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FARR version 2 - discuss the best way to handle 'actions'

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mouser:
ok i have an idea.. i feel like we might be getting warm...

what about this:
what if the dialog popped up with 2 editboxes, either side by side or one on top of the other, like this:


FIND:  _________________
THEN: _________________

followed by the normal results list.


important: the THEN: box will start out saying "Launch"


ok now,
you can at this point type the name of the file to find, and get incremental results, just like it current FARR.


if your result is at the top of the list, hit enter to run it.  or use a digit key to select the one you want.


BUT you can also hit TAB to proceed from the FIND: box to the THEN: box,
whereupon the results list will display a set of context sensitive ACTIONS you can perform.

we can even used commas here to do as jpaiva suggeted to have nested actions.



and now here is the kicker:
we could say additionally that when a recognized action word is detected as first word, and then you hit space it would automatically move this word to the THEN: box (removing it from main edit box) and then let you continue searching for the file to perform the operation on.



SO:

you could type
"photoshop" ENTER to launch photoshop.

or

"photoshop" TAB "properties" (selecting properties froma  list of context-sensitive actions that can be performed on exe files
to see the exe properties


OR


"kill" + SPACE (which would recognize the term KILL as an action, and move it to the THEN action editbox,
followed by "firefox" which would then be searching for firefox in results listbox of running processes.


OR

"define" + SPACE (moves define into THEN: box) + "subjunctive"
results list would should the different websites that can be used to search.

mouser:
alternatively we could have 3 editboxes:

DO: ___________ (defaults to FIND)
WITH: _____________ (defaults to searching in the file list like normal FARR)
THEN: ______________ (default to LAUNCH)



this matches the idea i was saying before about how the first thing you always specify is a VERB (DO)


so now the operation would be:


bring up FARR.

you start on DO editbox, just hit tab if you want default action of FIND
then type the file to find, hit enter to launch,
or hit tab to choose from context sensitive actions while typing in the THEN editbox.


or for emailing:
bring up FARR
type email which narrows from the available commands.
then hit tab and the editbox label maybe changes to say " EMAIL TO:" , and third line changes to "SUBJECT:"
and you type the email address, hit tab to go to next field, type the subject, hit enter.


you get the idea.

jgpaiva:
interesting idea about nesting aliases.. this is getting a little interesting now, like the idea of treating actions like a decision tree..
-mouser (February 03, 2006, 03:44 AM)
--- End quote ---
I think you and i are in the same page ;)

and the list of actions shown at startup would never change order, they would be a fixed list that user could control.
they would also include "plugin" commands.-mouser (February 03, 2006, 03:42 AM)
--- End quote ---
I don't think that the list of actions would never change order... Why not have it working like the other aliases will work? you can define a start point, and then they get more bonus the more they are used..
So you could define "run" to have like 100000 points, to be sure it will be at the top, but you let farr decide if "edit" sould or shouldn't be before "extract".
I just think this would make the creation of new action aliases much easier.
What do you mean by "plugin" commands?

nontroppo:
I haven't had much time to read through the latest incarnation (I am at work), but I am a bit worried about forcing actions first, or necesitating pressing space before searching for items. I think there should be flexibility. I prefer using *action as a shortcut to do something and letting default typing search as it does now. Sorry if I've misunderstood...

And nesting aliases is neat, a textual equivalent of Quicksilver's visual guide.

mouser:
im a bit concerned as well with having to specify an action first... sometimes it would match your brain and sometimes not..
see my FIND + THEN post above for an alternative.

the basic idea here is that it would behave like FARR does now, except
youd have a 2nd editbox which showed you what was going to happen when you hit enter (ie launch the file)
and you could hit TAB to go to that editbox to change the action (and search actions in the results list).

to me this is pretty elegant, the only problem is what happens when the file you are interested in is not at the top of the results list. hitting tab to go to the THEN editbox would be showing you commands for the top result which is not what you want, so youd have to specify the correct item first.



you could get around that by having like

FIND: _________________

[results list]

THEN: _________________


so that the THEN editbox was at the bottom.


so you type the file, hit tab to go to restults; if your chosen result is not at top then select it with arrow keys and hit tab again to go to THEN box to choose an action or hit ENTER to launch.



furthermore, i suppose you could let user choose the order of these 3 panels,
some might choose:
ACTION: ___________
FIND:___________
[retsults]

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