Empty Search Field Behavior

[mikelove]

A user wrote me to express disappointment concerning the new Browse / Search Tips / etc menu that pops up when you switch dictionaries with an empty search field (or open Pleco with no previously saved search), and I wanted to check here to see if anyone shared that sentiment and would also prefer that we go back to something closer to the old behavior: showing you the results of the last search in that dictionary, or in that dictionary's language.

I'm pretty well convinced now to add it as an option in the next bug-fix update, but haven't decided yet whether or not to make it a default, so feedback on this would be most welcome - this would be happening in the 2.4.3 update which we expect to have out in just a day or two.

 

[ckatt]

I, for one, like the way it works. in fact i have the option checked to always show that screen when i clear the input box. though, now come to think of it, i don't know why. i guess i just like things set to zero before i start something new. actually i don't use the options listed there very often, maybe only the browse entries and that's pretty much only on user dicts. I'm a fairly advanced user, so the manual is not much use to me nor are the tips. But for new users i would think it a good thing to have that screen readily available.

 

[HW60]

A user wrote me to express disappointment concerning the new Browse / Search Tips / etc menu that pops up when you switch dictionaries with an empty search field (or open Pleco with no previously saved search), and I wanted to check here to see if anyone shared that sentiment and would also prefer that we go back to something closer to the old behavior: showing you the results of the last search in that dictionary, or in that dictionary's language

Actually there are several situations in which Pleco reacts unexpected.
This menu is one of them. The problem in these situations is, that you do not tap on a button to cause the reaction, it comes without being invited.

I found 2 more similar situations: When I make a full text search in my user dictionary and start with "#k", the reaction is "No results found". This is different from the full text search in e.g. PLC, where I get an answer to "#k". (When this happened the first time, it took me a long time to find out that I had to rebuild the full-text index to get any result at all, which is probably due to the experimental status of this long awaited (!) feature). The different treatment of user dictionary and other dictionaries is unexpected.

The third situation is the unvoluntary automatic switch between dictionaries and the language button in the top left of the main screen during (especially full-text) searching. I have the impression that Pleco controls me, but I would like to control the program. When I want to search my user dictionary, Pleco always switches to one of the dictionary groups. (The different meaning of the language button in full-text search increases my confusion). I would prefer a message like "No results found" when my settings were not changed by Pleco before - otherwise I still think of a misunderstanding between Pleco and me or of a wrong input I made. Maybe there are settings to prevent this behaviour, but it was not disappointed enough so far to look into the manual.

 

[mikelove]

I, for one, like the way it works. in fact i have the option checked to always show that screen when i clear the input box. though, now come to think of it, i don't know why. i guess i just like things set to zero before i start something new. actually i don't use the options listed there very often, maybe only the browse entries and that's pretty much only on user dicts. I'm a fairly advanced user, so the manual is not much use to me nor are the tips. But for new users i would think it a good thing to have that screen readily available.

That was our thinking too, and my inclination is just to leave this other behavior an off-by-default option somewhere so that longtime users can still get it if they prefer. We certainly may expand on / make more customizable this screen in the future, too - show a few recent entries / searches right in that list, say.

Actually there are several situations in which Pleco reacts unexpected.
This menu is one of them. The problem in these situations is, that you do not tap on a button to cause the reaction, it comes without being invited.

What do you mean? Isn't it only coming up when you tap on the dictionary switch button, or is it coming up some other time too?

I found 2 more similar situations: When I make a full text search in my user dictionary and start with "#k", the reaction is "No results found". This is different from the full text search in e.g. PLC, where I get an answer to "#k". (When this happened the first time, it took me a long time to find out that I had to rebuild the full-text index to get any result at all, which is probably due to the experimental status of this long awaited (!) feature). The different treatment of user dictionary and other dictionaries is unexpected.

Still very much an "experimental" feature, actually, but we can certainly investigate why that's happening.

The third situation is the unvoluntary automatic switch between dictionaries and the language button in the top left of the main screen during (especially full-text) searching. I have the impression that Pleco controls me, but I would like to control the program. When I want to search my user dictionary, Pleco always switches to one of the dictionary groups. (The different meaning of the language button in full-text search increases my confusion). I would prefer a message like "No results found" when my settings were not changed by Pleco before - otherwise I still think of a misunderstanding between Pleco and me or of a wrong input I made. Maybe there are settings to prevent this behaviour, but it was not disappointed enough so far to look into the manual.

That's by design - the thinking basically is that most searches ought to start in a dictionary group, since viewing dictionary-specific results is more of a drilling-down-for-more-details type thing. (in fact for a while we were planning to do away with the dictionary switch button altogether - still might at some point)

However, we've provided two ways to override this behavior: Settings / Dictionary / Search Settings / Search Dictionaries, set "Dictionary search order" to "From current" and turn off "Reset to first if single dict" and that will get it to stay in the dictionary you're in unless it finds a better result in a different dictionary, or set "Dictionary search order" to "Current only" (and also turn off that "reset to first" option) and it will never switch dictionaries. You can also make this behavior happen only in some dictionaries by enabling "Sticky Selection" for them in Manage Dicts - basically, if you've deliberately switched to that dictionary (by tapping on the button / selecting it in the tap-hold menu) the software will never change away from it unless you tell it to.

 

[HW60]

Actually there are several situations in which Pleco reacts unexpected.
This menu is one of them. The problem in these situations is, that you do not tap on a button to cause the reaction, it comes without being invited

What do you mean? Isn't it only coming up when you tap on the dictionary switch button, or is it coming up some other time too?

Yes, it only comes after tapping on the dictionary button. But only today after your post I found out why it comes - until now it was just there without preparation, and I did not realize why.

Maybe there are settings to prevent this behaviour, but it was not disappointed enough so far to look into the manual.

That's by design - the thinking basically is that most searches ought to start in a dictionary group, since viewing dictionary-specific results is more of a drilling-down-for-more-details type thing. (in fact for a while we were planning to do away with the dictionary switch button altogether - still might at some point)

The problem is that I cannot add my user dictionary to the "built-in" dictionary groups. And even sticky selection, which I use for my user dictionary, does not help when full-text search does not work (or works different) in the user dictionary.

However, we've provided two ways to override this behavior: Settings / Dictionary / Search Settings / Search Dictionaries, set "Dictionary search order" to "From current" and turn off "Reset to first if single dict" and that will get it to stay in the dictionary you're in unless it finds a better result in a different dictionary, or set "Dictionary search order" to "Current only" (and also turn off that "reset to first" option) and it will never switch dictionaries. You can also make this behavior happen only in some dictionaries by enabling "Sticky Selection" for them in Manage Dicts - basically, if you've deliberately switched to that dictionary (by tapping on the button / selecting it in the tap-hold menu) the software will never change away from it unless you tell it to.

Sticky selection I tried already, I'll test the other settings now too, thanks. Let me again say this is a great update!

 

[mikelove]

The problem is that I cannot add my user dictionary to the "built-in" dictionary groups. And even sticky selection, which I use for my user dictionary, does not help when full-text search does not work (or works different) in the user dictionary.

So it's not included automatically? That may be an oversight on our part - we'll test further, thanks.

Sticky selection I tried already, I'll test the other settings now too, thanks. Let me again say this is a great update!

Thanks! But does this mean that Sticky selection isn't actually working / you're still getting switched out of your dictionary, or is it working correctly but not completely solving the problem because there's something else you'd like it to do?

 

[HW60]

Probably the reason for my problem was only the different treatment of full-text search of user dictionary and others. Therefore I thought my user dictionary was not included in the chinese dictionaries (doing full-text search), but actually it is, when I look for chinese words in the dictionary group. And sticky selection seems to do what it should, but it does not help in full-text search (but as it is the only dictionary with sticky selection, it does not switch, but says No results found).