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1. When I had opened the door, children ran in.
2. When I had written my letter, I did some gardening.
In the first sentence the usage of past perfect is not allegedly necessary. Why? Both sentences after all contain two actions one of which precedes the other. Is that so that in the case of the first sentence opening the door and running in come immediately after?
When I had opened the door, children ran in.
In the sentence, the actions "opening the door" and "running in" are short actions. According to grammar, when there's a short action right after another short action, you use the past simple for both actions.
So the sentence with the past simple in both clauses is correct. Another example: When she opened the tilt, he snatched all the money out of it.
When I had written my letter, I did some gardening.
In this sentence, both actions are long actions. You usually use the past perfect in the when-clause to emphasize the action in this clause that happened before anothet action in the main clause.
