Can't use arrow keys to navigate in directory while typesearching

[Mika]

I noticed this for a long time in nautlius and it is quite annoying.

When you navigate through folders with a lot of folders and/or files in it, it is helpful to type the first letter, that the file/folder begins with, so you can jump right to what you're looking for, or at least near it.

But if you now want to keep on navigating with the arrow keys, you have to first hit Escape before you can use them again. Otherwise you're just "navigating" in that litte text box that appears on the lower right as soon as you started typing something.

I wonder if this box needs to pop up at all, i couldn't find something meaningful about it (some special action).

[Rui Araújo (rui-araujo)]

That little box allows you to insert a second character for the folder/file name you're looking for.

I find it very useful.

[Mika (dudleyperkins)]

Yes i know, you can even type in more if you want, or should i say _must_.

It's not unusual to have files/folders that not differ until some more characters. For example:

- i have some folders foobar/foobar1/foobar2
- i want to go into foobar2
- i hit f to jump to everything that begins with "f", or "fo" to come closer
- now i am forced to write the whole name to the end, which i do not find very handy, or hit Escape to get the focus back in the nautlius window
- it would be easier to directly use the arrow keys at that point (down,down and enter), without hitting Esc first.

The thing is, even if this little box didn't appear, i still should/would be able to enter a series of keys to get closer to what i'm looking for.

For some users, especially those coming from Windows, could miss that "focus switch". Because if you're navigating around and hit a key (for purpose or not) your "trapped" in that box.

[Rui Araújo (rui-araujo)]

So what you are proposing is to keep the multiple the filter as is ( with the ability to filter with a series of key presses) but removing that little box and keeping the focus on the main window.

I have to admit that I like that idea. Can't argue with that. =)

[Hercules_100_98 (hercules-100-98)]

Interesting point.

It has never inconvenienced me, but I tend to type a few characters as most folders I search I have an idea of the contents.

I can see the annoyance, and would support any developments that see the search box disappear after maybe 3 seconds of only a single key input, re-focusing on the main window restoring arrow control to file selection.

[Pekka Vuorela (pvuorela-iki)]

I wouldn't say that removing the little search box is needed. It could, and I would say should, remain on the bottom, but I'd say having the ability to move the cursor left/right there is quite unnecessary.

On Emacs which has probably inspired this feature, the incremental search prompt doesn't have a visible cursor and it's only possible to enter characters or remove with backspace, arrow keys escape from the incremental search and move the real cursor.

One another issue related to this is that many other function keys don't either work on the incremental search. Suppose I want to rename a file and first look for it by typing the start of the name. Now the file is focused but I'm not able to use F2 to initiate rename. I'd have to first hit esc or wait a few seconds so the searching automatically stops. I don't know if that should be reported as a separate bug. A more abstract bug title could be: keyboard shortcuts don't work on incremental search.

[Marcus Carlson (0-launchpad-mejlamej-nu)]

OK, here's what I found out about this. The search box is part of standard GtkTreeView that nautilus uses and it seems nothing special is made around this in nautilus.
So IF we change anything here it would make nautilus behave different from other applications (I just mention this so we're aware of the effects of changing it).

But let's say we do change it - how would it behave to all keys? Up/down right now is like find next/previous, enter opens currently selected item, esc hides the search box, backspace removes a character from the box (opposed to going back when not in search mode), left/right navigates the search box. So the only one functioning as usual seems to be the enter key.
Here's what I think we should do before coding on this; create a complete suggestion of how this should behave and why we should not use standard gtk and present this for upstream.

Anyone up for the task? :-)

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

Thank you for your bug report. The issue is an upstream one and it would be nice if somebody having it could send the bug the to the people writting the software (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Upstream/GNOME)

[Sense Egbert Hofstede (sense)]

I'm setting the status of this bug to Wishlist since the way the search box currently behaves is desired behaviour, or at least logical behaviour considering the type of widget the search box is. At least most certainly not a regression.

It's an interesting discussion, I'm forwarding it upstream if it hasn't been reported there already.

[Omer Akram (om26er)]

Thank you for bringing this bug to our attention. However, a paper cut should be a small usability issue , in the default Ubuntu 9.10 install , that affects many people and is quick and easy to fix. So this bug can't be addressed as part of the project.

yes this feature would be great to have but its a feature request so not a papercut

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.

[Vish (vish)]

This is not a feature request.
But a considerable design flaw. Not sure if it is simple to fix though

[Vish (vish)]

It is reasonable to foresee that a user searching while using the keyboard , would expect to also navigate the folders using the arrow keys.
This would be a low priority bug rather than a wishlist.

Up/Down can be used to move across folders rather than toggle to next search. And the timeout could be removed once the Up/down arrows keys are being used.

[Vish (vish)]

err..
And the *searchbox* could be removed once the Up/down arrows keys are being used.

[Sebastien Bacher (seb128)]

the issue is fixed with 3.6 in raring