feat: In app search

[marcoambrosini]

Summary

This is an attempt to reconcile app search and global search into a single component and user flow.

Advantages of this approach:

• One search box in the UI is less confusing than 2;
• The search-box is on top of the content, no overlapping between search box container and search results

Screencast.from.2023-11-20.17-13-37.webm

On mobile

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TODO

• Limit this to apps that accept filtering
• Use proper app name for placeholder
• Expand transition for search box

[szaimen]

I really like this idea! What is needed to finish this?

[marcoambrosini]

@szaimen we'll have to address proper in app search strategy this for the next major. @jancborchardt had usability concerns about this solution. I think it's a pretty solid starting point compared to other alternatives, but of course I'm happy to iterate over this or explore other solutions and see how they compare.

[szaimen]

@jancborchardt had usability concerns about this solution.

What kind of usability concerns?

I think it's a pretty solid starting point compared to other alternatives

Indeed, I think it is much better in terms of usability than the current situation.

[marcoambrosini]

Closing as there's no need for a last minute solution anymore, and it seems that we all favor proper in app search that's tailored to the respective apps and thus slightly different in each case.

[jancborchardt]

@marcoambrosini I still think this could be a good combination of in-app and global search. It would also move us closer to the usual "big search field in the top center" that people know from Google and Microsoft et al. This was also a big point why you favored this approach, no @marcoambrosini?

Also cc @AndyScherzinger since we recently talked about search.

[szaimen]

@marcoambrosini I still think this could be a good combination of in-app and global search. It would also move us closer to the usual "big search field in the top center" that people know from Google and Microsoft et al. This was also a big point why you favored this approach, no @marcoambrosini?

I agree 👍

[szaimen]

I just tested this branch locally and it doesnt seem to work... @marcoambrosini would you mind updating it? :)

[susnux]

@szaimen there were some "heavy" adjustments needed to bring this API wise to a consistent state (not 100% related to this feature but we basically needed to split out the event handling to the main view and only handle the unified global search in the modal).

I tested it locally and it seems to work as expected, some styles are broken due to the clickable area refactoring, but will be fixed soon I think with new nextcloud-vue version.

Bildschirmaufnahme_20240625_211909.webm

[marcoambrosini]

Could the input be always shown and centered if there's enough space?
By enough space I mean showing a few apps and then clipping the list

[marcoambrosini]

very important too: Does this then also work in apps management, account management, and other apps with existing in-app search like Talk, Contacts, Mail, etc?

We would need to remove local search from those apps if we go with this imo

[susnux]

very important too: Does this then also work in apps management, account management, and other apps with existing in-app search like Talk, Contacts, Mail, etc?

Yes it works for all apps that implement the already used "filter in current view" (yet we need proper API ...)

[susnux]

sounds good with cloud-search!

[jancborchardt]

@susnux @szaimen just before you put more time into this – we talked about this again among @AndyScherzinger @karlitschek and me, and in addition to the considerations in the previous comment we think that in the long term it would be better to have 2 searches:

• One present search field inside the app, like it is in Talk, Contacts, Mail, Collectives, etc.
• One search icon on the top right for the Unified search

And to do that, we would "simply" need to add in-app searches in:

• Files: As per mockups in Filetype filters on top of the files list (doc, pdf, jpg, ...) #45437
• Apps management: Top of the left navigation
• Account management: Top of the left navigation

This would also resolve the confusion with the bit strange interaction pattern of having an input field with a button that does something else, and with internal search not existing in specific apps and due to that the flow being different.

This is very comparable to how for example macOS or GNOME does it with every app having in-app search, and there being a global search (like Spotlight) in case you don’t find it.

@szaimen @susnux sorry for the back and forth – it just turns out it is way more complex than thought. :\

[szaimen]

Hi @susnux this is not working on daily.ltd2.nextcloud.com anymore. Was it removed?