Activate the welcome page instead of duplicating it as About

The startup welcome page renders the same About content in the reusable main tab. Help > About opened a second, static About tab beside it, so the user saw the page twice. Track the welcome content and, while it is still the live main-tab content, have Help > About activate it rather than open the singleton. Falls through to the singleton once a tree-node selection has replaced the welcome page.

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-4-8:Claude Code

ILSpy.Tests/AssemblyTree/StartupAboutWelcomeTests.cs

@@ -16,16 +16,20 @@
 // OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
 // DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 
+using System.Linq;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 
 using Avalonia.Headless.NUnit;
+using Avalonia.Threading;
 
 using AwesomeAssertions;
 
 using ICSharpCode.ILSpy.Properties;
 
 using ILSpy.AppEnv;
+using ILSpy.Commands;
 using ILSpy.Docking;
+using ILSpy.TextView;
 using ILSpy.ViewModels;
 using ILSpy.Views;
 
@@ -63,4 +67,34 @@ public class StartupAboutWelcomeTests
 		((object?)active!.Title).Should().Be(Resources.About);
 		active.Text.Should().NotBeNullOrWhiteSpace("the About page must have rendered its content");
 	}
+
+	[AvaloniaTest]
+	public async Task Help_About_While_Welcome_Page_Is_Visible_Activates_It_Without_Opening_A_Second_Tab()
+	{
+		// The welcome page renders the same About content in the reusable main tab. Invoking Help >
+		// About while it is on screen must just activate it, not spawn a duplicate static About tab.
+
+		var window = AppComposition.Current.GetExport<MainWindow>();
+		window.Show();
+		var vm = (MainWindowViewModel)window.DataContext!;
+		await vm.AssemblyTreeModel.WaitForAssembliesAsync(minimumCount: 1);
+
+		var dock = AppComposition.Current.GetExport<DockWorkspace>();
+		await Waiters.WaitForAsync(
+			() => dock.IsWelcomePageVisible,
+			description: "the welcome (About) page must be showing before we invoke Help > About");
+
+		int tabsBefore = dock.Documents!.VisibleDockables!.OfType<ContentTabPage>().Count();
+
+		AppComposition.Current.GetExport<MainMenuCommandRegistry>()
+			.GetCommand(nameof(Resources._About)).Execute(null);
+		Dispatcher.UIThread.RunJobs();
+
+		dock.Documents!.VisibleDockables!.OfType<ContentTabPage>()
+			.Any(t => t.Content is DecompilerTabPageModel { IsStaticContent: true, Title: var title } && Equals(title, Resources.About))
+			.Should().BeFalse("invoking About while the welcome page is visible must not open a static About tab");
+		dock.Documents!.VisibleDockables!.OfType<ContentTabPage>().Count().Should().Be(tabsBefore,
+			"no new tab should be added when the welcome page already shows the About content");
+		dock.IsWelcomePageVisible.Should().BeTrue("the welcome page must remain the live main-tab content");
+	}
 }

ILSpy.Tests/Commands/HelpCommandTests.cs

@@ -58,6 +58,13 @@ public class HelpCommandTests
 		var vm = (MainWindowViewModel)window.DataContext!;
 		await vm.AssemblyTreeModel.WaitForAssembliesAsync(minimumCount: 1);
 
+		// Dismiss the startup welcome page first: it renders the same About content in the reusable
+		// main tab, and while it is visible Help > About activates it rather than opening a tab.
+		// Selecting a node replaces the welcome content so About then opens its own tab as asserted.
+		vm.AssemblyTreeModel.SelectNode(vm.AssemblyTreeModel.Root!.Children[0]);
+		await Waiters.WaitForAsync(() => !vm.DockWorkspace.IsWelcomePageVisible,
+			description: "the welcome page must be dismissed so Help > About opens a fresh tab");
+
 		var registry = AppComposition.Current.GetExport<MainMenuCommandRegistry>();
 		var aboutCmd = registry.Commands
 			.Single(c => c.Metadata.Header == nameof(Resources._About))

ILSpy.Tests/Docking/SingletonDocumentTabTests.cs

@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 // DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
 
 using System.Linq;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
 
 using Avalonia.Headless.NUnit;
 
@@ -82,7 +83,7 @@ public class SingletonDocumentTabTests
 	}
 
 	[AvaloniaTest]
-	public void Reopening_About_Reuses_The_Same_Tab()
+	public async Task Reopening_About_Reuses_The_Same_Tab()
 	{
 		var window = AppComposition.Current.GetExport<MainWindow>();
 		window.Show();
@@ -90,9 +91,16 @@ public class SingletonDocumentTabTests
 		var dock = vm.DockWorkspace;
 		TestCapture.Step("booted");
 
+		// Dismiss the startup welcome page first: while it is visible Help > About activates it
+		// rather than opening the static singleton this test pins. Selecting a node replaces the
+		// welcome content in the main tab, so About then takes the singleton path deterministically.
+		await vm.AssemblyTreeModel.WaitForAssembliesAsync(minimumCount: 1);
+		vm.AssemblyTreeModel.SelectNode(vm.AssemblyTreeModel.Root!.Children[0]);
+		await Waiters.WaitForAsync(() => !dock.IsWelcomePageVisible,
+			description: "the welcome page must be dismissed so Help > About opens the static singleton");
+
 		// Match the singleton menu-About tab specifically (IsStaticContent), NOT the transient boot
-		// "welcome" page, which also carries Title == About but is a non-static main-tab page. The
+		// "welcome" page, which also carries Title == About but is a non-static main-tab page.
-		// welcome page's presence races with boot, so matching it too made this a ~50% flake.
 		bool IsAbout(ContentTabPage t) => t.Content is DecompilerTabPageModel { Title: var title, IsStaticContent: true } && title == Resources.About;
 
 		Invoke(window, nameof(Resources._About));

ILSpy/Commands/AboutCommand.cs

@@ -58,6 +58,11 @@ namespace ILSpy.Commands
 
 		public override void Execute(object? parameter)
 		{
+			// The startup welcome page already shows this exact About content in the reusable main
+			// tab. While it is still on screen, just activate it rather than opening a second, static
+			// About tab next to it.
+			if (dockWorkspace.TryActivateWelcomePage())
+				return;
 			// Singleton: one retained About tab, reused across close/reopen rather than rebuilt.
 			dockWorkspace.OpenSingletonTab("resource:aboutpage", () => {
 				var output = BuildAboutOutput();

ILSpy/Docking/DockWorkspace.cs

@@ -686,6 +686,12 @@ namespace ILSpy.Docking
 		// Created lazily on first need.
 		DecompilerTabPageModel? decompilerContent;
 
+		// The startup welcome page (About content in the reusable MainTab, non-static). Tracked so
+		// Help > About can activate it instead of spawning a duplicate static About tab while it is
+		// still on screen. Self-correcting: once a tree-node selection swaps MainTab.Content to the
+		// decompiler content, this reference no longer equals MainTab.Content (see IsWelcomePageVisible).
+		DecompilerTabPageModel? welcomeContent;
+
 		// Retained static-content singleton tabs (Options, About, embedded resource pages).
 		// Keeping the ContentTabPage instance across close/reopen preserves its owned view and
 		// content state (e.g. the selected options page) instead of rebuilding the tab each time.
@@ -1160,9 +1166,37 @@ namespace ILSpy.Docking
 			if (factory.Documents is { } docs && !ReferenceEquals(docs.ActiveDockable, main))
 				return;
 			main.Content = content;
+			welcomeContent = content;
 			ActivateMainTabIfNeeded(main);
 		}
 
+		/// <summary>
+		/// True while the startup welcome page is still the live MainTab content (it has not been
+		/// replaced by a tree-node selection). The welcome page renders the same About text as
+		/// Help &gt; About, so callers use this to avoid opening a duplicate About tab on top of it.
+		/// </summary>
+		public bool IsWelcomePageVisible
+			=> welcomeContent is { } w && factory.MainTab is { } main && ReferenceEquals(main.Content, w);
+
+		/// <summary>
+		/// If the welcome page is still showing, bring its MainTab to the front and report success.
+		/// Help &gt; About calls this first so that, while the welcome page (identical About content)
+		/// is visible, the menu just activates it instead of spawning a second, static About tab.
+		/// </summary>
+		public bool TryActivateWelcomePage()
+		{
+			if (!IsWelcomePageVisible || factory.MainTab is not { } main)
+				return false;
+			if (factory.Documents is { } docs)
+			{
+				if (docs.VisibleDockables?.Contains(main) != true)
+					return false;
+				factory.SetActiveDockable(main);
+				factory.SetFocusedDockable(docs, main);
+			}
+			return true;
+		}
+
 		/// <summary>
 		/// VS-style "freeze tab" gesture. The current <c>factory.MainTab</c> keeps its position,
 		/// content, and active state but flips to frozen