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farr v2 planning - use cases and action idea

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jgpaiva:
yes, i understand that, but why can't farr think of an alias just as if it was a file?
the alias would appear there, and if it was the first result, the user would only press [enter]

mouser:
yes this would work for any alias that you want to treat like a file result.
the problem is when you want to use an action/modifier/alias which isnt meant to compete with files and not change this list of found files.

nitrix-ud:
i may be completely off topic, and i'm sorry if it's the case  :huh:

do you have plans to allow the following :

pretty much like the alias mechanism, one would type the name of the alias, ex:

snippets

then (after a space) it would search within a specific folder(s) / file(s) type(s) (specified in the alias "snippets"), ex:

snippets php

it would search "php", but it would also know (because specified in the alias) that it uses a specific action for the found file, ex:
(imagine i have a small app to copy the text inside of a text file)
copy_text_inside_file_to_clipboard $$1

Imagine how powerfull this would be, you could use FARR for so many things !
todo manager
code snippets manager
and so on

I really hope, i'll be able to do that ;)

In any case, keep up the good work mouser (and all others contributors), you are building a great app !!

Cheers, Nico

QuickBrownFox:
Please, please do not let the tab key have anything to do with the functionality of v2. The tab key is terrible for any kind of navigation and it really annoys me that software uses for anything other than creating tabs in text files. The problem is that you have to cycle through items in a fixed order and to cycle backwards you must hold down shift and then press tab which is awkward and annoying. Any moving between potentially multiple text boxes should be done with the arrow keys.

Also, aside from being unnecessary, I think that the idea of multiple text boxes undermines the visual simplicity of FARR.


OK so after criticising your ideas let me be a little productive and contribute one of my own. :)

In the case of finding a file/shortcut and running it: v2 should behave exactly as it does now.

In the case of finding a file and performing a different action on it, in ADDITION to being able to type the action followed by the file (or however you choose to make the syntax work)...

...how about searching for the file in the normal way, selecting it by cursor keys, and then typing the action you want to perform on it. As a keypress other than enter is detected another text box pops up to the right of the item and searches for actions relevant to the file type similarly to the way that the main text box searches for files.

While all this is being done, perhaps the main text box could be automatically updated to reflect the action that the user is attempting in such a way that if you had typed it's contents into the main text box originally and pressed enter then exactly the same action would have been performed on exactly the same file.

Example:

User types "mp3 dylan" into main text box
10 results displayed
User keys down to the fourth one (4.mp3) and types play
By now the main text box has automatically changed it's contents to "play mp3 4.mp3" (or whatever you decide is best)
User presses enter. Action is performed
The entry in the history is "play mp3 4.mp3"

Perhaps some visual cue could exist to let users know that when they select an item they can type an action.
The advantage of this approach is that it guides users through the process of performing more complicated actions on files but also shows them how they could've saved time by typing the action and searching for the file at the same time in the main text box.

Jan-S:
1) when you type the modifier prefix, the results switch to a list of matching actions until you finish typing the modifier-mouser (May 20, 2006, 03:03 PM)
--- End quote ---
This is my favorite. You will not need the file list when you've indicated you want to type an action by entering the special action prefix.

Another quick "extra prefix" would be to read all phrases that begin with an uppercase letter as modifiers ("Kill" is a modifier, "kill" is not).-jukla (May 21, 2006, 05:42 AM)
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Cool idea. I don't think I would use it as for me it's faster to type a dash before the action, but it wouldn't hurt to offer this as an option (it's just as easy to parse).

Please, please do not let the tab key have anything to do with the functionality of v2.-QuickBrownFox (May 21, 2006, 01:27 PM)
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In the TAB-based approach mentioned above the TAB key was not used for navigation, but to confirm an action or select a file you want to perform an action on. RETURN should still launch a file and TAB is another easily reachable key which could be used to push items on the "command stack". Please see the thread I've linked in my last post to learn more about this idea.

In the case of finding a file and performing a different action on it, in ADDITION to being able to type the action followed by the file (or however you choose to make the syntax work)...

...how about searching for the file in the normal way, selecting it by cursor keys, and then typing the action you want to perform on it. As a keypress other than enter is detected another text box pops up to the right of the item and searches for actions relevant to the file type similarly to the way that the main text box searches for files.-QuickBrownFox (May 21, 2006, 01:27 PM)
--- End quote ---
This is a very important point. You should be able to browse for a file and decide about the action afterwards. I think when you highlighted a file and start typing, FARR should put the filename into the list (just the filename, without path - this means FARR has to map the abbreviated form to the full file name, internally (maybe it should even just keep the part of the filename you entered)) and append a space sign, the command prefix character and the first character you typed, filling the result list with matching actions.

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