app.focus() not working

[devinfoley]

Preflight Checklist

• I have read the Contributing Guidelines for this project.
• I agree to follow the Code of Conduct that this project adheres to.
• I have searched the issue tracker for an issue that matches the one I want to file, without success.

Issue Details

It would appear that app.focus() stopped working in Electron 6, and remains broken in Electron 8.

• Electron Version:
  • 8.0.3
• Operating System:
  • macOS
• Last Known Working Electron version:
  • 5.0.13

Expected Behavior

app.focus() should bring the application to the foreground.

Actual Behavior

app.focus() does nothing.

To Reproduce

Fiddle: https://gist.github.com/a772265b312329e3f3bc1feb7b6aff7d

1. Start this fiddle.
2. As soon as the window pops up, select another application so that Electron is in the background.
3. Within 5 seconds, the app will attempt to focus itself to no avail.

[codebytere]

@devinfoley this appears to have been intentional: #16400

A potential path forward, however, might be to add an optional force parameter that makes the receiver the active app regardless of whether another app is active.

Thoughts?

[MarshallOfSound]

The use case here is for things like dragging files from app A to app B. App B needs to be able to focus itself after receiving a file, currently it cant.

[mifi]

Will this make it into 8.x version?