog(this);
}

OpenFileDialog is a free function:

void OpenFileDialog(QWidget * inParent)
{
    QFileDialog dialog(inParent, "caption");
    dialog.setFileMode(QFileDialog::ExistingFiles);
    dialog.setWindowModality(Qt::WindowModal);
    dialog.exec();
}

It all works fine, until I have 2 or more MainWindows in play. Then, at the end of the QFileDialog::exec() call, the current MainWindow is pushed back one place in the 'focus stack' and the MainWindow that was second becomes activated and jumps to the foreground. I'd like the window that was active and in front to stay active and in front.

I can of course adapt OpenFileDialog to the following:

void OpenFileDialog(QWidget * inParent)
{
    QFileDialog dialog(inParent, "caption");
    dialog.setFileMode(QFileDialog::ExistingFiles);
    dialog.setWindowModality(Qt::WindowModal);
    dialog.exec();
    inParent->raise();
    inParent->activateWindow();
}

That brings my MainWindow back to the front, but you can see the windows switching places briefly.

I found no similar problems via Google, QtCentre or SO. Is there a way to stop this behavior and keep the focus on the MainWindow that had focus?

I'm working with Qt 4.8 on Mac.

EDIT: I found that it's not the current MainWindow that gets pushed back, it's the MainWindow that is second in the stack, that gets pulled to the front. If I start with the left stack, I'll end up with the right stack (top being in front, bottom being at the back):

current MainWindow    other MainWindow   raise() current MainWindow
other application  -> current MainWindow ------> other MainWindow
other MainWindow      other application          other application

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 01 '13 at 15:59

0

Have you tried setting the modality to Qt::ApplicationModal. This way the FileDialog is modal to the entire application, and not just the parent window.

answered Aug 01 '13 at 15:59

Werner Erasmus

3,988
17
31

Then the problem does not happen, but I don't want the FileDialog to be application modal. I want it to be window modal (especially since this results in a sheet dialog on Mac). – PrisonMonkeys Aug 01 '13 at 16:04

Window modal QFileDialog pushing parent to background after exec()

1 Answers1