Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 109504
find&replace - make ctrl-f open rather than toggle dialog
Last modified: 2013-07-17 11:54:34 UTC
Hi, This might be a personal preference thing, but I think ctrl-f should always open the find&replace dialog rather than toggling it; compare this with firefox/chromium, evince and most others ctrl-f takes you to the search entry whether or not it's already up. I've got this habit of hitting ctrl-f and typing the search term only to find I already had the dialog up somewhere from last time and it just closed it, leaving me to type the text into the document accidentally. The principal is probably one of making the UI less modal which as I understand it is always a good thing. Dave
This is a "request for enhancement"; reassigning to requirements.
This bug found by Dave was identified in OOo version 3.2.0. I was able reproduce this bug on two subsequent versions of OOo (3.3.0 and 3.4.1) Here are the steps I took to do so: OS = Windows XP v.5.1 OOs versions 3.3.0 and 3.4.1 Steps: 1. Create a document in Writer with the same word appearing at least twice (my word was function) 2. Enter CTR-F once and type the repeated word in the open field labeled “Search for” 3. Hit enter to verify it finds the word 4. Repeat to verify it finds the second instance of the word 5. Enter CTR-F once more 6. The Find & Replace dialog box closes I repeated these steps substituting two other editors, MS Word (2010) and MS Notepad (2010) for step 1. For both of these editors, after step 5 when you hit CTR-F again, the Find & Replace dialog box remains open. You must exit to remove the dialog box. (see attachment for pictures) Additional tests : I also tried the following in both versions of OOo to see how this would affect the dialog box: • With Find & Replace dialog box open, Enter thru to see what happens – dialog box stays open, it cycles through the document and highlights the “search for” word. • With Find & Replace dialog box open, Click the Find button multiple times to see what happens – dialog box stays open, it cycles through the document and highlights the “search for” word. • Verified all the tests using the Menu version of Find & Replace (Edit/Find and Replace from toolbar) - results were the same as listed above • Repeat the steps above using the “Replace with” field function to verify it replaces the word and when you click CTL-F again the dialog box disappears as well • Verify the same behavior occurs (Ctrl/F closes dialog) when selecting the “More Options” to open additional search options. •Open Help text on Find and Replace dialog and select Ctrl/F. Verified the dialog is still present upon closing Help text. • Close Find and Replace dialog by both the ‘X’ & ‘Close’ buttons. Verify Ctrl/F reopens Find and Replace dialog. • Verify expected results when selecting Yes or No on message when the search is complete (see screenshot) I find this bug to be irritating, like Dave the original reporter, because I use the keyboard hot buttons frequently for editing and it makes me reopen the dialog box multiple times if I forget not to click CTL-F before I’m done searching.
Created attachment 80311 [details] Screenshots of Find&Replace dialog boxes from different editors
Make Find & Replace sticky window is good idea.