Secondary Search

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Stamimail
Posts: 1121
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 9:05 pm

Secondary Search

Post by Stamimail »

1. Sometimes you like to find a text in the results screen without affecting the results.
I suggest to add a Find bar, like there are in (pressing Ctrl+F of) Internet Browsers.
The Results screen won't be changed when typing to the Find bar, and the text found in the Results will be highlighted.
Text means all text, include Dates/RunCount... columns.

2. Another type of a secondary search might be useful is:
Another Search Box below the main Search Box.
It would be like a continuation of the main Search Box, as if there is an "AND" between the search boxes.

For example, it might be useful when there is a "path" to a folder in the main Search Box (like "c:\program files"), and you need to do a several "sub" searches with those results. This makes it easier to handle.
Or, when you want to omit results by the Right Click (Context Menu). All !"<FullPath> "s can be added to the secondary Search Box. It makes the main Search Box more readable.
therube
Posts: 4561
Joined: Thu Sep 03, 2009 6:48 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by therube »

1. Quick Searching (the results file list)


2. I wouldn't necessarily want another "bar", but rather a way to temporarily lock a part of an existing search term. Something like a poor man's Filter.

So instead of creating a Filter, say, 'Trains', you do a search for Trains, "lock" that part (not sure how offhand), then you can just type red to get red trains or blue to get blue trains.

Red or Blue (or whatever) are variable, the Trains part is "locked".

Not a whole lot different from typing 'Trains Red' or 'Trains Blue', might just make it a bit more convenient.

(As it is I have a "DUMY" Filter to do something like that, that I modified the [same DUMY] filter when I'm looking for related items like that. So I enable the DUMY Filter, which is a search for 'Trains', then all I need to type on the search line is, 'red', or 'blue'. But say I'm done with trains & I want to do Flowers, I have to manually edit the Filter, DUMY, & change Trains to Flowers. And once again 'red' finds red flowers & blue, blue flowers.

Being able to "lock" a search term - without having to manually edit a Filter, would be more convenient.)
void
Developer
Posts: 15038
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by void »

suggest to add a Find bar, like there are in (pressing Ctrl+F of) Internet Browsers.
A Find bar is on my TODO list.
Another Search Box below the main Search Box.
I'll consider a secondary search box for Everything 1.5.

Thanks for the suggestions!
2. I wouldn't necessarily want another "bar", but rather a way to temporarily lock a part of an existing search term. Something like a poor man's Filter.
I might be able to work this in with the planned "temporary exclude" option, maybe a "temporary include/filter" option...
harryray2
Posts: 1044
Joined: Sat Oct 15, 2016 9:56 am

Re: Secondary Search

Post by harryray2 »

A find bar is a great idea!!
NotNull
Posts: 5142
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 9:22 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by NotNull »

Every once in a while I get a result list with a lot of files in a folder that I'm not interested in. Those clutter up the result list. 'Of course' this folder has an extremely long name (when you have to type it to exclude it)

Process Monitor (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysint ... ds/procmon) has the same "problem" as Everything has:
find the needle in the haystack in a structured result list.
Procmon tries to solve this by creating a context menu for each column entry: Enable/disable/highlight/edit filter. (procmon filter does not equal Everything filter)
Maybe this can be useful in Everything to:
- rightclick on a path: Search only in this path / Exclude this path from search
- rightclick on a date: Search only newer files / Search only older files
And those choices would be added to the search query

Something like that ...
void
Developer
Posts: 15038
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by void »

- rightclick on a path: Search only in this path / Exclude this path from search
- rightclick on a date: Search only newer files / Search only older files
I'll consider it, thanks for the suggestion!
NotNull
Posts: 5142
Joined: Wed May 24, 2017 9:22 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by NotNull »

Now I see that I forgot an (important?) part of my message:

Instead of saving as part of the search query, you could also save it like this (along the lines of the suggested secondary search):
2018-02-08 23_06_18-Process Monitor Filter.png
2018-02-08 23_06_18-Process Monitor Filter.png (25.97 KiB) Viewed 9120 times
In the case of procmon there is no possibility of grouping and other advanced AND OR constructions.
Stamimail
Posts: 1121
Joined: Sat Aug 31, 2013 9:05 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by Stamimail »

Regarding "two Search Box" (or more):
I had thoughts about + and x buttons.
when clicking the + button:
One idea is to add the second search box below the (original) first search box. Pressing + again, will show a third search box below..
(Home)
☗[_______________________________________________________________]+
ⓧ[_______________________________________________________________]+
ⓧ[_______________________________________________________________]+

Second idea is to split the original search box. Each time you press the + button, you get another box. You can also add And/OR combo button in middle.

[________________________________][AND][______________][OR][________][AND][_____________________]+/-
(I know that there is a problem of precedence ...)
void
Developer
Posts: 15038
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by void »

I experimented with the advanced search having a list of filters, where you could add a filter and set the operator AND/OR. I ended up going with the simpler to use option of having all search options available.

A "filter builder" would be useful for other conditions, such as "end with".

Thanks for the suggestions.
aviasd
Posts: 135
Joined: Sat Oct 07, 2017 2:18 am

Re: Secondary Search

Post by aviasd »

void wrote:
- rightclick on a path: Search only in this path / Exclude this path from search
- rightclick on a date: Search only newer files / Search only older files
I'll consider it, thanks for the suggestion!
+1
Actually I've expanded on this idea in a post a few months ago with cascading children list on right click the folder path column... viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6450
cheers
Don
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2022 10:36 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by Don »

I would love to the have the "Right-click / Hide this" capability in Everything's results list.

I came here to add this suggestion but was delighted as aviasd already posted this idea!
Even more cool / coincidentally I too came across it initially in Procmon.

Excel's pivot tables also have a very similar Rightclick / Filter / Hide Selected Item.

I was hoping to help contribute further with some mocked up menu choice examples but again aviasd beat me to it in his/her other post here viewtopic.php?f=4&t=6450!

Here's my vision of a (double-)right-click context menu choices for the Path clicked "C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile" in the results.
(The effect might be simply that the corresponding search tokens which correspond to the menu choice clicked would be added to Everything's Search string.)


Hide paths c:\
Hide paths c:\Windows
Hide paths c:\Windows\System32
... and so on.

Or, as a second example if the results Date Modified column included multiple dates but many "2020-03-31" dates and user right-clicks on the 2020-03-31 a context menu appears which looks something like:

Filter on 2020-03-31
Filter on 2020-03 (year-month)
Filter on 2020
Filter on 2020 or after
----
Hide date 2020-03-31
Hide dates < 2020-03-31
Hide dates > 2020-03-31
Hide dates matching 2020-03 (year-month)
Hide dates matching 2020
Hide dates matching 2020 or before

... et cetera.

i started typing out these examples before reading aviasd's other post. clearly great minds think alike! lol... :D

NotNull wrote: Thu Feb 08, 2018 2:16 pm Every once in a while I get a result list with a lot of files in a folder that I'm not interested in. Those clutter up the result list. 'Of course' this folder has an extremely long name (when you have to type it to exclude it)

Process Monitor (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysint ... ds/procmon) has the same "problem" as Everything has:
find the needle in the haystack in a structured result list.
Procmon tries to solve this by creating a context menu for each column entry: Enable/disable/highlight/edit filter. (procmon filter does not equal Everything filter)
Maybe this can be useful in Everything to:
- rightclick on a path: Search only in this path / Exclude this path from search
- rightclick on a date: Search only newer files / Search only older files
And those choices would be added to the search query

Something like that ...
horst.epp
Posts: 1325
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2014 3:24 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by horst.epp »

It looks like you do not have Everything 1.5 installed nor read the threads for it.
There are functions like Omit Results which may do what you want.
______________________________________________________
Windows 11 Home x64 Version 21H2 (OS Build 22000.918)
Everything 1.5.0.1315a (x64)
ChrisGreaves
Posts: 601
Joined: Wed Jan 05, 2022 9:29 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by ChrisGreaves »

Stamimail wrote: Thu Feb 08, 2018 11:26 pm Regarding "two Search Box" (or more): ...


[________________________________][AND][______________][OR][________][AND][_____________________]+/-
(I know that there is a problem of precedence ...)
I am late to the party, but here goes:-

The popular forum software "phpBB" has, to my mind, a disgusting search facility, as do many other computer packages. They fail miserably in not providing a proper logical search string facility.

I have heard/read the arguments that "the common man can not understand nested, parenthesized Boolean statements", same for the novice user. But correct Boolean syntax is not for the beginner user. I am a beginner when it comes to Everything.exe searches, but not to Boolean logic, and there was a time when even the Great Chris Greaves :D had not met Boolean logic, let alone understood it.

When the time comes for a user to need to understand nested Boolean expressions, then the user will learn them, because the user needs to learn them. That is why we had training courses titled on the pattern "Introduction to Excel", "Intermediate Excel", and "Advanced Excel" back in the 1990s (followed of course by Intro/Intermediate/Advanced Excel/VBA courses ...)

The second argument against implementing properly nested Boolean search expressions is the difficulty of coding, but again, I deny this. The algorithm(s) to parse nested structures (in compiler/interpreter languages terms like "Polish" and 'Reverse Polish" notation spring to mind[1]) have been available in literature for a hundred years and have been available on the internet for twenty years or more. There is nothing at all complicated about parsing nested Boolean search expressions and nested arithmetic statements, just grunt-work, methodically translating well-specified algorithms into the computer language of your choice.

The parsing done, execution takes place and the search runs as specified by the user.

Yes, the novice user will make faulty search specifications, but quickly learns how to correct the search because "I know I had a document about 'Bufferstop' ".

i am not arguing here that Everything.exe should have nested Boolean searches, but am arguing against the supposed difficulty of implementing such nested expressions.

[1] "An advantage of reverse Polish notation is that it removes the need for parentheses that are required by infix notation."

Cheers, Chris
void
Developer
Posts: 15038
Joined: Fri Oct 16, 2009 11:31 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by void »

Please try Omit Results.

When enabled, right click a file and click Omit Result.
Don
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2022 10:36 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by Don »

horst.epp wrote: Sun Aug 28, 2022 9:54 am It looks like you do not have Everything 1.5 installed nor read the threads for it.
There are functions like Omit Results which may do what you want.
______________________________________________________
Windows 11 Home x64 Version 21H2 (OS Build 22000.918)
Everything 1.5.0.1315a (x64)
you are correct - and I should have double-checked the forthcoming features for the 1.5 version before posting; one of the reasons for posting anyway was the fact that I found another Everything fan whose thinking was identical to mine including the specific examples. for me it was like running into someone in the street with the same purple suit on... lol

I will definitely check out 1.5, thanks for the tip!
Don
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2022 10:36 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by Don »

void wrote: Mon Aug 29, 2022 8:09 am Please try Omit Results.

When enabled, right click a file and click Omit Result.
Thank you I will check out 1.5 right now!
Don
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2022 10:36 pm

Re: Secondary Search

Post by Don »

Tried 1.5 Omit Results. Works even better than I imagined! and so far 1.5 seems super stable!
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