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Hi Greg,

Searching for objects in ST is something I do very often, it's perhaps the most often used function for me. AFAIK, currently it involves using the mouse twice so it's less efficient than I'd wish it were. 

To open the search dialog, I need to click on Tools then Designation Search. There is no accelerator key for either (otherwise, Alt-T then S would have been acceptable; a single global shortcut like F3 ideal).

I then can perform the search by typing the criterion than hit Enter. This is fine.

But to open the first result of the search (which most often is the desired one), I have to use the mouse again. I cannot move the focus out of the search textbox by pressing Tab (if I do, it types that special character in which replaces what I searched for). If Tab moved the focus to the Search button then to the results, pressing Tab twice and enter on the first result (or going down in the list with the down arrow key) would have been very fine.

In the field, with the laptop, I miss the keyboard even more because using the touchpad is not as fast or precise than a mouse and if I have a glove, it may not work at all. Sometimes I carry a Bluetooth mouse, but it requires a surface and it's an extra object.

Is there a way to achieve the above? If not, could it be in the future?

Thanks,
Razvan

Hello Razvan,

As anyone who uses my software knows, the keyboard interface isn't my strong suit, mostly because I tend to use the mouse exclusively. Some of these things haven't happened because they are difficult to do in Windows (see previous sentence). Nevertheless, these are the little things that can make a big difference. With the help of AI, I will see about adding top-level shortcuts.

The keyboard on the Designation Search is another tough one. This is because its more than one dialog (like the Planner), one embedded into the other, so the key presses have to be shared between them, and Windows wasn't design to do that. But again, with the help available these days, I will work on it. I know it can be done because I had it working in SkyTools 3.

Thanks for your feedback. Its appreciated. I and others can easily just learn to ignore stuff like this, and it should be fixed instead.

Thanks in advance, Greg. Out of the two, if you want feedback on priority, the latter would be more useful in the field, because it requires precise touchpad movements to click on a result and not on another or on nothing. With log brightness and a red film on screen, it can be harder to locate the mouse cursor as well so usually I have to move it randomly for a few seconds to detect where it is. In contrast, the physical keys are always where muscle memory expects them and this allows using the laptop well, on the lap (I do that during cold nights here in Ontario, I consult the laptop in the car where there isn't a good place for a mouse).

Clear skies,
Razvan

Hi Razvan,

Have you investigated using a trackball instead of a mouse? Logitech makes one with a thumb controlled ball and several additional buttons that can be programmed to perform special functions for your apps. I've set some up for 'Copy', 'Paste' and 'Close Window' that I find very useful. It is a little pricy, but it's wireless and doesn't need to be moved around on a surface, like a mouse. It just stays in one place.

Phil S.

Hi Phil,

Thanks for the suggestion. It'd work better than a mouse indeed, but I would still prefer to use the keyboard, where my fingers already are (after a career in programming I can touch type so it's very natural even in the dark) and avoid the extra device for such a limited use case. 

I'm sure others will find it a useful suggestion, though.

Razvan

Well, a surprising follow-up: I've just noticed that if I perform a search and don't move the focus out of the search window, pressing Home actually opens the first result's object information. This was counterintuitive, I expected the cursor to move at the beginning of the text field (pressing End moves it to the end, as expected).

Also unexpectedly on this dialog, pressing Tab while the focus is in the search box acts types that particular special character in the box (sure, there's no use, but it's the expected behaviour) but ... also adds the first result to the observing list currently selected at the bottom of the dialog. There's an "Object added" message appearing under it.

I haven't seen the above documented, not even in Blake's (RIP, sir) shortcut list. Maybe others will find this useful.

So for the time being, I can work with Home. Ideally there'd be keyboard navigation to the result list but this is acceptable if I search with precision.

Razvan

I honestly don't remember. I will look into it.