Synaptics "quick search" and "search button" conflict

[LetoThe2nd]

Binary package hint: synaptic

When you only try to find a package via quick search, you fail because the search results page is still empty. If you the enter the search page, you still fail because there's something in the quick search box left.
Possible quick fix: empty the quick search box when opening the search page.
Suggestion: only show the quick search box as some kind of "refine tool" when already viewing the search results.

[David Tomaschik (matir)]

I think simply changing the text from "Quick Search" to "Narrow Results" will make things more clear without changing functionality for those who are already used to it.

[LumpyCustard (orangelumpycustard)]

I would agree that this is the best thing to do

[Anonym25712 (anonym25712)]

Or simply: "Filter results". And this textfield should be greyed if there is currently nothing to filter. Right now, it's quite confusing to see "Quick search" while it's not a search tool.

[Γουργιώτης Γιώργος (aka Gourgi) (gourgi)]

i can confirm this

Steps to reproduce :
Open synaptic amd type "vlc" inside quick search.
Then click on the 'search' button and in the next box type "vim" .
No results come back because the quick search still contains the term "vlc"

Fix:
See first post

[measekite (measekite)]

However,

If you use search (ie Search sysinfo) when the quick search is blank it is returned in the list with others. Then when you type "sysinfo" in the quick search box you SHOULD get sysinfo but you get only blank results.

[mxyzptlk (mxyzptlk)]

I was coming on here to file the same bug, and was beaten to it. It should be a simple enough tweak for synaptic to just clear Quick Search whenever Search is opened. The way it is now can be especially confusing to new users, non-computer-savvy users, and oldsters like my dad who uses Linux but is still trying to figure out what "the purple chicken is about" (Pidgin).

[clubsoda (clubsoda)]

Quick Search in Synaptic is nothing if not confusing. One way or another, the two search tools must be unified. I see no reason why the "Look in:" field of the pop-up search window shouldn't replace the "Search" button on the toolbar.

Then the search logic must be fixed. At the moment, it isn't clear what quick-searching on multiple terms produces:-
"3D" (without the inverted commas) yields 359 hits
"simulation" yields 194 hits
"3D simulation" yields 240 hits
"simulation 3D" yields 465 hits
Does that make any kind of sense?

Using the pop-up tool to search for "3d" and Quick Search to narrow with "simulation" gives 42 hits.
Do it the other way around and get 24 hits.
Still inconsistent but at least it's helping to sift out the less relevant packages.

Search logic on multiple terms must be AND, not OR or some fuzzy overlap.

Cheers.

[kikl (kilian-klaiber)]

I wanted to talk about this too. Clubsoda has a great point!

I think synaptic shouldn't display quick search and search simultaneously in its ui. The default process is: You search and after that you narrow your results. The quick-search should only be displayed after the search results are posted. Google just uses "search in search results".

Searching the packages should be no different from searching the web. The difference between quick search and standard search is that the standard search adds a filter to the filter section in the left column. That's a great feature for power users, but the casual user, in particular the windows convert will try to search in the same way he uses google. Therefore, the search field should also support the google syntax, as shown here:

http://www.google.com/support/websearch/bin/answer.py?answer=136861

[Vish (vish)]

Thank you for bringing this bug to our attention. Unfortunately a paper cut should be a small usability issue that affects many people and is quick and easy to fix. I'm afraid this bug can't be addressed as part of this project.

Synaptic is being replaced by AppCentre in 9.10 , Hence not a papercut issue. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AppCenter
A paper cut is a minor usability annoyance that an average user would encounter on his/her first day of using a new installation of Ubuntu 9.10.

For further info about papercuts criteria , pls read > https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PaperCut

Don't worry though, This bug has been marked as "invalid" ONLY in the papercuts project.

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

It is fixed in lucid. Now when a 'standard' search is performed the quicksearch box is emptied and the search filter on the left pane is selected. If you enter a quicksearch it wil refine the result.

I agree there should be only one search tool. It will be implemented in software-center. More informations at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter#Search%20field

Don't hesitate to submit any new bug.

[emarkay (mrk)]

Agreed. For reference, a Ubuntu Forum post:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=9004526

Suggest merging the other similar bugs:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/synaptic/+bug/412526
https://bugs.launchpad.net/synaptic/+bug/269361
https://bugs.launchpad.net/synaptic/+bug/299076