Saved Search Folder (aka Virtual Folders) Testing Thread

[mscott]

Starting with today's 10/18 builds, you can now help test one of our new 0.9 features, saved search folders (aka virtual folders). A saved search folder looks like a regular mail folder but when you click on it, it runs a pre-determined search on arbitrary search criteria and arbitrary mail folders and shows you the results, creating the effect of a 'virtua' folder.

ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/t ... atest-0.8/

We just checked in our User Interface for creating and editing saved search folders and can use your testing help.

<b>Summary of the New Behavior:</b>
<ol>
<li>File / New / Saved Search Folder --> brings up the new virtual folder UI
<li>Right click on an existing saved search folder, choose properties --> should see virtual folder UI showing current VF properties. Title of the dialog should reflect the name of the folder.
<li>Quick Search / Save As Search Folder --> should bring up new virtual folder UI with fields pre-filled for name, folder to create under, folder to search and search terms.
<li>Views combo box / Save As Search Folder --> should bring up the new virtual folder UI with fields pre-filled in to match the current mail view. Current folder should be pre-checked in the older list picker dialog.
<li>Save As Search Folder from the Advanced Search dialog should bring up the new virtual folder UI with your advanced search criteria pre-filled in and the folders you were searching on should be pre-checked in the folder list dialog.
<li>If you attempt to create a new virtual folder and you don't choose any folders to search, you should get an error dialog when you hit ok.
<li>If you attempt to create a new virtual folder with a name that already corresponds to an existing mail folder at the same hierarchical level, you should get an error dialog when you click ok.
<li>Canceling the edit virtual properties dialog should not change any properties of the saved search folder.
<li>canceling creationg of a new virtual folder should not do anything
<li>After modifying the properties of an existing saved search folder (such as changing the criteria), when you hit ok, if that folder is the currenly loaded folder in the message list pane, we should reload it, reflecting the changes you made to the search criteria.
</ol>

<b>Known Issues / Things still not finished</b>
<ol>
<li>We don't have folder pane artwork yet to make these saved search folders stand out and look different from normal folders.
<li>The folder list picker dialog for Mac OS X has theme issues keeping you from seeing the checkboxes next to each folder (Fixed for the 10/19 builds).
<li>The folders in the new folder picker dialog are not sorted correctly with the special folders at the top like they are in the folder pane. They are sorted alphabetically.
<li>Need a checkbox in the folder picker dialog that says search sub folders. Clicking on a folder would automatically select its subfolders for the virtual folder search as well.
<li> a checkbox in the main virtual folder dialog for doing an offline search instead of searching online.
<li>The folder list dialog where you pick the folders to search for your saved search folder was not quite wide enough pixel wise if you use normal sized fonts. I just fixed that issue. Will be in the 10/19 builds.
</ol>

Thanks for helping us test this exciting feature! And a big thanks to David Bienvenu for doing all the heavy lifting in the mailnews back end to support saved search folders.

-Scott

[mscott]

The folder list dialog where you pick the folders to search for your saved search folder was not quite wide enough pixel wise if you use normal sized fonts. I just fixed that issue. Will be in the 10/19 builds.

[RickFriedman]

First bug that I've found with this...

In trying to create a new "Saved Search Folder" (File->New->Saved Search...), I fill in all the info: Name, Create as a subfolder of, select the folders to search and the search criteria. Upon clicking OK, I receive the message: "You must choose at least one folder to search for the saved search folder."

This occurs even though I've chosen a folder. I could choose 4 folders and it still occurs.

Rick

[Dux]

Hello mscott,

I'm following the same path as RickFriedman, but when clicking the Ok button nothing happens. No folder with with the specified name is created. When clicking the Ok button again I get the message: A folder with that name already exists. Please enter a different name.

Will start testing some other ways now.

- Hmmmm, strange, when starting the search again I can see the named virtual folder as a subfolder from Inbox in the Select Folder(s) window.

- After restarting TB the same virtual folder can be created (if that would work). It's not in the Select Folder(s) window anymore.

- When doing a search first (ctrl-shift-F) and then 'Save as Search Folder' which opens the same dialog, the named folder is created.
When the Search Messages dialog is started the Open, File, Delete, Open Message Folder and Save as Search Folder buttons are in disabled state. When there is a result they are enabled depending on the selecton in the view. When clicking the Clear button their state remains enabled. Happens for the Fewer button also. Even when the result is: No matches found the state for the Save as ... button changes to enabled.

- When deleting a created Virtual Folder it is removed from the folder list, but the messages stay in the message list. They can even be selected so the content is showed in the message pane.
When changing folders, let's say go to the Inbox, then go back to the Virtual Folder, the sort is on Date / ascending for a short period of time, then switched back to Date / descending (which is the way I set).

Nothing to do with this functionality but when using Ctrl-U (View Message Source) I get an XML Parsing error now.

[mscott]

First bug that I've found with this...

In trying to create a new "Saved Search Folder" (File->New->Saved Search...), I fill in all the info: Name, Create as a subfolder of, select the folders to search and the search criteria. Upon clicking OK, I receive the message: "You must choose at least one folder to search for the saved search folder."

This occurs even though I've chosen a folder. I could choose 4 folders and it still occurs.

Rick

I haven't been able to reproduce this yet. Any errors in the JavaScript console after you hit ok?

[AlexIhrig]

@ Rick Friedman:

How do you select the folders, to search in? The folders have to be selected by clicking on the little point on the right side. This is a little bit confusing, because the user might think the whole foldername has to be activated.

[wintogreen]

Thanks for this feature -- it's bound to be a hit! A few random comments (below, VF = virtual folder):

1. On my first launch of this build (Win zip), I had a crash upon exiting after trying to change the search properties for a VF. (I forgot to note the incident number in the talkback agent, but if you see a crash report from r.ubbish@mail... that would be me.)

2. The UI (File > New > Saved Search) gives the impression that you can search more than one account, since you can check the folders from multiple accounts. But for me it doesn't search for more than one account. Is it supposed to?

EDIT: I see from comment #22 here that the UI has now been modified:

modify folder list picker dialog to only let you choose folders from the same account

3. If possible, please make the Select Folder(s) dialog resizeable by the user. I find it too short when I have a long list of folders I want to scroll through.

4. Similar to Known Issue #4 above: the Select Folder(s) dialog should have an easy way to select or deselect all of the folders in a given account (as well as all subfolders within a given folder), without having to go through and select/deselect each folder individually.

5. After changing the "folders to search" through the Edit Saved Search Properties dialog and clicking the OK button, the VF doesn't refresh immediately. I have to click on another folder first and then click on the VF again for it to refresh.

6. In the message list, the sort order of messages in a VF is not preserved. If I click on the Date column to make oldest messages at the top and newest at the bottom, it does sort this way. But if I click on another folder and then come back to the VF, the sort order reverts to what it was previously. It always seems to revert to sorting by Location (i.e., Folder), and then within those groupings by Date.

7. Successive renaming of a VF sometimes causes problems. In one instance, after renaming the VF (via right-click, Rename Folder) the VF lost all of its search attributes and displayed no messages (but I could reset it again via right-click > Properties). In another instance, the VF got converted into a regular mail folder (after which I exited but then Tb would not restart again). In another instance, after exiting and restarting there were two VFs listed in the folders pane even though I had created only one. (There used to be a similar problem with successive renaming of regular folders that could be cured, as I recall, by zapping panacea.dat, but I thought that it had been fixed.)

[RickFriedman]

First bug that I've found with this...

In trying to create a new "Saved Search Folder" (File->New->Saved Search...), I fill in all the info: Name, Create as a subfolder of, select the folders to search and the search criteria. Upon clicking OK, I receive the message: "You must choose at least one folder to search for the saved search folder."

This occurs even though I've chosen a folder. I could choose 4 folders and it still occurs.

Rick

I haven't been able to reproduce this yet. Any errors in the JavaScript console after you hit ok?

Scott,

There are no errors in the javascript console. Here is the exact procedure I am following:

Code: Select all

1. Choose File->New->Saved Search...
2. Enter name for Saved Search Folder
3. Enter where to "create as a subfolder of"
4. Click the "Choose" button for "Select the folders to search"
5. Highlight a folder and click OK
6. Enter the search criteria for the folder
7. Click the OK button

At this point, I always receive the following message: "You must choose at least one folder to search for the saved search folder." This happens even if I select more than one folder to search.

Rick

[AlexIhrig]

@ Rick Friedman:
Open your Eyes (sorry) and read my post above. You haven't to highlight the folders! You've to select them by clicking on the little point on the right side of the folders name.

[mscott]

Rick, Thunder is right, you aren't selecting any folders. This dialog works just like the subscribe dialog and the select folders for offline use dialog. You have to click on each dot to the right of the name to check it. You'll see a big check mark show up when you've clicked it.

[RickFriedman]

Rick, Thunder is right, you aren't selecting any folders. This dialog works just like the subscribe dialog and the select folders for offline use dialog. You have to click on each dot to the right of the name to check it. You'll see a big check mark show up when you've clicked it.

Unfortunately, there is no dot to the right of the folder name that I can see:

<screenshot removed>

Am I wrong??

Rick

[RickFriedman]

OK... it seems to be a theme-related problem. I was using the Neptune theme by Aaron Spuler. I switched to the default theme for Thunderbird and now I see the "dots" to the right of the folder names.

In fact, it doesn't work with either of the other two themes I have installed (Apollo, also by Aaron Spuler and Nautipolis for Thunderbird by Alfred Kayser).

Rick

[mscott]

sure the new UI means the themes have to be updated of course. I see were the confusion was coming from now...

[AlexIhrig]

@ Rick Friedman:
Sorry for beeing so hard.

In case of problems we all should first disable extensions and themes.

[Ommarok]

This is a very cool feature that I've been really looking forward to have in Thunderbird. Thanks for the good work!

Now on my testing results I've found out that if you try to use the "Grouped by sort" view (by clicking G) the contents of the search folder disappear.