[palepal]

Change and reason

Fixes #1770. Console mode (-b/--basename export, --test) flashed a maximized main window, stole focus, and on macOS showed a Dock icon.

• mainwindow.cpp: showMaximized() in the MainWindow constructor ran unconditionally. It is now guarded by Application2D::isGUIMode(), like the existing window.show() in main.cpp.
• macOS: a bundled app registers as a regular Dock app as soon as AppKit starts in the QApplication constructor, before the command line is parsed, so changing activation policy afterwards still leaves a Dock icon for about a second (measured). Instead, Info.plist sets LSUIElement, and main.cpp calls new showDockIcon() (core/macos_dock.mm, setActivationPolicy(Regular)) in GUI mode before the event loop starts. Console mode never gets a Dock icon.
• macOS: Qt's Cocoa plugin still activated every app it started (qt.qpa.application: Launched with <frontmost app> as frontmost application. Activating ... instead.), so each console run took focus, closed open menus and swallowed typing in the active app. main.cpp sets QT_MAC_DISABLE_FOREGROUND_APPLICATION_TRANSFORM before the app is created and unsets it in GUI mode. Qt reads it again when the event loop starts, so GUI launches still come to the front.

Linux/Windows behaviour changes only through the showMaximized() guard.

Automated validation

• Linux unit tests passed.
• Linux AppImage, macOS, and Windows matrix builds passed.

Integration testing (before approval)

• Built the PR locally and launched it.
• Opened and modified sample patterns and measurement files.
• Created/edited points, lines, curves, and arcs.
• Tested mirror, move, rotate, and true darts (explain any N/A).
• Created and edited pieces.
• Generated and exported layouts. (console mode, see below)
• Saved, closed, reopened, and verified geometry, formulas, and dependencies.
• Observed no data loss, unexpected geometry changes, or crashes. (in the exports below)
• Attached screenshots of the corrected behavior in the running application.
• Tested other affected platforms and SeamlyMe where applicable.

Tester/date: palepal, 2026-10-18

OS/version/architecture: macOS 26 (Darwin 25.6.0), arm64

Tested commit SHA / version: 6eaeb94, focus fix re-tested on 7f1f5f8 (local build with Homebrew Qt 6.12.0, arm64 only)

Sample files, steps, screenshots, and findings:

Copy of src/app/share/samples/patterns/trousers.sm2d. The window list and Dock items were polled during each run (CoreGraphics window list, Dock accessibility items, lsappinfo).

Run	Before	After
-b out -f 0 (SVG) export	main window on screen, maximized, frontmost, Dock icon ~3 s	no on-screen window, no Dock icon (but the app still took focus, fixed in 7f1f5f8, see below)
--test	same	same as above
GUI launch from Terminal and via open (LaunchServices)	Dock icon, frontmost, menu bar	unchanged: Dock icon, frontmost, full menu bar (File … Help), window maximized

Focus (7f1f5f8, 2026-10-19), with another app frontmost and QT_LOGGING_RULES='qt.qpa.application*=true', copy of jacket3_40-146.sm2d:

Run	Before	After
--test, 3 + 20 runs	Activating ... instead logged once per run, open menus in the active app closed	no activation logged, frontmost app unchanged (polled with lsappinfo front during 8 runs), exit 0
-b export, -f 0 SVG, -f 1 PDF, -f 2 tiled PDF	activation logged	no activation logged, files written, exit 0
--test, 11 runs while a GUI instance has a pattern open behind another app		no activation logged, frontmost app unchanged (polled every 10 ms), exit 0
--test, 5 runs while a GUI instance is frontmost		the GUI instance stays frontmost, exit 0
GUI launch from Terminal	activated, Foreground	unchanged: activated, Foreground (Dock icon)
GUI via open -n -a Seamly2D.app (Dock/Finder path)		frontmost, Foreground, full menu bar (File … Help) after the Welcome dialog
open -n -a Seamly2D.app pattern.sm2d (Finder double-click path)		frontmost, Foreground, the pattern opens in the main window, same as release 2026.10.12

SVG and PNG exports are byte-identical to the unpatched build. PDFs differ only in CreationDate/ModDate.

Result: NOT YET TESTED (full checklist)

Not-applicable steps and reasons: The change touches only startup window visibility and the macOS activation policy. Drafting, piece, and layout-editing paths are not modified, but the full checklist has not been run yet. Results will be added in a comment.

Unrelated, found while testing: with a fresh profile the Welcome dialog shows first and a file opened through LaunchServices is dropped (the main window opens untitled). Release 2026.10.12 does the same; with the Welcome dialog turned off the file opens. Not touched here.

Also unrelated: DXF export (-f 14) segfaults in console mode, including on release 2026.9.21. Not touched here; I'll file it separately.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[CLAassistant]

All committers have signed the CLA.

[palepal]

Added 83fe007: missing background image no longer prompts in console mode.

ImageTool called QMessageBox::question ("The image … could not be found. Do you want to update the file location?") and QMessageBox::critical even in console mode. So --test / export of a pattern whose background image had moved blocked until someone clicked. In console mode it now logs WARNING: The image <path> could not be found. and skips the image, the same as answering No. GUI behaviour is unchanged.

Tested with src/test/CollectionTest/share/all_tools_pattern/alltools_pattern.sm2d, whose image path is D:/Github/...:

• before: a modal dialog appeared, and --test waited for it
• after: --test exits 0 with the warning, and no window appears (checked with the CoreGraphics window list)

[palepal]

Added 0fd487f: app activation no longer shows the window in console mode (macOS).

Application2D::event() calls mainWindow->show() on QEvent::ApplicationActivate. When a console export ran while another Seamly2D instance from the same app bundle was open, the export process got activated, and its hidden main window appeared maximized near the end of the export. The handler now only shows the window in GUI mode.

Tested by running Seamly2D -b out -f 0 trousers.sm2d while a GUI instance of the same bundle was open and watching the CoreGraphics window list:

• before: the maximized main window came on screen
• after: no window on screen in 3 runs out of 3

[slspencer]

Hi @palepal — Thank you for the PR and for documenting your testing so thoroughly. We appreciate the care you've taken to validate the changes. We recognize that much of the PR checklist is geared toward GUI functionality and may not apply to headless operations, so we appreciate your judgment in identifying the relevant tests.

The CLI has received relatively little attention recently, so it's great to see improvements in this area, particularly with testing on macOS.

[DSCaskey]

@csett86 can you look at the macOS Dock stuff here? thanks

[slspencer]

@palepal — We're updating our CI workflow to better support PRs from forks. The CodeSee failure is on our side; no action is needed from you. Thanks for your patience.

[slspencer]

@csett86 ?