Author Topic: A-Z Jump Bar to work on any focused list control  (Read 21638 times)

Roadrunner

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what do you mean by too long - you click (or press) a letter, realise its a mistake and want the search to reset based on the next letter you click?
Exactly, reasons could also be, that there is no artist in the selection with the letter(s), I was looking for or I tried with "T" until I realized the The Beatles are under "B"...

Alexis

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maybe a reset button??   Just a thought.  but by the time u reach for the  button..... the seconds may be up :)
They are not lazy... just more efficient.

Steven

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would it work for people if after the first letter is pressed, if you then press the next char twice it resets to that letter - i realise that wouldnt be perfect as you really might want 3 chars with the 2&3 the same letter, but i would imagine thats quite rare. Of course if there is >3 sec gap it still resets as now
eg.
T B B goes to B

jistme

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I would very much prefer to leave it as it is.
The advantages to be able to enter sequential characters without much hurry or complicating factors are appreciated.

To diminish this advantage, or complicate the use of the feature just for the sake of someone who might make a rare typing error, and doesn´t have 3 seconds patience to make a new entry doesn´t seem sensible to me.

Steven

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one clarification, using the keyboard is set at 1.5 sec for reset - the reason its longer (3 sec) on the a-z bar is because i do think you need more time to locate and click the next button.
Also note you can use the a-z bar and keyboard in combination, so if you click the wrong letter on the a-z bar you could press the keyboard after 1.5 sec to reset the search which might suit some people.

jistme

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Clear.
Personally I feel even 1,5 sec. is on the short side. Not speaking for myself, but not everybody has fast responses and milage behind keyboards like most of us here.

Alexis

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Also note you can use the a-z bar and keyboard in combination, so if you click the wrong letter on the a-z bar you could press the keyboard after 1.5 sec to reset the search which might suit some people.

That seems logical to me.  

Steven, would it be overkill or illogical to have a reset button on the bar?  I am assuming that this whole implementation is for mouse users.

(I think I also have to agree that having to wait 3 seconds does not seem that demanding if one selects the wrong letter, but I respect that we all do not have the same tolerance)
They are not lazy... just more efficient.

Roadrunner

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Sorry, it was not my intention to complicate it more than necessary, so I wouldn't do anything like a reset button or click the same character again to restart the search.

I just wanted to point out, that if you don't know about the 3 seconds (and nowbody knows about it, if he/she's not reading this thread) and like to change the choosen one (not only for mistake reason) I'm sure you'd click and click again a new one within less than 3 seconds and are wondering why it doesn't work anymore... And if you assume something like a waiting time, how long would you wait, 5 seconds?

So, I personally wouldn't go over 2 seconds (to take the mouse movement into account).
Last Edit: August 20, 2012, 10:52:54 PM by Roadrunner

Steven

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i really want to avoid creating new settings, especially ones that only have meaning to people reading these posts. But also i appreciate the behavior has to be obvious as well.
So how about after one letter has been clicked, when you mouse over another letter you see that letter highlight as normal but also to the top left you see the first letter and the mouse-over letter as text that can be clicked as well
so that way you can easily click the letter to reset the search or click the temporary 2 letter item if that is your intention

Alexis

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that sounds very good to me..if I understand it  properly, it would also helps provide a flow of the previously clicked letter(s).
They are not lazy... just more efficient.

Roadrunner

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I'm not sure, if I understand the way of mouse movement needed to choose the 2nd letter correctly (how far away is "top left"?), but the direction sounds good to me too.

Maybe, as a similar solution, it might be enough to keep the existing behavior and just show the already choosen letter(s) in the left part of the toolbar in another color as long as they are active? Or point out the active letter(s) itselves in any way?

Steven

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it wasnt practical to do this the way i wanted so i have taken roadrunner's suggestion ie. pressed letter is set to bold and a tooltip shows when mouse-over other letters, then resets after 3 secs so you at least have a visual cue when the search is reset

http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip

Alexis

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This works just fine, thank you... however, it is a little difficult to notice the bold text when using the dark skins (Using dusk)
They are not lazy... just more efficient.

Sigma

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I really hate the way this works now! It makes using the jump list slower than just scrolling with the mouse wheel when you have to wait for it to reset. This is only useful for people who have absolutely tons of albums in one long list, but they could find what they want using the regular search box which is designed for text input. This is counter-intuitive to the original purpose of quickly being able to jump by first letter IMO. Can you not add a setting in the options to just have it works as it did please?

Last Edit: August 28, 2012, 01:57:34 PM by Sigma

jistme

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For my understanding, what is it that you want to do exactly that is slowed down with this new behaviour?
If you click a letter it will still immediately take you there?
For as far as I can see it is only slowing you down when you click a wrong letter, and for the rare cases that happens 3 sec of 'punishment' doesn't seem a big deal to me?

I really hate the way this works now! It makes using the jump list slower than just scrolling with the mouse wheel when you have to wait for it to reset.