Re: New search implementation in the IDE

[Christof Thalhofer <chrisml@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Am 17.10.24 um 19:00 schrieb Benoît Minisini:

> Once you have hit 'CTRL+F' and the search textbox has the focus, you can
> hit 'CTRL+F' again to cycle between the different search locations.

The idea to change the search type with keystrokes is something I wished 
for a long time but the form tells nothing about this new possibility.

Therefore it is unintuitive IMO. Nobody will use it because nobody will 
have the idea that multiple 'CTRL+F' alter the search type.

'CTRL+F' is a well-known shortcut which means "find" but not "change the 
way to find if hit multiple times". In general, I don't like the idea of 
giving a well-known instrument an additional alternative meaning. It's 
perhaps like when the steering wheel suddenly has to brake as well.

Because a user doesn't know about this shortcut the combobox with the 
search types is worse than the old solution, because now you need two 
mouse clicks to choose the search type.

Why not keep the solution with the radio buttons for the search types 
and alter between them with 'TAB'?

Then you could hit 'CTRL-F', $search, 'TAB' ..., 'ENTER'.

> Then you can hit 'ENTER' to start the search, or 'CTRL+ENTER' to browse
> and open the search result list.

This is also not intuitive (because the form tells nothing about this 
possibility) and here I find the old fashion better: As soon as there 
were multiple findings in different files the result list popped up.

Also:

When I know that CTRL+ENTER opens the result list, why doesn't it open 
it after I hit ENTER alone to find something and after that CTRL+ENTER?

Instead in this case CTRL+ENTER inserts a newline in the code. That's 
dangerous. Suddenly the code editor has the focus and eats further 
keystrokes.

Also:

When I hit 'CTRL+F', $search and 'ENTER' the search form is visible and 
I can close it with 'Esc'.

When I hit 'CTRL+F' + 'CTRL+F', $search and 'CTRL-ENTER' the search form 
is visible as well as the result list but I cannot close it with 'ESC'. 
Instead I have to click on the code editor and then hit 'ESC' to close both.

> Contrary to the last implementation, all types of search is based on a
> result list. This is why it is always available.

This is very, very cool.

> Normally, with all the shortcuts of the search panel, you can get what
> you want without having to use the mouse.

This is a very good idea, but at the moment it is a bit confusing and 
the user has to ask the programmer to understand it.

Alles Gute

Christof Thalhofer

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