I encountered a strange behavior of built-in "windows search". It looks like it is not updating search results according to the characters typed in, at least not always. The problem usually occurs when I am trying to search through directories that contain large number of files, e.g. >~10000. I've made some gifs to show it, I will post them below.
As you can see, I am trying to find all files containing "jpb" in their name in the corresponding folder. As soon as I type additional characters, search results update in both Explorer and Directory Opus, but Directory Opus leaves some results from previous search scope, not narrowing it like it should. This leads to a huge amount of non-relevant data in the search listing. You can type additionally "1" or any other character, like I did in the gif, wait for search to end, and then delete it, after that the search results seem to be correct.
Can you please fix it or explain if I am doing something wrong and this is intended DOpus behavior.
My Directory Opus version:11.16 x64 build 5738 OS version:Windows 7 x64
P.S.
Also I got a question regarding license agreement. Occasionally I use virtual machines on my PC, for testing purposes, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 to be exact. And I would like to know if installing and using Directory Opus on them violates the license agreement in any way. From what I read here, on a machine for which I have a license, I can install DOpus on multiple operating systems or virtual machines for use by one user at the same time. But I don't understand what exactly "use by one user at the same time" implies. Obviously I am the only one user on my PC and I can't physically use Directory Opus on both Host and Guest operating systems simultaneously, I have to switch between them. And if by "use" the license agreement means physical usage by user, then I guess everything is fine, but if it means just running DOpus, then installing it on Host and Guest operating systems and running both copies of Directory Opus at the same time, on Host and Guest correspondingly, will be a license violation.
Windows Search queries include file contents by default, unless you explicitly tell them not to. (Explorer seems to turn this off somehow in folders that are not indexed, as far as I understand it. Opus just passes the query to Windows Search as you type it.)
Windows Search queries include file contents by default, unless you explicitly tell them not to. (Explorer seems to turn this off somehow in folders that are not indexed, as far as I understand it. Opus just passes the query to Windows Search as you type it.)[/quote]
When I first encountered the issue I thought about file contents too, that is why I tried adding extra character to the search query and than deleting it, to prove that DOpus returns different search results with the same search query, or in other words that search results depend on the way you enter search query and not on the search query itself. Here is another gif, though this effect was already shown in the first picture in my previous post.
That's why I think that it is a bug, it's like Opus passes the query to WS correctly but updates the answer from it incorrectly. I also tried filename:jpb and it returns non-relevant search results too.
Of course, here you go. I archived a picture from tumblr, that I used in the video below to reproduce the bug. I used only one file in the archive because it will be faster for you to multiply(copy-paste or mass copy or ...) it locally than for me to upload and for you to download a zip with a bunch of files.
And here is a link to the small video where I am reproducing the bug in different scenarios. I intentionally captured 60 fps 1080p video so that it would be easier for you to obtain information about how and what I was doing. Testing OS - Windows 8.1, the testing itself was done in the virtual machine with Dopus running from the flash drive, testing folder contained 13824 copies of the file in the archive above. Please watch video closely, especially the second half as it shows that typing speed plays crucial role in the reoccurrence of the bug. Specifically, when I type slowly it shows, when I type fast it doesn't(depends on the length of search query though). And another important thing, I can reproduce the error with majority of files present on my PC, this includes mp4, mkv, m4a, flac, ape even dlls from windows folder. Just in case I am using ordinary hard drives for testing. If you require any further information feel free to contact me.
P.S. Please post any updates concerning the subject.
Hello.
Any news on the subject? Do you plan to fix this bug if it is possible of course? I am asking because I use windows search frequently and this kind of behavior makes it practically unusable in directories with large number of files with long and similar names. I even tested DOpus's windows search in indexed location, about 80000 files to search through, and the bug can be reproduced there too.
I don't know if this information is helpful to you anyhow, but after all of my testing I am 90% sure that the problem lies in the way DOpus updates search results as you type.
leo and other developers
More than a week have passed and I still haven't got any reply. It feels like i am being ignored for some reason unknown to me...
Can I get a response on this subject? At least please answer do you have any intention to fix this issue in 11.x branch of Directory Opus? This is very important for all those people who need a stable working windows search and are considering buying DOpus license now, including myself as I thought about purchasing additional licenses before I encountered this problem.
Sorry, we've been finishing other work before looking at this in detail.
I've just reproduced the problem on my machine, and can confirm what you're seeing. We'll investigate further and see if we can get a fix into the next version.
[quote="leo"]Sorry, we've been finishing other work before looking at this in detail.
I've just reproduced the problem on my machine, and can confirm what you're seeing. We'll investigate further and see if we can get a fix into the next version.[/quote]
OK. I hope it will be easy for you to fix it so that in the next Opus version we can enjoy windows search functionality.
Thank you, Leo.
I've tested new beta, and it seems that the fix introduced another bug. Now search results update incorrectly when you are deleting characters from the search box. Gif animation is below.
As you can see, search results update is dependent on the way you delete characters from the search box.
If you select everything in the search box, then try to delete it by pressing backspace or delete button or doing right click and delete from the context menu, the characters will stay as they are in the search box and search results won't be updated. If you try to delete characters by pressing delete or backspace keys quickly, search results will not be updated, and the characters will stay in the search box. If you try to delete characters by pressing delete or backspace but slowly everything will be fine until the last character in the search box, it can't be deleted(I tried delete, backspace key, delete from the context menu, only resseting search query seams to help), and of course search results will correspond that last character.
Are you sure that's new? None of the changes in the beta should have affected that, to my knowledge.
What would you want to see when the search field was completely empty? It's a null search which would not return any results, so we could either keep the existing results (as happens in your gif) or clear the results and leave you seeing nothing at all. Both seem fine to me.
May I suggest the third option, I think it will be better to turn off search and show directory contents, like windows explorer does it.
My reasoning behind this is that null search in any case will return blank search results, so there is no point in showing this to user, as there is no point in showing search results corresponding to last left character when visually search bar is completely empty, this behavior can confuse people. Also windows explorer approach helps to make less actions to return to default directory contents, at least when I am deleting characters from search field, all I have to do is to push backspace one more time and everything is like it was before the search, while in Directory Opus I have to use other hand to press Esc or to move my hand to mouse to use special buttons or to click the cross in the search field or click one of arrow buttons.
That's just uncomfortable.
I've installed latest beta 11.16.2, and it seems nothing changed in terms of windows search behavior. No matter how you look at it, it doesn't look correct right now.
Because:
It is impossible to clear search field using "highlight -> delete" action. DOpus shows that the search field is empty, while in fact it is not and when you click on any file in the window the text in the search field returns as if it wasn't deleted at all.
2)It is impossible to fully clear search field using backspace. DOpus shows that the search field is empty, while in fact it keeps first character of the query preserved and keeps looking for corresponding search results. This gives you additional load on your hardware. Plus this is misleading for users because it is not obvious what exactly DOpus is doing, some may think that the application is not responding anymore.
If there is no way or it is technically difficult to implement Explorer-like behavior, then the second best option is to clear the results and leave nothing as you suggested above, of course with the ability to normally remove all characters from the search field(e.g. "highlight -> delete" or backspace)
The original bug that this thread was about was fixed & I think you confirmed the fix above.
The other behaviour that was added to the thread after that is not something we plan to change, at least at present. We're happy with the way that works already, and it's working as designed.
If you want to clear the search field and return to the original folder, either push return after erasing the search string, or click the X button in the search field.
[quote="leo"]The original bug that this thread was about was fixed & I think you confirmed the fix above.
The other behaviour that was added to the thread after that is not something we plan to change, at least at present. We're happy with the way that works already, and it's working as designed.
If you want to clear the search field and return to the original folder, either push return after erasing the search string, or click the X button in the search field.[/quote]
I just thought that this was a subject open to discussion because you yourself said that you "could either keep the existing results or clear the results" when the query is null. That is why I wrote another message with my further suggestions in this topic. If this offended you in any way, I am sorry, that was not my intention.
[quote]Also windows explorer approach helps to make less actions to return to default directory contents, at least when I am deleting characters from search field, all I have to do is to push backspace one more time and everything is like it was before the search, while in Directory Opus I have to use other hand to press Esc or to move my hand to mouse to use special buttons or to click the cross in the search field or click one of arrow buttons.
That's just uncomfortable.[/quote]
