Global Search UI issues

[koppor]

#8045 introduced global search. There are some open points:

• resizing the global search window should not change the column width of the main table (maybe refs Implement better scaling of main table showing entries #7181)
• Library not shown "on my machine"
  
• Selecting an entry in the global search should select the entry in the main table
• (Optional) the places where the search hit should be highlighted
  (we had this functionality in JabRef 2.9 beta -

  jabref/CHANGELOG

  Line 252 in 4e23c05

  - Added highlighting in preview area for search text (based on patch 3121914 by

  ). (Personal remark: implement in JabRef main branch 10 years ago - https://sourceforge.net/p/jabref/patches/147/#1ebb).

[mlep]

I am happy to see that the global search is back! Very useful feature!

A few glitches (some grain to grind 😉 ):

UI

• If global search is NOT activated, the button Search across libraries window still works for the current library (which is great!). So, I guess it would be better described as Display results in an external window (or something like this)
• Using dark theme: in the external window, the preview area is white if no entry is selected (then it becomes dark grey once an entry is selected). The UI would be more consistent if the preview area was dark grey from the beginning.
• In the external window, the button Keep dialog always on top is located in a weird place. Maybe it would be better if is was moved lower, on the same line as the button OK
• The UI does not retain the size of the Search across libraries window. Open it, changes its size, close it, open it again : it has its original size.
• The Search across libraries window does not have a title.
• The columns shown in the external window should be the same as in the entry tables of the files. Currently, columns such as Read status and Relevance are not displayed in the external window

Functioning

• Opening another file should not reset a global search. Open a file, activate global search and enter a string to search, open a second file: the global search is deactivated and the search string is missing in the first file. Note: the global search is not reset when closing a file (which is fine!)
• When deactivating Global search, the external window continue to display the results of the global search. Open 2 files, enter a search string (that gives entries for each file --- let's say 10 + 5), click on global search (at this point the external window display the 15 entries, which is OK), close the external window, unselect the global search, open the external window: 15 entries are still shown (while it should be 5 or 10, depending on the selected file).
• I also came across a raised exception (related to the marked entries), but cannot reproduce it (yet)...

[Siedlerchr]

Thanks for the detailed feedback @mlep Regarding the special fields to display @calixtus and I decided not to show them, because it does make sense that you can modify them. Could also produce some side effects...

[Siedlerchr]

I found the issue with the library field. Totally stupid. As I previously tested the ugly hack, it modified the entries and added the library field. Normally the library field is a biblatex field for a different purpose.

I will look into a different way to get the library information

[Siedlerchr]

@koppor

(Optional) the places where the search hit should be highlighted
(we had this functionality in JabRef 2.9 beta -

The functionality is also implemented in the current versions since a long time in the Preview window

[koppor]

• Changing column sizes of the global search window should NOT resize columns in the main table. Somehow related: Implement better scaling of main table showing entries #7181

[koppor]

* If global search is NOT activated, the button `Search across libraries window` still works for the current library (which is great!). So, I guess it would be better described as `Display results in an external window` (or something like this)

The world icon denotes something different than the global search.

The first one "just" keeps the search string when switching tabs, the second one searches globally

Idea: change to an ice berg / mountain.

* Using dark theme: in the external window, [...]

This is when searching for something without results

* In the external window, the button `Keep dialog always on top` is located in a weird place. Maybe it would be better if is was moved lower, on the same line as the button `OK`

OK :)

[Siedlerchr]

Current status after #8294 is merged

• Window has a title
• Search string is applied when opening a new library and the option "keep search string across libraries" is selected

Only open issues left:

• Preview in dark theme when no search results is still "white"
• Location of the pin to top button
• Debatable: If the columns like status or relevant should be shown, because you could theoretically change the value of them in the search window...
• When clicking an entry in the external window, it should be marked in the corresponding library (e.g. select the library, select the item in the main table)
• Search dialog does not retain size

[koppor]

We opened a follow-up issue to be able to focus on the open points.