[GNOME Linux] No window decoration (shadow) if a window title bar style is custom

[proninyaroslav]

Does this issue occur when all extensions are disabled?: Yes

• VS Code Version: 1.92.0
• OS Version: Fedora 40 (GNOME 46)

Steps to Reproduce:

1. Set window.titleBarStyle options to custom in the settings
2. Run VSCode in the Wayland mode, for example, type it in the terminal:

$ ELECTRON_OZONE_PLATFORM_HINT=auto code

Expected behaviour

There should be a window decoration (shadow) as it is in XWayland compatibility mode:

Actual behaviour

There is no window decoration/shadow:

But If I set window.titleBarStyle to native, the window decoration/shadow appears:

[proninyaroslav]

Tested on 1.92.1, still has problem.

[proninyaroslav]

I noticed another fact: in Wayland mode, a new window opens as Visual Studio Code - URL Handler, and not as it should be (Visual Studio Code). Maybe this is the reason.

[cbrnr]

I can confirm the missing window decorations (i.e. shadows) when running on GNOME/Wayland when using the custom title bar style (the default). It would be really nice if this worked, because

1. the native title bar is not an option for me (the layout shortcut buttons are missing and it takes up more space), and
2. running via XWayland is also not an option, because I use fractional scaling (150%), which is very blurry in XWayland (but super crisp on Wayland).

Regarding the comment on "Visual Studio Code - URL Handler", I still haven't figured out why there are two desktop files, but you can at least fix the issue with two task bar entries (and/or missing icons) by setting StartupWMClass=code-url-handler in ~/.local/share/applications/code.desktop (create a copy of /usr/share/applications/code.desktop in that location and edit the copy in your home folder), see #129953 (comment) and #129953 (comment).

[proninyaroslav]

@cbrnr
Yes, I was a little confused about URL Handler. I eventually found that even with the system window frame, VSCode still launched as URL Handler.

[jhasse]

I think it's one of these upstream bugs and nothing VSCode could (or should) do itself about it:

• https://issues.chromium.org/issues/40186366
• [Feature Request]: Draw GTK window shadow when application have custom window frame electron/electron#43721

[proninyaroslav]

@jhasse
Well, as a workaround, we can add a border to at least somehow distinguish the window frame from the rest.

[cbrnr]

However, Google Chrome does have borders and a shadow even though it is the basis of Electron (and it also has a custom title bar). So it might be worth looking into how they achieve this.

[proninyaroslav]

@cbrnr
I confirm, I'm using a custom frame in Chrome and it has a shadow.

[deepak1556]

The shadow with native titlebar are from the CSD implementation in Electron. For the custom titlebar Electron shares the implementation with Chrome and based on https://issues.chromium.org/issues/40158897 there is no work actively being tracked in upstream. Closing as not actionable on our end.

[cbrnr]

@deepak1556 but wait, as I've mentioned previously, Chromium does have shadows when using a custom title at. Why not VS Code then?

[deepak1556]

@cbrnr please refer to https://issues.chromium.org/issues/40158897#comment4

[cbrnr]

I don't understand. This issue is 3 years old and marked as obsolete, probably because it already works?

[proninyaroslav]

@cbrnr
Most likely, distro package maintainers manually add a patch with client shadows.

probably because it already works

We can't say for sure until you learn the upstream source code.

[cbrnr]

I'm pretty sure its in upstream, since I'm using Google Chrome and they don't add any patches AFAICS: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/google-chrome

[proninyaroslav]

Yes, you are right, they use packages compiled directly by the Google team.

[cbrnr]

@deepak1556 can you reopen this issue please until it is clear if there's anything that could/should be done?

[deepak1556]

The custom titlebar implementation in Electron https://github.com/electron/electron/blob/main/shell/browser/ui/views/opaque_frame_view.cc is pulled from https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/main:chrome/browser/ui/views/frame/opaque_browser_frame_view.h which is the custom titlebar implementation for Chrome. The closest CL I could find related to this was https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/chromium/src/+/2901661 and it doesn't enable in OpaqueBrowserView.

I will reopen to confirm the behavior with dPWA on linux

[cbrnr]

Thanks @deepak1556, let me know if there is anything I can do to help!

[vangohao]

Observing this problem in KDE plasma 6.2.4 with X11. VSCode version 1.96.2

[proninyaroslav]

We can do it the way it is done in Intellij IDE: add a border that visually separates the window from the background

[proninyaroslav]

The Rounded Window Corners Reborn extension for GNOME seems to workaround this issue: