fix(ui): keep standalone dialogs from binding to other windows on Wayland (#1024)

On GTK's Wayland backend, a toplevel with the DIALOG type hint and no
transient parent becomes an orphan dialog: the next toplevel to receive
keyboard focus silently becomes its xdg_toplevel parent, and GNOME then
raises, minimizes, and workspace-moves the two windows as one.

Settings, the transcript viewer, and the log viewer are standalone
windows opened parentless, so the dictation pad (focused constantly)
adopted them, making Alt+Tab group them and minimize/workspace changes
apply to both. Force the NORMAL type hint on all three so they stay
independent.

Fixes #984

Co-authored-by: Jatin K Malik <jatinkrmalik@gmail.com>

src/vocalinux/ui/logging_dialog.py

@@ -192,6 +192,11 @@ class LoggingDialog(Gtk.Dialog):
             flags=Gtk.DialogFlags.DESTROY_WITH_PARENT,
             modal=False,
         )
+        # Standalone viewer window: without this the DIALOG type hint makes a
+        # parentless dialog an "orphan" that GTK's Wayland backend binds to the
+        # next focused toplevel (usually the dictation pad), so the two windows
+        # raise, minimize and travel workspaces together (#984).
+        self.set_type_hint(Gdk.WindowTypeHint.NORMAL)
 
         self.logging_manager = get_logging_manager()
         self.auto_scroll = True

src/vocalinux/ui/settings_dialog.py

@@ -2525,6 +2525,13 @@ class SettingsDialog(AboutSectionMixin):
         # has a visible way to dismiss it, even on window managers that hide
         # the title-bar close button for Gtk.Dialog windows (fixes #323).
         self.set_decorated(True)
+        # A parentless Gtk.Dialog carries the DIALOG type hint, which lands it
+        # on GTK's Wayland "orphan dialog" list: the next toplevel to receive
+        # keyboard focus silently becomes its xdg_toplevel parent, and GNOME
+        # then minimizes, raises and moves the two windows as a unit (#984).
+        # Settings is a standalone window, so keep the NORMAL hint and stay
+        # independent of the dictation pad and overlay.
+        self.set_type_hint(Gdk.WindowTypeHint.NORMAL)
 
         self.config_manager = config_manager
         self.speech_engine = speech_engine

src/vocalinux/ui/transcript_dialog.py

@@ -82,6 +82,11 @@ class TranscriptDialog(Gtk.Dialog):
             flags=Gtk.DialogFlags.DESTROY_WITH_PARENT,
             modal=False,
         )
+        # Standalone viewer window: without this the DIALOG type hint makes a
+        # parentless dialog an "orphan" that GTK's Wayland backend binds to the
+        # next focused toplevel (usually the dictation pad), so the two windows
+        # raise, minimize and travel workspaces together (#984).
+        self.set_type_hint(Gdk.WindowTypeHint.NORMAL)
 
         _setup_css()
         self.set_default_size(720, 560)

tests/test_window_type_hints.py

@@ -0,0 +1,51 @@
+"""
+Regression tests for #984: standalone windows must not carry the DIALOG
+type hint.
+
+On GTK's Wayland backend, a toplevel with the DIALOG hint and no transient
+parent becomes an "orphan dialog": the next toplevel in the app to receive
+keyboard focus silently becomes its xdg_toplevel parent. GNOME then treats
+the pair as one window for minimize/restore, raising, and workspace moves.
+
+The dictation pad is a plain Gtk.Window (NORMAL hint) that is focused
+constantly, so any standalone Gtk.Dialog left parentless gets bound to it.
+Settings, the transcript viewer, and the log viewer are standalone windows
+and must opt out with the NORMAL hint.
+"""
+
+import os
+import unittest
+
+
+def _read_source(filename: str) -> str:
+    """Read a UI module's source code."""
+    source_path = os.path.join(os.path.dirname(__file__), "..", "src", "vocalinux", "ui", filename)
+    with open(source_path, "r") as f:
+        return f.read()
+
+
+class TestStandaloneDialogsUseNormalHint(unittest.TestCase):
+    """Parentless standalone dialogs must not stay DIALOG-hinted (#984)."""
+
+    def _assert_normal_hint(self, filename: str, class_name: str) -> None:
+        source = _read_source(filename)
+        class_start = source.index(f"class {class_name}(")
+        init_start = source.index("def __init__", class_start)
+        # The hint must be reset inside __init__ before the window is shown.
+        init_end = source.index("\n    def ", init_start + 1)
+        init_source = source[init_start:init_end]
+        self.assertIn(
+            "set_type_hint(Gdk.WindowTypeHint.NORMAL)",
+            init_source,
+            f"{class_name} must opt out of the DIALOG type hint so GTK's "
+            "Wayland backend never adopts it as an orphan dialog (#984)",
+        )
+
+    def test_settings_dialog_uses_normal_hint(self) -> None:
+        self._assert_normal_hint("settings_dialog.py", "SettingsDialog")
+
+    def test_transcript_dialog_uses_normal_hint(self) -> None:
+        self._assert_normal_hint("transcript_dialog.py", "TranscriptDialog")
+
+    def test_logging_dialog_uses_normal_hint(self) -> None:
+        self._assert_normal_hint("logging_dialog.py", "LoggingDialog")