[Users] GTK2 Vs. GTK3 Code for Color Labels?

[Dustin Miller]

On Sun, 12 Jun 2022 09:23:52 -0000
Paul <paul at claws-mail.org> wrote:

> On Sun, 12 Jun 2022 12:21:22 +0600
> Dustin Miller <dustbiz at gmail.com> wrote: 
> 
> > So far, my current approach is to just keep trying different themes
> > to see if I can find one that doesn't show this problem. I will
> > probably keep doing this unless / until I'm successful or I find a
> > better angle to troubleshooting this, but so far I haven't been
> > successful.  
> 
> I've never had the problem  described, and tried several times to
> reproduce it but never could. Colour labels always work correctly
> here.
> 
DM: Thanks for your reply, Paul; I remember that.
> 
> My latest guess is that, although the chosen theme seems important,
> what also matters is desktop effects. If the desktop greys-out
> inactive windows or otherwise messes with the colouring, then the
> problem occurs. But, like I say, I have not been able to reproduce
> the problem.
> 
DM: Yes, I suspect that there's something about how the Xfce desktop
environment (DE) handles things that is part of the problem or perhaps
the only problem. And, at least for my level of knowledge, it feels
like there are a lot of different variables once you start considering
the interplay of GTK3, the DE, and themes. Thus far, it has 'seemed' to
me from my own experience and other people's reports that each of these
might play at least some part in the problem.
> 
> I use the Greybird-Pro gtk3 theme. If you try this one yet still get
> the problem, then that would give more weight to the theory that it
> is not a theme problem but a DE problem.
> 
DM: That's good to know. I know that 'Greybird' and 'Greybird-Dark'
didn't work for me, but I could try 'Greybird-Pro' yet for further
testing. I think I do remember in some of the comments I read on this
that there was a theme that 'fixed' this for someone on one DE, but it
didn't 'fix' it for someone who was using Xfce.

DM: Following up on your comment, if it is possibly / probably a DE
problem rather than a theme problem, then would that mean I should
probably focus my efforts on DE-related settings (rather than changing
themes) or is there enough interplay between themes and DE's that it's
not as cut-and-dried as that?
> 
> > What would be the best / easiest way for me to get an idea of how
> > the Claws Mail code for setting color labels in the message summary
> > view has changed from the GTK2 versions to the GTK3 port / versions?
> > 
> > I am also interested in finding out more about the difference
> > between how GTK2 interacts with the message summary view 'object'
> > and how GTK3 interacts with it, but I realize that may be off-topic
> > here.  
> 
> You can diff the files, src/summaryview.c and src/gtk/colorlabel.c to
> see the changes between gtk2 claws-mail and gtk3 claws-mail. There
> are not many. Probably more relevant is what /has not/ changed. The
> summaryview uses ctree to build its layout, the newer gtk way to do
> this is the slower treeview.
> 
DM: Thanks; helpful to know. Another question is related to the
temporary 'fix' for this. The easiest one is to use the menu item 'View'
- 'Update Summary' and the other one is to leave the folder and then
  re-enter the folder. Am I right in thinking that for both of these
  fixes, what's happening in the code to cause the color labels to
  return is the same? And what would that be called? 'Re-drawing' the
  object? 'Re-painting' it? Something else? Thanks again, ---Dustin