Closing Spine causes Keyboard to stop functioning

danthat

This is ridiculous and I don't expect you to do anything about it, but I thought you'd like to know. I've been experiencing an issue usually close to the end of the day where my keyboard breaks and I have to restart Windows. I've finally realised it's when I close the Spine editor, the keyboard locks up and windows beeps whenever I type.

I had Unity open and the Hand tool was being force-selected, the shortcut for that is Q. Dunno if that's a cause?

Anyway it's a cheap wireless keyboard and I'm happy to send over details if you think it's important. As I said, it's one of those stupid software/ hardware bugs that'll be impossible to diagnose, but I thought I'd pass it on anyway 😉

danthat

Nate

Wow, that's bizarre. Almost all keyboards use Windows built-in HID drivers, so it's odd you see different behavior with a particular keyboard, and that we don't see such an issue on Windows. The most I can say is maybe you can take note of exactly when it occurs. Is it always after closing Spine? Is the Spine process gone? Does it happen if Unity isn't running? Does what you were doing in Unity just before closing Spine make a difference? Basically we need more info! 🙂

danthat

Hi! So, this is still happening. Just a minor annoyance BUT yesterday I recreated it on my laptop as well, so it's not my keyboard hardware that's at fault.

Repro steps involves using GitHub Desktop - if it's open, and I close Spine and try to type in GitHub Desktop (to commit changes), the keyboard breaks. Confirmed on two separate machines - I rarely use Spine on the laptop, and the first time I did this I got the same problem. Restarting Windows is the only known 'fix'.

I'd say it happens 75% of the time. I wonder if it's closing Spine and going straight to GHDesktop. Also, the issue could be 'their' end, since GHDesktop is, uh, well a bit crummy.

Anyway: thought you'd like to know. Again, I don't actually expect you to actually do anything about it 😉

Nate

Interesting, thanks for providing more info. I'd love to blame GitHub Desktop, but I don't actually know. I can say many of us develop on Windows 10 and haven't seen such an issue. I highly suggest SmartGit. I wouldn't suggest using Git any other way (including the CLI)!

danthat

Hah yeah I've been hoping Desktop will pick up. I'm a solo dev so it basically works fine for just pushing/ pulling to-and-from the laptop, but it might be time to look into something a little more robust 😉

Hello! Me again with the world's dumbest bug. It's still happening, I still don't expect you to fix it, I'm more here for the curiosity.

I've worked out that when I quit Spine, it's like my keyboard has the alt key 'forced' down. I can't type because it opens windows menus via the shortcuts, and if I drag a file to another location it creates a shortcut.

I've also worked out a workaround - if you re-open Spine and just immediately close it, everything restores. Which is a relief, because before I was having to do a restart.

Anyway, if you're simulating alt presses anywhere, that might be it? :/

Nate

Ahhh, interesting. We are indeed simulating the (stupid) alt button on Windows. The reason is to fix doing this: alt+tab away, then alt+tab, hold alt, click Spine, release alt. After that sequence, Windows leaves Spine in a bad state: thinking the alt key is pressed. Sooo, when Spine is focused, we simulate pressing and releasing alt, which fixes that bad state. We've tried to fix it other ways but were unable to. It's quite a silly thing. :facepalm: We'll make sure (starting in 3.8.33-beta) that the releasing alt happens when Spine is shutting down, which hopefully fixes your problem. Thanks for the clue!

BTW, if this happens, you should be able to press and release alt (either one) to fix it.

danthat

No worries! Glad to have go there. Sadly pressing and releasing Alt doesn't seem to fix it with the editor closed. But glad we got there 🙂