make the quick add bar an immediate search bar

Joao should implement this as the part of his GSoC.

I would like to have option to choose whether I have search or add quick bar. I am attaching a few mockups.

already done, but the interface is different...

the default action is a search and quick add only happens if you press the 'plus' button.

The suggested one is an option also. What does ploum think?

Joao > My opinion is the following.

- When you type, the mainview (and maybe the closed view too) is updated to filter according to the search.
- If you hit enter and a task title exactly match what you typed, that task is opened.
- Else, a new task is created when you hit enter.
- the green button create a new task, regardless of the existance of a similar task

The goal is to allow quickly entering a lot of tasks while also allowing searching.

You're talking a kind of instant search? it's easily doable right now but i have some reservations:
- first it should be optional. From my own personal opinion i curse the hell out of instant searches. I just don't like them xD (but its a personal opinion, if by default is turned on or it's open for discussion, your thoughts Izidor?)
-Performance wise, I'm currently using a String.find() of the text i want, anyone know if the find stops after it finds or does it continue to the end of the text? (I'll look into it myself after finishing some things)
- closed view, in my opinion, should not be affected by the search. You have the option of putting !close on the query to filter for closed (or !not !active)

the second one is a nice shortcut, i also suggest that shift+enter always performs a search.

as for the green button it retain the original functionality. (which i broke in my trunk, i might need some help after joining with the current dev ^^)

I actually tried to search in the current version by typing in the entry - which is not supported. So personally I would love to be able to do this:

1. Type in the entry
2. The entry automatically filters the list of tasks
3. If you type something non-existing and hit Enter, you create a new task.

To me this is intuitively what I expected. And it's easier than having to use the task sidebar.

I'd like to add, the option Izidor suggested feels a bit inconvenient to me. It would become tedious to switch between the two if you use both a lot. Just my 2 pfennige.

Just my 2 cents:

Here, as I understand, the idea is to combine the "quick add bar" with an instant search feature.

I like the idea, but I don't really like the suggested behavior, and I think we should rethink the "quick add bar" widget.

Indeed, in most applications (web & desktop), the way this kind of widget are generally handled is by having a "search widget" which automagically suggest some actions based on the query. Here, the proposition is the other way around in some sense: an "add' widget which can provide search feature.

So, long story short, I would propose the following:

* replace the "quick add bar" by a search widget (standard widget with an input text and a magnifying glass icon), maybe a "filter: " label on the side to make it even clearer
* typing text in the widget would instantly filter the task below. Maybe the standard GNOME colored ribbon could also appear on top of the list, to make it clear that the view is currently in another mode. Matched text could also be displayed in bold.
* a dropdown list of possible action could appear once text input has stopped, with the first actions being, in order:

Just my 2 cents:

Sorry, I couldn't finish my comment, it seems I somehow send it prematurely. I'm reproducing it completely below. Please ignore the previous one.

---------

Here, as I understand, the idea is to combine the "quick add bar" with an instant search feature.

I like the idea, but I don't really like the suggested behavior, and I think we should rethink the "quick add bar" widget.

Indeed, in most applications (web & desktop), the way this kind of widget are generally handled is by having a "search widget" which automagically suggest some actions based on the query. Here, the proposition is the other way around in some sense: an "add' widget which can provide search feature.

So, long story short, I would propose the following:

* replace the "quick add bar" by a search widget (standard widget with an input text and a magnifying glass icon), maybe a "filter: " label on the side to make it even clearer
* typing text in the widget would instantly filter the task below. Maybe the standard GNOME colored ribbon could also appear on top of the list, to make it clear that the view is currently in another mode (alternatively: the text input background color could change, meaning, it is "active"). Matched text could also be displayed in bold in tthe task list.
* a dropdown list of possible action could appear once text input has stopped, with the first actions being, in order:

1) Open the task (if perfect match)
2) Create the task

Other possibilities/features:
3) Save search
4) Add/remove label from filtered tasks

So your idea is removing the existing search and add buttons and adding them as a drop-down, context-sensitive button-menu?
 I like the idea but have some reservations:
- where should the drop-down appear?
- whats the advised time-lag before it appears? instantly would be annoying and too slow would go against the quick part

As for identifying a active search, in the tags menu i haded another item for searches. I propose that at any search instance that menu is shown and given focus, as to indicate the search is active. The user could them select other tags and return to the search when wanted.

I'm currently also in the process of saving searches as "views", that would be sub-items (child's) of the search tag and saving them with a reasonable limit (maybe 5?)

after some though i ended up following bernard's advices. It works well that way and its a better experience overall. I attached the interface. It's still missing some things as:
 - actions have to be more unique (in bold and with a icon maybe?)
 - the popup is a entrycompletation. its nice that has a lot of features but i seems to be attached to the beginning of the entry. It would be nice that the popup occurred at the en of the entry text

forgot to mention lionel, i also followed your advice and changed it to be instant search. It's much better that way after all :)

Joao > It looks like you are doing a great last sprint for the end of your SoC. Maybe we can try to merge your code before 0.2.9 release, to allows wider testing :-)

Joao > Great stuff! In the morning I was not able to see the image because of some Launchpad bug. I am concerned about a thing: How I can open a task if I find something I was looking for? Enter? Pressing a key down, selecting an item and then Enter?

I propose to show result of the instant search in the pane for active tasks. It will be similar to Google Instant Search and also a great test for LibLarch performance. What do you think?

I have the same idea in mind: apply the instant search on the main task view itself! It is how it works in Rhythmbox and Evolution so it will probably not surprize the user.

Additional bonuses:
- filter the closed task pane at the same time.
- if workview is enabled and there's no match to the search, disable workview in the search results. (which would have the nice consequence of fixing bug #654953 for free !)

I've just merged Joao's work in rev1027. It would need a lot of testing and reporting bugs. Please, write your opinion on how the search feature works and what could be done differently/better.

I think that this one can be considered as fixed for now.