Launch, stay open and continue searching

[Filipe Meira Castro]

Hi Mouser,

The option ctrl+dlbclick to launch and stay open works really well.

A great functionality that could be added would be to continue the search after launching
(at the moment, if I am searching for some subject, the results are being populated, but, as soon as one file is launched the search stops... that is ok for normal launching.. but with the "launch and stay open" it would be much better if the search would continue...)

What do you think of this idea?

Have a great day!

[Filipe Meira Castro]

Not good?!

[mouser]

let me chew on it a bit.. i see what you are saying im just not sure how to handle it.

[Filipe Meira Castro]

Hehehhehehe, sure!

I hope you can find an easy solution
It can be really handy, especially when searching some network files!

[Filipe Meira Castro]

Complicated?!

[Filipe Meira Castro]

Hi, Hi,

Hopefully you are managing a way on this

There is a small annoyance on this Ctrl dbl click because some applications will also detect the CTRL key for other purposes... ex: if I am launching a .docx word will prompt to open in safe mode, and if launching a .pdf acrobat will prompt for default language...

Maybe would be nice to include a checkbox near the search bar for this, for example... or have a different combination of keys maybe shift key will not interfere as much...

Keep FARR on great standard, it's an awesome app

[mouser]

There is a small annoyance on this Ctrl dbl click because some applications will also detect the CTRL key for other purposes.

On the keyboard options tab you can change the ctrl/alt behaviors -- you could change it so that ALT was for launch and stay open.

[Filipe Meira Castro]

Hi,

Thank you for your comments
The Alt key is not keeping FARR opened even it is on the settings...


Cheers,

[mouser]

Looks like maybe with those settings with keyboard launch and not click?

[Filipe Meira Castro]

Yes, seems like, Have tested with ALT# and works but ALT Click then it does not!

[Filipe Meira Castro]

Hi Mouser,

This is an old topic, but the "Launch, stay open and continue searching" is something that could be really handy when searching multiple document of one topic/keyword.

I understand it might be difficult to implement and was thinking of some "Workaround" or way to make it easier to improve here.

Whenever we have a result and the user clicks an item, FARR stops populating results - This is what is happening now and I guess it might be because the user can then trigger the context menu and would also be annoying to have the selection being moved all the time.

So a workaround solution, would be to have the searched "Paused" or just running in a different thread when the user has selected something, but as soon as an action is triggered or the user selects the search field again, the search could resume or the background tread able to put the newly found item in the list!

Doable challenge?!

[Nod5]

Another small wrinkle related to the current launch and stay open option: FARR moves focus to the searchbox, instead of keeping focus at the line of the result that was launched.

Here is an AutoHotkey script that somewhat works around both issues. Somewhat since it only works when launching a result that points to file/folder path (not a complex alias result that launches multiple files, passes parameters or other extras). I imagine the script might also fail to keep focus in some situations, depending on how long it takes for the launched file to open in the default app for that extension.

Code: Autohotkey [Select]

1. #NoEnv
2. SendMode Input
3. SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%
4. #SingleInstance force
5. SetBatchLines, -1
6. SetWinDelay, -1
7. SetControlDelay, -1
8.  
9. ; FARR helper script to launch a file and continue search and keep focus in results list
10.  
11. ; 2020-04-27 by Nod5
12.  
13. ; Hotkey: Alt+Enter
14. ; - launches the selected FARR result (a file or folder)
15. ; - FARR continues searching
16. ; - FARR stays open and keeps its focus in the results window
17.  
18. ; note: does nothing if the selected result is not an existing file/folder.
19. ; In other words does nothing if the result is an complex alias result.
20.  
21. #IfWinActive, ahk_exe FindAndRunRobot.exe
22. !Enter::
23.   ; only react if user has focused FARR results list
24.   ControlGetFocus, vFocusControl, A
25.   if (vFocusControl != "TNextGrid1")
26.     Return
27.   ; get FARR window handle
28.   vHwnd := WinExist("A")
29.   ; use ctrl+C to get the path to selected file in FARR results
30.   ; note: only works if result is a path to a single file (not a complex alias result)
31.   clip := ClipToVar()
32.   If !FileExist(clip)
33.     Return
34.   ; run the file
35.   Run % clip
36.   ; keep the FARR window active
37.   While WinActive("ahk_id " vHwnd) and (A_Index < 100)
38.     sleep 10
39.   WinActivate, % "ahk_id " vHwnd
40. Return
41. #IfWinActive
42.  
43. ;function: copy selection to clipboard to variable
44. ClipToVar() {
45.   cliptemp := clipboardall ;backup
46.   clipboard =
47.   send ^c
48.   clipwait, 1
49.   clip := clipboard
50.   clipboard := cliptemp    ;restore
51.   return clip
52. }

[mouser]

I'll see how easy it would be for me to add an option for this. Maybe it's no big deal.

[Filipe Meira Castro]