Strange bug with locations, tabs + searching

Dirhael · Post by **Dirhael** » 16 Jan 2008 13:19

Just encountered a strange bug, and it appears to have been with us for a while as I can replicate it in all 6.80.xxxx builds I've tried.

To best explain the problem, I'll just tell you what to do to replicate the it so you can see for yourself:

1. Start up Xyplorer and open at least 2 tabs.

2. In one of the tabs, use something like CTRL+F3 to display the content of sub folders.

3. Now switch to the other tab, then back to the one you did the search in (in step 2) and press F5 to refresh the content of that tab.

4. Now once again, select the other tab and finally back to the one with the one you just refreshed. Notice anything wrong? Well, Xyplorer have now suddenly given both of them the same location! The one you did the search in now have the same location and content as the second tab, and this can not in any way be correct behavior.

This problem was driving me mad the other day when I was trying to use Xyplorer to organize a whole bunch of images, so I hope you'll be able to take a look at it

infimum · Post by **infimum** » 16 Jan 2008 13:34

Confirmed!

Post by **admin** » 16 Jan 2008 16:00

I think it is expected behavior. F5 will refresh the current tab to the current path. The current path is always the one selected in the tree.

Check conf/general "synchronize tree with search location" to get rid of this kind of surprise.

But wait a little: I just discovered a surprising crash bug here...

... give me some minutes...

UPDATE: okay, fixed the bug. It was not directly related to the topic here, but can happen when pressing F5 on a search results tab while the mouse hovers the path column header... beware until next release.

Dirhael · Post by **Dirhael** » 16 Jan 2008 16:52

Ok, that solved the problem for me so apparently it wasn't a bug. However, I do find it rather strange to have this behavior as default, as I just don't see how you would expect something like this to happen in situations like I outlined in my original post.

Anyway, my problem's solved, so I'm a happy camper in any case

EDIT: I also want to add that if the default behaviour is to make sense, it should have changed location the moment I pressed F5 to refresh, not after changing to another tab and back again. This is main reason why I thought it was a bug and couldn't possibly be as intended.

Post by **admin** » 16 Jan 2008 17:24

Dirhael wrote:Ok, that solved the problem for me so apparently it wasn't a bug. However, I do find it rather strange to have this behavior as default, as I just don't see how you would expect something like this to happen in situations like I outlined in my original post.

Anyway, my problem's solved, so I'm a happy camper in any case

EDIT: I also want to add that if the default behaviour is to make sense, it should have changed location the moment I pressed F5 to refresh, not after changing to another tab and back again. This is main reason why I thought it was a bug and couldn't possibly be as intended.

Well, I can totally understand your surprise, and although this behavior is as old as XY/TV3 I'm ready to discuss it.

I especially agree that the less surprisaing behavior should be the factory default. Any objections?

Your last EDIT remark I cannot reproduce.

Post by **serendipity** » 16 Jan 2008 17:35

admin wrote:I especially agree that the less surprisaing behavior should be the factory default. Any objections?

Yes, I too had the same experience lately. I assumed if I refresh in search tab it would be similar to F3, but it took me to the path i was searching in. I have no objections if you change this surprising behavior.

jacky · Post by **jacky** » 16 Jan 2008 19:39

admin wrote:I especially agree that the less surprisaing behavior should be the factory default. Any objections?

Nope, not at all. Err, scratch that, I may very well object after all!

I was gong to say this : Not at all. In fact, using F5 to refresh search results (ie. redo the search) is something I've been doing for quite a while now, given that my Search Results tab is locked !
Feels indeed all natural to me.

But writing that had me changing my mind : in my case it is natural to use F5 to refresh the results/redo the search, but it's a dedicated Finding Tab I have. Hence the locking.
I'm not sure how people using the current tab for their results do work, but for them F5 must, yes I would say must, refresh while switching back to Browse mode.

I mean, that's why there's a F3, and a F5! Hell, how are they supposed to switch back to Browse mode otherwise ? Jump to another location and come back ? I don't think so.

If you have search results and want to keep them around, lock the tab : then your search will be redone when you activate the tab, or when you press F5 while there.

Post by **admin** » 16 Jan 2008 19:48

jacky wrote:
admin wrote:I especially agree that the less surprisaing behavior should be the factory default. Any objections?
Nope, not at all. Err, scratch that, I may very well object after all!

I was gong to say this : Not at all. In fact, using F5 to refresh search results (ie. redo the search) is something I've been doing for quite a while now, given that my Search Results tab is locked !
Feels indeed all natural to me.

But writing that had me changing my mind : in my case it is natural to use F5 to refresh the results/redo the search, but it's a dedicated Finding Tab I have. Hence the locking.
I'm not sure how people using the current tab for their results do work, but for them F5 must, yes I would say must, refresh while switching back to Browse mode.

I mean, that's why there's a F3, and a F5! Hell, how are they supposed to switch back to Browse mode otherwise ? Jump to another location and come back ? I don't think so.

If you have search results and want to keep them around, lock the tab : then your search will be redone when you activate the tab, or when you press F5 while there.

Okay, and the bottom line is? When F5-ing a non-locked SR tab, what folder should be listed:
(a) current path
(b) searched path
?

And now it comes to my mind why things are as they are!

Multiple search locations! There is no clear home path to such a tab, right?!

Post by **serendipity** » 16 Jan 2008 20:06

Yup, because search tab can mean any location F5 = F3 would be good.

Another issue that irritates me with search tab is, one has to always close it with right-click>close tab, any other way of closing results in search being turned ON which has to be stopped by escape key and then either double click or ctrl+W (plus OK if the tab is locked).
It would be nice if search tab could differentiate double click from single click, that way closing the tab (without opening and escaping search) is much easier. I miss shift+click.

jacky · Post by **jacky** » 16 Jan 2008 20:56

admin wrote:When F5-ing a non-locked SR tab, what folder should be listed:
(a) current path
(b) searched path
?

And now it comes to my mind why things are as they are! Multiple search locations! There is no clear home path to such a tab, right?!

Well, I would say the current way is the way to go. The only thing weird about it is that Tree & List can get out of sync, when not using "Sync Tree with search location", and that may be a problem.

So I woud say,
- with Sync Tree w/search location : current & search location are the same (multiple location search means using the first one listed, ie. where Tree jumped), use it
- without Sync Tree w/search location : use Tree location, because it's pretty much a bug (isn't it?) to be in one location on List, while Tree is somewhere else!

Dirhael · Post by **Dirhael** » 16 Jan 2008 23:43

admin wrote:
Dirhael wrote:Ok, that solved the problem for me so apparently it wasn't a bug. However, I do find it rather strange to have this behavior as default, as I just don't see how you would expect something like this to happen in situations like I outlined in my original post.

Anyway, my problem's solved, so I'm a happy camper in any case

EDIT: I also want to add that if the default behaviour is to make sense, it should have changed location the moment I pressed F5 to refresh, not after changing to another tab and back again. This is main reason why I thought it was a bug and couldn't possibly be as intended.
Well, I can totally understand your surprise, and although this behavior is as old as XY/TV3 I'm ready to discuss it.

I especially agree that the less surprisaing behavior should be the factory default. Any objections?

Your last EDIT remark I cannot reproduce.

I think it would be good idea to change the default behavior as I'm sure others might get confused by it as it is currently.

As for not being able to reproduce what I just wrote, well I just recorded and uploaded a simple screencast that might explain a little better what I'm talking about. Hope it helps

http://www.getyeflask.com/uploads/xy/xyplorer.html

Post by **admin** » 17 Jan 2008 09:27

Dirhael wrote:I think it would be good idea to change the default behavior as I'm sure others might get confused by it as it is currently.

As for not being able to reproduce what I just wrote, well I just recorded and uploaded a simple screencast that might explain a little better what I'm talking about. Hope it helps

http://www.getyeflask.com/uploads/xy/xyplorer.html

I think about changing the behavior.

Conc. the screencast: this should be solved by your checking "Synchronize..."

Conc. the screencast, #2: hey, what software are you using for this? Actually I want to put some short screencasts about XY on the website. Any recommendations? Nothing fancy needed, portable would be nice...

ugus · Post by **ugus** » 17 Jan 2008 09:55

admin wrote:
Conc. the screencast, #2: hey, what software are you using for this? Actually I want to put some short screencasts about XY on the website. Any recommendations? Nothing fancy needed, portable would be nice...

I think it's Camtasia, http://www.techsmith.com another free alternative is Wink http://www.debugmode.com/wink/

Both products are very good, I prefer Wink mainly because it's less "bloated" but Camtasia is easier get up to speed with.

Dirhael · Post by **Dirhael** » 17 Jan 2008 11:21

admin wrote:
Dirhael wrote:I think it would be good idea to change the default behavior as I'm sure others might get confused by it as it is currently.

As for not being able to reproduce what I just wrote, well I just recorded and uploaded a simple screencast that might explain a little better what I'm talking about. Hope it helps

http://www.getyeflask.com/uploads/xy/xyplorer.html
I think about changing the behavior.

Conc. the screencast: this should be solved by your checking "Synchronize..."

Conc. the screencast, #2: hey, what software are you using for this? Actually I want to put some short screencasts about XY on the website. Any recommendations? Nothing fancy needed, portable would be nice...

As "ugus" said, I'm using Camtasia Studio for the screencast. It's a great program, but I think it's quite a bit overpriced at $299. If I hadn't won my copy some time ago, I think I would have looked elsewhere for an alternative.

Donationcoder did a comparison of several of your options some moons ago, so that might be worth taking a look at

Post by **admin** » 17 Jan 2008 11:28

Thanks for the tips!