Cursor does not blink in integrated terminal for webgl

[CameronBieganek]

Issue Type: Bug

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

Steps to reproduce:

1. Add "terminal.integrated.cursorBlinking": true to settings.json file.
2. Start VS Code with code --disable-extensions.
3. Launch integrated terminal (e.g. with CMD-J on Mac).
4. Observe that the cursor in the integrated terminal is not blinking, even when the focus is on the integrated terminal.

VS Code version: Code 1.59.1 (3866c35, 2021-08-19T11:53:52.479Z)
OS version: Darwin x64 18.7.0
Restricted Mode: No

System Info

Item	Value
CPUs	Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz (12 x 2600)
GPU Status	2d_canvas: enabled gpu_compositing: enabled metal: disabled_off multiple_raster_threads: enabled_on oop_rasterization: enabled opengl: enabled_on rasterization: enabled skia_renderer: disabled_off_ok video_decode: enabled webgl: enabled webgl2: enabled
Load (avg)	1, 1, 1
Memory (System)	16.00GB (8.02GB free)
Process Argv	--disable-extensions --crash-reporter-id fe789409-e4d3-492d-b5c7-952d2b0ca735
Screen Reader	no
VM	0%

Extensions disabled

A/B Experiments

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pythonvspyt602:30300191
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vspor363:30204092
pythonvspyt639:30300192
pythontb:30283811
pythonptprofiler:30281270
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pythonvsuse255:30340121
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pythonvspyt200:30340761
vscextlang:30333561
binariesv615:30325510
pythonvssor306:30344512
bridge0708:30335490
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bridge0723:30353136
vsdyn420:30354109

[flaviocamilo]

This also happens on Linux.

Maybe something related to the updated version of Xterm.js, which resolved #106981?

[TarunavBA]

Dudes @CameronBieganek and @flaviocamilo you both can use the terminal, it has no issues. There is nothing wrong with the terminal if the cursor isn't blinking.

[CameronBieganek]

@TarunavBA On the contrary, this affects the usability of the terminal. Here's why:

The purpose of a blinking cursor is to visually indicate which pane/window within VS Code is currently active. Without a blinking cursor in the terminal, it is much harder to tell if the terminal is currently the active pane. The result is that I sometimes think I'm in the terminal and start typing a terminal command, but that text is instead inserted into a source file in the source editor, because it turns out that the source editor was the active pane rather than the integrated terminal. This is pretty annoying and a time waster.

Not to mention, there is a setting for a blinking terminal cursor, "terminal.integrated.cursorBlinking", and it doesn't work. That is a bug.

[meganrogge]

Works on Windows, haven't tried it on mac or linux.

Maybe related to xtermjs/xterm.js@8b5a133 ? @Tyriar

Don't think so though because works for windows

[TarunavBA]

If you are on Mac or Linux you can check the color of the minimize maximise and close buttons. In which window it is colored that window is active. 🤷‍♂️

[larseirikhansen]

This is an issue for me as well, and has been for a while. I have tested this on Mac and Linux (Mint 18.x and Zorin 16) with both code-insiders and the stable version. I have also tried turning all extensions off, but the problem persists. I have not

For me, the cursor does blink the first time opening vscode and the integrated terminal. Then, if I kill the terminal and create a new, it stops blinking.

The only way to make it temporarily start again is to either reload the window, or change any of the settings that changes how the terminal-cursor renders (terminal.integrated.cursorWidth, terminal.integrated.cursorStyle, terminal.integrated.cursorBlinking, etc.).

Here is a gif I just made to show.

[CameronBieganek]

If you are on Mac or Linux you can check the color of the minimize maximise and close buttons. In which window it is colored that window is active.

No, that tells you which macOS window is active. What I was referring to is which pane within the VS Code application is the active pane, and there is no colorization that indicates which pane is active. For example, here's a screenshot of VS Code with the integrated terminal open, and you can see that there is nothing to indicate whether the editor is active or the integrated terminal is active:

[Tyriar]

I can't repro either, but looking at the code I'm guessing the issue is caused because we don't init the cursor settings in the terminal ctor:

vscode/src/vs/workbench/contrib/terminal/browser/terminalInstance.ts

Lines 573 to 596 in c295530

	const xterm = new Terminal({
	cols: this._cols || Constants.DefaultCols,
	rows: this._rows || Constants.DefaultRows,
	altClickMovesCursor: config.altClickMovesCursor && editorOptions.multiCursorModifier === 'alt',
	scrollback: config.scrollback,
	theme: this._getXtermTheme(),
	drawBoldTextInBrightColors: config.drawBoldTextInBrightColors,
	fontFamily: font.fontFamily,
	fontWeight: config.fontWeight,
	fontWeightBold: config.fontWeightBold,
	fontSize: font.fontSize,
	letterSpacing: font.letterSpacing,
	lineHeight: font.lineHeight,
	minimumContrastRatio: config.minimumContrastRatio,
	bellStyle: 'none',
	macOptionIsMeta: config.macOptionIsMeta,
	macOptionClickForcesSelection: config.macOptionClickForcesSelection,
	rightClickSelectsWord: config.rightClickBehavior === 'selectWord',
	fastScrollModifier: 'alt',
	fastScrollSensitivity: editorOptions.fastScrollSensitivity,
	scrollSensitivity: editorOptions.mouseWheelScrollSensitivity,
	rendererType: this._getBuiltInXtermRenderer(config.gpuAcceleration, TerminalInstance._suggestedRendererType),
	wordSeparator: config.wordSeparators
	});

Perhaps a config update events is firing after that on some setups which causes the cursor settings to apply.