Quick search in Manage Topics window

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Why is this feature needed?
To find a topic real quick if you remember part of its name and you have lots 
of topics. Currently I have around 50 topics and it's a bit of a pain to scroll 
down searching for them, especially since sorting them is not an option (other 
then drag and drop.)

Quick search could be done the same way as for the Books Frame.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by war...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2010 at 2:27

[GoogleCodeExporter]

The textbox at the top of the list of topics allows you to select a topic by 
typing part of the name in the same way as the tag passage dialog does.  Is 
this what you want, or am I missing something?

Original comment by jonmmor...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2010 at 2:39

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Yes! Thank you, this is what I want, BUT could it be made more prominent and 
consistent with the quick search in the Books frame? Here's my suggestions:

 - make the textbox focus/put the cursor there on invoking the Manage Topics window, if possible
 - add a magnifying glass icon and a clear search button, just like the quick search field of the Books frame, to make it recognizable and consistent for the user
 - make the text say "Search for topic..." instead on "None" by default

Do you think these make sense?

Original comment by war...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2010 at 3:04

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Come to think of it, I think I spoke too fast. This is not exactly quick 
search, it looks more like a database-based autocomplete. You need to remember 
what the topic name STARTS with, not any part of it. A quick search would find 
*any part* of the word contained in a topic, and "shrink" the topic list to 
only include the matches.

Here's a real-life example. I have topics like "freedom from sin", "what is 
sin", and "sin unto death". With a quick search like that in the Books frame I 
could type "sin" and be presented with all those three topics. With current 
autocomplete it's not possible.

Original comment by war...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2010 at 3:11

[GoogleCodeExporter]

OK, I was wrong, it does do part-word matches, which is great! 

However I still think it'd be useful if the topics list would constantly only 
show topics that match whatever's in the quick search box. So in the example 
above I could type "sin" into the quick search and focus on this topic without 
constantly having to type "sin" into the box again to find a topic.

Does this make sense?

Original comment by war...@gmail.com on 1 Jul 2010 at 3:26

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Consistency is a strange thing.  It is the way it is because that is consistent 
with the other place topic selection is done (adding a passage to a topic).  
There only selection makes sense, not filtering, so this was left with 
selection rather than filtering, and made to look exactly the same as the 
other.  However, I agree filtering in a tree could make a lot more sense than 
selection.  I'll have a think about it.

Original comment by jonmmor...@gmail.com on 2 Jul 2010 at 3:05

• Changed state: Accepted
• Added labels: Priority-Medium

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I understand why this was made into a selection box. When adding tags 
selection/auto-complete is a blessing.

But yes, filtering would probably make more sense in the Manage Topics window. 
So thanks for considering it.

Original comment by war...@gmail.com on 2 Jul 2010 at 9:35

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I also think it is much easier to show what has matched and what hasn't in a 
list with a filtered tree.  For example, typing God Son can match God > His Son 
or Son of God or a number of other such topics, and showing that kind of a 
match on several levels is probably not as clear as I would like.  It's 
possible it makes sense to continue to show the drop down list and allow 
selection, but also to filter the tree at the same time (though I suspect it 
would be too confusing).

Original comment by jonmmor...@gmail.com on 4 Jul 2010 at 1:23

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by jonmmor...@gmail.com on 4 Aug 2010 at 1:25

• Added labels: Milestone-Release0.5.x