Suggestions for filter replacements dialog

[KevinH]

As long as Find has focus, space works. Nothing has changed in that regard except you need to tab to give Find focus. Only in Sigil 2.2.1 was it given Strongfocus and so it kept it and space worked without having to tab at all after clickingon the find button the first time.

[DiapDealer]

I'm always amazed by how differently others use the same program. It would never even occur to me that the space bar could be used to step/cycle through anything. I would assume the tab or arrow keys would be more natural choices for that. I would expect the space bar to add ... spaces.

Do other UIs work this way, or is it just a happy Sigil accident that we're now stuck supporting?

[KevinH]

It was an accident that Find got strong focus in one released version: 2.3.1. That is what enabled space to work.

[DiapDealer]

Seriously? One released version and it's already beloved and irreplaceable?

[KevinH]

Space also worked by tabbing focus to the SavedSearch Find button.

In one release the first time you hit the Saved Search Find button it got focus and kept it.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Do other UIs work this way, or is it just a happy Sigil accident that we're now stuck supporting?

Find in Notepad++. Find in the file manager I've been using for 20+ years. The dialogue box Find in Word, and the newish navigation pane search. Numerous others… probably LO Writer given it started life as reverse engineered Word.

Previously I would either round trip via DOCX, or merge the xhtml files, use Notepad++, then demerge.

BR

[KevinH]

Okay I have a way to set a shortcut on the Saved Search find button but it can not include the Control keyboard modifier or the Shift as those have an impact in Find And Replace itself (to limit to Current File, etc.)

So we would need to hard code the shortcut. Allowing users to override it would just create chaos. On MacOS I plan on using Meta-F which Qt maps to Ctrl-F just for Macs.

I can either use Alt-F or Meta-F on Windows ... Is there a reason to select one over the other? Should I stay away from the Alt key on Windows? I seem to remember something about that?

Note: this shortcut would be limited to the Saved Searches dialog as it is the only one with keyboard focus at that time.

Of course, hitting tab to move focus to the Find button first would allow spaces to be used with no restrictions at all. Right now on Linux and MacOS that is broken because using Tab or Shift-Tab while focus is in the Saved Searches TreeView actually changes the current selection which no one wants. The arrow keys are reserved for inside the tree movement.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Find in Notepad++. Find in the file manager I've been using for 20+ years. The dialogue box Find in Word, and the newish navigation pane search. Numerous others… probably LO Writer given it started life as reverse engineered Word.

Previously I would either round trip via DOCX, or merge the xhtml files, use Notepad++, then demerge.

BR

If you want to remove the "Spacebar finds next if Find button is active" feature I'll just go back to what I was doing before.

BR

[KevinH]

No, we can keep that. It does not interfere with anything but will only work if you tab focus to the Saved Search Find button.

I just need input on which hard coded shortcut (specific to just that Saved Search Dialog) would be better to directly launch the Find Button without needing to possibly Tab and then use space. Alt-F or Meta-F.

[BetterRed]

Not sure what you mean by the Meta key in the context of Windows.

If you mean the Windows key I suggest you don't use it: a) if you use it in a hard coded shortcut someone (not me) will ask why it's not available in Preferences->Shortcuts; b) many keyboard centric users like me would only use that modifier in utilities that are started at boot time; c) a future release of Windows is more likely to grab it without asking.

But why does it need a keyboard shortcut on Windows. Keyboard centric users will know how to pop the context menu for Replace from the keyboard and then use the down arrow & enter key to open the Saved searches dialogue.

BR

[KevinH]

It is not opening the Saved Searches dialog. It is a shortcut to use the Saved Searches Find button when focus is on the SavedSearches table (QTreeView) because the Saved Searches Find button no longer has StrongFocus (ie. no longer grabs focus when clicked on).

So clicking on Find once and using spacebar no longer works in the Saved Searches Dialog. To replace that we plan on adding a hard coded shortcut.

The user could always hit tab enough times to give the Find button focus and then use the spacebar.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by KevinH

It is not opening the Saved Searches dialog. It is a shortcut to use the Saved Searches Find button when focus is on the SavedSearches table (QTreeView) because the Saved Searches Find button no longer has StrongFocus (ie. no longer grabs focus when clicked on).

So clicking on Find once and using spacebar no longer works in the Saved Searches Dialog. To replace that we plan on adding a hard coded shortcut.

Gotcha

Originally Posted by KevinH

The user could always hit tab enough times to give the Find button focus and then use the spacebar.

Given Saved searches is a dialogue box why not give the Find, Replace etc buttons keyboard shortcuts via the accelerator key feature i.e. Find. Even though its a non-modal I think it would work… i.e. Alt+F for the menubar File and Alt+F for Find in the Saved searches dialogue box could coexist.

BR

[KevinH]

Oky, I have just pushed to master an accelerator/shortcut for the SavedSearches Dialog Find button.

With this change, the user can do either of two things:

A. hit Tab until the Find button has keyboard focus and then use the spacebar to skip to the enxt
or
B. Use Alt-F to invoke the Find button when focus in anywhere in the Saved Searches Dialog.

Hopefull that closes this issue (and the previous one about checkboxes for the Replacement Chooser).

These changes will appear in the next release of Sigil

[Vanguard3000]

Using this new (well, not so new now) system, is there a way to check/uncheck multiple lines at once? I often have to do F&Rs that throw a lot of false positives, and I will often have "runs" of results that I want to change the checked status of.

As expected, I can highlight multiple lines by shift-clicking; my intuition from there would be to hit spacebar to check/uncheck all selected lines, but it only changes the last/currently selected one, and even then it's only if I've selected the lines by shift-clicking in the column that holds the checkboxes. And clicking a checkbox deselects all other lines.

By contrast, with the old F&R system I could select the lines I don't want changed and delete them from the table, which I could do one at a time or by shift-clicking a run of rows.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[KevinH]

First, depending on the most false positives you can select the Check/Uncheck All box at the top.

Next You can select any number of contiguous rows by clicking on the row number and then shift clicking. Hitting enter will then toggle all of those selected rows checkboxes.

Of course you can select any row and toggle any checkbox one by one as well.

So there is no loss of functionality. It is just different.