[dolphin] [Bug 424416] New: type-ahead selection is unusable

[bugzilla_noreply at kde.org]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=424416

            Bug ID: 424416
           Summary: type-ahead selection is unusable
           Product: dolphin
           Version: 19.12.3
          Platform: Ubuntu Packages
                OS: Linux
            Status: REPORTED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: NOR
         Component: general
          Assignee: dolphin-bugs-null at kde.org
          Reporter: php4fan at gmail.com
                CC: kfm-devel at kde.org
  Target Milestone: ---

SUMMARY

When browsing a folder in a file manager, it's useful to be able to quickly
find a select a file or folder by starting typin its name.

This functionality shouldn't be affected by how fast you type. You should be
allowed to type a file name as slowly as you want and still be able to select
it. Also, you should always be able to see what you have typed, and delete part
or all of it

STEPS TO REPRODUCE
1. I Open a folder in Dolphin that contains lots of file. I want to locate and
select a subfolder called vbp_user_highlights, but there's also a folder or
file called vbp_user_banners, and several others named vbp_something
2. Start typing the name of the file so as to select it

OBSERVED RESULT

Depending on how fast I am to type, a few things can happen:

- I succeed (that's very rare); or
- After I've typed "vb", it takes me a fraction of a second to type the "p",
and selection starts all over again, hence when I type the "p", it selects a
file whose name starts with p; or
- After I've typed "vbp" succesfully, it definitely takes me a little longer to
type the underscore, and by the time I type the "u", selection has started all
over again and I'm selecting files whose name start with u; or
- Because I need to type at the speed of light in order to be able to select
the file that I want, I type it wrong, and
- I also have no clue of what I'm typing, so if I realize I'm typing it wrong
and selection isn't keeping up with what I'm supposed to be typing, I don't
know when I started typing wrong; and
- if I do know that the last character I typed is wrong, I instinctively hit
backspace, but that makes me jump straight up to the parent directory!
Disaster!
- if I realize I've typed some character wrong and I am lucid enough to not hit
backspace, I have to start over and re-type the entire file name from scratch.


EXPECTED RESULT

It should work almost exactly as Gnome's Nautilus used to work before they went
berserk and replaced type-ahead with search.

An input box would appear somewhere (in the case of Gnome it was at the
bottom-right) where you could see what you are typing, and even correct it by
using backspace. This input box wouldn't just disappear on its own if you
stopped typing, so you could take your time. You could make the box disappear
and reset the contents (so as to restart typing or abort altogether) explicitly
by hitting the Esc key, or moving focus away from the current window.

Cinnamon currently does basically the same. Their version is clumsy and
somewhat buggy, but it's still way more usable than Dolphin's unusable,
no-feedback, have-to-type-very-fast version.


SOFTWARE/OS VERSIONS
Operating System: Kubuntu 20.04
KDE Plasma Version: 5.18.5
KDE Frameworks Version: 5.68.0
Qt Version: 5.12.8
Kernel Version: 5.4.0-40-generic
OS Type: 64-bit
Processors: 8 × Intel® Core™ i7-3632QM CPU @ 2.20GHz
Memory: 7,6 GiB of RAM

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

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