Filter Bar: "Automatically type `*` when activating the filter bar via Quick Key" issue

It seems there is an issue with the Filter Bar's Automatically type * when activating the filter bar via Quick Key option:

If the Filter Bar has been made the default Quick Key mode, then typing * with the mentioned option disabled will open the Filter Bar and insert an asterisk into its text field -- when it should not (the option is disabled after all). Set some other Quick Key mode as the default and try again. Typing an asterisk will not insert it into the Filter Bar's text field, merely open it -- as expected. Also, if it matters, my Filter Bar is set to show only when a filter is set.

Is there a good reason for Automatically type * when activating the filter bar via Quick Key set to disabled to only be honoured when the Filter Bar is not the default Quick Key mode? Otherwise, this looks like a bug.

Thanks.

13.6.7 (Beta)

The default key is always passed through to whatever thing it opens, the idea being that you can just start typing without having to press a specific key first.

Automatically type * when activating the filter bar via Quick Key is definitely a confusing option.

From my understanding, the option's main purpose is to help with typing wildcard patterns in a very specific scenario:

  1. Filter Bar must not be set as the default Quick Key mode.
  2. Filter Bar's Quick Key must be assigned to *.
  3. Filter Bar assumed to be used in Wildcard mode.

Regarding 1: It's odd that this is a requirement for the option. If it is in fact set as the default mode, the assigned Quick Key, * by default, is passed through anyway.

Regarding 2: If the Quick Key is bound to something else, e.g. y, then the option is rendered pointless as y must be pressed before * anyway. If the Filter Bar mode is also made the default mode, the option is still pointless as * is not a Quick Key any more and will be treated like any other non-Quick Key and filter immediately.

Regarding 3: I use the Filter Bar in regular expression mode. Starting with * is invalid regex so the option in question wouldn't provide any benefit to pass it through on first press anyway.

Now bear with me...

It seems to me to make more sense if the option to pass through * or not was instead generalised to be whether to pass through the Filter Bar's assigned Quick Key or not (i.e. the mode's default key as you worded it). This would still provide the benefit of not needing to type double-asterisk when using the bar in wildcard mode if you wanted, but if that's what you had chosen, then the only way to open the bar without initially filtering by anything would be to reassign the Filter Bar's Quick Key to something other than *. For those who don't use the Filter Bar in wildcard mode and therefore don't need the initial asterisk consumed, typing * (the factory default key for the Filter Bar) would toggle the bar open without initially filtering by anything (if the proposed, generalised Quick Key pass-through option is off).

"But why open the Filter Bar by its Quick Key without it filtering by said key?" If I want to type a regular expression beginning with .*, normally I can't because . is the Quick Key for the Find mode. If I could open the Filter Bar first, then begin typing, typing *, .* would succeed. Well, I currently can open the Filter Bar first, I just have to delete the initial character before starting my actual pattern (e.g. o, Backspace, .*). Alternatively, I could set the Filter Bar to always be displayed, but that's a bit much for a compromise, I think. The final reason I can think of as to why one would want to open the Filter Bar without initially filtering by a character is that you may not want to type a pattern at all: you may want to pick one from the list of extensions (button to the left of the filter field), or filter by the other buttons (file / folder buttons).

In short, it's a bit awkward that we must first filter by a single character pattern (assuming Filter Bar is the default mode), only to delete it and write our intended pattern in some cases. Let us simply toggle the Filter Bar open like is possible when it's not set as the default mode.

I hope I'm not operating under some misunderstanding, and that you see some of the sense in my points. This was written from the perspective of using regex with the Filter Bar by default, and the Filter Bar being the default Quick Key mode, so I may have overlooked some workflow I don't use.

Thanks.

It's not odd if you realise you've described the default configuration. :slight_smile:

The option exists so that, in the default configuration, if you want to filter on *.jpg then you just type *.jpg instead of having to type **.jpg.

If it is in fact set as the default mode, the assigned Quick Key, * by default, is passed through anyway.

No, it isn't. If the Quick Key is * and the option is off, pushing * just opens the Filter Bar and doesn't type anything into the filter.

You don't have a Quick Key in your case. You've turned off the Quick Key and made it so all typing goes straight into the Filter Bar (as long as the first letter you type isn't the Quick Key for something else).

With your settings, you can already type whatever you want and it'll appear in the Filter Bar. You don't need the option.

It's true that it's the default configuration. That's not what's odd to me however. It's the fact that I can choose to either merely open the Filter Bar (with post title's option disabled), or not (option enabled: bar opens and * is passed through). That by itself is good and desired, but it is only true in the case where the Filter Bar is not the default Quick Key mode. If it is, then * is passed through, or let's just say, typed, no matter if the option in question is enabled or disabled.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the option needn't be so niche. It could work when the Filter Bar isn't, and when it is, the default Quick Key mode. Then we could always choose between either simply revealing the Filter Bar via its Quick Key, or, if the Quick Key happens to be assigned to * (which it is by default), then have the Quick Key typed, avoiding the double-asterisk issue the option was designed to overcome in the first place. If the Quick Key was assigned to q for example, it'd also control having to type double-q or not. The solution is simply broader.

I'm looking at this from a black-box perspective of course, so it's possible that what I'm describing doesn't match the logic in the code, but to me, how this option behaves, or its side-effects, isn't ideal. I say this because you mention "You don't have a Quick Key in your case", so I presume no passing-through is happening, but from the outside it sure comes across like that. Making any change may be non-trivial because of how the code is currently coupled together.

And yes, I don't need or want the option. I just want to be able to open the Filter Bar without it immediately filtering when it's the default mode (which I erroneously thought the option controlled when the Filter Bar isn't the default mode -- it doesn't, it's just a side-effect of it, one that I wish was a feature).

Why make it the default mode if you don't want to take advantage of it being the default mode? The whole point of a "default mode" is to let you just type without having to press a separate key first.

Assign a specific key to it, or set up a hotkey to run Set QUICKFILTER if you want to be able to open it without having it filter immediately.

In short, because the Filter Bar is more than a text field (unlike the other modes). It has buttons and other ways to filter. So sometimes I would like to press its Quick Key to only reveal it to begin filtering using one of its other features, not its text field. Most of the time I do want to just type, which is why it's my default.

Opus is built with customisability in mind so I can see two options: Either I choose to always have the Filter Bar visible so I'm free to choose my entry-point to filtering -- essentially, mouse or keyboard: click a filter button or begin typing a pattern, or as you suggest, assign a key to reveal it at any time. I'd rather not crowd up Opus with two additional permanent rows (I use dual horizontal mode), so the latter sounds like the workaround I need.

I've just tested assigning Set QUICKFILTER to Shift + 8 (*) and it works like a charm! This is the exact behaviour I was looking for. Now I can type to filter, or just reveal it to filter by its buttons (instead of typing a character, then backspace, then clicking a button, e.g. the Hide all folders button), both whilst the Filter Bar is set as the default mode.

Thanks for pointing out the obvious solution in retrospect.