User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.5b) Gecko/20030826 Mozilla Firebird/0.6.1+ Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; U; PPC Mac OS X Mach-O; en-US; rv:1.5b) Gecko/20030826 Mozilla Firebird/0.6.1+ Currently, if Mozilla Thunderbird is hidden the only indicator of new mail arriving is a "bonk" that obviously will not be heard unless the person is actually sitting at their computer. Others have suggested having the Thunderbird icon in the dock display the number of new messages. However, this does no good for the many OS X users who have their dock hidden. Microsoft Entourage makes the dock icon bounce to indicate new mail. This feature would be extremely helpful for those of us using Thunderbird on MacOS X. This is very similar to bug number 86553, but it was suggested that a new bug be filed since that bug specifically requests that the dock icon display the number of new messages. Reproducible: Always Steps to Reproduce: 1.Thunderbird is set to automatically check for email every X number of minutes 2.Thunderbird checks email 3. Actual Results: Only indication of new mail is a "BONK" noise. Expected Results: Dock icon should bounce to indicate new mail.

see also bug 86553 (show new mail in icon)

Yes please.

Is there any way to vote for this bug? The option isn't there for me.

What needs to be done to this bug to allow people to vote for it? Since I am the one who initially posted the bug is there something I need to do?

I have a fix for this. What is the next step? Upload a patch to this bug?

(In reply to comment #5) > I have a fix for this. What is the next step? Upload a patch to this bug? Please do. I think you can create an attachment in bugzilla. If not, you could try emailing mscott@mozilla.org, he'd know what to do.

I sure hope I did this right. Instructions are included in the zip file.

Actually, Jon, you should attach your patch as a cvs diff file if possible. See <http://mozilla.org/hacking/life-cycle.html>.

Can I please vote for the choice of bouncing the icon OR changing the icon appearance? I can see why some people like the bouncing, but personally I just want an at-a-glance indication that mail has arrived without the need to open the main window. Bouncing is for critical alerts, and for me new mail shouldn't interrupt my flow if I'm working on something else. Obviously YMMV, hence the choice.

(In reply to comment #8) > Actually, Jon, you should attach your patch as a cvs diff file if possible. See > <http://mozilla.org/hacking/life-cycle.html>. The zip contains a diff file. It also contains two new files. I couldn't figure out how to get cvs diff to do anything with the new files, so I just put it all into a zip file (along with a Read Me that explains where the two other files go.) Is there a way to get cvs diff to add new files?

(In reply to comment #9) > Can I please vote for the choice of bouncing the icon OR changing the icon > appearance? Phil, I agree with you 100%. Changing the icon is bug 86553. What needs to be implemented (in addition to a fix for that bug) is a preference setting for this. It seems half the people want bouncing and the other half want a state change. Within the patch, I have included code that will change the icon (although it is commented out right now.) What I haven't figured out yet is how to display a count of new messages on top of the icon (which is what bug 86553 is requesting.)

I assume you used the calls in <http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Reference/Dock_Manager/dockmngr_refchap/function_group_3.html>. How does Mail.app do it? Does it just contain a bunch of images for the superimposed numbers?

(In reply to comment #12) > I assume you used the calls in > <http://developer.apple.com/documentation/Carbon/Reference/Dock_Manager/dockmngr_refchap/function_group_3.html>. > How does Mail.app do it? Does it just contain a bunch of images for the > superimposed numbers? Well, OverlayApplicationDockTileImage and the others would be the better way to do it. Mail.app doesn't use images for the numbers. I think it generates an image on the fly. The background red star is an TIFF file. So I think it probably creates a new picture, draws the text on top of the star, and then overlays the whole thing on top of the existing icon with OverlayApplicationDockTileImage. That's just a guess, though. The code I put in here simply uses BeginQDContextForApplicationDockTile and EndQDContextForApplicationDockTile to draw right on to the icon.

Is this fix something that I can add to my current version of Thunderbird or is this a fix just to be implemented when building Thunderbird. I am asking because I do not currently have the time or resources to build Thunderbird, but I would certainly be willing to test the fix. However, I could not find any such directory as "mailnews/base/src" in either my profile or when looking at the Thunderbird package contents.

(In reply to comment #14) > Is this fix something that I can add to my current version of Thunderbird or is > this a fix just to be implemented when building Thunderbird. I am asking because > I do not currently have the time or resources to build Thunderbird, but I would > certainly be willing to test the fix. However, I could not find any such > directory as "mailnews/base/src" in either my profile or when looking at the > Thunderbird package contents. Jim, it's a source code patch. It has to be built.

Well, whenever someone has a build with this fix included, please let me know. I will be more than happy to test it out. I am just thrilled to see activity happening on a feature that for years Mac users have been crying out for.

Jon, Can you post just the OSX_biff.diff file using "cvs diff -uw" ? It makes for a much easier to read diff file (at least for me anyway :) )

Jim, Can you comment more on how Entourage handles the bounce? Does it bounce forever until you bring the app back to focus and read a message? What do the pref UI options look like for Entourage for this? Do they let you control the number of bounces, etc? To answer someone's question, before we land this we'll hook up notification pref UI to make this a pref.

Entourage X just has a on/off checkbox for dock animation notification. When enabled the purple "e" bounces until clicked. I'd be in favor of a variable bounce setting (ie. bounce X times when new mail is received).

(In reply to comment #19) > I'd be in favor of a variable > bounce setting (ie. bounce X times when new mail is received). I'd like that, too. We're using GetAttention(), which calls NMInstall() on the Mac. By default, that simply bounces until the application is brought to the front, at which point the Notification Request is automatically removed. It is possible to call a Notification Response Procedure, which could start a timer, and remove the Notification Request when the timer expires (if it hasn't been removed already.) That would enable us to do something like "Bounce for 15 seconds." Would that satisfy that request? The Notification Manager is defined here: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/mac/Processes/Processes-105.html

Daniel is correct. You only have a choice between no dock notification or incessant bouncing until the program is brought to the foreground. I like the idea of being able to set the bounce to last for a certain amount of time. However, the problem there is that if you happened to walk away from your computer bouncing might stop before you get back. I have a suggestion for a compromise. I don't know if this is introducing a lot more difficulty into the task, but what if you have it set so the icon bounces for 15 seconds, then quits for a set number of minutes, then bounces for 15 seconds, and so on. This way the icon is not constantly bouncing, but it still constantly reminds you that you have mail until you bring the program into the foreground. Just a thought.

Now that I think about it, maybe it would be best to restrict bouncing to actual alerts, and not do it on new mail. Overlaying the Dock icon à la Mail.app is probably the right thing to do. Does Thunderbird bounce the Dock icon now if an alert dialog sheet is thrown while in the background?

(In reply to comment #23) > Now that I think about it, maybe it would be best to restrict bouncing to actual > alerts, and not do it on new mail. Overlaying the Dock icon à la Mail.app is > probably the right thing to do. I think new email *is* an alert, of sorts. At least I view it in that way. Overlaying the icon is great, and that's what bug 86553 is for. But there are a lot of people who desire the icon bounce. A big problem with just overlaying the icon shows up as soon as you set the Dock to auto-hide. If the Dock is invisible, you'll never see the updated icon until you show the Dock again. When the Dock is hidden, a bouncing icon will make itself visible immediately. Apple does this to some degree with iChat. You can choose between a single bounce or incessant bouncing. I think as long as it is a choice, we're in good shape. That way, if it bothers the user, it's their own fault for selecting that option. :) > Does Thunderbird bounce the Dock icon now if an alert dialog sheet is thrown > while in the background? It does at least for the auto-compact folders dialog. I'm not at my Mac now, so can't verify if it does so for other alerts.

From what I've experienced, Thunderbird does bounce the dock icon whenever an alert dialog is thrown up. I know that what may seem like a simple feature request from an end user like myself, may in fact entail an almost insurmountable amount of programming. Having the dock icon bounce periodically (as opposed to constantly) until Thunderbird is brought into the foreground was a suggestion for an option no other program seems to offer. However, just having the ability to choose between a constant bounce and a specified number of bounces or specified time for bouncing would still be a great enhancement. I do believe that the bouncing icon is necessary though. My experience has been that most OS X users are like me and auto-hide the dock to allow for more screen real estate. Personally, I could care less though, if the icon tells me how many new emails I have. I just want to know I have some.

I don't have a Mac so I don't have an easy to make sure my changes didn't break Jon's original patch :) 1) I removed some methods that weren't being used in nsMessengerOSXIntegration.cpp 2) I created a new pref for OSX called mail.biff.animate_dock_icon which is used to turn on / off bouncing of the system dock icon 3) I added UI to the Options dialog for OSX only which has a checkbox under "When New Mail Arrives" saying: [ ] Animate the dock icon Is there better wording for that for OS X users? I'm going to check this into the 0.6 branch. Jon's gonna try to update his branch build to make sure I didn't break anything.

I think "Animate the dock icon" is just fine for the wording. Anyone who has been using OS X for more than a week should know what it means.

fixed on the tbird 0.6 branch Leaving open so it can get checked in on the trunk We already have a separate bug to track changing the system dock icon

Please don't add new files under the NPL/GPL/LGPL but under the MPL/GPL/LGPL.

not a .7 blocker since it's on the branch already

not a .8 blocker since it's on the branch already

1.1 to track landing on the trunk

Biff in dock seems to work fine in TB now. Any plans to incorporate this feature into Mozilla ?