Sigil-1.9.0 Release

[Ashjuk]

Thanks Kevin.

I will experiment with searches and hopefully in time get my head around it.

[DiapDealer]

I've modified the Sigil installer files to easily allow the creation of a Sigil-Legacy installer that should work on Windows 7sp1 (from the same Sigil codebase). The only difference is that it packages Python 3.8 instead of 3.9. If it works, it SHOULD make it trivial for me to include a legacy installer in the regular Sigil releases.

There's no guarantees how long I'll be able to keep it up, but as long as our codebase supports building with Qt5 and Python3.8, there shouldn't be any immediate problems.

If someone can download it (from my personal google drive--be patient) and verify that it works on Windows 7, I'll add it to the 1.9.0 release (and future releases).

I thought about a lot of different options, and this is the solution I'm most comfortable with. I just couldn't bring myself to include an outsourced binary dll (or to modify Sigil's code base to build the outsourced dll) in all of Sigil's Windows installer packages.

I'm not doing an updated release (or changing the current 1.9.0 Windows installers), but starting with the next release, the "normal" installers will not work on Windows 7. The legacy installer will be your only option.

Hope that satisfies everyone.

P.S. Oh, and note that the legacy version will install as Sigil-Legacy (Control Panel) and will install to a "Sigil-Legacy" folder. It will, however, still use the same preference folder as previous versions. So all current plugins and settings should work as they did.

[icallaci]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Yes, this is new search behaviour as described in the release notes.

If your Find and Replace is set to any group of files (all, selected, or tabbed html for example) and you start a new search by:

a) hitting the new Restart button or
b) changing the targeted files, or
c) changing the actual find string

search will then start with the first file of the group and proceed from there in proper order. Wrap is no longer meaningful for targeted groups of files.

If your search target is Current File and not a group of files, then search and Wrap will act as it did before.

So remember to set your search target appropriately.

I understand that this is intended behavior, but I really dislike it. When I search for something, I expect the cursor to move to the first instance it finds, using the current position as its starting place. This allows me to see the change in the preview window before deciding whether or not to continue replacing. If my replace doesn't produce the expected result, I must undo it and then find my original position (or I must remember to switch the target to the current file and then switch back to all files if I like the result). All these extra mouse clicks are frustrating. I also prefer the wrap option to work automatically. Requiring me to click the Restart button is annoying, and the message that says no matches were found is misleading because it really means there are no matches that occur after the current cursor position. Perhaps in the future we could have a setting that would allow starting from the current cursor position and wrapping without clicking Restart? I hate to complain, because Sigil is my go-to epub editor, but this change is driving me crazy. I appreciate all the work that goes into Sigil, and I will do my best to adjust if it isn't possible to go back to the old S&R. Thank you.

[KevinH]

You can still fine tune any search, just set the search target to Current File first. It still operates exactly like you want.

Once ready you tell Sigil to search all html files, it will do just that. It is just changing the search target pulldown a single click and drag on the menu.

In order to guarantee all are searched, it does the file searches sequentially starting at the first.

You can change the replace field any time without restarting your search.

Again, if running multiple searches you might be better off running your searches using the Saved Search dialog using a Search Group where you can set the proper controls and skipping replacements when desired.

I really do not think we will revert this change as without it large saved search groups can not safely skip replacements. That was a real limitation that prevents automated cleanups via sequences of find and replace.

Give it a try. Do your search fine tuning in Current File as target and it will act exactly as you desire. Then change the target to what you want and go from there.

If it reaches the end, all files have been guaranteed to be searched. You only need to hit Restart if for some reason you want to repeat things with an identical search string and target and a modified replace field. That should rarely if ever be needed.

It will soon become habit and can be more efficient in the end, especially for long sequences in search groups.

[icallaci]

Thanks, Kevin. I'm an old dog, but I'll try to learn a new trick.

Originally Posted by KevinH

You can still fine tune any search, just set the search target to Current File first. It still operates exactly like you want.

Once ready you tell Sigil to search all html files, it will do just that. It is just changing the search target pulldown a single click and drag on the menu.

In order to guarantee all are searched, it does the file searches sequentially starting at the first.

You can change the replace field any time without restarting your search.

Again, if running multiple searches you might be better off running your searches using the Saved Search dialog using a Search Group where you can set the proper controls and skipping replacements when desired.

I really do not think we will revert this change as without it large saved search groups can not safely skip replacements. That was a real limitation that prevents automated cleanups via sequences of find and replace.

Give it a try. Do your search fine tuning in Current File as target and it will act exactly as you desire. Then change the target to what you want and go from there.

If it reaches the end, all files have been guaranteed to be searched. You only need to hit Restart if for some reason you want to repeat things with an identical search string and target and a modified replace field. That should rarely if ever be needed.

It will soon become habit and can be more efficient in the end, especially for long sequences in search groups.

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by icallaci

Thanks, Kevin. I'm an old dog, but I'll try to learn a new trick.

Sadly, it appears this 'old dog' is unable to learn new tricks.

Despite trying all of the suggestions on how to operate the new S&R I still can't make it do what I want.

I have tried doing a S&R on the current file, then switching to All HTML files and running it again with the wrap box ticked. This still takes me to the first file in the book.

In my mind, if you have selected 'wrap' it should wrap around back to the starting point of the search - the exact point in the file that I was working on and not the first file.

So if someone can tell me how to do a S&R on All HTML Files and have the focus returned to the exact point I was when I started the S&R then I would be grateful.

Otherwise, I am going to stick with 1.8, as that works for me the way I prefer.

[KevinH]

Hi Ashjuk,

It is supposed to do that. The wrap flag only has meaning in Current File mode. Since any search in Current File could start in the middle of that file and miss things, the wrap indicator flag tells it to go back to the start of that file and start searching again. It has always worked like that.

But when you set the target to All HTML files and search, it will now always start at the top of the first file (in BookBrowser order) and proceed sequentially from there. That is what you are seeing.

You asked it to run a search on ALL html files (not selected or tabbed) and so it will do exactly that. But it does that not starting from where it is now, which can miss replacements at the top of the file, it will always start with the first target file in the set.

Once complete, it will not go back to where the search started as it needs to process ALL html files as you told it to. Wrap has nothing to do with this behaviour as wrap has meaning in Current File only search.

Before giving up, have you thought about running your multiple searches from Saved Searches and just skipping over replacements you decide you do not want?

Hope this explains things better.

Kevin

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

Sadly, it appears this 'old dog' is unable to learn new tricks.

Despite trying all of the suggestions on how to operate the new S&R I still can't make it do what I want.

I have tried doing a S&R on the current file, then switching to All HTML files and running it again with the wrap box ticked. This still takes me to the first file in the book.

In my mind, if you have selected 'wrap' it should wrap around back to the starting point of the search - the exact point in the file that I was working on and not the first file.

So if someone can tell me how to do a S&R on All HTML Files and have the focus returned to the exact point I was when I started the S&R then I would be grateful.

Otherwise, I am going to stick with 1.8, as that works for me the way I prefer.

[icallaci]

One more question/suggestion: Is there a reason Count All also takes the focus away from the current file?

[KevinH]

Originally Posted by icallaci

One more question/suggestion: Is there a reason Count All also takes the focus away from the current file?

CountAll just performs the search but does not make any changes. If used in Current File mode, it should not take focus away. If it does that is a bug and I will try to track it down and fix it.

If it is used with All HTML files it will work just like searches do now in that mode.

All of that said, I will look into trying to remember where the current cursor is before any count and try to restore it as counting really should not change anything since no changes are actually made (meaning any cursor position and file info is still correct).

Let me try that. Perhaps that will help. If so, we can push that out in a Sigil-1.9.1 along with a few other minor bug fixes I have.

Thanks,

KevinH

[icallaci]

I usually use Count All with All HTML files selected to decide if it's worth the trouble of writing a regex S&R rather than replacing things one by one. If you can figure out a way to leave the focus on the current file even though All HTML files are selected, it would help immensely. Thanks for looking into it.

Originally Posted by KevinH

CountAll just performs the search but does not make any changes. If used in Current File mode, it should not take focus away. If it does that is a bug and I will try to track it down and fix it.

If it is used with All HTML files it will work just like searches do now in that mode.

All of that said, I will look into trying to remember where the current cursor is before any count and try to restore it as counting really should not change anything since no changes are actually made (meaning any cursor position and file info is still correct).

Let me try that. Perhaps that will help. If so, we can push that out in a Sigil-1.9.1 along with a few other minor bug fixes I have.

Thanks,

KevinH

[KevinH]

Yes, that makes sense. I will try to fix it.

ps. The fix looks doable. I will make that change and test.

Originally Posted by icallaci

I usually use Count All with All HTML files selected to decide if it's worth the trouble of writing a regex S&R rather than replacing things one by one. If you can figure out a way to leave the focus on the current file even though All HTML files are selected, it would help immensely. Thanks for looking into it.

[Ashjuk]

Originally Posted by KevinH

Hi Ashjuk,

It is supposed to do that. The wrap flag only has meaning in Current File mode. Since any search in Current File could start in the middle of that file and miss things, the wrap indicator flag tells it to go back to the start of that file and start searching again. It has always worked like that.

But when you set the target to All HTML files and search, it will now always start at the top of the first file (in BookBrowser order) and proceed sequentially from there. That is what you are seeing.

You asked it to run a search on ALL html files (not selected or tabbed) and so it will do exactly that. But it does that not starting from where it is now, which can miss replacements at the top of the file, it will always start with the first target file in the set.

Once complete, it will not go back to where the search started as it needs to process ALL html files as you told it to. Wrap has nothing to do with this behaviour as wrap has meaning in Current File only search.

Before giving up, have you thought about running your multiple searches from Saved Searches and just skipping over replacements you decide you do not want?

Hope this explains things better.

Kevin

Kevin,

Indeed it does. It appears I have been mistaken all along as I assumed that wrap applied to the whole book and not just the current file.

I'm not sure saved searches would be a lot of help to me. I tend to do S&Rs on items as I come across them whilst working my way through a book - which is why I like to have the focus returned to my editing point.

Given that what I use Sigil for (light editing) the improvements in 1.9 are outweighed by change to the way search works.

For me, there was nothing missing or broken in 1.8, so its probably best that I stick with that from now on.

Thanks for all your hard work anyway.

[KevinH]

Okay, for hopefully a follow-up release, we have made the following changes to master to fix reported bugs/issues:

- doing a F&R Count All should never impact current file or position no matter what the search target is set to.

- in Image Files Report, the FileSize column is now vertically aligned in its row.

- when using Go To Link or Style on a css class, any leading comment is now treated separately from the selector text so that the actual beginning of the selector is found

- support a Sigil Legacy build for Windows 7 machines that uses Python 3.8


@Ashjuk and @icallaci,
No promises but I will look to see if there is any way to remember search start and end when a new search is targeted at a search group (such as All HTML files) instead of always using the BookBrowser order.

This will take another full search redesign so it will not be something for a Sigil-1.9.1 quick follow-on release unless it turns out to be really simple to do (which I highly doubt).

Perhaps using a search interface that instead of a "Restart Search" button uses a "Find First" and "Find Next" buttons like some other programs such as BBEdit who can search in multiple files.

I am just not sure this will be possible as users can walk away from any search at any time to do something else and return to a different location, making remembering what has already been searched and what has not been searched yet much harder to do.

Somehow, we (Sigil) need to know if you want to pick up the search you may have left off earlier from here (possibly missing replacements) or just restart the same search but beginning here this time. Thus the need for either a Restart or Find First button to indicate how this needs to be treated by the user.

Thanks for your feedback!

[Ashjuk]

Kevin,

Thanks for that, and I promise not to hold you to it.

As I said, for the level of editing that I use Sigil, 1.8 works fine for me. So if a redesign is going to be a lot of work, then please do not do it just for me.

[KevinH]

Understood.

Sorry to hear that as this version has the changes to better support spellchecking abbreviations.

If you like to manually work your way through the book chapter by chapter, you can still do that manually always using Current File as the search target.

Some questions for you and @icallaci if your have a free moment so I can better understand what parts of the new behaviour bother you the most.

Under Sigil-1.8, if you do a Find, the cursor will always move to the newly found location and will highlight the what was found, even opening up the next file if needed (assuming the target is set to All HTML files) never staying where it was. The only way it will not move is if nothing was ever found.

Is that the behaviour you seek (not moving the cursor if nothing is found)?

And how do you get back to your editing location normally after doing a Find that actually finds something in Sigil-1.8?

Or are you doing a ReplaceAll at that point and just want keep the cursor where it was?

If either of those cases are the issue, I may be able to handle it just like Count All in that if nothing is found anyplace, do nothing. Or if you run ReplaceAll, try to return you to where the ReplaceAll started (but replacements may impact file positions).

Thanks for taking the time to explain what you used to see and what you are seeing now with the new Find and Replace behaviour that is bothering you.

Kevin

Originally Posted by Ashjuk

Kevin,

Indeed it does. It appears I have been mistaken all along as I assumed that wrap applied to the whole book and not just the current file.

I'm not sure saved searches would be a lot of help to me. I tend to do S&Rs on items as I come across them whilst working my way through a book - which is why I like to have the focus returned to my editing point.

Given that what I use Sigil for (light editing) the improvements in 1.9 are outweighed by change to the way search works.

For me, there was nothing missing or broken in 1.8, so its probably best that I stick with that from now on.

Thanks for all your hard work anyway.