This request is similar to my earlier but unresolved post (see below).
I'm seeking to use an "Input" field type (like search) that enables entering a value into a input field. I do NOT want to pop-up a dialog but instead just type in some value and press enter.
Suggested Implementation
Add "Input" to the Field Type or New submenu.
The "Input" field would look similar to the Search field.
Using "Edit" the new fields labels, description, hootkey, and function or commands would be entered.
The "Input" field data could be referenced as a local variable name.
Are there any suggested ways I could do this or is this a feature that you can add to Dopus?
Example Usage For this Feature
Open a URL with custom data (e.g. stock symbol) entered in the input field.
Run a PowerShell script using data the user supplies.
What's the difference between this and the old thread?
Have you looked at FAYT scripts? They let you type input and have a script interpret it however it wants, without any pop-up dialog (and without needing to use up any toolbar space either).
I was also wanting something like this. I think the best way to achieve it outside of Opus would be through AHK (you could mount the search field on a floating toolbar), or through just accepting a pop up search and using Keyparinha. Or as suggested, through using FAYT.
I agree that this would be a welcome feature though. Particularly, on floating toolbars, as they are currently burdened by the lack of a search field (and do not have access to a FAYT field).
I would add that Dopus' floating toolbars are underpublicized. I would have bought it just for this and was using it for quite awhile before I even realized it had this feature.
I disagree. I think that if this were implemented, it should be an edit field bound to a button-like control that only passes whatever the user types to the button's programmed action. That way it doesn't know anything about your other toolbars or buttons. Something along those lines would be similar in complexity to a script add-in or a FAYT script.
That is something you can do easily with the script I share with you in your other post
Sorry to ask, but since you're going to need to enter something from the keyboard, what's the advantage to have that field sitting somewhere on a toolbar so you need to click with your mouse before going to the keyboard and enter whatever is required ?
If you really want something on the toolbar, you can add a "DOpus standard function" button with the code: @sendkey:$ (assuming your fayt quick key is $). But honestly, I do not get the point.
The @sendkey suggestion is great for triggering the standard Fayt activation, but it doesn't help run a custom Fayt script from a floating toolbar.
My feature request aims to integrate the Fayt script execution directly into the toolbar field's context, allowing users to type a query and instantly run a custom action on it via a Quick Key, without having to move the mouse, switch desktops or switch context to the Lister for activation.
The use cases are the same as any use for Fayt, except access is from a toolbar.
For example, @errante has created ToolbarPalette : A Command Palette option for Opus, and it has a built-in Fayt feature. It would be far more convenient to be able to run this while viewing a toolbar with a few dozen buttons excluding the one you really want to find!
The fact that it HAS to work from a floating toolbar did not seem so obvious in the original post.
Then, you state you don't want a pop-up and also mention errante's CommandPalette as an example when it is opening up a pop up window.
Also note that if you want to trigger it from a floating toolbar not being related to any lister window, this kinda defeats the fact that you also want to trigger Opus commands from it (even if some custom commands could be unrelated to a lister, a large portion of them would be related to selected files, or actions to trigger on the current displayed folder, ...)
To make it short, you're asking for something that does not exist (principle of a feature request, one would say), but the problem is that you just stick on what you have in mind when multiple solutions could give you the same result but in a slightly different way. You're rejecting them because they're not following the exact design you thought of.
As a side note, I'm now kinda lost about what you really want, and it it seems to me you want something like flowlauncher but trigger from Opus.
Yes, floating toolbars changes things a lot and wasn't mentioned before now.
But I don't think any of the path and filter fields work on floating toolbars anyway; they all need a lister to make sense.
If I wanted something I could type into from any program, not just when Opus is active, I'd probably make a global hotkey which opens a dialog for me to type into. (Which Opus can do as well.)
@PassThePeas
This feature request was not intended to solve an imminent issue. The examples provided were to illustrate possibilities for this feature.
If you perceived I am stuck in my vision for the implementation than you are 100% correct! My original post was indeed a feature request!
If it did exist, I am certain I would find many uses I have not yet thought of!
That wouldn't work the way you think. Imagine you set two FAYT edit fields in different toolbars (with the same quick key for the same FAYT script). How would you tell which one should activate and call the script? Multiple hotkeys for the same FAYT script?
Also, like I said above, it would still require knowing how to code, since the FAYT script wouldn't know where it was called from (the actual FAYT field, a toolbar, etc.), so you'd have to tweak every FAYT script to make it work the way you want.
To me it sounds like you want something similar (if not identical) to the current search field, but that lets you run other tasks. Note that you can't set a custom hotkey there, and I guess that's for the same reason I explained earlier about quick keys. So you'd still need to activate the field with the mouse to give it input focus, and you'd still be in need of a custom command because that field, if implemented, would probably only run whatever command you bind to it and pass whatever you type into that command (not a multi commander, unless you type the whole command line you want to run)
IMHO you should probably rethink your request. In the meantime, you can use the FAYT field with a custom script that fulfills most of your needs.
(the templayt script would got you cover, so I don't quite understand what's supposed to be wrong with it. As I remember from the edit-field request (the one in the other thread), it looks like you wanted the FAYT field to always be visible so you could click it to use it. But that contradicts wanting to activate it with a quick key like you say; in that case, what difference would leaving it visible make?)
IMHO (which I acknowledge most others in this thread may not share), it makes (my) toolbar access workflow faster because my eyes can stay on an already open floating toolbar and, once i click the filter field, my fingers can stay on the keyboard.
And yes, it is very similar to the current search field but as you can see with the script posted above, it is actually a filter field.
And you are 100% correct that there needs to be a way for the quick key to only run the desired script for the selected control instead of running on multiple Fayt fields.
And again you are correct that coding is typically needed so the script performs the desired custom task, but that alternatively could be configured using a settings file.
Example:
user types into Fayt field on toolbar: $ (that lauches Filter Interceptor script)
Then user continues to enter: TP:FlexGrids>10.11 {enter}
Filter Interceptor script captures prefix and looks at a settings file to decode the prefix TP: and then runs ToolbarPalette SEARCHFILTER=FlexGrids>10.11
In the end I may save a couple of clicks per use but do this 20 - 30 times a day and before you know it you saved 24 x 365days or 9000+ clicks and workflow distractions! Just saying.
Lastly, a big thank you to everyone that put up with my ramblings. One can hope, that one day, the wizard of Dopus will find a way to enable the Fayt on floating toolbars!
It would be more related to a custom command (via scripting) that processes what you type into that field, rather than a FAYT script, which is tied to a quick key. But it all depends on how it's implemented.
The bitter truth is that it doesn't save you clicks or time; it actually adds them.
Because you can call a FAYT script directly with its quick key. One action. No mouse involved.
With your request you have to give the field input focus first (via the mouse or a hotkey if possible), then type into the field. And if from there you can call a FAYT-like script, you'd then have to press its quick key, and so on.
FWIW, the templayt script does save you time and clicks, since it adds aliases for commands.
suggestion is great for triggering the standard Fayt activation, but it doesn't help run a custom Fayt script from a floating toolbar.
of Dopus will find a way to enable the Fayt on floating toolbars!