[macOS] some UI elements (e.g. list, tree views) seem to have more space between lines now

[martinlippert]

Some UI elements seem to have a lot more space between lines on macOS since Eclipse 2024-03 builds, for example the package explorer, dialogs showing lists (switch to different perspective), etc. It looks like a very general issue (maybe even in SWT, not sure). Not sure if this was an intended change, but I would prefer the old behavior to save screen real estate.

Eclipse 2024-03-M2 on macOS Sonoma 14.3.1
Plain vanilla EPP package download, empty workspace.

[martinlippert]

This is how it looks like for 2024-03 M2 on macOS:

vs. the overall look using 2023-12 on macOS:

[merks]

Have you tried any of the SWT snippets to see if the problem is like that there too?

[BeckerWdf]

I think eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.swt#771 is the case for this. And I had the impression that is was by intention.

[Phillipus]

The underlying cause is the macOS SDK version that the Eclipse launcher is built with. In older versions of Eclipse the launcher was built using SDK 10. Later versions are built using SDK 11 and 13. This dictates how the UI elements are displayed. Taller tree and table items are part of SDK 11 and greater. eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.swt#771 is a fix to keep things consistent.

[martinlippert]

The underlying cause is the macOS SDK version that the Eclipse launcher is built with. In older versions of Eclipse the launcher was built using SDK 10. Later versions are built using SDK 11 and 13. This dictates how the UI elements are displayed. Taller tree and table items are part of SDK 11 and greater. eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.swt#771 is a fix to keep things consistent.

I tested this using I20240219-0600, which has org.eclipse.swt.cocoa.macosx.aarch64_3.125.0.v20240217-1555. This build still has the described issue. I am not sure whether the fix that got merged in eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.swt#771 is already included in that I-build though.

[Phillipus]

This build still has the described issue.

Not sure what you mean?

To be clear, since Eclipse 4.30 the launcher has been built using SDK 13 so taller row heights are the norm. eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.swt#771 was merged on Jan 17 2024. All that patch does is to ensure that row heights stay as they should when a font is set.

[martinlippert]

This build still has the described issue.

Not sure what you mean?

To be clear, since Eclipse 4.30 the launcher has been built using SDK 13 so taller row heights are the norm. eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.swt#771 was merged on Jan 17 2024. All that patch does is to ensure that row heights stay as they should when a font is set.

I got the impression that the mentioned PR fixes the issue that I illustrated in the screenshots in #1674 (comment), that is why I thought I should re-test the latest I-build and report back here... ;-)

The screenshot above from using Eclipse 2023-12 (4.30) looks like the old behavior though (smaller row height), so it looks like something has changed for 4.31 builds that causes this change.

[Phillipus]

Since Eclipse 4.30 all row heights on Mac are taller by default. Before eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.swt#771 changing the font of a Table/Tree/List incorrectly added padding of 1 pixel to the row height (wrong). It now adds 8 pixels to match the increased row height. You are seeing smaller row heights in Eclipse 2023-12 because the patch is not present in that version.

The correct row height is the larger one, because of the changes in the SDK.

[Phillipus]

I'll try to make this clearer...

Please take a look at eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.swt#677

• Since Eclipse 4.30 the x86_64 launcher is built using SDK 13 (has always been the case for Silicon which was built with SDK 11 and now 13) so all row heights are now natively taller (25 pixels instead of 18)
• In Eclipse 4.30 you might see a smaller row height because a padding of 1 pixel was being added to the row instead of 8 pixels when the font was set on the tree/table/list (as in your screenshot)
• This was fixed in Fixing the Item height for Table and Tree when the default font is set eclipse.platform.swt#771 so that all row heights remain consistent at 25 pixels high either before or after changing the font on the control

TL;DR - taller row heights is the new normal.

[Phillipus]

If you want smaller row height you could use -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts in your eclipse.ini file.

[martinlippert]

-Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts

The above screenshot when running on Eclipse 2024-03 M2 is with -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts on the eclipse.ini file.

[BeckerWdf]

-Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts

The above screenshot when running on Eclipse 2024-03 M2 is with -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts on the eclipse.ini file.

If you remove -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts you should see that you even see less entries on the same screen space in project explorer.

[martinlippert]

Okay, here is a comparison (from the users point of view), first with the smallFonts setting:

A) Eclipse 2023-12 (including -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts)

B) Eclipse 2024-03 I-Build (including -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts)

The screenshots for both without -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts look the same, so posted here just for the reference:

C) Eclipse 2023-12 (excluding -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts)

D) Eclipse 2024-03 I-Build (excluding -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts)

---

I would actually prefer to continue to have the more compressed look of A) for all my views, lists, tress, etc., but it looks like even setting -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts doesn't bring that back. Your comment sounds like B) is the "new normal", but I highly doubt that users would prefer B) over A). Is there a way to bring back the look of A) for those elements somehow?

[Phillipus]

I'll try to explain the situation again (with reference to eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.swt#677)

• Since macOS 11 native row heights are taller (see comment)
• Since Eclipse 4.30 both x86_64 and Silicon Mac Eclipse have a launcher built using macOS SDK 13 (see comment)
• When a new table/tree/list is created its row height is now taller (see comment)
• However when a table/tree/list has its font or image set it calls setItemHeight (see here )
• Before the latest patch, setItemHeight added vertical padding of 1 pixel which is why you see smaller row heights in Eclipse 4.30. But actually the padding should be 8 pixels to be consistent with the new, taller, row heights which is why it's bigger in Eclipse 4.31

So the new row heights are actually correct for the new macOS SDK.

If -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts is set then Tree#setFont() is always called which in turn calls setItemHeight which sets the smaller item height in Eclipse 4.30 but not in 4.31.

• If you remove the -Dorg.eclipse.swt.internal.carbon.smallFonts argument the row heights you see in Eclipse are the new normal for Eclipse on Mac.