Missing mouse cursor in Procedure Window

I am running Igor Pro 8 on a windows 10 Pro 64 bit PC.  Every so often the flashing mouse cursor disappears when I am editing a Procedure window.  Any ideas please?

Yes, that is unfortunately a problem currently with no solution (as far as I know). It is probably caused by the underlying GUI framework. The solution is to switch briefly to another application or restart Igor. By the way, if you find something you think is a bug, then it is usually quicker to write the support an email. If you find a way to reproducibly trigger this problem everybody would probably be delighted (I am trying for months now without luck).

Yes, this annoys us as well, but we have still not found a reliable way to reproduce the problem. We have at times thought we found a recipe, and then tried making changes to avoid the problem, and then found that we could no longer reproduce the problem using the recipe with the unmodified version of Igor.

This kind of problem would be tricky to debug even with a reliable recipe since using a debugger can change event processing which is likely the problem here in the first place.

The most reliable way I have found to "fix" the problem (temporarily) was suggested by a user: minimize Igor and then restore it. Switching to another application often works but sometimes doesn't. I haven't seen the minimize/restore trick fail to fix the problem yet.

I've experienced in the recent IP9 beta versions that the minimize/restore trick doesn't always work but clicking the procedure window title bar does seem to. Your experience may be different.

As the old adage goes: 'It's not a bug, it's a feature'

The problem with disappearing mouse cursors is not just on Windows with Igor Pro. I and others have issues with the cursor disappearing on macOS. It seems to be perhaps related to having a second monitor and/or projector connected while running with different Spaces across each display. I do not think that anyone has any idea there either why it happens.

It is a feature that I might wish to be implemented in Zoom. To assure that my students are not just sleep-walking through my lectures, my picture should just disappear randomly until they unmute (and display) themselves to ask me a question. :-)

In reply to by jjweimer

It is nice to know that I am not alone with this "feature".  I too can find no pattern for it's occurence (cursor loss) and reappearance  and  a sure-fire way to get the cursor back has illuded me ... and it seems the Tech Team (no criticism - it must be a tricky one to pin done). 

The various suggestions of minimimising and restore or clicking on another app are things to try. I have twin monitors and have just found that clicking on the desktop space on the other screen worked for me .... I will see how reliable that technique works out to be.

jjweiner's comments are  interesting in as much as it is cross-OS and earlier it was noted to be in new beta versions.  Perhaps clues for tracking down this annoying feature.

Where there is an easy work-around to a problem it becomes less of a problem but ....

FWIW, I am not aware of any cursor problem on macOS (excepting tony's report sent directly to support which I have not yet gotten to). Igor doesn't support spaces so if you are putting Igor windows in different spaces you are really on your own :)

The way that windows and events work is different enough on macOS and Windows that any disappearing cursor problem, if there is one on macOS, is likely a completely separate problem.

As for your Zoom lectures, maybe you need to turn on the cat filter once in a while to keep them alert. Just remember how to turn it off!

The mouse disappears on macOS regardless of the application. This is not an Igor Pro issue there.

In reply to by jjweimer

I encounter two different cursor problems with Igor on mac. I haven't noticed these in other applications.

One is a disappearing text cursor in procedure windows. When the text cursor disappears cut and paste also stop working. Clicking in some other application usually restores normal behaviour. This has happened for a long time, but I haven't found a way to reproduce it.

The other (the subject of the bug report than Adam mentions) is a reproducible disappearance of the mouse cursor after clicking the eyedropper tool from a popup color picker dialog. Unplugging my external monitor retrieves the mouse cursor. Actually, I just checked and this appears to be an OS bug. Clicking the application titlebar restores the mouse cursor. Perhaps this is the known mac problem than Jeff mentions.