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If the help reader is open, it comes to the front when Netbeans displays a dialog box. It's been quite consistent for me, every dialog, every time. Simple to reproduce: 1. Call up some help in Netbeans (Help | Contents will do fine), 2. Either minimize the help window or bring Netbeans to the front---doesn't matter which 3. Delete a file from your project, or do anything else that invokes a dialog box. I found no indication in the JDC Bug Parade that this is a known issue with JavaHelp.
Some additional info, which makes me wonder if this quirk isn't, in fact, an intentional feature of either JavaHelp or Netbeans. When you first display the help, the window has minimize, maximize and close buttons. When Netbeans displays a dialog box, the help pops forward as well. However, the help window now assumes a new size and position such that it does not overlap the dialog, and has lost its minimize and maximize buttons. When the dialog is dismissed, the help window returns to its original size and position, and it has its minimize and maximize buttons back, only it's now the active window obscuring whatever is behind it. My main complaint here is that the help window doesn't ultimately stay minimized or in the background where I put it. If this behavior is a Netbeans feature, I'd advocate either leaving the help alone in all cases, or at least making sure it goes back to its original condition once the dialog has been dismissed. If it isn't something Netbeans is doing, I'll take it up with the Java folks.
See issue #14393 for details. Yes the behavior of resizing the help window when a modal dialog is displayed is intentional - it is necessary in order for help to be usable when modal dialogs are displayed, due to limitations in the JRE's window handling capabilities. Popping up from a minimized state is not intentional; unclear if this will be fixable. If you do not want the help window to appear, close it. It will be reopened at the previous position if you want to reopen it. *** This issue has been marked as a duplicate of 14393 ***
Resolved for 3.4.x or earlier, no new info since then -> verified.
Resolved for 3.4.x or earlier, no new info since then -> closing.