Search Edit and History of searches adjustments ideas for a thorough makeover

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

Allow me to present hereby a coherent idea for a vast improvement of the search / filter feature:


A] When focused in the box of search / filtering expressions, the Mouse Wheel should apply its movements to the list of past searches and not to the items list in the main window

B] When focused in the box of search / filtering expressions, the Up and Down keys should apply their movements to the list of past searches and not to the items list in the main window



C] When a user clicks the upside-down caret icon [i.e. the horizontally mirror-flipped ^ sign] and unfolds a list of past expressions, after highlighting any of them and pressing of Middle Mouse Button such chosen expression should be deleted. This method would be more convenient that what twas proposed in this post: https://www.voidtools.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=26&start=100 viewtopic.php?f=4&t=26&start=100#p11632

D] When a filtering expression it present in the box of filtering expressions, pressing of Delete key Shift + Delete keys should delete it. This method would also be more convenient to a user whose hands in a given moment would be on a keyboard and / or mouse out of reach

E] When a user clicks the upside-down caret icon [i.e. the horizontally mirror-flipped ^ sign] and unfolds a list of past expressions, after highlighting any of them and pressing of Shift + Delete keys such chosen expression should be deleted

F] When focused in the box of filtering expressions, pressing of the Middle Mouse Button key should unfold the drop-down list of past expressions - and in case there is one present in the box then that expression should be highlighted

G] When focused in the box of filtering expressions, pressing of the Enter key should unfold the drop-down list of past expressions - and in case there is one present in the box then that expression should be highlighted

H] When the drop-down list of past expressions is unfolded, user should be able to rearrange it by being able to grab any of the seen expressions by pressing Right Mouse Button and while still holding it to be able to move it up and down on that list with mouse movements and by pressing Up and Down keys

I] When the drop-down list of past expressions is unfolded, user should be able to rearrange it by being able to grab any of the seen expressions by pressing Ctrl key and while still holding it to be able to move it up and down on that list with mouse movements and by pressing
Up and Down keys



J] Under the

Tools > Options > History > Search History

there should be added a new option

Auto-delete Search History entries after X days

which [if activated with a checkbox] would remove all filtering expressions after >>X<< days - but executed only the next time Everything will be closed / opened; and where value >>0<< would mean that user wants the History to be wiped out when the current session will end [or, acting as a fail-safe, when the next one begins - in case a Everything forced closure or crash happens or if operating system crash occurs]



K] User should be able to choose if that small drop down menu which has "Everything" as the default entry should be on the right or left side of the box with filtering expression, as some people use widescreen monitors with 2160 vertical resolution [which results with many long back-and-forth mouse movements between the beginning of expression and that menu]

L] There should be a similar small menu which by default would hold letters of presents volumes and maybe of user's Documents and Desktop, e.g.

C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\Documents
C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\Desktop
C:\
D:\
Z:\

but maybe abbreviated as

Documents
Desktop
C
D
Z

The purpose behind it is to not speed up search process, but to very easily narrow down search results - thus serving the same function as the currently existing menu [mentioned in my previous point].

M] This new menu could also hold user defined paths, e.g.

D:\My Music\
D:\My Music\New
D:\Photos\
Z:\Photos\Scans\

This menu should also have have an option of being placed either on left to right side of the box with filtering expression

N] A third menu could hold user defined expressions. The purpose of this feature would be to be able to delete them when they are not needed [by using methods mentioned in points C and D] while at the same time to be able to used them with just 2-3 clicks

O] User defined filtering expressions that are to be stored in the above menu could also be made available as buttons- thus making them available with just a single click. Such buttons by default should have an appearance of numbers [up to 100] - but also there should be an option for a user to choose form them an individual icon from whatever source. And when hovering upon a button a description of it and / or of filtering expression it hold should appear in a pop-up [balloon] message

P] User defined filtering expressions that are to be stored could also have keyboard shortcuts added to them. User should be able to choose which of them should have such shortcuts and which keys to use- but to not complicate things, this could be limited to using keys from 1 to 0 and keys Shift and / or Ctrl and / or Alt. If I am not mistaken making it possible to utilize all three of these special keys and 10 number keys [including just the number keys i.e. not in a combo], would yield 100 possibilities [and in such case the default icon for 100th button could be in form >>00<< in case a >>XX<< format should be upheld; i.e starting with 01, through 99 and ending with 00]

Q] If multiple drop down menus are present, a user should be able to arrange the toolbar holding it to an individual liking / needs and / or to expand it vertically. And / or to be able to add another toolbar. Or toolbar with the filtering expression box by default should occupy full toolbar while the rest of features would be placed on a second toolbar

R] For managing all of these [i.e. H-O points] a new pop-up sub-window could be created, so that a user would not have to go to

Tools > Options > SOMETHING > SOMETHING DEEPER

every time a freshly entered filtering expression was decided by a user as a worth of being saved for good [i.e. not to succumb to ordinary deletion from points C and D]



S] For a reference / inspiration of how filtering expression can be updated, the Filter feature of free Mp3tag audio tagging program can be used [https://www.mp3tag.de/en/download.html]. Not everything in it in my opinion is good, but it sure gives more control to a user and saves time in regards to management of expressions

T]
For a reference / inspiration of how user defined toolbars can look like, free file-manager FreeCommander [https://freecommander.com/en/downloads/] allows for adding of such toolbars [called Favorite Toolbar]. Users can add to them shortcuts [and not only to folders but to files, including executable ones and with parameters] and users can even add whole button-menus


U]
The vertical length of the drop down list with past searches / filtering expressions should be definable by the user


V] There could be a check sign for making filtering expression temporarily disable [not applied] in the Search Edit. The same could be done for the Filter Bar. [This idea I explain in this topic: viewtopic.php?t=13762]

[NotNull]

You gave this some serious thought! Well presented too. Nice!

Some remarks and/or alternatives that are possible with the current version of Everything. Based on Everything 1.5 as that will be the future of Everything. Some options will be available in version 1.4 too.

A] ALT + mousewheel

B] ALT + UP/DOWN. When the Search history is opened, you can use the regular Up/Down keys

C] You mean that pressing DELETE requires switching from mouse to keyborad?
Menu > History > Show All Search History.. gives a convenient way to manage previous searches.

D] I don't agree with this one. The DELETE key should be available to edit the current search (to fix typos or to slightly modify the search, for example)
ALT + HOME brings you to the homescreen, which deletes the current search too.

E] Implemented in 1.5 (DELETE without SHIFT works too)

G] CTRL + SPACE will do that. You can reconigure Search Edit | Auto Complete Search to any keyboard shortcut you like.

H]
I]
Currently, the search history is sorted by either most recent used or most frequent used.

K] There is. Instruction video

L]
M]
Folders sidebar. Enable through Menu:View > Folders
User defined paths is on the to-do list

N]
O]
P]
That sounds like a description of bookmarks .. (Menu:Bookmarks)

Q]
R]
I think I don't understand these

S] Before everyone on the Everything forums starts downloading mp3tag, a screenshot:
(Everything 1.5 has a similar Menu:Search > Insert function)

2022-07-23 22_30_42-Window.png (60.36 KiB) Viewed 21597 times

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

[...]
Some options will be available in version 1.4 too.

A] ALT + mousewheel

OK

But why force user to user to press additional special key? Blocking the focus [thus input] within the list would be more convenient

B] ALT + UP/DOWN. When the Search history is opened, you can use the regular Up/Down keys

My mistake. I have simply missed that, on the account of being used to using only mouse wheel in Mp3tag's search / filter feature

But the Alt caveat still stands

C] You mean that pressing DELETE requires switching from mouse to keyborad?

No

What I meant was that although [as proposed in the linked topic] adding an "X" icon that would delete a search entry [like in Opera] is a good idea, a more convenient would be to not to have to aim for a tiny "X" and just press Middle Mouse Button

[I made a mistake and pasted a partially wrong link - here is the correct one: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=26&start=100#p11632]

Menu > History > Show All Search History.. gives a convenient way to manage previous searches.

Which is available in version 1.5?

D] I don't agree with this one. The DELETE key should be available to edit the current search
[...]

You are right; I also had realized that later on

I simply mixed an early draft of initial post with a latter one. (I just corrected that point)

G] CTRL + SPACE will do that. You can reconigure Search Edit | Auto Complete Search to any keyboard shortcut you like.

But not yet, i.e. in version 1.4.1.1015?

H]
I]
Currently, the search history is sorted by either most recent used or most frequent used.

Yes, I already saw these options back then. But...

For the longest time in Mp3tag in was sorted by time of usage [with the recent one being at the top]. But recently that whole search / filter feature was vastly updated by adding a pop-up manage window where user can [among other things] apply alphabetical order and / or re-arrange search entries by hand. It is accessible in Mp3tag at the right edge of the Filter box under the triangle icon [>>▶<<] as the Manage history... drop-down menu entry; assuming that under the

View > Filter

the option for search / filter is being turned on

H]
K] There is. Instruction video

Hmmm, that is a very interesting concept of allowing for that

I think this is the first time I have seen such approach- thus I would not have guessed it would yield such a result when stretched all the way. But then again - maybe other programs also utilize this approach but it is just me who never bothered trying to drag a box / menu all the way to an opposite edge in such hypothetical programs

[...]
Folders sidebar. Enable through Menu:View > Folders
[...]

In version 1.5?

N]
O]
P]
That sounds like a description of bookmarks .. (Menu:Bookmarks)

Yes (I am a quite new user of Everything) - except for the lack of feature of turning bookmarks into buttons / icons

Q]
R]
I think I don't understand these

ad R:
I did not knew until now that I can drag that menu from point K - but now I know. But what happens when some new menus arrive? Or if buttons are implemented?

What I am proposing is to give users as much configurability of elements as possible - so that they can arrange placement of features accessible not-from-menu to their liking on screen their. Like in e.g. FreeCommander [I just added info about to the initial post under the new point T]. Here is an example:




ad Q:
As it turns out, in regards to points L and M I was talking [supposedly] about the Folders sidebar; while in regards to points N-P I was talking about what is available in Everything 1.4 under the

Bookmarks > Organize Bookmarks

and in comparison what is available in Mp3tag as that aforementioned Manage history... new feature



U]
(I just added a new proposition to my original post)

[NotNull]

It looks like I need to clarify some things ..

When someone makes a suggestion, @void is the only person who decides if, when and how something gets implemented. What we, mere mortals, can do is to suggest alternatives and workarounds. Or mention if something is not a good idea. All based on the current Everything version.
That doesn't mean we/I are/am opposed to your suggestions (I think there are quite a few worth considering).

Everything 1.4 is the current stable version of Everything. It will get bugfixes, but all new features are/will be part of Everything 1.5. This new alpha version is quite stable already, especially if you "just" use the familiar features.

That is why I used version 1.5 as the baseline.



That should answer 'half' of your remarks/question. For the rest:

NotNull wrote: ↑
Yesterday, 22:11
Menu > History > Show All Search History.. gives a convenient way to manage previous searches.

Which is available in version 1.5?

Yes. In vrsion 1.4 too (Menu:View > Go To > Show All History.. )

NotNull wrote: ↑
Yesterday, 22:11
G] CTRL + SPACE will do that. You can reconigure Search Edit | Auto Complete Search to any keyboard shortcut you like.

But not yet, i.e. in version 1.4.1.1015?

In version 1.4.1.1015 too:

• Go to Menu:Tools > Options > General > Keyboard
• Type auto in the Show commands containing: field
• Select Search Edit | Auto Complete Search
• In the Shortcuts for Search Edit | Auto Complete Search command box, configure your keyboard shortcut.

K] I think this is a clever way to drag the Filter bar. Usually there is some sort of header you can drag. The Search bar and Folter bar Filter bar don't have them.
(Folter is Dutch for torture. Let's see what the Freudians have to say about this typo .. )

The Folders-, Preview-, Filter- and Bookmarks-sidebars (the last one is still on the to-do list) *do* have a header and can be dragged along by them (left/right/up/down.
FWIW: it is also on the to-do list to make these 'floating'.

U]
The vertical length of the drop down list with past searches / filtering expressions should be definable by the user

It is. In version 1.4 as well as 1.5:

• Type or paste the following in the search bar and press ENTER:

  Code: Select all

  /search_history_visible_count_max=10

  (where 10 is the number of search history entries that will be shown. Default is 12, btw)

(Semi) off-topic:
Personally I am not a fan of buttons in the GUI. They take up a lot of useful workspace and the ones you use often, you already (should) know the keyboard shortcuts to.
Like: why are there still cut/copy/paste buttons in the button bar? Who uses these

The ones you use infrequently are better off in a menu or somewhere where there is room for explaining what that button does. Quite often I see people searching through 100 buttons, sometimes even more, to find the right one.
Counterproductive ...

End of rant

Luckily those toolbar buttons can be removed most of the times.
(I do understand that they can helpful to other people)

[void]

Thank you for you the suggestions The Great Void,

A] When focused in the box of search / filtering expressions, the Mouse Wheel should apply its movements to the list of past searches and not to the items list in the main window

But why force user to user to press additional special key? Blocking the focus [thus input] within the list would be more convenient

Alt + mousewheel is the standard for selecting the previous / next history item.
You can customize this with mouse_wheel_action.

B] When focused in the box of search / filtering expressions, the Up and Down keys should apply their movements to the list of past searches and not to the items list in the main window

As mentioned, use Alt + Up / Down.
You can customize Up/Down from Tools -> Options -> Keyboard

C] When a user clicks the upside-down caret icon [i.e. the horizontally mirror-flipped ^ sign] and unfolds a list of past expressions, after highlighting any of them and pressing of Middle Mouse Button such chosen expression should be deleted. This method would be more convenient that what twas proposed in this post: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=26&start=100 viewtopic.php?f=4&t=26&start=100#p11632

I have put on my TODO list to delete the search history item under the mouse cursor when pressing the middle mouse button.
Thank you for the suggestion.

For now, please position the cursor over the item and press the Delete key.

Ctrl + H shows all history.

F] When focused in the box of filtering expressions, pressing of the Middle Mouse Button key should unfold the drop-down list of past expressions - and in case there is one present in the box then that expression should be highlighted

I will consider an option to show previous filters on middle mouse button.

J] Under the

Tools > Options > History > Search History

there should be added a new option

Auto-delete Search History entries after X days

There is already a Keep search history for x days option under Tools -> Options -> History.

Q] If multiple drop down menus are present, a user should be able to arrange the toolbar holding it to an individual liking / needs and / or to expand it vertically. And / or to be able to add another toolbar. Or toolbar with the filtering expression box by default should occupy full toolbar while the rest of features would be placed on a second toolbar

Bookmarks can be selected easily with Ctrl + B
Filters can be selected easily with Ctrl + K (Everything 1.5+)

R] For managing all of these [i.e. H-O points] a new pop-up sub-window could be created, so that a user would not have to go to

Tools > Options > SOMETHING > SOMETHING DEEPER

A lot of options already exist, but are too complex for the UI.
For example:
menu_folders
menu_items_per_column

U]
The vertical length of the drop down list with past searches / filtering expressions should be definable by the user

Please see search_history_visible_count_max.
There are many options here to customize the search suggestions / history.

Thank you for the suggestions.

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

[...]
@void is the only person who decides if, when and how something gets implemented
[...]

It was what I was reckoning. Although maybe my last post did not sounded like it



So OK - the

View > Go To > Show All History

is the equivalent of Manage History... in Mp3tag



As for drop down list of past searches under the

Tools > Options > General > Keyboard > Search Edit | Show Search History

I Added the Enter key



As for the

Code: Select all

/search_history_visible_count_max=10

at first I thought that by setting it to like 111 I could make it future proof for a time when I will replace my 1600p monitor for a 2160p one], but [long story short] values higher than 50 start generating issues on my [overall] setup

[...]
buttons
[...]
take up a lot of useful workspace
[...]

But not when you use a widescreen monitor and / or small fonts

I remember going from 16:9 to 21:9 aspect ratio and [at the same time] from 1080p to 1440p - suddenly my two horizontal toolbars in CorelDRAW became one and left even some space for new buttons. What a treat that was!

Like: why are there still cut/copy/paste buttons in the button bar? Who uses these
[...]
Luckily those toolbar buttons can be removed most of the times.
[...]

Now those obvious ones do annoy me: except for Save and Save As..., as I often semi-work from afar / bed

I remove almost all of the default ones - and usually bang my head on the wall seeing that unique but often used functions are not available for a customizable toolbar in a given software




Thank you for you input and for clarifying of some things

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

[...]
Alt + mousewheel is the standard for selecting the previous / next history item.
You can customize this with mouse_wheel_action.

(I was about to ask where are the in-deep settings described)

I think I must emphasize the

[...]
A] When focused in the box of search / filtering expressions
[...]

caveat from my initial post. Because after installing version 1.5a I empirically came to following conclusions:

I] it is impossible to add to

Tools > Options > General > Keyboard > Search Edit | Show Search History

the Mouse Wheel

II] it is impossible to add the

mouse_wheel_action=

to the

C:\Users\YOUR-USER-NAME\AppData\Roaming\Everything\Everything-1.5a.ini

file with such value / parameter that scrolling when hovering over or focused in search / filter box would cycle through past searches / filtering expressions

III] changing

mouse_wheel_action=5

to some other value / parameter will remove the probably most default function present in 99% of various programs - which is scrolling of content within the main window [i.e. list of files in case of Everything]

[...]
As mentioned, use Alt + Up / Down.
You can customize Up/Down from Tools -> Options -> Keyboard

Yes- my Everything works better now [i.e. more to what I personally consider a logical behavior]

[...]
There is already a Keep search history for x days option under Tools -> Options -> History.

Now how did I miss it?

It must be some sort of linguistic / cultural thing [as I am not a native English speaker]. If it had been named "Auto-delete Search History entries after X days" [like in my proposition], then I probably would not had missed it, because its function would be self-explaining; to my way of thinking in English

[....]
There are many options here to customize the search suggestions / history.

OK, from now on this https://www.voidtools.com/support/everything/ini/ will be for me the second place to look for things - the first one being the menus

Thank you for the suggestions.

No thank you, for taking time to writing a respond and taking into consideration of my suggestions

[void]

So OK - the

View > Go To > Show All History

is the equivalent of Manage History... in Mp3tag

Search history will move to its own History menu in Everything 1.5.

/search_history_visible_count_max=10

at first I thought that by setting it to like 111 I could make it future proof for a time when I will replace my 1600p monitor for a 2160p one], but [long story short] values higher than 50 start generating issues on my [overall] setup

What happens for you?

file with such value / parameter that scrolling when hovering over or focused in search / filter box would cycle through past searches / filtering expressions

I have put on my TODO list to add an option to cycle through search history when the mouse wheel when the search box has focus.
Thank you for the suggestion.

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

/search_history_visible_count_max=10

at first I thought that by setting it to like 111 I could make it future proof for a time when I will replace my 1600p monitor for a 2160p one], but [long story short] values higher than 50 start generating issues on my [overall] setup

What happens for you?
[...]

As my screenshot above shows, with 57 lines every is still A-OK. But at 60 the issues / user un-friendliness starts to manifest itself



And going further up a bug can be evoked:



That last screenshot shows configuration of Everything 1.4 set to 100 lines. But it also looked just liked it [i.e. without the side scrollbar] at 80. But when I was taking these screenshots, I was jumping the values. And thus when I saw that 75 was still usable [i.e. taking the whole screen but still displaying the scrollbar] I went for 90. And when then I saw the list being unusable [i.e. without the scroll bar] I went down to 85. And seeing it in a better state [i.e. with scrollbar] I went up to 87 and and the same result. So I wen for 89 and then for... 90. Yes- with re-setting Everything back to

Code: Select all

/search_history_visible_count_max=90

it was working in a way that originally it did not [i.e. this time with a scrollbar]. So I repeated this test: by going to 110 and then backed down and once again up back down and up- and once again the previously bad GUI was now in a better state

And then I closed and re-opened Everything to see if those higher values [80+] would shown up badly [i.e. without a scrollbar]. But no, they were OK. So I reset the system- but still those high glitch inducing values were somehow not affecting Everything. It was only after I went to

View > Go To > Show All History

and deleted the all those

Code: Select all

/search_history_visible_count_max=

entries that I was once again able to experience the glitchiness around value ~80 [i.e. see the list without scrollbar after setting the number of entries to be shown to e.g. 81]



As for how the GUI should look like / behave: assuming that the search / filter box will be always shown at the top of window Everything, the list with expression should always drop down, thus look like on the first screenshot allowing for [max] 57 entries - i.e. not obscure anything above the box of this feature. In other, words the first line of the shown list should always be in the same position as the line of text of the search box



And on a side note:

Normally instead of Taskbar I have Winamp docked at the top of my screen. But to avoid any interference form an old software, I removed it and used some [in theory] modern software. And these topics about Mp3tag vs. docked Winamp are about similar issues of vertical overflow not being handled properly- maybe you will find some usable info among them:

https://community.mp3tag.de/t/x-action- ... ain/18377/

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=453253

https://freecommander.com/forum/viewtop ... =19&t=8710

[void]

Everything will keep the search box visible after showing the dropdown box in the next alpha update.

Thank you for your feedback.

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

The feature available at

Search > Advanced Search...

should be made available also as a button on a toolbar, for a quicker access and / or as a dock-able side panel of some sort

[void]

Everything 1.5.0.1316a will now keep the search box visible when showing the search history dropdown list.

Everything 1.5.0.1316a will now also correctly bring the focused search history dropdown item into view.

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

I do not know about that particular version, but 1.5.0.1340a (x64) Portable sure does

So thank you

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

I just added a new suggestion to the initial post as the V point

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

A new voice for implementing of buttons: viewtopic.php?t=13711

[Thy Grand Voidinesss]

And on a side note:

Normally instead of Taskbar I have Winamp docked at the top of my screen. But to avoid any interference form an old software, I removed it and used some [in theory] modern software. And these topics about Mp3tag vs. docked Winamp are about similar issues of vertical overflow not being handled properly- so maybe you will find some usable info among them:

https://community.mp3tag.de/t/x-action- ... gain/18377

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=453253

https://freecommander.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8710