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Bug 16799 - quick open file navigation needed
Summary: quick open file navigation needed
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: editor
Classification: Unclassified
Component: -- Other -- (show other bugs)
Version: 3.x
Hardware: All All
: P3 blocker with 1 vote (vote)
Assignee: issues@editor
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: 18257
  Show dependency tree
 
Reported: 2001-10-20 17:07 UTC by _ jrichard
Modified: 2007-11-05 13:42 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Issue Type: ENHANCEMENT
Exception Reporter:


Attachments
source and jar for editornav prototype (50.00 KB, application/octet-stream)
2002-12-28 05:58 UTC, _ jrichard
Details
just jar for editornav prototype (10.38 KB, application/octet-stream)
2002-12-28 05:59 UTC, _ jrichard
Details
binary and source for quick nav editor module prototype (70.00 KB, application/octet-stream)
2002-12-29 05:46 UTC, _ jrichard
Details
bugfix for quick open file nav prototype (26.08 KB, application/octet-stream)
2002-12-29 07:31 UTC, _ jrichard
Details
quick editor navigation, working better (18.39 KB, application/octet-stream)
2003-03-03 04:08 UTC, _ jrichard
Details
more bugs fixed, new dialog for closing editor windows (24.29 KB, application/octet-stream)
2003-03-11 04:50 UTC, _ jrichard
Details
more fixed bugs (69.12 KB, application/octet-stream)
2003-03-17 05:06 UTC, _ jrichard
Details

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Description _ jrichard 2001-10-20 17:07:22 UTC
(this has been talked about -- often in terms of the editor tabs -- 
frequently, so I hope this is not a duplicate -- there is no bug listed in 
http://editor.netbeans.org/doc/Requirements.html)

Navigating among open files using the editor tabs is painful if there are 7+-2
files opened.  The jumplist can take some of the pain away, but it requires
that an edit has been made, and it also doesn't feel quite as friendly (I'm
pretty sure it doesn't use a stack, but uses a list instead).  There is a need
for quick open file navigation.

One way to fix this is to provide a way to navigate without using the tabs,
ideally by using only the keyboard so the user don't need to shift their focus
from the code to navigation.  IMO, the best way to do this is to provide a stack
of the recently shown files (note: not edited files).

I included a small patch that does this here:
http://www.netbeans.org/servlets/ReadMsg?msgId=159061&listName=nbuihttp://www.netbeans.org/servlets/ReadMsg?msgId=159061&listName=nbui
Comment 1 _ jrichard 2001-11-20 05:13:24 UTC
Ideally, for this to work it needs some visual feedback (like what
happens on windows when you hit Alt-Tab) and the filename
tabs need to be removed (or maybe move to an alternate tab
mechanism).  
Comment 2 _ jrichard 2001-11-20 05:14:15 UTC
Also see http://www.netbeans.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=17829
Comment 3 Jan Chalupa 2001-11-27 12:26:47 UTC
Target milestone -> 3.3.1.
Comment 4 _ jrichard 2001-12-11 02:07:51 UTC
Hmmm... I'm not sure how this blocks issue 18257.
Comment 5 Jesse Glick 2002-01-09 10:17:19 UTC
I don't think such a feature should be resolved by the editor... this
seems like a window-system feature to me. Ideally (IMHO) one option
for arranging the window system would be to discard all the extra GUI
elements for tabs and so on and navigate among components with the
keyboard, with some notion of last-opened, and with some navigation
based on component name with completion. This would work for anything,
not just editor tabs. Compare Emacs' C-x b.
Comment 6 _ jrichard 2002-01-10 04:55:55 UTC
Jesse -- I agree completely.  Well, maybe not 100% completely,
as I'd like to see what it feels like to navigate not only
though editor files, but also though (in theory) less visited
components.

But it would be great to switch among recently used source 
files, form designer panels, XML trees, search results, etc...
And anything would be better than hunting around the tabs
for a source file!

Comment 7 _ jrichard 2002-01-16 05:53:59 UTC
I didn't mention that the mechanism I described originally
is essentially what J++ (and other tools) does.
Comment 8 Marek Grummich 2002-07-22 10:03:13 UTC
Set target milestone to TBD
Comment 9 Marek Grummich 2002-07-22 10:09:17 UTC
Set target milestone to TBD
Comment 10 _ jrichard 2002-08-07 04:00:58 UTC
Note that there is a description of an implementation for this
at http://ui.netbeans.org/docs/ui/viewsSwitcher/viewsSwitcherUISpec.html.
Comment 11 _ jrichard 2002-12-28 05:58:15 UTC
Created attachment 8401 [details]
source and jar for editornav prototype
Comment 12 _ jrichard 2002-12-28 05:59:46 UTC
Created attachment 8402 [details]
just jar for editornav prototype
Comment 13 _ jrichard 2002-12-28 06:05:34 UTC
I attached a jar of something which switches between editor windows. 
To use, put the jar in the modules directory, restart, and then use
Control-Shift-L to popup the editor navigation window.

Further uses of Control-Shift-L will push you down the stack,
Control-L will pull you up the stack.  Return opens the currently
selected editor.  Normal keystrokes (arrow keys) should work too.

There is at least one bug: for some reasons Filesystems shows up as an
editor.  

This probably belongs in the accelerators module, not standalone.
Comment 14 _ jrichard 2002-12-29 05:44:51 UTC
Another shot at this... with some fixes based on a suggestion from
Milos Kleint...  this lists though all editor windows.

Anyway, there is another bug, if an editor window isn't opened yet
(can happen after IDE start) it doesn't jump to it.  But it will the
next time.
Comment 15 _ jrichard 2002-12-29 05:46:24 UTC
Created attachment 8406 [details]
binary and source for quick nav editor module prototype
Comment 16 _ jrichard 2002-12-29 07:31:53 UTC
Created attachment 8407 [details]
bugfix for quick open file nav prototype
Comment 17 _ jrichard 2002-12-29 07:35:28 UTC
I just noticed that #2 was adding a few too many listeners... here's
a fix.  

I think I found the problem with refusing to jump to windows.  It
appears some keystrokes "leak" between the dialog and main window. The
keystoke is delivered to the previous editor window.  A workaround
might be to invokeLater, but I haven't tried that yet.
Comment 18 Jesse Glick 2003-01-21 17:10:08 UTC
You do know about Alt-Left and Alt-Right, right? Just checking...
Comment 19 _ jrichard 2003-01-22 00:48:15 UTC
re: alt-left, alt-right.  Yup, I've used them for about 2 years or so. 

But, they don't really provide _quick_ open file navigation, only open
file navigation.  With this mechanism, there is a stack of recently
viewed editor windows.  To jump between two editor windows, I just
need to hit one keystroke.  I don't need to know the name of the files
or alt-right/left multiple times to jump to a target editor window.
Comment 20 _ jrichard 2003-03-03 04:08:39 UTC
Created attachment 9233 [details]
quick editor navigation, working better
Comment 21 _ jrichard 2003-03-03 04:10:40 UTC
I updated my prototype.  Now opening windows works (turned out 
almost everything needed to be done on the AWT thread).  

I also switched the keyboard accellerator to ctrl-i and ctrl-shift-i.

Comment 22 _ jrichard 2003-03-11 04:50:24 UTC
Created attachment 9336 [details]
more bugs fixed, new dialog for closing editor windows
Comment 23 _ jrichard 2003-03-17 05:06:27 UTC
Created attachment 9419 [details]
more fixed bugs
Comment 24 _ jrichard 2003-11-14 02:13:07 UTC
I'm pretty sure this can be closed now due to the new winsys.
Comment 25 Jesse Glick 2003-11-14 11:15:36 UTC
Right, I'm presuming that the Ctrl-` shortcut basically fulfills what
you were asking for. If you think its functionality should be tweaked
a bit in some way, it would probably be better to open a fresh
enhancement request in "core"/"window system" with a precise
description of what you expect, since otherwise the long history of
this issue is liable to be more confusing than helpful.