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[chriswale]

Search enhancement: Highlighting &OR filtering!
Example for music/audio>

 
Wouldn't it be nice if you could highlight songs(rows) in the list based on certain search criteria? Just like filtering, but highlighting instead. It would be nice to be able to highlight while maintaining the contents of the list. This could be especially useful for organizing music.

Example 1:
"highlight,bitrate<128" - This would highlight the rows of all tracks that have a bitrate lower than 128,

Example 2:
"~dup=[artist],[name] highlight,dateimported=<=5d"
- this would first filter for duplicates and then highlight the newer tracks.

I'm sure there are many times when this feature would be useful!!
Can anyone else think when this would be useful??

[JimH]

Explore "smartlists".

[chriswale]

Thank you Jim, but I am still confused? Smartlists filter, I want to highlight based on certain criteria.
For instance, a yellow shade that highlights the rows (songs) while the entire list remains 'unfiltered'.

"JimH"... I'm glad to see that you review this forum. 

[benn600]

I like the idea.  Implementing it might be difficult, though.  You would basically need two search criteria lists.  Perhaps a drop down setting for the search box that would say "Exclude Unmatched" or "Highlight Matched"

[chriswale]

Yes... but you would still need to be able to FILTER and then HIGHLIGHT.
"Exclude Unmatched" or "Highlight Matched" only gives you the ability to one or the other.

typing "highlight(criteria)" could work.
For instance, I would be able to filter and then add to the search phrase "highlight ()"
Example:
"~dup=[artist],[name] highlight(dateimported=<=5d)"
- this would first filter for duplicates and then highlight the newer tracks.

The highlight could be a yellow shade over the matching rows.

[chriswale]

Perhaps there could be two search boxes.
[SEARCH] [HIGHLIGHT]
in the options, users could (check) if they want the highlight box to show.

if you typed: bitrate=128 in the [SEARCH] box, then the list will only show songs with a bitrate of 128
if you typed: bitrate=128 in the [HIGHLIGHT] box, then the list will only highlight songs with a bitrate of 128

obviously, you could use both tools.

Conclusion:

Filtering is an essential search tool, but the ability to highlight with or without filtering would add a whole heap of benefits.

[benn600]

typing "highlight(criteria)" could work.

Good idea!

[chriswale]

Here is an example of filtering for duplicate tracks and then 'highlighting' the most recent track imported of the two...
However, this feature would have many more and much better uses!

[Doof]

I have to say that I really didn't understand the need or desire for this until I saw your example above and now I agree... it would be very useful. I've manually done exactly what you show above by creating a smartlist that shows duplicates and then going through and manually looking through the list and selecting the dupes that have the lowest bitrate. I think the most realistic and flexible way of implementing it would be the Highlight(<criteria>) option, though. Having two seperate search boxes would just muddle things up.

[chriswale]

I have to say that I really didn't understand the need or desire for this until I saw your example above and now I agree... it would be very useful. I've manually done exactly what you show above by creating a smartlist that shows duplicates and then going through and manually looking through the list and selecting the dupes that have the lowest bitrate. I think the most realistic and flexible way of implementing it would be the Highlight(<criteria>) option, though. Having two seperate search boxes would just muddle things up.

agreed...

[benn600]

One use I can see is that with some artists, I have some live/compilation songs.  I could create a playlist that showed all the songs by the artist but then highlighted studio album songs.  The question becomes: if you start playing a song that is highlighted, should MC add the highlighted or all the songs?  I would be tempted to say just add the highlighted.  Then you could easily play the highlighted or non-highlighted songs.

[chriswale]

no, I don't agree, that would be far to confusing for some users.  It would annoy me.

I would play what is in the list.
The highlight feature will simple be for viewing and helping organize better/more efficiently. 

[hit_ny]

There have been similar rumblings in the past.

[Lasse_Lus]

totally agree chris, it's like conditional formating in excel..really powerful

hopefully there can be some focus on stuff like this now when theatre view is done 

[chriswale]

There have been similar rumblings in the past.

There is a big difference between highlighting filtered results (matching words, search highlighting) - and - Highlighting rows in a list based on a criteria (without necessarily filtering).  The two offer very different benefits.  My suggestion helps with organizing your music.

And I've never seen it done in any software ever. Only excel 2007 has conditional formatting that I have seen, and you can't format the whole row based on the criteria, just the cell.

[hit_ny]

I have to say that I really didn't understand the need or desire for this until I saw your example above and now I agree... it would be very useful.

I was wondering the same, it seems the idea is to pickout files whilst keeping the current list unchanged or in a new filter.

It would be nice to be able to highlight while maintaining the contents of the list. This could be especially useful for organizing music

Can you explain what you would do after the results were highlighted ?

With a filter, exactly what you want shows up in a group and you can then select all easily and perform an action.

With highlighting you wont be able to 'grab' these files ?
If you wanted to,  then you would have to manually select them, ctrl+clicking away, in which case it would have been easier to just filter.

So i guess the main use for this is visual information then ?

The other point is cognitive confusion. Would highlighting be different in appearance to selecting.

Or could they be combined  so they look the same ?

[Lasse_Lus]

So i guess the main use for this is visual information then ?

exactly 

[chriswale]

the list would function as a normal list. The highlight is purely a visual aid, that's all!

My example above is a sufficient... however there could be many uses for such a feature. Advanced music organizers should understand the immediate benefits!  I'll give it some more thought and hopefully have time to put some more examples up.  there have been many occasions when I have desired this feature. And I am a compulsive music organizer... I like tools that make it easier.

If anyone else could suggest when this feature would benefit them, please post.

Someone mentioned selecting the highlighted rows... as an extension on the idea, the user could also be able to highlight tracks based on a value and then click > edit > 'select highlighted'

[chriswale]

and... it is really a simple feature to add without changing any funtionality...
just add the ability to highlight cells (yellow) by typing: "highlight(criteria)" in the search box.
Simple... and useful.

[benn600]

What if items would be selected by the standard Ctrl + Click highlight method [select]?

[rick.ca]

If anyone else could suggest when this feature would benefit them, please post.

This is a great idea. It would be useful in any situation where being able to visualize a sub-group in the context of it's parent population is meaningful. One example: seeing how an artist or a style is represented in a compilation album. That the original filter and view is unaffected by the highlighting means I can do more things to change the visual feedback. For example, sort the view by year see if the representation of my highlighted artist or style changes according to year (or rating, or anything else).

I agree it should be available as a function in search, but it should also be available as a "highlight box"—similar in appearance, function and placement (right below the existing search box). This would make it more accessible, intuitive, and difficult to be confused with the search function. While it might be used in a relatively permanent setting in a view, or part of a smart list, it's more common use would be a quick (and probably brief) change to the current view. If I had to edit a search to do that, I'd probably only rarely use it.

Perhaps the previously suggested feature of highlighting search terms could be accommodated at the same time. A new highlight box could include the option to highlight records or just the search term.

What if items would be selected by the standard Ctrl + Click highlight method [select]?

Highlighted items, and highlighted items that are selected, would have a distinctly different appearance than selected and normal items.

[Quixote]

Only excel 2007 has conditional formatting that I have seen, and you can't format the whole row based on the criteria, just the cell.

This is incorrect.  You can format a whole row based on criteria. Also conditional formatting has almost always been available in Excel. 

For Excel 2007:

• Highlight the row(s)
• Conditional Formatting -> New Rule...
• Select "Use a formula to determine which cells to format"
• Type in formula (i.e. if criteria data is in column "B" and you want everything >128 higlighted you would use formula "=$B1>128")
• Choose format style

Tada!

[benn600]

As a general rule of thumb, let's try to not say things are not possible for power apps like Photoshop, Excel, or Media Center!

    

[chriswale]

The highlight could be included in the search box for now... see how it works out...

[Matt]

It's not exactly the same, but how about Quick Find (Ctrl+Q) and then Find All (Alt+A) to select all matches?

[chriswale]

Yes F3 has come in very hand for now, thank you!
I also like the ability to: 'select inverted'.

[rick.ca]

It's not exactly the same...

...but very close! Thanks for pointing this out. Also, the Search Wizard is accessible from Quick Search, so we're not really missing anything by using this method of "highlighting."

[Lasse_Lus]

we're not really missing anything by using this method of "highlighting."

we ?   it's a huge difference isn't it ?

[benn600]

It's not exactly the same, but how about Quick Find (Ctrl+Q) and then Find All (Alt+A) to select all matches?

Did people see this?  It seems like this is exactly what people were asking for!  It highlights with the standard selected highlight (as opposed to a third method, yellow color or something)...Find all!  Great newly noticed feature!

Then you can send the selected to play!  Where is select inverted at?

[rick.ca]

we ?

That's right. I speak for all.

it's a huge difference isn't it ?

For me, differences I can't see aren't "huge." Am I missing something? ?

Where is select inverted at?

Edit menu or Ctrl+Shift+A.

[Lasse_Lus]

rick, i'm glad if this helps you  but it's a total different thing between conditional formatting and search
maybe you have not used it ?

it's true it's pointing out the files (until you select another file) but if you should do the same with the filters inside the views and instead every time go up in the right corner and write a long expression that is filtering out your files on your 100 views its become quite boring and tiresome if i may say so 

i have no hopes of this getting implented, but it's a very nice suggestion and it's truly powerful in excel and when the database "looks" the same as huge huge spreadsheet maybe there is a chance..

the main reason is that you would easily see if there is a value thats sticks out of the crowd, when you enter a view

..and i like it per cell, not per row  and it would help me alot to get some reporting stuff (like this is) into MC, instead of exporting the data all the time and build a report somewhere else.

[hit_ny]

It's not exactly the same, but how about Quick Find (Ctrl+Q) and then Find All (Alt+A) to select all matches?

This seems to do the job quite nicely

[chriswale]

yes, I agree, Quick Find is a nice feature, and certainly a temporary solution to my first suggestion... I actually managed to find it accidentally, by pressing F3!

May I suggest that this feature be more 'noticeable' and have it include in the menu drop down in the main search box.

Feature Request: The Highlight (as a visual aid)

I agree with Lasse_Lus, the highlight is still the better option and I think it should still be considered as a feature to add.  For the simple reason that if I was able to 'highlight' rows (songs) based on (criteria), I would still be able to navigate, select, edit, and delete songs while the highlighted rows remain as a visual aid.
Whereas with and the 'Quick Find (F3)', I am only able to highlight, but that visual aid disappears the moment I select a row (song) to edit.

[rick.ca]

rick, i'm glad if this helps you  but it's a total different thing between conditional formatting and search
maybe you have not used it ?

Yes, I'm familiar with conditional formatting, but I'm not really expecting or wanting MC to behave exactly like spreadsheet. In fact, I want it to be much easier to use than a spreadsheet. Yes, if an item is selected, the "highlighting" disappears. But the setting is retained, so invoking Quick Search / Find All brings it back in a few keystrokes. Seems "close" to me.

the main reason is that you would easily see if there is a value thats sticks out of the crowd, when you enter a view

I agree, if you want highlighting to be part of a view, this doesn't help much. But that would be yet another feature, would it not? I think the more common use of highlighting is (as it has been discussed here) more temporary in nature.

and i like it per cell, not per row

Whether it's Quick Search or Highlighting, it would be nice to have the option.

[Lasse_Lus]

if this was implented http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=51053.0 (search history) you could at least have some use of it...you do understand that i can't go enter the wizard every time i enter a view to get something that is not "close" for me

...and MC is as a pure database for me, so probably we see things different and use it different..it was only a request 

there is a simple likewise in the excellent IDgrabber tag&rename

colors are pretty neat and powerful

[rick.ca]

so probably we see things different and use it different..it was only a request

I'm not arguing with you. If we didn't have different points-of-view, sharing them in a forum would be pointless. My main purpose for being here is to benefit from the views of others. This topic has provided a good illustration of how that can work. But as useful feedback to the developers, it has a long way to go. There's a lot more to consider than one point-of-view...

How can the idea of highlighting be implemented throughout the program in a consistent and intuitive manner? If it can be added to a view (i.e., as a permanent setting), how can it also (consistently, without conflict) be used in a "on-the-fly" basis? If this were implemented, would it be confused with the existing Quick Search feature for selecting all items? Would the idea of highlighting be so distinctly different from that of filtering and selecting, it would unlikely create confusion?

It doesn't really seem to be the sort of thing a developer should even pause to think about—unless those kinds of questions can be answered.

[JimH]

Thank you, rick.

[Lasse_Lus]

thanks

[Matt]

As another workaround you could make a column that was a fancy expression that outputs different words when different conditions are met.

For example, consider the simple expression column:
If(IsEqual([Bitrate], 128, 4), Red, Blue)

You can nest if statements to add more options.

This isn't to say highlighting wouldn't be neat -- just trying to propose things that work now.

[twistees]

Are there any plans to include this in MC14?

I use MC to DJ and being able to highlight rows (possibly in different colours) according to certain criteria would be really useful.

Gordon

[chriswale]

I too would like to know if there are any chances we might see this feature in Media Center 14?