Give focus to game on run

[DanielPri]

Godot version

4.2.2.stable.official

VS Code version

1.92.0

Godot Tools VS Code extension version

2.1.0

System information

Windows 11

Problem statement

When running the game, focus is still on VS Code editor, requiring an Alt-tab to switch focus to the game.
Is it possible to optionally give focus to the game automatically? While a very small QoL feature, it would be very appreciated!
I could not find this setting in the command line documentation for godot, and yet when running directly from godot engine focus is given to the game.

Proposed solution

Optionally give focus to the game automatically upon run/run with debug.
Perhaps by using a powershell command?

[DaelonSuzuka]

When I hit F5 to launch the game, it opens on top of VSCode and is focused, UNLESS I interact with VSCode during the brief delay while the game is launching, in which case I get the behavior you're describing.

[sangold]

It is weird, the run window used to behave like you described @DaelonSuzuka but I too now have the same issue. When hitting F5, the window does not pop into focus and stay behind. I tried to find what changed but couldn't find any changes on neither the project settings nor the vscode settings. The launch config looks standard:

"configurations": [
		{
			"name": "GDScript: Launch Project",
			"type": "godot",
			"request": "launch",
			"project": "${workspaceFolder}",
			"debug_collisions": false,
			"debug_paths": false,
			"debug_navigation": false,
			"additional_options": ""
		}
	]

I run into the issue on both 4.2.2 and I just tried 4.3 to see and still the same. TBH, not sure how much the plugin can solve this.

[DanielPri]

For clarity, I do not interact with VSCode during the brief delay as it launches. (tried again a few more times to be sure)
Tried seeing if it behaves differently if running through F5, or by using mouse to navigate to the Run->Start Debugging option, and still the game launches without focus.
Although as sangold mentionned, there might not be a solution plugin-side.

[Jules5]

I have the exact same issue. It was working well for months and then suddenly vscode keeps the focus when launching the game. I tried reinstalling both the extension and vscode without success. @DanielPri did you find something that fixes this?

EDIT: Note that if I hit F5 then quickly focus another window on my second screen, the game does appear on top of vscode!

[DanielPri]

@Jules5 sorry, never did find an actual solution

[btarg]

I have found that after clicking play / hitting F5, holding alt+tab will make the game window appear above Code, where you can spam-click it to get focus quickly (since in Win11 at least on my end, the alt-tab switcher breaks visually when a new window spawns while its open)
Would giving the game window focus perhaps need to be a Godot feature, rather than a plugin feature?

[Calinou]

Would giving the game window focus perhaps need to be a Godot feature, rather than a plugin feature?

You should be able to emulate this in your project by calling DisplayServer.window_move_to_foreground() in an autoloaded script's _ready() function.

I don't know if this should be added as a CLI argument to Godot though. The general expectation is that the OS window manager will always move it to the foreground when the process starts, like any other process on the system. It's strange that this does not happen when VS Code is starting Godot.

I suggest trying to pass the --fullscreen or --maximized options using VS Code too.

[Jules5]

Unfortunately I tried DisplayServer.window_move_to_foreground() but it doesn't fix the issue, even if I put it in a _process function.
Same with the --fullscreen and --maximized options, they works but the game window is still under vscode.

[btarg]

Can confirm that DisplayServer.window_move_to_foreground() does not work.
It seems like it is in the foreground, but bugged. The mouse cursor is locked to the window's boundaries while the window is not on top of VS Code.