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[tsmoke]

I've noticed some strange things about the search field at top right corner of Media Center Window.

1. The pop-up window which appear when typing something into the search field got stuck few times over other windows when I switch to an another application (ie. forefox). I can't find when it happens. I was switching back and forward between MC and Firefox.

2. When I start to type something, contents of this windows is  changing after every character and there is something selected. For me it looks quite random.

Example: I star typing word "come"
c -
  "See All Values For Library Filed/Catalog #" is selected (BTW: this again got stuck  in front of Firefox windows just now)

o -
  Common searches/No Cover Art

m -
  See All Values For Library Filed/Comment

e -
  Album/Come way with me

Nothing is even close to what I was looking for, which was the song "Come on closer".
And the worst part is that  if I type fast and accidentally hit the Enter key I get some random results, then have to delete something what was inserted into search box and start again.

BTW: For this example I was switching between Firefox and MC after every character to type in what was dispalyed and two times popup was displayed over firefox window and other two times it disappeared after switching.

I have Windows XP Pro with all available patches, latest version of of MC and Firefox  on laptop  HP Compaq6730b

[rick.ca]

1. The pop-up window which appear when typing something into the search field got stuck few times over other windows when I switch to an another application (ie. forefox). I can't find when it happens. I was switching back and forward between MC and Firefox.

I saw this twice doing exactly what you describe, but now can't reproduce it.

Nothing is even close to what I was looking for, which was the song "Come on closer".

Search isn't just for song titles. What if you were looking for a common search, all values in a field, an album...? If you kept typing, it would find your song title. In some cases (not this one), typing the most significant words first will shorten the search.

And the worst part is that  if I type fast and accidentally hit the Enter key I get some random results, then have to delete something what was inserted into search box and start again.

The small box makes it a little awkward, but you can select and edit the search term after hitting enter.

[tsmoke]

Search isn't just for song titles. What if you were looking for a common search, all values in a field, an album...? If you kept typing, it would find your song title. In some cases (not this one), typing the most significant words first will shorten the search.


The small box makes it a little awkward, but you can select and edit the search term after hitting enter.

Well I know how it works, but for me the popup window isn't useful in any way. It doesn't simplify anything and stands in the way when I need to find something quickly

[rick.ca]

If you don't like how it works, a positive suggestion would be more productive. How do you suggest it be changed so it behaves the way you want, but still has the functionality other users count on? Have you considered the search can be restricted by prefacing the search term with n=, al=, ar=, etc.?

[tsmoke]

If you don't like how it works, a positive suggestion would be more productive. How do you suggest it be changed so it behaves the way you want, but still has the functionality other users count on?
Have you considered the search can be restricted by prefacing the search term with n=, al=, ar=, etc.?

English isn't my native language and maybe I wan't clear enough describing my problem. The problem isn't about way search works, or queries syntax, it is already OK. I rarely use advanced queries or wizard but what I saw is good enough. The wizard creates queries are similar to Your suggestion ie. [Artist]="sth". Shorter keywords aren't the key because anyway You can use wizard to generate query.


The problem I see is the popup window, part of the user interface. Most of search fields You can see work different. You type something and press an enter to initiate search. In MC 14 if You press the enter key after entering a search string, You get something random often not even close to what You were looking for. This is usability not the logic behind search what is problematic for me. For example usually I look for song title, I type part of it and pick something from search results. If I press Enter or not doesn't change anything. In MC 14 I type part of the song, it probably appears in search result, but if I accidentally (because of habit) press the enter key I get some random result ie. album matching the search string or genre.

Other thing is visual part. The popup window is quite big and it covers part of results. Now I'm working on getting used to pressing Esc instead of enter, but I don't feel it is the right solution.

What I'm asking for is to change behaviour of the popup window. One possible solution is (preferably) invoke it by some key combination like down arrow or sth. or option to disable this popup at all.

I this a positive enough suggestion?

[bunglemebaby]

The problem I see is the popup window, part of the user interface. Most of search fields You can see work different. You type something and press an enter to initiate search. In MC 14 if You press the enter key after entering a search string, You get something random often not even close to what You were looking for. This is usability not the logic behind search what is problematic for me. For example usually I look for song title, I type part of it and pick something from search results. If I press Enter or not doesn't change anything. In MC 14 I type part of the song, it probably appears in search result, but if I accidentally (because of habit) press the enter key I get some random result ie. album matching the search string or genre.

I have to agree that the <enter> behavior in the search box is not an intuitive UI behavior. Most people are used to searching using Google (and many through Google toolbar, which is visually similar to MC's search). Using a search engine you type in what you want to search for and press <enter>, then receive a wide ranging list of results. It's become a natural way for most people to search for things in this day in age. So for MC to react to this natural tendency by narrowing the search down by a somewhat arbitrary criteria (alphabetical order? calculated likelihood?) just seems ill-placed.

I would suggest that just changing the <enter> behavior to do nothing (ie "search all default fields for current string") would be the most intuitive and user friendly method. Leave the pop-up suggestions there and then the user can decide to narrow using the pop-up options or scroll through the current results as they are.
I guess one might argue that this results in an extra button click if one wants to filter the search using the top presented field or suggestion. I'd argue that it's not often that somebody is going to know exactly what that top option is going to be ahead of time such that they'll want to simply type their search and press <enter> to filter it by that top option. I'd also wager that most expert users (who might be able to guess what that top option is) are already narrowing their searches with g=, r= type search operators.

One possible solution is (preferably) invoke it by some key combination like down arrow or sth. or option to disable this popup at all.

Requiring a key combo to invoke it would not be natural for new users. I'd like that, but I also probably wouldn't have ever found the option if this is how it worked. An option to turn it off (or an option to require a key combo) seems fine to me, but there is the ever present battle of configurability vs. reasonably sized options menu.

My 2 cents,
JB

[Gl3nn]

I've trained myself to not hit the enter key... it was/is very confusing.

And I'd also "vote" to have the ability to turn off the search pop-up window and have results displayed as in earlier versions.

[Matt]

In a coming build:
Changed: Search suggestions will not automatically select the first suggestion, so down + enter must be pressed to accept a suggestion (instead of just enter).

[rick.ca]

Is this a positive enough suggestion?

It would seem so.

[tsmoke]

In a coming build:
Changed: Search suggestions will not automatically select the first suggestion, so down + enter must be pressed to accept a suggestion (instead of just enter).

Great.

BTW: Is there some key combo to go to the search field without using mouse?

[Quixote]

<Ctrl> + f  seems to do it.

[Matt]

<Ctrl> + f  seems to do it.

Ctrl+E focuses the search box.

Ctrl+F switches to a library view and focuses the search box.