Fix a few theme-related issues #13877

HoussemNasri · 2025-09-13T15:28:18Z

JavaFX default theme brief flash

Screen.Recording.2025-09-13.at.14.53.57.mov

Button-bar button ellipsis truncate issue

Mandatory checks

I own the copyright of the code submitted and I license it under the MIT license
I manually tested my changes in running JabRef (always required)
I added JUnit tests for changes (if applicable)
I added screenshots in the PR description (if change is visible to the user)
I described the change in CHANGELOG.md in a way that is understandable for the average user (if change is visible to the user)
I checked the user documentation: Is the information available and up to date? If not, I created an issue at https://github.com/JabRef/user-documentation/issues or, even better, I submitted a pull request updating file(s) in https://github.com/JabRef/user-documentation/tree/main/en.

… runtime - IndexOutOfBoundsException keeps being thrown although the theme is applied correctly. By catching the exception, we avoid spamming the exception to user.

HoussemNasri · 2025-09-13T15:42:20Z

Please don't squash before merging, as each commit addresses a separate issue.

Siedlerchr · 2025-09-13T16:55:30Z

When I go to prefs -> Change from light to dark theme

java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException: toIndex = 2
	at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.subListRangeCheck(AbstractList.java:509)
	at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.subList(AbstractList.java:499)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ModifiableObservableListBase.subList(ModifiableObservableListBase.java:234)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.javafx.binding.ContentBinding$ListContentBinding.onChanged(ContentBinding.java:123)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.javafx.collections.ListListenerHelper$Generic.fireValueChangedEvent(ListListenerHelper.java:327)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.javafx.collections.ListListenerHelper.fireValueChangedEvent(ListListenerHelper.java:71)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ObservableListBase.fireChange(ObservableListBase.java:246)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ListChangeBuilder.commit(ListChangeBuilder.java:482)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ListChangeBuilder.endChange(ListChangeBuilder.java:541)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ObservableListBase.endChange(ObservableListBase.java:210)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ModifiableObservableListBase.setAll(ModifiableObservableListBase.java:102)
	at org.jabref/org.jabref.gui.theme.ThemeManager.installCssImmediately(ThemeManager.java:108)
	at org.jabref/org.jabref.gui.theme.ThemeManager.lambda$installCss$0(ThemeManager.java:117)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl.lambda$runLater$4(PlatformImpl.java:419)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.glass.ui.InvokeLaterDispatcher$Future.run(InvokeLaterDispatcher.java:95)

Yubo-Cao · 2025-09-13T18:59:50Z

I also experience the IndexOutOfBoundsException when I switch the theme first from light to dark then dark to light:

java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException: toIndex = 3
	at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.subListRangeCheck(AbstractList.java:509)
	at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.subList(AbstractList.java:499)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ModifiableObservableListBase.subList(ModifiableObservableListBase.java:234)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.javafx.binding.ContentBinding$ListContentBinding.onChanged(ContentBinding.java:123)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.javafx.collections.ListListenerHelper$Generic.fireValueChangedEvent(ListListenerHelper.java:327)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.javafx.collections.ListListenerHelper.fireValueChangedEvent(ListListenerHelper.java:71)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ObservableListBase.fireChange(ObservableListBase.java:246)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ListChangeBuilder.commit(ListChangeBuilder.java:482)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ListChangeBuilder.endChange(ListChangeBuilder.java:541)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ObservableListBase.endChange(ObservableListBase.java:210)
	at [email protected]/javafx.collections.ModifiableObservableListBase.setAll(ModifiableObservableListBase.java:102)
	at org.jabref/org.jabref.gui.theme.ThemeManager.installCssImmediately(ThemeManager.java:108)
	at org.jabref/org.jabref.gui.theme.ThemeManager.lambda$installCss$0(ThemeManager.java:117)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl.lambda$runLater$4(PlatformImpl.java:419)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.glass.ui.InvokeLaterDispatcher$Future.run(InvokeLaterDispatcher.java:95)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication._runLoop(Native Method)
	at [email protected]/com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication.lambda$runLoop$0(WinApplication.java:168)
	at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1447)

Yubo-Cao · 2025-09-13T19:04:18Z

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/theme/ThemeManager.java

+                installCssImmediately(scene);
+            } catch (IndexOutOfBoundsException e) {
+                // IndexOutOfBoundsException keeps being thrown although the theme is applied correctly.
+                // By catching the exception, we avoid spamming the exception to user.


I don't think you can actually catch the IndexOfOutBoundsException... For some magic that I cannot fully understood, even with that, I can get an error similar to this:

java.lang.IndexOutOfBoundsException: toIndex = 3 at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.subListRangeCheck(AbstractList.java:509) at java.base/java.util.AbstractList.subList(AbstractList.java:499) at javafx.base@24.0.2/javafx.collections.ModifiableObservableListBase.subList(ModifiableObservableListBase.java:234) at javafx.base@24.0.2/com.sun.javafx.binding.ContentBinding$ListContentBinding.onChanged(ContentBinding.java:123) at javafx.base@24.0.2/com.sun.javafx.collections.ListListenerHelper$Generic.fireValueChangedEvent(ListListenerHelper.java:327) at javafx.base@24.0.2/com.sun.javafx.collections.ListListenerHelper.fireValueChangedEvent(ListListenerHelper.java:71) at javafx.base@24.0.2/javafx.collections.ObservableListBase.fireChange(ObservableListBase.java:246) at javafx.base@24.0.2/javafx.collections.ListChangeBuilder.commit(ListChangeBuilder.java:482) at javafx.base@24.0.2/javafx.collections.ListChangeBuilder.endChange(ListChangeBuilder.java:541) at javafx.base@24.0.2/javafx.collections.ObservableListBase.endChange(ObservableListBase.java:210) at javafx.base@24.0.2/javafx.collections.ModifiableObservableListBase.setAll(ModifiableObservableListBase.java:102) at org.jabref/org.jabref.gui.theme.ThemeManager.installCssImmediately(ThemeManager.java:108) at org.jabref/org.jabref.gui.theme.ThemeManager.lambda$installCss$0(ThemeManager.java:117) at javafx.graphics@24.0.2/com.sun.javafx.application.PlatformImpl.lambda$runLater$4(PlatformImpl.java:419) at javafx.graphics@24.0.2/com.sun.glass.ui.InvokeLaterDispatcher$Future.run(InvokeLaterDispatcher.java:95) at javafx.graphics@24.0.2/com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication._runLoop(Native Method) at javafx.graphics@24.0.2/com.sun.glass.ui.win.WinApplication.lambda$runLoop$0(WinApplication.java:168) at java.base/java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:1447)

I wonder if DelayedExecution utility, or first clear all the theme instead of directly setAll would perform the trick. Alternatively, the other method that I haven't tried before (when I encountered this), is to always keep the base.css and only remove the css not needed (so switch light to dark = add(dark.css); switch dark to light = remove(dark.css), instead of just performing an array of css replacement).

I could fix this by calling clear first and then adding the new stylesheets

The exception is less frequent now but still reproducible unfortunately.

I don't think you can actually catch the IndexOfOutBoundsException... For some magic that I cannot fully understood, even with that, I can get an error similar to this:

I'm really confused too :), no idea how the exception is not caught. We have this setUncaughtExceptionHandler method call to catch uncaught exceptions and show them in error dialog but that should be for uncaught 🥲.

I would keep it throwing since this is not a new bug and the theme changes correctly even with the exception, and open an issue to fix it later.

Yubo-Cao · 2025-09-13T19:06:01Z

jabgui/src/main/resources/org/jabref/gui/Base.css

    -fx-padding: 0.5em 1em 0.5em 1em;
 }

-.dialog-pane .button-bar .button {


Thank you for catching the merge dialog issue. I initially created this catch all for other dialogs when font size is large. For example, if we turn font size of 14 and open preferences dialog or the new entry dialog, their sizes are not properly working out anymore...

JabRef should be able to resize buttons to show full texts when font size changes but it is more important to have it work using the default font size, we can think of a better solution for that case in parallel.

The issue doesn't happen with the merge dialog only but with any dialog that has long text (more than two words) in button bar .i.e About dialog.

koppor

I tried - worked on Gnome.

Siedlerchr · 2025-09-15T11:51:28Z

Exception no longer occurs after the latest changes. I think the only issue left was that with the icon size updating on font size change not always beeng correct

…dated at runtime" This reverts commit 7361b5a.

HoussemNasri · 2025-09-15T12:02:59Z

Exception no longer occurs after the latest changes. I think the only issue left was that with the icon size updating on font size change not always beeng correct

Actually it still does for me. I didn't push any attempts to fix the exception, it is more involved. I reverted the commit that said it fixed this problem. I think we can merge as is, good enough for alpha release.

Siedlerchr · 2025-09-21T20:48:03Z

@HoussemNasri @Yubo-Cao I merged the javafx25 now in, would be nice if could play around wtih this as well

trag-bot · 2025-09-21T20:52:12Z

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/theme/ThemeManager.java

    }

-    /// Installs the base and additional css files as stylesheets in the given scene.
+    /// Installs the base and additional CSS files as stylesheets in the given scene.


The comment is trivial and restates the method name. Comments should provide additional context or reasoning not obvious from the code itself.

trag-bot · 2025-09-21T20:52:51Z

jabgui/src/main/java/org/jabref/gui/theme/ThemeManager.java

+        stylesheets.addAll(baseOrThemeStylesheet);
+    }
+
+    /// Registers a runnable on JavaFX thread to install the base and additional css files as stylesheets in the given scene.


The comment is trivial and restates the method name. Comments should provide additional context or reasoning not obvious from the code itself.

Houssem Nasri added 3 commits September 13, 2025 17:12

Prevent brief flash of the default JavaFX (Modena) theme on startup

69dff91

Avoid spamming IndexOutOfBoundsException when the theme is updated at…

7361b5a

… runtime - IndexOutOfBoundsException keeps being thrown although the theme is applied correctly. By catching the exception, we avoid spamming the exception to user.

Fix button-bar buttons truncating long text with ellipsis

3ecff72

HoussemNasri requested a review from Yubo-Cao September 13, 2025 15:29

HoussemNasri added the project: jabcon label Sep 13, 2025

Update Changelog

475d24b

Yubo-Cao requested changes Sep 13, 2025

View reviewed changes

use clear

364dd1d

koppor added the status: changes-required Pull requests that are not yet complete label Sep 13, 2025

koppor reviewed Sep 14, 2025

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Houssem Nasri added 2 commits September 15, 2025 13:58

Revert "Avoid spamming IndexOutOfBoundsException when the theme is up…

421df4e

…dated at runtime" This reverts commit 7361b5a.

Update CHANGELOG.md

d579ef1

Siedlerchr mentioned this pull request Sep 20, 2025

Updatejfx25 #13933

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Siedlerchr approved these changes Sep 20, 2025

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Siedlerchr enabled auto-merge September 20, 2025 15:10

Merge branch 'main' into fix-some-theme-issues

83abee8

trag-bot bot reviewed Sep 21, 2025

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Fix a few theme-related issues #13877

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Fix a few theme-related issues #13877

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