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[EpF]

In the 157 thread, I wrote:

As mentioned in the 156 thread, the persistance of search bar entries and 'back' behaviour is still buggy:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=32924.msg225570#msg225570

To which Matt replied:

That change is by design.  For clarity, searching and panes no longer combine their filtering.

I don't know how people use the search bar, but I find this new behaviour totally counter-intuitive. The way it works means that when you use the 'locate' feature to view all the files by a certain artist, for example, if you choose one of their albums in the pane, your search disappears - what if you want to see another album? The reason I say 'counter-intuitive' is that when you go to the trouble of specifying something in the search bar, it makes sense that you should be the one to decide when it's no longer required.

The new behaviour reduces the functionality of MC because it removes a filtering method which operates differently to other methods.

It used to sometimes happen to me that I would forget that I had something in the search bar, and would get confused as to what I was seeing - but those times are greatly outnumbered by the times the search bar was incredibly useful as a filtering tool. I've often wished that aspects of it would be developed further, such as remembering previous searches in the drop-down box and the addition of a delete button beside it to quickly remove search filters. I've never wanted the current situation where it becomes less functional (to me anyway).

If there was any need to clarify the operation of the search bar, would it be possible to do something like change the highlight colour when there's a search filter in operation, or something similar?

What do other people think? How do you use the search bar, and will the new behaviour mean that you keep having to remember to copy whatever you type there so you can paste it back in after each click in the panes?!

[datdude]

Well I have always believed that the search functionality should act as an on the fly filter that can be removed or added at will.  It should persist for as along as the users deems it.

If you remove it, all possible files based upon what you have drilled down to in the library should absolutely show up now minus the search rule.

e.g. If I have a search rule for all files rating > 2 and then I search for a specific year and then artist, if I then remove the search rule, all files for that artist in that particular year should show up including the flies that were previously excluded!

Searching should be as abstracted and separated from the library view as possible, let it do its thing and let the searching do its thing!  They shouldn't cross contaminate each other.  If they don't let each other do their thing, then what is the point of having the search bar?  Just make a smartlist, it would be easier, no?

I likethe idea of having a saved searches menu option as well.  Wouldn't it be killer to apply your own complex searches in the middle of browsing whenever you want?

[Doof]

I've just played around with it a little bit and I don't think I like it either.

If I narrow down my view to a subset of my data and then want to do a quick search in that, or filter some additional stuff out, I no longer can. As soon as I start typing, MC decides to reset my view to All.

Sometimes I may want that behavior. Most times, I don't. Before this change, I could get that same result if I wanted, by simply selecting All and then doing my search. Now, there's no way I can do a search within the data I've drilled down to.

And worse, if I do the search first, and then try to filter that further by selecting something in the panes, MC resets everything again. Now, if I only wanted to select the one item, it's ok. But what if I wanted multiple items?

For instance... let's say I want to play every song featuring Metallica. I can type "Metallica" in the Search Box and see all of my Metallica albums, plus a few songs that they appeared on along with other bands (eg. Trans-Siberian Orchestra feat. Metallica). Let's say that now that I've got this, I decide I don't want to listen to St. Anger (would anyone?). I can no longer easily select all of the items that contain Metallica except for St. Anger. As soon as I select something in the Panes, everything resets and my search is wiped out. The only way to do what I want is to manually select each file I want and make sure I don't include the ones in St. Anger.

Actually, the more I think about this, the more I hate it.

[Matt]

If you want to search inside a view, use Ctrl+Q.

[glynor]

LPR and I also complained about this in the build thread, which JimH moved over to this thread.

I too think it's horribly inconsistent and removes functionality that has always been there.  I also don't really understand why it is so confusing to users to click on the "Audio" item in the tree first if they want to search all of their audio tracks.  I understand that users can be pretty ... noob-like ... but this change seems counter-productive.

[Doof]

If you want to search inside a view, use Ctrl+Q.

That still doesn't help me do something like this:

For instance... let's say I want to play every song featuring Metallica. I can type "Metallica" in the Search Box and see all of my Metallica albums, plus a few songs that they appeared on along with other bands (eg. Trans-Siberian Orchestra feat. Metallica). Let's say that now that I've got this, I decide I don't want to listen to St. Anger (would anyone?). I can no longer easily select all of the items that contain Metallica except for St. Anger. As soon as I select something in the Panes, everything resets and my search is wiped out. The only way to do what I want is to manually select each file I want and make sure I don't include the ones in St. Anger.

[danrien]

i agree with all of you and posted my complaint in the 157 thread.  it just simply makes no sense why this would be done from a logic perspective.

-edit: to hopefully stop my post from getting deleted i have copied it below-
why do the search results get cleared whenever you click on something?  it's counterintuitive, at least to me.  for example, i type in "ryan adams" double-click on "All (1)" to play all ryan adams files (after all i might not have named all of the ryan adams files, and even if i wanted to i cant do so easily now), and instead it plays ALL files.  this is very unlogical, since i was clicking on All to play all the files that i had searched for.  in fact it's very frustrating.

[marko]

add my weight to this one too.

I don't like the new search behaviour either. I will give ctrl+Q a try once more, I did stop using it when for a while, there were no difference between it and ctrl+F.

I still preferred the way the search bar used to function, rather than the way it is now.

These days, I don't like to voice an opinion here as it all too often gets shot down, but...

filter down, type in search box (resets to all, filters according to search) click on an artist in the search results, search box clears, panes reset, need to find the artist again and click on it again.
It doesn't feel comfortable nor intuitive.

[Doof]

No, if anything, I would think this kind of behavior would be even more confusing. Everytime you click on anything it resets all of your views.

[Deivit]

I posted a problem with the "locate" function here which seems to be the same that it's being discussing here. I've asked the moderators to merge both threads.

Hope they reconsider the new behaviour. I also find it counterintuitive.

[Seviien]

For what it's worth... I think it's a little counterintuitive as well.

[lpr]

I'm also confuse with this new way. Like it was previously said, it's counter-intuitive. It used to work like a charme before...

Later.

[Matt]

Doof, in your example, simply click "Metallica" after your search.  Then you can easily select albums.

Or do the search in "Albums" instead of "Panes".

[glynor]

Doof, in your example, simply click "Metallica" after your search.  Then you can easily select albums.

Matt, so the panes' filters apply to the search if you select the pane after you enter the search term in (and I assume this goes for the Tiles as well)?

I admit, I always do it the other way around (and would never have even thought to try it the other way).

Do you have a solution for Devit's problem too (as that really seems buggy to me)?

Lastly, there's obviously (from this and the other threads) some confusion on this.  Perhaps a more thorough explanation of the new functionality and reasoning is in order.  I think there may have been a "search related" thread a while back that asked for something like this, but I don't remember the details....

[danrien]

i just see no need to fix something that wasn't broken.    i liked my search! now its ruined

and for poor Doof, it's apparent that he's trying to play albums with multiple artists, which with the new behavior will now just play every artist who appears on a multi artist album, unless he scrolls down to metallica himself.  very frustrating.

[udeups]

I'd like to echo the comments made here. I've always used the search bar in the way that Doof (and others) describe. Now that it's gone, I think I'm going to revert to the last build that had this feature in it. It seems much more intuitive to have the flow be:

search > pick desired item(s) in pane > act (play, tag, etc).

I make all kinds of discoveries (both in terms of what I want to play and what needs to be tagged) by using arbitrary search. I don't think that selecting an item in a pane after performing a search should kill the filter.

[marko]

Doof, in your example, simply click "Metallica" after your search.  Then you can easily select albums.

Or do the search in "Albums" instead of "Panes".

When I do this here, the search bar clears and everything resets to 'all'

[Doof]

When I do this here, the search bar clears and everything resets to 'all'

Same here. In the example I listed above, I'm not searching for just Metallica albums. If I wanted to do that, I could just browse to them. I'm looking for every song I have that Metallica has performed on. Most of them are theirs, but there's a bunch like "X featuring Metallica". If I want to play all Metallica songs EXCEPT St. Anger, I now I have to search on Metallica, then manually select, at the file level, the files I want to play. I can no longer easily select, at the album level, the songs I want.

[EpF]

When I do this here, the search bar clears and everything resets to 'all'

Yes, and if you then press the 'back' button, you end up in your previous location, but whatever had been in your search bar before it was reset suddenly reappears!

Matt, Control+Q is really no substitute for the previous search behaviour. What was so good about the previous search behaviour was that it acted as an on-the-fly filter, something that otherwise only more permanent elements like view schemes and smartlists can do.

Surely if I decide I want such a filter (i.e., I type something in the search bar), then I should be the one to decide when I no longer need it. In practical terms, the new reduced functionality is going to mean that every time I type something into the search bar, I'm going to have to copy it and then re-paste it into the search bar every time it disappears - which will be a LOT!

At the moment, the search bar results in a 'look but don't touch' situation - for panes anyway. I can't see how it makes sense that as soon as you touch an entry in any one of the panes, the filter disappears - 99% of the time that I use the search bar, I follow it up with some further filtering in the panes. For example, under 'keywords', if I search for files with the keyword 'Single', I get thousands of results which is useless to me if I can't narrow the results further. I know MC provides ways of doing that through view schemes and smartlists, but the on-the-fly functionality was extremely useful and unique, and now it has been removed without being replaced with something as good, never mind better.

[winniew]

My Practical Problem:
Here the View before searching:

http://www.edwebservice.de/uploads/2efe3c9345.gif[/url]

View when searching for "Brubeck" in the search-field:

http://www.edwebservice.de/uploads/990fc1fe6f.gif

Now Clicking to "Brubeck & Desmond" in the artist column leads me to:

http://www.edwebservice.de/uploads/662c783dc6.gif

No highlighted Artist in the Artist-Column.
This is not what I have expected..

Any comments?

[LonWar]

Works for me.... What version do you have?

[winniew]

I am using version 11.1.156
OK, OK, just downloading the actual version...

Changed:

With version 11.1.161 it works as expected!