Autocomplete: focus not being applied when clicking around input

[evaldasu]

Describe the bug

I have a use case where I make the p-autocomplete (multiple mode) component a bit bigger vertically, by adding height to .p-autocomplete-multiple-container.

After migrating from 13.4.1 to the latest version (17.3.2 at the moment), I observed that clicking not directly on the input element, doesn't focus the input anymore. The last version I've seen this working was in v15-lts.

While comparing 17.3.2 with v15-lts, upon closer inspection I can see that in multiple mode, the ul element with class p-autocomplete-multiple-container no longer receives class p-focus, but I don't know if that means anything.

Environment

Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS

Reproducer

No response

Angular version

17.0.8

PrimeNG version

17.3.2

Build / Runtime

Angular CLI App

Language

TypeScript

Node version (for AoT issues node --version)

20.10.0

Browser(s)

Firefox, Chrome

Steps to reproduce the behavior

1. Go to the example page of autocomplete multiple
2. Using browser dev tools, select the ul element with a class p-autocomplete-multiple-container
3. Apply following CSS rules:

height: 5rem;
align-items: start;

4. Try clicking anywhere outside the input element box model (inside the red box bellow for example). You'll observe that the input is not being focused and I cannot start typing.
   

Expected behavior

I would expect the input element to receive focus and be able to start typing as it used to work before, for example in https://www.primefaces.org/primeng-v15-lts/autocomplete#multiple (using the same reproduction steps will demonstrate that)