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 Improve method drop down selection
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tjcbs
Tomato Guru

104 Posts

Posted - Apr 30 2016 :  7:35:45 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
If I type "A" in the Method drop down box, VA should assume that I am looking for a method beginning with 'A'. This would be much more helpful than selecting a random method which happens to contain a case-insensitive 'a'.





sean
Whole Tomato Software

USA
2817 Posts

Posted - May 01 2016 :  10:30:28 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
You might try disabling the default selection behavior as described here:
http://support.wholetomato.com/default.asp?W539

That said, the behavior could be improved to take letter casing into consideration. case=96882
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tjcbs
Tomato Guru

104 Posts

Posted - May 01 2016 :  11:13:24 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Sean,

I tried this, and it doesn't work. Behavior is as before.

As a side note, it might be useful to add reg files for these sorts of settings, like, for instance, sevenforums.com. Both to make it easier on users, and to avoid tedious exchanges in the case of user error (although, I double checked that I added the key correctly).
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sean
Whole Tomato Software

USA
2817 Posts

Posted - May 02 2016 :  1:17:20 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I'm sorry it didn't make a difference for you. It does cause a change in behavior for me. We will have this setting created by default in the next release. Once case 96882 is addressed, hopefully the behavior improves for your scenario.

Edited by - sean on May 02 2016 1:58:33 PM
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tjcbs
Tomato Guru

104 Posts

Posted - May 03 2016 :  08:35:58 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Maybe you misunderstood the problem. It has nothing to do with what is most recently accessed, or with case. The problem is that VA is searching inside the function declaration, and if it finds any kind of match, it selects that function. This is counter-intuitive to me: If I type "A", I am looking for functions that begin with "A", I am not doing a google search of my declarations for that letter.
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sean
Whole Tomato Software

USA
2817 Posts

Posted - May 03 2016 :  5:16:59 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Recently accessed items do influence the selection by default. For me with my test file, after I disabled the SelectRecentItemsInNavigationDialogs behavior, pressing A caused AddText to be selected instead of Update. The kb article didn't previously state that the registry change should be made after exiting all instances of Visual Studio -- did you make your edit while VS was running?
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
19024 Posts

Posted - May 03 2016 :  7:35:23 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
If we did a case sensitive match, which is covered by case=96882, and you type "A" as your filter, why not list "CheckAllSelect" ?

Are you expecting typing to only search from the start of a function name?

Are you aware you can use more than one search term at the same time in the Alt-m list, separated with a space?

If you type ".A" then this tells VA that the search matches the start of a symbol name, either a class or class member name. This is the same use of dot as the Open File and Find Symbol dialogs support.

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

104 Posts

Posted - May 03 2016 :  9:20:55 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Yes, I was expecting to only search from the start of a function name. What I need is a way to quickly jump to a particular function, since I am moving towards the keyboard as the main input device. I seldom have a need to search inside the functions, for that scanning the list visually has always been enough. But I am not everyone.

Maybe add an option for this kind of behavior? Or failing that, another prefix?
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
19024 Posts

Posted - May 04 2016 :  2:48:22 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
This prefix should already do everything you want. If you use dot as the prefix, VA does start searching from the start of the function name, which is what you want in your example.

If you are working in a file where the class name is being shown before the member function names, right click on the open Alt-M list and turn off "Include scope". This will remove the class name from the front, just giving you the function names, so using dot will have the desired effect.

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

104 Posts

Posted - May 05 2016 :  09:14:03 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
No it doesn't:




I want to jump to the Init* functions right away without having to type "initi".
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
19024 Posts

Posted - May 05 2016 :  10:17:34 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Which IDE and version of VA are you using?

The dot before the filter works for me, testing VS2015 and VA 2094. I have just re-checked this, to make sure I am not mis-remembering. I am definitely getting a different behaviour to you, and I am not sure why.

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
19024 Posts

Posted - May 05 2016 :  10:22:01 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
From one of your other threads, you are using VS2013 with VA 2094. I have just tested this as well, and the dot is still working as expected for me.

Which OS are you using? I am testing under Windows 7.

Can you please export your VA and IDE settings and send them to me:

VA Options -> Performance -> Export Settings
IDE tools menu -> Import and Export Settings -> Export selected environment settings

I can then import them here and see if I get the same behaviour. If so, I can then try and work out why it is happening.

Please submit the files via the form:

http://www.wholetomato.com/support/contact.asp

including this thread ID or URL in the description, so we can match it up.

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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sean
Whole Tomato Software

USA
2817 Posts

Posted - May 05 2016 :  11:35:51 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
It is matching on initializer_list in the parameter list of the first item.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
19024 Posts

Posted - May 05 2016 :  2:35:53 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I missed that. I really should have spotted that, sorry about that.

If you don't need to see the parameters in the method list, you can right click the open list of methods, and turn Off "Display method parameters". If the parameters are not being displayed, there is no issue with your filter matching them.

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

104 Posts

Posted - May 08 2016 :  11:28:28 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
I can't spot this setting, where is it?
This would only be a partial fix though. Sometimes I *don't* know what I'm looking for, and the parameters provide valuable clues.

It is OK to list, in the above example, "AddMouseCommands", in the search result. However, it should not be the first result, since the Init functions are better matches. Don't you agree?
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
19024 Posts

Posted - May 09 2016 :  12:35:04 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
The setting first, use Alt-M to open the list of methods in the current file. With this list open, right click with the mouse on the list its self or the Context field, where you are typing your filter string. A menu full of settings will appear, letting you turn on and off various settings that effect this list.

The order of the items in the list, before you start typing, and while being filtered, is controlled by the setting:

VA Options -> Display -> Display VA Navigation Bar:
Top / Bottom of source windows
Occurrence / Alphabetical sort of methods in dropdown

personally I always set this to Occurrence, since I try to order and group my methods in a manor that makes sense to me, so preserving this information is important.

When you are searching for the function name, Init is a better match. But we don't know you are searching for the function name. You might be searching for the class name, namespace name, or parameter name. If we decide that one is a "better" match than the others, then we are no longer showing the results in the order you have specified.

So, if you have set VA to show the results in Alphabetical order, which seems to be the case here, should we then ignore this setting as soon as you start searching? What happens when you have more than one search term, or don't use the dot to indicate start of word match?

I do see your point, and it makes sense, but I am concerned about complicating a currently simple and clear system, without clear advantages.

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