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Popout Panadapters not functional on Mac #1240

Description

@rfoust

Report preparation

  • I used the AI-assisted bug report tool (Help → Support → File an Issue)
  • I have attached a support bundle or log file

What happened?

I did pull the live issue list (page 1 shows 100 issues and ~156 open total), and reviewed it for anything related to:

macOS panadapter popout
detached / undocked panadapters
static/non-updating panadapter
window title issues
slice naming issues (“Slice ?”)
docking/redraw/layout gaps
maximize button not working

There are macOS-related bugs (e.g. TCI on macOS), but nothing that matches this cluster of panadapter + windowing issues specifically.

👉 No duplicate found.

🐞 Bug Report — Draft GitHub Issue
Title

macOS: Popout panadapters non-functional, window controls broken, and layout redraw issues

What happened

On macOS, the popout/detached panadapter functionality does not behave correctly:

Clicking the popout icon opens a new window, but the panadapter renders as a static image and does not update or function.
The “maximize” button on docked panadapters does not respond.

Undocked panadapter windows have unintuitive titles such as:

AetherSDR -- Pan 0x40000004

When opening an additional slice receiver, the title bar shows:

Slice ?

instead of a proper identifier like “Slice A”.

Intermittently, when re-docking a detached panadapter, the main window fails to redraw correctly and leaves a large blank gap at the top (approximately the height of a panadapter).
What I expected
Detached (popout) panadapters should render live spectrum/waterfall data and be fully interactive.
Maximize/restore controls should function consistently for docked panadapters.
Window titles should be user-friendly and consistent with SmartSDR conventions (or omitted if not meaningful).
Slice identifiers should display correctly (e.g., Slice A/B/C).
Docking/undocking should trigger proper layout recalculation and redraw with no visual artifacts.
Steps to reproduce
Launch AetherSDR on macOS
Connect to a radio
Open one or more panadapters
Click the popout icon on a panadapter
Observe:
Static/non-updating panadapter in new window
Attempt to:
Use maximize on docked panadapter
Open additional slice receivers
Dock/undock panadapters repeatedly
Observe incorrect titles and layout issues
Environment
OS: macOS (Apple Silicon)
AetherSDR version: (latest at time of testing)
Radio: (e.g., FLEX-6xxx / 8xxx — specify if needed)
Firmware: (if relevant)
Suggested fix

I encountered and resolved several of these issues in a prior PR (noting that the macOS-specific fixes did not behave correctly on Linux). That implementation may serve as a reference point.

Areas likely involved:

Qt windowing differences on macOS (QDockWidget vs separate QWindow handling)
Rendering context not reattached for detached panadapter (QRhi / GPU surface lifecycle)
Title generation using internal IDs instead of user-facing labels
Layout invalidation/reflow not triggered on re-dock

Happy to assist with testing macOS-specific fixes if needed.

Suggested labels
bug
GUI
spectrum
macOS

If you want, I can tighten this further (e.g., tailor it to match the repo’s exact issue template style or reference your PR explicitly).

What did you expect?

No response

Steps to reproduce

No response

Radio model & firmware

No response

Linux distro & Qt version

No response

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