Bring to front when loading new video

[pauly]

I think the VLC window should be brought into focus if I load a new video and the application is already open.

Here's what I do:
- Click a video file to play from explorer
- When it finishes, switch back to explorer
- Click a new video file

At this point, the VLC window stays hidden behind the explorer window. I think it would make sense for it to be brought to the front.

[rogerdpack]

at the end of a playlist or after each video?

[pauly]

Not sure I understand the question.

If VLC is not already running, then upon clicking a video file, it will be the "on top" application.

If VLC is already running, and I click on another video file to load, it stays hidden under the current window. I think it should come to the top.

[rogerdpack]

seems like a reasonable preference option, I suppose (though coming to the top is at times a difficult thing to accomplish in certain OS's...)

[rogerdpack]

My latest thought is that you should set it to be "always on top" (and just drag it out of the way when you don't need it).
Preferences -> All -> Video -> "Always on top"
Cheers!
-r

[pauly]

Setting it to be "always on top" will simply replace one minor annoyance (having to bring it to the top myself) with another annoyance (having to drag it out of the way and then back again).

I know it's not a huge thing, but Windows Media Player does it, as do several other applications. And once you've gotten used to the convenience, you just kind of expect it everywhere.

[JimmtTheSaint]

I second this request.

[Phr3d]

+1
I 'drag and drop' titles onto the open vlc window, file loads and plays, but vlc does not come to front, would appreciate it doing so.

[nbarzgar]

I agree heartily, it should come to the front, when loading new video, not be "always on top"!!
Thanks in advance!

[chuck78]

+1 as well, this has been driving me insane ever since I switched to Windows 7.

It seems this problem does not exist in XP, something has changed in Windows 7 to prevent applications from stealing focus.

However, I want VLC to take focus when I doubleclick a video file in explorer, not stay hidden. In XP, VLC would pop up to the top, but not anymore. Other video players seem to get around this somehow.

[rogerdpack]

hmm.
Maybe it needs some "forceforeground" love?
I've run into problems with forceActive before, but with some careful tweaking I can usually get it to come to the foreground in both XP and 7.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2315 ... foreground

[pgriffet]

Hi all, problem is still "alive", running Win8.1 and Win10, last version of VLC
Media Player Classic does not have this problem : it comes to front when you click on a file in whatever explorer program, while MPC is running

[sammyc]

Still one of the most annoying problem of VLC-Player v2.2.4 (Windows 10).

Almost each other software (Adobe reader, Faststone Image viewer, Firefox, etc...) is able to handle the foreground/background behaviour like it is standard within Windows. But why not VLC-player? VLC-player is not able to move to foreground if a Video-file is double clicked within Windows Explorer *if VLC is already opened*. Interesting that VLC-player IS able to switch itself into foreground if a file is doubleclicked but VLC-player NOT opened yet.

The standard (and user friendly) windows behaviour would be the following:

1. if a any Video file is doubleclicked within Windows-Explorer to be played with VLC-Player, move VLC-window to foreground. Undependend if VLC-player is already opened or not and another Video file has been played before or not.

2. If the user clicks onto another tab in Windows tasklist, move this programm to foreground (and/or VLC-player to background)

3. If there are several entries within VLC-players Playlist: If one Video ends and the next one automatically starts: DON'T change anything. If VLC-player is in background, keep it in background. If VLC-player is in foreground, keep it in foreground.

4. all points should work identically, no matter if VLC-player opens in windowed or in Fullscreen mode.

Would be a great advantage if VLC-player could manage this standard Windows foreground/background behaviour, Thank you very much!

[roby803]

Hi all,
Is there a solution or a workaround ?
Please

BR
Roby803

[reddy4it77]

I am a long-time, loyal user of VLC. It's the first thing I install on my PC or anyone else's, if I'm installing an OS for them... and this issue in the Windows version is the ONE THING I can't stand about VLC. This bug (yes, bug) has driven me crazy, for years, and continues to do so. It's insane that that this problem has never been fixed. The behavior that is being described/requested here is not special or novel or unusual or quirky, and it should not be controversial -- it is how virtually ALL other software works in Windows and virtually every other modern windowed OS. We're talking about a standard UI behavior convention that users expect, and when it doesn't behave that way, it feels conspicuously broken. That qualifies this as a bug, not a feature request.

To be clear (though I am repeating what others have already clearly articulated), the following is how VLC should behave, because it is how VIRTUALLY EVERY OTHER software title behaves: When an external action causes a file to open in a program window (for example, double-clicking a file in Windows Explorer to open it), the program window in which that file loads is normally brought to the foreground, regardless if it is a new window or an existing one. Or, at the very least, if it loads into an existing background window, or if it was already open, some programs will cause the corresponding taskbar button to flash, or call attention to itself in some fashion, to alert the user. VLC does behave as expected, but only if VLC was not already open. If VLC was already open, the file loads and starts playing, but the player window remains in the background behind other windows, and there is often no visual indication that anything has happened at all, unless the background window is partially visible. To the end-user, they double-clicked a file and expected it to open, but (absent any audio cues,) it appears as if nothing happened. That's a bug, that should be fixed. Please! Thank you.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

VLC does flash.

[ramalina]

Here with the same problem.
Found many tread in the bug tracker with this problem, neither of that with a solution.
A registry patch is suggested (that doesn't work) ticket 8807
Or "Windows does not allow you to raise the interface" ticket 10529.

Double clicking the video file and then click the flashing icon on the taskbar is unnatural for any windows user.
As stated above: ANY WINDOWS SOFTWARE get the focus when a file associated to him is double clicked. Regarless that the program is already running or not.
The same VLC DOES get the foreground when the file is double clicked and the interface is not already opened.

I'm writing not to criticize. VLC is a good player, I report this BUG to incentive a fix.

Thank you.

[Dimes2Dope]

How is this still a problem 10 years later... making a preference for this cant be that difficult - I just want the window to get focus when I start a new video..... is it really too difficult to get a preference for this?

[sesenmaster]

Guys, I know how to do it in Python, and it's multiplatform. The Python script can be converted to an executable file, and get it called from VLC. I think the VLC devs will not be happy with that. Better would be making a cython/swig/... extension, but I'm not still proficient on that. Can it be always detectable using the VLC API that the window would need focus? If so I can do an standalone solution without modifying the VLC source code (while getting proficient in delivering a cython extension). Cheers to the VLC devs, great work.

[soundpeaks]

Still nothing about it?
Recently moved from MPC, becuase the devs have abandoned it. It's quiet a must have thing imho

[BingeWatchr]

VLC media player is my favorite program for watching videos. I love being able to speed up or slow down at various speeds using the keyboard shortcuts + or - Many other great features include downloading subtitles and ability to skip ahead or back at short medium or large jumps. My only grievance is the one mentioned in this thread that has been reiterated for over a decade now.

Scenario: I watched S01E01 using VLC's wonderful features. Now ready to watch S01E02 I go back to the file explorer and double-click it. Where is it? I can hear it already started. Let me find it on the taskbar, select VLC and then navigate back to the beginning of the episode to watch the segment that I missed because of this tedious process and increasingly annoying glitch.

This request is not a heavy lift since this is literally how every other program I have used operates. Please, please, please fix this issue/bug.

For others reading this thread I will share my workaround that I will continue using until this issue is resolved.
1) Watch the first video
2) When the first video is over, close VLC entirely
3) In the window containing your videos double-click the next one you want to watch
4) Since VLC was previously closed the video now pops up as the front window and starts playing

[matthews19]

Please fix this VLC dev community. It's ridiculous not to have implemented the expected Windows UI behavior but after ten years of requests?! When opening a new file, the application window is always brought to front, please fix. Please.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Please provide a patch. It's ridiculous to complain about a community of volunteers not doing what you want.

[GeeDee]

I seem to have found a fix to this annoying problem

Tools > Preferences > Auto raising the interface: > Audio/Video

Not sure if it's always been there but I'm on 3.0.16

[whatisron]

I tried the "Tools > Preferences > Auto raising the interface: > Audio/Video". It had already been set to "auto raise" for video. But it hasn't corrected the problem (I'm running VLC 3.0.16 on Win 10).