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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: idea for using kfind
From:       Maarten ter Huurne <mth () stack ! nl>
Date:       2001-08-30 20:52:18
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On Thursday 30 August 2001 18:54, Mark W. Webb wrote:

> I took over the Kfind development a few weeks back and did not want to 
> start working on Kfind until after the 2.2 release.  Now that 2.2 is out, I 
> want to start working kfind.  I know that it is a small program.  But you 
> have to start somewhere.  

It may be a small program, but I'm sure lots of people use it.

> I have found that there is a Kfind KPart in konqueror.  Now I was thinking
> about making the kfind libs available so that all programs could use the
> file searching capability.  Is there anything else I must do in order to
> allow other programs to use kfind?  This was the first thing on my kfind
> priority list.

I looked at the KFind part recently. I'm not sure whether an application like 
KFind is a good candidate for being made into a part. It is not a viewer like 
KHTML or the PDF/PS viewer. KFind is an application and Konqueror is an 
application and when the KFind part is embedded, it feels like two apps that 
share a single window, rather than one integrated app.

But the idea of integrating search capability in apps is a good one. I can 
think of two approaches:
1. Launch KFind as a tool: it acts as a separate application, but it takes 
default settings from the app, for example the mime type it should search 
for. The user can use the search results by dragging files back to the app or 
by using "Open"/"Open With".
2. Integrate KFind into the Open File dialog. I think this is the most common 
use case: the users wants to open a file, but forgot where it is located.

> If anyone uses kfind at all, let me know what other features they would
> like to see.

I'd like to see a different user interface. The current one was copied from 
an old version of Windows. That interface made it into the Interface Hall of 
Shame, for good reason (see http://www.iarchitect.com/find95.htm). KFind does 
fix the worst problems listed on that page, but it can still be improved 
upon. The most important remaining problem is that "Containing Text" is under 
the Advanced tab, while it is an often used and simple feature (simple from a 
user's perspective, not a programmer's ;).

I placed a suggestion for a different user interface under this URL:
http://www.stack.nl/~mth/temp/findfiles.png
It removes the tabbed layout, presenting all options at once. Also, the "case 
sensitive" checkboxes are located directly below the text they affect. 
Finally, it separates the query from the results: the results will be shown 
in a different window (which I didn't drawn yet).

Bye,
		Maarten
 
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