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 Mark functions via methods popup
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jmihalicza
Ketchup Master

Hungary
66 Posts

Posted - Oct 18 2005 :  11:03:17 AM  Show Profile
Let's suppose I would like to modify (or just check) a bunch of methods in the current file. It is a frequent task, just consider menu builder functions or some kind of registration mechanism.

How I manage to accomplish the task now:
1. ALT-M
2. write pattern (same for each function)
3. select the next function typing more letters or with up/down arrows.
4. modify
5. go #1

How it would be ideal:
1. ALT-M
2. write pattern
3. <some magic here, CTRL+Enter or sg> that places bookmarks at the selected methods, the list would be a multiselect list, with clever CTRL+A etc. shortcuts, but for CTRL+Enter whole selection would be the default behavior, 'coz there is no sense bookmarking a single method.
4. modify
5. go to next bookmark
6. go #4

Reorganizing some stuff in the code I missed this feature much in the recent days.

feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18958 Posts

Posted - Oct 18 2005 :  3:15:38 PM  Show Profile
i really like the basic idea of "bookmark all of these". simple yet effective. i am not so sure about how some cleaver form of multiple select would work though. this may have something to do with the fact i am mainly a keyboard user, rather than a mouse user.

my gut instinct is that trying to get to cleaver with multiple select in this drop down list is asking for trouble.

i could put in a request to allow shorthand and acronyms instead. in conjunction with CTRL-ENTER to bookmark all would this do what you want? or at least come close enough to be very helpful?

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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jmihalicza
Ketchup Master

Hungary
66 Posts

Posted - Oct 19 2005 :  05:55:14 AM  Show Profile
What about a checklistbox?
Then no need for CTRL+Enter.
- no checked items -> Enter navigates to that method/region etc.
- there are checked items -> Enter marks them and jumps to the first
Nice to haves:
* CTRL+A
* range check easily with a modifier (space or shift?), similarly to range selection with shift+up/down
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18958 Posts

Posted - Oct 19 2005 :  4:15:58 PM  Show Profile
my concern with check boxes is that this is currently a very volatile list, as soon as you do anything it disappears. given how often i am in and out of it during the day this is a good thing

while i like the bookmark idea, i suspect it will get relatively little use compared to the standard mode, so i don't want to suggest making standard mode more intrusive.

range select via shift + up and down arrow keys makes sense though, it is easy, and fits in without disturbing existing keyboard habits.

i presume CTRL-A only makes sense if you have check boxes. the original idea of CTRL-ENTER would bookmark everything showing, so there is no need for CTRL-A.

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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jmihalicza
Ketchup Master

Hungary
66 Posts

Posted - Oct 19 2005 :  4:35:14 PM  Show Profile
Soon after posting the checklistbox idea I realized that the multiselect was actually working in OFIW.
The way it works there would suffice in the methods popup as well.

While the methods popup works in a single file, the FSIW is a similar thing in the scope of the whole workspace.
This bookmarking functionality would be useful also in that case, it could add task list shortcuts.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18958 Posts

Posted - Oct 22 2005 :  07:27:14 AM  Show Profile
i get the feeling this idea is growing in scope as we go along. lets try and do this one step at a time.

does CTRL-ENTER on the alt_m list to add an unnamed bookmark to all currently listed items, and to jump to the current item make sense, and does it achieve what you are after here? it sounds good to me, and i can see this being a useful enhancement.

thinking about using SHIFT + up and down arrows to highlight items in this list, the problem here is that it assumes all of the items are next to each other. if we are not careful we are going to try and dream up some terribly complex plan for this, which is never really going to get used. two or three runs through the alt_m list should allow you to select any reasonable set of functions, without producing an overly complex interface.

case=852

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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jmihalicza
Ketchup Master

Hungary
66 Posts

Posted - Oct 24 2005 :  08:39:47 AM  Show Profile
The described functionality is simple and effective, there is really no need for detailed multiselect behavior, because skipping the unneeded marks is much simpler than struggling with the selection.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18958 Posts

Posted - Oct 25 2005 :  4:58:34 PM  Show Profile
good, i think

i don't really use the task list in VS 2003, so perhaps i am missing something, but is it not replaced by any errors detected each time you compile the code?

i am trying to work out why and how adding tasks to the task list would help.

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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jmihalicza
Ketchup Master

Hungary
66 Posts

Posted - Oct 26 2005 :  04:40:13 AM  Show Profile
I don't use the task list either, but I don't know any other way of creating multiple-file bookmarks. AFAIK there was sg like that in VS6.
I don't think that it is that big a problem if the build removes the items.
The following workflow could fail with that:
1. mark symbol occurences
2. do the modifications in a few files
3. compile only those files to check for compilation errors
4. go to 2.
IMHO this doesn't hurt much, I usually check at most once (proof of concept) then I do the task totally.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18958 Posts

Posted - Oct 26 2005 :  7:26:06 PM  Show Profile
have you tried using "find in files", which produces a stable list that is not effected by building individual files. this is what i do when dealing with a similar situation. if you use find a lot you can tell find in files to use "display in find 2" to separate the output you want to keep.

this is in VS 2003, so the procedure may be different in different IDE's

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness

Edited by - feline on Oct 26 2005 7:26:53 PM
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jmihalicza
Ketchup Master

Hungary
66 Posts

Posted - Oct 27 2005 :  06:19:23 AM  Show Profile
Of course I use find in files for such situations, but there are some differences (counting with some features being requests for the moment):
  • implementations only vs any occurence
  • FIF is slow
  • FIF can't predict the result immediately as FSIW could
  • unable to filter on scope
  • acronym support
  • FSIW always searches in the whole solution, I don't have to modify my well configured find in files settings
  • symbols inside comments
  • static functions in .c .cpp files

It clearly seems that I can answer different questions with the two commands. In my original example the question was: Does each function with a name containing ... work correctly? I was not interested the usage, only the implementation, where FSIW has the strength.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18958 Posts

Posted - Oct 29 2005 :  2:48:03 PM  Show Profile
that makes sense. i like to understand what people are trying to do before putting in a request, in the hopes of only putting in "sensible" feature requests

for me the last used FSIW filter is remembered, so next time i open the dialog you get the same list you had when you closed it. this would give you a stable and easy to use list of functions to work through.

*considers* this does not allow you to mark off items as you check them, but you have the same problem with the task list, if that is going to get wiped each time you do a compile.

it just seems that putting the current FSIW list into a new, equally temporary home, is not that useful. do you follow my thinking here? i am wondering if we should be thinking about a simple but more persistent way of keeping this list.

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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jpizzi
Tomato Guru

USA
642 Posts

Posted - Oct 29 2005 :  3:59:40 PM  Show Profile
When you setup the task list to pull things like TODO and HACK from the code, those items are put into the task list during a compile, too, so you don't lose them. It is true that they will be mixed in with compilation errors and warnings (hmmm, can you sort on that??).

So, maybe the task list is not unreasonable after all. However, I haven't followed the conversation enough to be able to suggest the task list. I have just seen it mentioned in the conversation.

Joe Pizzi
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jmihalicza
Ketchup Master

Hungary
66 Posts

Posted - Oct 29 2005 :  7:55:40 PM  Show Profile
The output could go to one of the find results windows.
(Or the user could select the desired output in the preferences. Ok, ok, I am just kidding , but as a developer I enjoy that I am on the user side here and can request lots of stuff )

I think the list in the FSIW window is too volatile for keeping the selection. I use FSIW a lot of times during the mentioned code overview tasks. I miss those handy permanent bookmarks of VS6.


The problem with this whole mark idea is that it is just a little instance of a more general class of functionalities.
It is just an example of 'slicing'.
For further details see the thread on slicing in general.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
18958 Posts

Posted - Oct 30 2005 :  11:43:30 AM  Show Profile
*ah* having just come from the thread about slicing i see what you mean. i need to talk to support about this slicing idea first, since there is no point in putting in a feature request for this, if it should be handled some other way.

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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