8.0 sp 1 Find Dialog

[Altera_Forum]

Hi, 

 I recently updated Quartus II WE to 8.0sp1. The text editor now has one little annoyance: when I enter a search string in the Find dialog, the focus is transferred to the editor. Usually after I find the necessary place in text, I would press ESC key to hide the Find dialog. But now that focus belongs to the editor area, the dialog never receives ESC keypress. The only way to hide it, thus, is to grab the mouse and close it by clicking. I use Find function a lot, it's my primary navigational method and behaviour like this is infuriating.  If this is not an appropriate place for reports like this, please point me to the right place.  Viacheslav

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  If this is not an appropriate place for reports like this, please point me to the right place.  --- Quote End ---  *points to trash bin*  Actually I agree totally. You also can't do "Search Next" by just pressing Enter again (although there's a separate keyboard shortcut) or modify the search phrase. At the very least another Ctrl+F should transfer the focus back to where I can enter a new search. You could also press Esc at that point.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  You also can't do "Search Next" by just pressing Enter again...  --- Quote End ---    If everyone who wants the Find behavior changed would file a service request at https://mysupport.altera.com/, maybe Altera will eventually change it.  I requested that it work more like I'm accustomed to in other Microsoft Windows applications with the focus remaining in the Find dialog box on the Find Next button. The response was that it was made to work the way it does now because of someone else's request. If enough people ask that it be changed, Altera might change it.

[Altera_Forum]

What some applications that don't like the Microsoft approach do is close the Find dialog after each search. Note how this addresses both my and svofski's issues. No need for Esc and Ctrl+F lets you search again. The downside is that searching repeatedly is less intuitive (whether with the keyboard or especially the mouse). That's why Microsoft does it the way it does. Altera's idea of zooming to the text while not closing the Find dialog is the worst of both worlds. (Note: closing the find dialog and going to the text is very slightly more efficient of the two methods. But it's at the cost of much more inefficiency when people don't realize what F3 is for.)

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  Note: closing the find dialog and going to the text is very slightly more efficient of the two methods. But it's at the cost of much more inefficiency when people don't realize what F3 is for.  --- Quote End ---    To find the occurrence I'm looking for, in other applications I often search repeatedly by simply pressing <Enter> multiple times. Leaving the Find dialog box open with the focus on the Find Next command is more efficient for that. It's easy to hit <Escape> without giving it a second thought to close the box after a single search. I'd be annoyed by having to reopen the dialog box repeatedly to search over and over for the same thing, but not as annoyed as I am by the current Quartus text editor behavior.

[Altera_Forum]

Find dialog behaviour wasn't broken in 7.1. It was annoying that each text buffer had its own search string, true, but it's merely a "feature". Focus was preserved.

[Altera_Forum]

Brad, I don't think you've realized what F3 is for. 

 EDIT: btw, F3 is broken when searching up. It'd also be nice if Shift+F3 would search in the opposite direction.

[Altera_Forum]

Speaking of F3's. Is there a reliable shortcut to search in messages? Sometimes I have to search for a specific warning and then I click the message pane, press Ctrl-F and see search dialog invoked for the Text Editor. Grunt, cancel. I click in message pane again, press F3 and, provided there was no search string given before, a Find Dialog in the messages context opens up. Great. Now I want to change the search string.. Uh oh.. The only way out is by a context menu. Again, there's nothing fatal, but it's just goddamn annoying. 

 It's just possible that some engineer in Altera will once feel tired of moving mountains and would take a slow week of fixing really simple stuff, probably marked as "low prio/cosmetics" in their database but appreciated so much by us end users ;)

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  Brad, I don't think you've realized what F3 is for.  --- Quote End ---    Actually, I hadn't paid attention to F3 in the Quartus text editor. I rarely (and so don't always think to) use F3 in other applications because the method I'm in the habit of using works in most of the applications I use. I guess I'll have to form a new habit just for the text editor.     --- Quote Start ---  Is there a reliable shortcut to search in messages? Sometimes I have to search for a specific warning...  --- Quote End ---    It might not seem as convenient for you, but I search the messages in a file. I usually just use the appropriate .rpt file that already exists, but an alternative is "Save Messages" on the right-click menu of the Messages window. This might seem cumbersome to look for just one message, but for me it's a good way to do something like search for every mention of a particular name in the design.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  It might not seem as convenient for you, but I search the messages in a file.   --- Quote End ---   It's actually convenient because it's deterministic ;)