File Window Positioning On Paused Filter

[StanRohrer]

File Window Positioning On Paused Filter

- Select a folder with a lot of images, say 100 or 200 or more.
- In Filter window, select a filter (e.g. Rated 3) where a few File Window images become visible.
- In File Window, click/select the last image in the group.
- In Filter Window, pause the Filter.
- Observe if the filter selected thumbnail is positioned as visible in the File Window.

In previous IM versions I've used pausing (actually unchecking) a filter to show all files in the File Window and position the display with the selected file visible. In IM v2023.6.6 the file window is positioned at the top files and I have to scroll down and find my desired file. This gets cumbersome very quickly with large folders and a lot of Filter Pause/Uncheck actions.

This concern may be related to the Filter Refresh bugs referenced below. Perhaps that fix will also fix this File Window position problem. Please check.
https://www.photools.com/community/index.php/topic,13926.0.html

[thrinn]

and I have to scroll down and find my desired file

Instead of scrolling down, you could also use one of the "Show first selected/last selected/focused" commands. Available in the context menu under "Additional functions".

[Mario]

Some people complain when IMatch scrolls the File Window after the scope changes to bring the first selected or focused file into view - because their scroll position is then gone.

Some people complain when IMatch tries to retain the scroll position, at the risk that the first selected, last selected or focused file (whatever the user considers more important) is no longer visible in the File Window.

I doubt there is a solution that makes all persons happy.

There are keyboard shortcuts to navigate to / jump to the first selected, last selected and focused file, which is probably what you should use.

I've tried your example.
Folder with 300 files.
I select only files with a rating of 4 or 5.
3 files remain from all over the place.
I select the last one in that list and disable the filter.
The selected file is still visible as the File Window scrolls.

Pausing the Filter Panel, however, completely reloads the File Window and scrolls to the top.
I'm quite sure that this behavior is designed to work around unwanted side-effects with version folding, stack folding, the Quick Filter Ribbon, the Search Bar and other things. And I'm reluctant to fiddle with this, because I have the feeling that doing so may break workflows or cause other bug reports. I'll have a look but I may deem this as a "behavior by design".

[StanRohrer]

Mario,
In the past I've generally Disabled the filter. You indicate the selected file is present in the file window. This is what I am used too and what I desire. Because of the refresh of the file window not happening as expected in v2023.6.6, I had to start using the Pause.

As you note, the filter Pause works differently in the File Window and begins the view at the top of the folder. Perhaps this is why I rarely used the filter Pause and went directly to the Disable/Uncheck the filter as my normal operations in the past 20 years.

I shall check out the navigate/jump feature.

Thanks for your review of this concern. I anxiously await the next release which fixes the File Window refresh on filter Disable/Uncheck.

I think this bug report can be archived.

[ubacher]

This behaviour Stan complains about also bothers me no end. It did not work this way in the past -
changed some versions back I think.


Example: I filter out jpg files. Now I want to get at associated PSD or RAW files. By disabling the filter I then
have to 
1. I have to set the focus from the Filter Panel to the M&F Panel (unless I disabled via funnel icon the header in the M&F panel)
2. Press Ctrl G,O to get back to the focused file.

In verifying the above behaviour I cam across a  bug which I will report in the BUG thread.

[Mario]

I have been able to fix the Filter Panel paused processing and now the File Window ensures that the focused file is visible.

No I'll wait until users complains about that, e.g:

"I apply a filter and scroll down in the File Window to find specific files.
I now pause the Filter Panel and the File Window scrolls back to the focused file! I don't want that.
I've scrolled down for a reason. Please fix this."

[janb83]

The compromise would be to only scroll to the selected file if pausing/unpausing the filter changed the selected file, right? Or am I missing something here?

[Mario]

If a user scrolls the File Window this does not change the selection. Un-pausing the FP will not change the selection since if the FP is paused, all files are visible again in the File Window.

That the FW always scrolled to the top when the FP was unpaused was not intended. The scoll position should have been kept, but since the FW reloads completely when the FP pauses and the way all that machinery works (which is way more complicated than folks usually think) caused the FW to scroll to the top as the "safe" position.

Lets see how the recent change works in the field. If users complain that they don't want the focused file to being brought into view, I'll look into this again. If no file is focused, the FW restores the "un-paused" scroll position (if possible).

[Mario]

After playing around with this for a bit, I've decided to prioritize restoring the scroll position (as far as possible) over bringing the focused file into view. Chances are that if the user selects files, they are visible when he pauses the filter. This means they will also be visible (if possible) afterwards. If the user has scrolled "away" from the selected files, he probably did this for a reason and pausing the filter should try to restore that scroll position, as far as possible.
This seems to work fine and is a good compromise I guess.

[StanRohrer]

This behaviour Stan complains about also bothers me no end. It did not work this way in the past -
changed some versions back I think.


Example: I filter out jpg files. Now I want to get at associated PSD or RAW files. By disabling the filter I then
have to
1. I have to set the focus from the Filter Panel to the M&F Panel (unless I disabled via funnel icon the header in the M&F panel)
2. Press Ctrl G,O to get back to the focused file.

In verifying the above behaviour I cam across a  bug which I will report in the BUG thread.

Voting Yes for minimizing the effort and actions and clicks required to get back and forth via focused files while working the filters. 

Very often I filter to PSD files and fix keywords or set categories. Then I need to go back and update the related JPG or RAW files, so (in prior versions) uncheck the filter. I expect to see the focused file visible, without extra search or scroll efforts, in the File Window. Because I keep the beginning of file names all the same (only adding suffixes or changing the file type) all related images are grouped together in a given folder.

I can work among the related files (e.g. copy/paste metadata from PSD to JPG and RAW). Then if I remember to click the PSD file (focus), I am ready to return for another task.

With the PSD focused in File Window, I could again click/select a PSD Filter and get back to my group of only PSD files in the File Window. The focused PSD would be shown in the FW without scrolling or searching.

Now I'm ready to select another (often the next) PSD file and loop through this whole update process again.
-------
As a matter of fact, the photo shoot folder I'm editing yesterday and today has been culled to 238 files. I developed 14 retouched PSD files for later use. On review of keywords I needed to make updates and changes. Those adjustments needed to get back to my source files (and similar unedited neighbors). So I ran through this edit cycle 14 times just this morning.

[Mario]

This is a closed bug report. If you want new features or changes, please open a feature request or start a new thread in general discussions.
See the Keyboard Cheat Sheet for a list of convenient keyboard shortcuts to switch between panels, to quickly bring the first/last/focused file into view etc.