tai/research/tui-framework-design/send-rs-tui-focus-state.md

send-rs src/tui/state.rs — focus model and draft retention

Metadata

Field	Value
Institute	Molodetz Institute — Research & Retrieval Division
Subject	tui-framework-design
Document type	Source Dossier
Tier	1
Source title	send-rs src/tui/state.rs — focus state (WhatsApp+Telegram ratatui client)
Source URL	https://raw.githubusercontent.com/pedromarquetti/send-rs/master/src/tui/state.rs
Source publisher / author	pedromarquetti (send-rs / Sender project)
Source type	repository
Source date (published)	Unknown — not stated
Date researched	2026-10-11
Researched by	tai (agent), model: Muse Spark, on behalf of retoor
Research method	direct page fetch
Confidence	Medium
Status	Active

Summary

A four-variant focus enum (ChatList / Chat / Write / Popup) with a cycle_focus routine that saves per-chat TextArea drafts when focus moves away. Focus is explicit application state, not derived from widget identity.

Key findings

• Focus is an explicit enum with four variants: ChatList, Chat, Write, Popup.
• cycle_focus saves the current per-chat TextArea draft before moving focus, so partially typed messages survive pane switches and chat switches.

Pros / strengths

• Explicit focus enum makes per-focus status hints, keymaps, and border accents all keyed off one value — simple to port.
• Draft retention on focus move is the correct behavior for a chat input and is handled at the focus layer rather than per widget.

Cons / limitations / caveats

• A fixed four-variant enum is less general than tai's traversal-ordered focus chain; porting the idea means mapping variants onto tai's focusable panels, not copying the enum.

Relevance to tai

• Contributes the explicit-focus-state plus per-chat draft-retention pattern to the messaging-layout conclusion; tai's chat scene needs the same draft behavior on its TextBox-based input.

Changelog

Date	Change
2026-10-11	Initial dossier created from 2026-10-11 research-pass evidence (body opened via web_fetch by researching agent).