Colorize Search Results

[TheQwerty]

I've been experimenting with comparing 2 folders within XY's single pane, and I've found doing a blank search on multiple locations is a great way to do this.

In fact I'm liking it better than any dual pane tool I've used since it's easier to compare the properties of the files.


That said some small improvements could make this even better and give less reason to request a comparing feature in XY. I think the biggest one is to more easily distinguish the search results from each folder.

I have a few thoughts on this and I'm not sure which to push for, so let's have some discussion about it before considering it a suggestion.


1) Perform some additional parsing on the Find Files|Name & Location|Location field that would allow us to use the Color filter syntax to apply a different color for each searched location.

Then I could perform a search of "C:\A>0000FF|C:\B>FF0000" and all the results from "C:\A" would be blue and those from "C:\B" would be red. It would be just like the color filters, but would take priority over them.

Drawbacks:
-Won't work with the use "Selected locations" check box.
-May not work with following of folder links. (I'm not sure.)
-Can cause confusion if search includes a location contained in another location. Which color should be used? (Can be solved by using the order or depth)


2) Implement a quick color / mark feature.

The user selects the items (so we could sort by path and select the block rather quickly) and then calls this new feature. It displays a color selection dialog, the user selects a color and those files are changed to that color.

Ideally they could do this repeatedly and have multiple colored selections.

Drawbacks:
-Not sure how persistent this data should be. A lot of people would probably like for it to be used all the time. I think the case could be made that this could be a one time use feature that is cleared when navigating away. Or it could be implemented like a visual filter and have a switch, but back to keeping all the lists for how long?


3) Extend the color filter feature to include paths and not just file names.

Drawbacks:
-This could cause a lot of slowdown and resource munching which would be unacceptable.


I'm partial to number one even though it seems to have the most drawbacks.

What does everyone think would be better? Any other thoughts on how this could be achieved?

[admin]

I've been experimenting with comparing 2 folders within XY's single pane, and I've found doing a blank search on multiple locations is a great way to do this.

Oh yes, I've done this once in a while, and I think I made a note somewhere about colorizing... it's a very natural usage of XY's potential -- and if it meets some DP needs, all the better!

What about this?
4) since this always involves multiple locations, why not simply let XY do the coloring by default!? Just like the google toolbar highlights keywords 1. = yellow, 2. = blue, 3. = red, 4. = green etc.

Drawbacks:
-This could cause a lot of slowdown and resource munching which would be unacceptable.

Why should this cause a slow down?

[TheQwerty]

What about this?
4) since this always involves multiple locations, why not simply let XY do the coloring by default!? Just like the google toolbar highlights keywords 1. = yellow, 2. = blue, 3. = red, 4. = green etc.

Well sure it could all happen automatically too.

Some drawbacks I see:
-There would need to be a colorize check box, because I'm sure some people will want to see the normal color filters sometimes (myself included).

-If the colors are not user configurable there's issue ensuring they are visible to the user. They can't conflict with the Interface Color options and there may be issues with accessibility.

-If the colors are user definable how do you handle the number of options. Do you only color the first 10 folders, or do you allow the user to add as many colors as they want and just stop coloring if they search more than they've entered?


Certainly not critical drawbacks though.

Drawbacks:
-This could cause a lot of slowdown and resource munching which would be unacceptable.

Why should this cause a slow down?

It very well might not, it was more a concern you expressed in another older and similar thread. Honestly, I'd guess with the longer string it would slow it down, but I doubt it would be a noticeable difference.

Would comparing the color filters to the full path (rather than just the filename) require much more from XY?

[graham]

Just a thought her

Could this compare function be a new UDC (Compare) and allow any number of folders (do that in dual pane). Clearly colour marking helps enormously.

[admin]

Just a thought her

Could this compare function be a new UDC (Compare) and allow any number of folders (do that in dual pane). Clearly colour marking helps enormously.

We'll see. I want to stick to the road map for a while... so there's enough time to meditate about this interesting topic of Compare via Colorized Search Results.

[admin]

What about this?
4) since this always involves multiple locations, why not simply let XY do the coloring by default!? Just like the google toolbar highlights keywords 1. = yellow, 2. = blue, 3. = red, 4. = green etc.

Well sure it could all happen automatically too.

Some drawbacks I see:
-There would need to be a colorize check box, because I'm sure some people will want to see the normal color filters sometimes (myself included).

-If the colors are not user configurable there's issue ensuring they are visible to the user. They can't conflict with the Interface Color options and there may be issues with accessibility.

-If the colors are user definable how do you handle the number of options. Do you only color the first 10 folders, or do you allow the user to add as many colors as they want and just stop coloring if they search more than they've entered?


Certainly not critical drawbacks though.

Drawbacks:
-This could cause a lot of slowdown and resource munching which would be unacceptable.

Why should this cause a slow down?

It very well might not, it was more a concern you expressed in another older and similar thread. Honestly, I'd guess with the longer string it would slow it down, but I doubt it would be a noticeable difference.

Would comparing the color filters to the full path (rather than just the filename) require much more from XY?

Yes, you are thinking like a programmer. Feels good for a change. After all this "Gimme DP!" ...

The details have to determined yet... I first have to do some other things anyway...

No, comparing the color filters to the full path would be just as fast. These things are all terribly fast.

[TheQwerty]

Could this compare function be a new UDC (Compare) and allow any number of folders (do that in dual pane).

We'll see. I want to stick to the road map for a while... so there's enough time to meditate about this interesting topic of Compare via Colorized Search Results.

That's an interesting thought of having a Find Files UDC. Maybe it could use the templates and also make use of selected locations too? Hmm...

The details have to determined yet... I first have to do some other things anyway...

That gives us time to really consider it and make this good.

No, comparing the color filters to the full path would be just as fast. These things are all terribly fast.

Then that might be the easiest way to go and would satisfy the main goal here.

The only thing that would improve that as far as I'm concerned would be a one-click convenience for generating the filter pattern from the selected files. Perhaps a menu item/CKS that could open the Color Filter LM with a new item consisting of the deepest common path for the selection.

[admin]

Yes, a Compare UDC and a Find UDC ... looks interesting. But then again there will be scripting soon. I'll keep my cool until everything falls into places...

The only thing that would improve that as far as I'm concerned would be a one-click convenience for generating the filter pattern from the selected files. Perhaps a menu item/CKS that could open the Color Filter LM with a new item consisting of the deepest common path for the selection.

I did not get this part -- but I leave the discussion at this point to go back to work.

[TheQwerty]

The only thing that would improve that as far as I'm concerned would be a one-click convenience for generating the filter pattern from the selected files. Perhaps a menu item/CKS that could open the Color Filter LM with a new item consisting of the deepest common path for the selection.

I did not get this part -- but I leave the discussion at this point to go back to work.

Well consider it a second request unrelated to the first.
It would be a quick and easy way to create a new Color Filter via a new menu item ("Generate Color Filter from Selection").

When clicked it would open the Color Filter LM with a new item in the rename/edit mode (not the LM Editor Mode).

This new item would be pre-populated with a filter based on the current selection.

This is where it gets tricky depending on how complicated you want to make it.

My suggestion was you use the deepest common path of all files in the selection, in other words the longest possible string that is a match at the beginning of each item's path.

So from a selection of:
D:\a\b\file.jpg
D:\a\b\c\txt.txt
D:\a\b\d\new.txt
It would generate a filter of "D:\a\b\*"

But you could obviously make it more complicated and have it attempt to make the pattern including the file names or extensions.

As I said it was just an idea for convenience and nothing more. If you can easily do the pattern creation it might be worth considering otherwise, not so much.

[j_c_hallgren]

Given that people use existing color filters to mark selected file types, how about if this folder marking was done as a variant of background colors instead? Or as a twist on zebra striping...

There are a number of light tints that could be used and which thus might allow existing color filters to still show...

Just an idea...

[admin]

The only thing that would improve that as far as I'm concerned would be a one-click convenience for generating the filter pattern from the selected files. Perhaps a menu item/CKS that could open the Color Filter LM with a new item consisting of the deepest common path for the selection.

I did not get this part -- but I leave the discussion at this point to go back to work.

Well consider it a second request unrelated to the first.
It would be a quick and easy way to create a new Color Filter via a new menu item ("Generate Color Filter from Selection").

When clicked it would open the Color Filter LM with a new item in the rename/edit mode (not the LM Editor Mode).

This new item would be pre-populated with a filter based on the current selection.

This is where it gets tricky depending on how complicated you want to make it.

My suggestion was you use the deepest common path of all files in the selection, in other words the longest possible string that is a match at the beginning of each item's path.

So from a selection of:
D:\a\b\file.jpg
D:\a\b\c\txt.txt
D:\a\b\d\new.txt
It would generate a filter of "D:\a\b\*"

But you could obviously make it more complicated and have it attempt to make the pattern including the file names or extensions.

As I said it was just an idea for convenience and nothing more. If you can easily do the pattern creation it might be worth considering otherwise, not so much.

Ah, okay. Well, I currently like my suggestion (4) best. It wuld not need color filters. Just a set of say 10 (there must be some limit; and limits are reassuring for the angst-ridden ) pre-defined (but configurable) colors, that would simply be used (text or background colors??) in the order of the locations in the multi-location search. Plus a checkbox "Colorize results of multi-location searches".

[admin]

Given that people use existing color filters to mark selected file types, how about if this folder marking was done as a variant of background colors instead? Or as a twist on zebra striping...

There are a number of light tints that could be used and which thus might allow existing color filters to still show...

Just an idea...

Yes, d'accord!

[j_c_hallgren]

For example, using the yellow (on 1st row, 2nd box on color picker) that is R=255,G=255,B=128, and changing the Blue to something like 175-190 range, you get a light tint that might work just fine...

Yes, this could conflict with zebra and grid, but that might be workable still depending on colors that are used...

Addendum: The other problem I see with this "mixed bag" view is the lack of any stats unique to each folder, such as number of files...when I'm in DP mode in X2, I see counts for each side and can use that to help make sure that I've got desired results...

[bergfex]

Wow, what a great idea, guys. Such a feature would really be extremely useful.

Yes, you are thinking like a programmer. Feels good for a change. After all this "Gimme DP!" ...

Yes, I always admire the problem solving skills of developers. All these details you have to pay attention to, it's just amazing...

[bergfex]

I just discovered this in the XYwiki:

You can have XY fill in the Location field for you with locations of all currently opened Tabs (excluding Finding Tabs) by using the miscellaneous command Search All Tabs. No other filter will be affected when calling this command.

To trigger it, you can either:
* Go to the CKS window, on category Miscellaneous select the command Search All Tabs, right-click to popup the context menu and choose Close Dialog and Trigger Command
* Use any keyboard shortcut you previously assigned to this command. For more on how to do this, please see here.

Not really easy to find, but very useful.