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Improve search interface

Open tobiasdiez opened this issue 4 years ago • 18 comments

The search ui interface needs some attention. The current author-auto completion lives between broken and useless. My proposal would be to add a proper flyout that can now be seen also in some other applications (e.g. OneNote or Outlook). I particularly like the following:

image from https://www.fullstory.com/platform, see also https://help.fullstory.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020828253-Getting-Acquainted-with-OmniSearch

tobiasdiez avatar Feb 06 '21 14:02 tobiasdiez

The other proposal by @tobiasdiez (at https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/3535#issuecomment-352068826) is written down there: https://github.com/koppor/jabref/issues/341

koppor avatar Feb 15 '21 19:02 koppor

Hello, if there will be any change of the search function please keep the missing "global search" function in mind. From my point of view it is still a pain to enter the search term for every single tab/bib I want to search.

teertinker avatar Feb 19 '21 12:02 teertinker

The global search is issue https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/issues/4096 (and not directly related to this issue - and thus can be handled separatetly).

koppor avatar Jul 05 '21 23:07 koppor

Hi, we're a team of 5 (@shameenkals @JasonBourne999 @lachyp @artherdunger10) from the University of Adelaide who would like to tackle this issue! Our goal will be improving the author-auto completion as well as implementing a proper fly-out as proposed in this issue. We aim to have a pull request by early May. Is there anything in particular we should know about?

mchellelm avatar Mar 27 '22 08:03 mchellelm

Thanks for your interest!

We are currently in the process of migrating the search syntax to Lucene (see #8206 for ongoing work). So in early prototypes its a good idea to not fiddle to much with the search syntax parsing. Please also have a look at the other linked issues (in particular https://github.com/koppor/jabref/issues/341) for further inspiration.

Our experience shows that its usually a good idea to create a PR very early during the development of a feature. You can then use it as a place to ask questions that might come up, and we can give feedback about the general direction the PR is heading to. Please feel free to contact us through one of the various channels if questions arise.

tobiasdiez avatar Mar 27 '22 09:03 tobiasdiez

Adding a screenshot of the GitLab issue search here as well for inspiration:

grafik

claell avatar May 11 '22 10:05 claell

Hi, I'm from the team of students in @mchellelm's group attempting to tackle this issue. So far we've been reading the documentation and experimenting with the code to try and figure out what changes need to be made to create a search interface like the one pictured at the start of this issue and we just have a few questions:

  1. How would you suggest we start with conducting searches with multiple different categories on the AutoCompleter?
  2. Given that the results of an auto-completion are dynamically stored in an ObservableList object, how would you suggest we go about adding headings to this list when its rendered in the GUI? Would this be done via java or via CSS?

LachyP avatar May 18 '22 11:05 LachyP

I would say the headings should be static and predefined (at least for now). A good starting point would be to have a single category "Authors" whose contents is a filtered list of author names as provided by the auto completer. When the user selects one of the options, then something like authors = xyz should be added to the search text. Then as a follow-up further headings (such as "Priority") can be added with values either hard coded (prio1, prio2, ...) or from some auto completer (which then probably has to be newly implemented).

In general, one defines the structure of the control in java (or fxml, which I wouldn't suggest for this component here due to the performance overhead) and how it looks in css.

Does this answers your questions?

tobiasdiez avatar May 18 '22 12:05 tobiasdiez

Yes that makes sense, thankyou. I'll let you know if we have any more troubles

LachyP avatar May 18 '22 12:05 LachyP

Pre-condition: https://github.com/JabRef/jabref/pull/8963

koppor avatar Mar 05 '24 10:03 koppor

Can I work on this issue?

priyanshu16095 avatar Jan 16 '25 01:01 priyanshu16095

Please assign me this issue. /assign-me

priyanshu16095 avatar Jan 16 '25 13:01 priyanshu16095

/assign-me

priyanshu16095 avatar Mar 01 '25 19:03 priyanshu16095

👋 Hey @priyanshu16095, thank you for your interest in this issue! 🎉

We're excited to have you on board. Start by exploring our Contributing guidelines, and don't forget to check out our workspace setup guidelines to get started smoothly.

In case you encounter failing tests during development, please check our developer FAQs!

Having any questions or issues? Feel free to ask here on GitHub. Need help setting up your local workspace? Join the conversation on JabRef's Gitter chat. And don't hesitate to open a (draft) pull request early on to show the direction it is heading towards. This way, you will receive valuable feedback.

Happy coding! 🚀

⏳ Please note, you will be automatically unassigned if the issue isn't closed within 45 days (by 15 April 2025). A maintainer can also add the "📌 Pinned"" label to prevent automatic unassignment.

github-actions[bot] avatar Mar 01 '25 19:03 github-actions[bot]

/unassign-me

priyanshu16095 avatar Mar 01 '25 23:03 priyanshu16095

👋 Hey @priyanshu16095, you've been automatically unassigned from this issue due to inactivity.

[!NOTE] If you'd like to be re-assigned, just leave another comment or ask a maintainer to assign you again. If you're still actively working on the issue, let us know by commenting, and we can pin it to prevent automatic unassignment.

github-actions[bot] avatar Mar 01 '25 23:03 github-actions[bot]

/assign-me

JustinHennis1 avatar Jun 12 '25 18:06 JustinHennis1

👋 Hey @JustinHennis1, thank you for your interest in this issue! 🎉

We're excited to have you on board. Start by exploring our Contributing guidelines, and don't forget to check out our workspace setup guidelines to get started smoothly.

For questions on JabRef functionality and the code base, you can consult the JabRef Guru or ask on our Gitter chat.

In case you encounter failing tests during development, please check our developer FAQs!

Having any questions or issues? Feel free to ask here on GitHub. Need help setting up your local workspace? Join the conversation on JabRef's Gitter chat. And don't hesitate to open a (draft) pull request early on to show the direction it is heading towards. This way, you will receive valuable feedback.

Happy coding! 🚀

github-actions[bot] avatar Jun 12 '25 18:06 github-actions[bot]

/unassign-me

JustinHennis1 avatar Jun 19 '25 02:06 JustinHennis1

📋 Assignment Update

Hi @JustinHennis1, you are no longer assigned to this issue.

Next steps

If you still want to work on this:

  • Comment with /assign-me to request reassignment
  • Ask a maintainer to assign you again
  • If you're making progress, a maintainer can add the 📌 Pinned label to prevent future automatic unassignment

github-actions[bot] avatar Jun 19 '25 02:06 github-actions[bot]