More Search Suggestions

[mikeg]

Discard Unfruitful Search Terms: Immediately discard (do not save) search terms in the Search For drop down list if items matching = 0. Usually (for me anyway) these are misspelled search terms, yet they persist in the recently used list along with valid terms.

Never Return Results When Search For is Empty: Currently UR will return all items in the database if you accidentally hit the Enter key when Search For is blank ( note:"Automatically start saved search..." is not checked).

(Sorry if these have been suggested already. I wanted to submit this before I go out of town and forget, but I don't have enough time to search the forum .) Thanks.

[quant]

Originally posted by mikeg
Discard Unfruitful Search Terms: Immediately discard (do not save) search terms in the Search For drop down list if items matching = 0. Usually (for me anyway) these are misspelled search terms, yet they persist in the recently used list along with valid terms.
Instead of this, I'd prefer the way you can do it in firefox, navigate to the item you want to remove from the list and pressing delete removes it from there.

[mikeg]

Instead of "instead", why not both? ;)

[mikeg]

Reviving this old suggestion... Actually I'd be happy with the approach quant mentions, but I don't see either one on the road map.

Just thought of another approach. In addition to making it easier to remove specific unwanted items, it would also be nice to have sticky search terms: A way to keep favorite phrases from scrolling off even if you haven't used them in a while.

Yes, I know we can save searches using the copy button and I do use it for a few key phrases. But my sticky list would tend to get too long for that. Here's an idea that could mitigate all of these issues at once.

Change the search list algorithm: Instead of simple FIFO (which pushes even your favorites down rather quickly), use descending sort based on number of times a phrase is used. Items used only once get pushed off the bottom of the stack first! Would also keep favorites at/near the top longer than FIFO (less scrolling). Then I'd rarely have to worry about deleting a phrase I misspelled 5 times to avoid pushing out valid terms that haven't been used in a while.

This is not as important as some of the must-have items on the road map, but it would be nice to have someday.

[wordmuse]

I think part of what you want is already implemented - i.e., saved searches. In the Search pane create a new search, set it to search however you want, and now you can return to the saved search whenever you want. And you can have as many of these saved searches as you want, and you can even store them in nested folders to categorize them if you find that helpful.
- Bal

[mikeg]

Bal, thanks for the quick feedback. I do mention saved searches in the 3rd paragraph, but I view this dropdown list as semi-permanent--sitting somewhere between permanently saved searches and unwanted search terms. The algorithm as envisioned would make this dynamic list a little smarter.

[JGM22]

It would be helpful to right click on a folder in the Data Explorer and have a option that allows you to 'search from here' where it would search from the focused item.

Choices:

1. To search the focused item only

2. To search the focused item including dependents ( sub-items underneath the parent focused item )

3. To search the focused item and everything else underneath it (all items including non related children)

[kinook]

After selecting a DE item, using Quick Search (or any other search item in the Search pane), you can check 'Limit search to selected item in DE pane' to limit the search to that DE node (and children).

[JGM22]

thanks

[wordmuse]

Originally posted by kinook
After selecting a DE item, using Quick Search (or any other search item in the Search pane), you can check 'Limit search to selected item in DE pane' to limit the search to that DE node (and children).

In looking at this, I see that the checkbox state persists as I move from item to item. Usually, that's fine. It would be cool if there was some way to make the checkbox sticky for a given item, such that when the item is selected, a quick search is always limited or not, based on the prior choice.

- Bal

[mikeg]

For the sake of clarity, the suggestion below should have appeared by itself or at the top of my earlier post. IMO this could replace all earlier suggestions (or at least make them less necessary):

Enhance the search list algorithm: Instead of simple FIFO (which pushes even your favorites down rather quickly), use descending sort based on number of times a search phrase is used.

* Items used only once get pushed off the bottom of the stack first (reducing the need/urge to prune unwanted terms).
* Favorite/frequently used terms would persist at/near the top of the list (less scrolling to find favorite terms).Again, this would not be a replacement for permanently saved searches. But I think it would make the semi-permanent dropdown list largely self-maintaining. Not sure how feasible this would be to implement though...