Feature: Added an option to keep Files running in the background for quicker startup time

[hishitetsu]

Resolved / Related Issues

• Were these changes approved in an issue or discussion with the project maintainers? In order to prevent extra work, feature requests and changes to the codebase must be approved before the pull request will be reviewed. This prevents extra work for the contributors and maintainers.
  Closes Feature: Cache windows for quicker startup #12614

Validation
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• Did you implement any design changes to an existing feature?
  • Was this change approved?
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  1. Turn on "Leave app running in the background when the window is closed" in Advanced settings
  2. Close and restart the app.
  3. The app will launch quicker.

Known Issues

• When only one tab is opened, the tab is not visually selected.
  
• Closing the main window while a property window is still open freezes the property window until the next time the main window is opened.
• The content flashes while it loads.

[hishitetsu]

All known issues were resolved. Now ready for review.

[Lukiluc29]

Hello, I just have one last little thing to ask. Is it normal that when I close "Files" and then reopen it, the status center appears? Because before, whether I checked "Open a new tab" or "Continue where you left off," it wouldn't appear when I had performed an action before closing it.

[hishitetsu]

Hello, I just have one last little thing to ask. Is it normal that when I close "Files" and then reopen it, the status center appears? Because before, whether I checked "Open a new tab" or "Continue where you left off," it wouldn't appear when I had performed an action before closing it.

It is true that the behavior is different from when the process is terminated without caching, but I think it doesn't matter.

[Lukiluc29]

It is true that the behavior is different from when the process is terminated without caching, but I think it doesn't matter.

Yes, but it's a bit bothersome because when I close Files, I don't necessarily want to see the status center when I reopen Files, especially when I haven't taken any action upon its reopening.

[yaira2]

@Lukiluc29 this is the expected behavior because you aren't actually closing Files, you're leaving it open in the background.

[Lukiluc29]

@Lukiluc29 this is the expected behavior because you aren't actually closing Files, you're leaving it open in the background.

Users tend to close applications after using them, and they might find it disruptive to encounter a status center that they didn't initiate themselves. By removing the status center in this scenario, we can enhance the user's sense of control and provide a smoother and more intuitive interaction with the application.

[hishitetsu]

I rather think that notifications should remain even after restarting the app unless the user explicitly clears them. In any case, this is something we can discuss as a separate issue.

[Lukiluc29]

I rather think that notifications should remain even after restarting the app unless the user explicitly clears them. In any case, this is something we can discuss as a separate issue.

Where can we discuss this?

[hishitetsu]

I rather think that notifications should remain even after restarting the app unless the user explicitly clears them. In any case, this is something we can discuss as a separate issue.

Where can we discuss this?

You can open a new issue once this PR is merged.

[mdtauk]

When the app is in the background, could Files use the system notifications to alert on the completion of on-going tasks?

[hishitetsu]

When the app is in the background, could Files use the system notifications to alert on the completion of on-going tasks?

It stops the thread, so that may be difficult as it is now.
A related issue is already open. #8207

[yaira2]

For what it's worth, file operations already continue in the background even if the app is fully terminated. The missing part is displaying a notification, and that's being tracked in the issue @hishitetsu linked.

[0x5bfa]

Looks great to me in terms of the codebase quality!

[yaira2]

This is a really nice improvement, it's a lot more enjoyable to use Files when you don't have to wait for it to load. LGTM!