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List:       nmap-dev
Subject:    Re: [RFC] Zenmap search interface overhaul
From:       "Vladimir Mitrovic" <snipe714 () gmail ! com>
Date:       2008-05-31 23:54:23
Message-ID: 96ab0b080805311654j25825483y2476a346b5734d44 () mail ! gmail ! com
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On Sat, May 31, 2008 at 1:55 AM, David Fifield <david@bamsoftware.com> wrote:
> I can see the value of filtering the results of a single scan. (Or when
> Zenmaps gains the ability to aggregate several scans in one display, it
> could filter those too.) Vladimir didn't really sign on for this, so I'd
> like to get his opinion on if this is too much for this stage of the
> summer.

I also think this would be a VERY cool feature. As for the time
estimate, it depends on how we do things. The most elegant way of
filtering hosts I can think of is this:

When you run a search in the search window, your regular _scans_ (not
hosts) appear as results. However, when you open a scan into a tab, a
filter entry field (which should be added) in the "Hosts" list on the
left is populated with your search criteria from the search window.
That way you can only see hosts of interest in the "Hosts" list. The
same could apply for the "Services" list.

So, another search field? Yes. But read on, there's another way.

> Perhaps the two search/filtering functions could use the same underlying
> mechanism. For example, running a query against a scan could return a
> "results set" of hosts that match the query. (Do we need results other
> than a list of hosts?) In the historical searching scenario, the search
> engine would run a query against all the hosts it finds and return the
> ones with a non-empty results set. Of course in this case it could be
> configured to short-circuit and return a scan when the first result is
> found.

You're basically proposing that we make all searches in Zenmap
host-centric, right? (As opposed to current scan-centric search I'm
working on.) This is a good idea, but think about how we would
represent the data. Zenmap's GUI is currently very scan-centric - you
cannot "open" a host and view it without opening the scan that
contains it.

That's why I mentioned RadialNet's "Host Viewer" in a previous post...
perhaps we should work towards implementing host-centric visualization
in Zenmap. Say, we wrap the Host Viewer inside a tab and open all the
search results (as hosts!) from the Search Window as a "Host Results"
tab inside the main window. A separate "Open All as Hosts" button
should be created in the Search Window for this purpose.

I like this!

I think it's either that, or we go with the filter field in the
"Hosts" list that I mentioned earlier. (I vote for the Hosts Viewer.)

Whatcha think?

Vladimir

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