Add toggle to only show entries that are NOT in this group

[ThiloteE]

• Fixes Issues with search and groups and associated feature request (floating mode) #4237 via workaround

  Would be nice:

  • How about making Toggle intersection slightly more sophisticated by extending to individual groups? Adding per-group negation (i.e., toggle to 'NOT') would be possible without complicated query logic. Selected groups could default to the current option (AND/OR) and toggle to NOT.

  Originally posted by @ryan-carpenter in Groups: general changes #4681 (comment)

[ThiloteE]

In addition to its inherent use, adding a toggle to show entries that are not in this group would be a workaround to add "floating mode" like capabilities (tracked in #4237). Albeit less smooth looking of a solution, adding a toggle avoids adding various colours to the entry table (refs. #8963), which would be necessary to distinguish between entries that have been found using search:

• entries with high search score
• entries with low search score
• entries that are part of this group
• entries that are not part of this group

Adding many colours comes at the added cost of

• maintaining compatibility with light/dark mode
• can look ugly
• creating problems for people having problems distinguishing colours
• Even though there are different colours, it may not be intuitive to users what all these various colours mean

[ryan-carpenter]

This issue is also related to #7871. I love regex solutions, but here are some ideas for mouse-driven boolean logic: (sorry, no graphics or videos)

1. Three-way Toggle intersection between union (OR), intersection (AND), and

• exclusion (XOR), or possibly
• inversion (NOR)
  … changing only the icon.

2. Difference tool, like Inkscape or illustrator https://inkscape-manuals.readthedocs.io/en/latest/boolean-operations.html, where the last shape (group) selected is the one subtracted (or optionally, the first shape selected).

Possible JabRef approach:

• Click group A -> Shift+click group D -> entry table shows A–D (current situation)
• With A–D selected, click the difference tool -> entry table shows (A–C NOT D).
• Click the difference tool again-> entry table switches to (D NOT A–C)

3. More about the per-group NOT toggle (this issue, Add toggle to only show entries that are NOT in this group #9073)
   The Citavi screenshots in Issues with search and groups and associated feature request (floating mode) #4237 show the filter menu but not the hidden, unintuitive, cumbersome, yet very useful invert arrows. ON-OFF sliders next to each JabRef group would be immensely simpler to use.

[Rupesh-Lal]

Hi @ThiloteE , I tried adding a button for negation function. The button is displayed properly and tooltip is also working fine but I am not able to add functionality properly. Can you help me like what files I need to modify to add functionality or what is the flow from where the keyword we give on search bar is doing match with the entries.

[ThiloteE]

Hello @Rupesh-Lal, unfortunately I don't know. View me more to be a community manager than being a coder.
I would suggest to open a pull-request so that the maintainers that are good at coding can have a look at it.
By now, there is also

• Lucene search backend #8963
• Prototype Implement better search user interface #341 #8356

which will bring huge changes to JabRef's search feature.
So, I hope there will not be any merge conflicts.