[ajdt-dev] Re: search function design

[juliew@xxxxxxxxxx]

I agree with Mik's suggestion of splitting search into 2 pages -- a search
page with the standard Java plus basic AspectJ extensions that can be
searched based solely on the source, and a "cross-cutting search page."
I've started with the simpler of the two, the source-based, and have
included a link to a new mockup here for discussion:
http://members.rogers.com/30159374290/searchpage2.html

Some questions/issues that came up:

"Search string" entry field:
============================
When should the search string entry field be enabled?  In the original Java
search, it was always enabled, but in AspectJ, we have things to
search for that are not named.

1. For Advice, Declare Warning/Error and Declare Soft, I propose disabling
the search string entry field.

2. For inter-type declaration, I propose leaving it enabled, and allowing
the user to enter the field or method name for the introduced member.  Of
course, below I was going to note that I had lumped "Declare parents" under
this category too (mostly to try and save on real estate...), but
there might be a good reason to split it out.  Declare parents should
probably have the search string disabled, and just find all declarations
within the given scope.  Opinions?

3. Pointcut is the tricky one (always!) because it can be named or not.
For that, we may need to do a check - leave the entry field enabled, and
if there is something in it, search for pointcuts named that, or if it's
empty, search for all pointcuts in the specified scope.  Other suggestions?


What are appropriate "Limit to" restrictions for the new "Search for"
items?
============================================================================

1. Inter-type declaration:
We could have "Declarations" where it would find the place in the aspect
where it's defined, and "References" where it would find the class
affected.  But that's moving beyond the source stuff Mik talked about
restricting this page to, and into the "cross-cutting" type of search.
So, I propose just enabling "Declarations" and having the search find all
inter-type declarations within the named scope.  (Would anyone prefer
enabling only "All occurrences?")

2. Advice:
I propose enabling only "Declarations" (would catch all types - before,
after and around), "Before," "After" and "Around."

3. Declare warning/error:
I propose enabling only "Declarations" and "Message."

4. Declare soft:
I propose enabling only "Declarations."

5. Pointcut:
I propose enabling only "Declarations."


Scope:
======
Should we prevent the user from searching for all
-unnamed pointcut
-declare parents
-advice
-declare warning/error
-declare soft
in the workspace (just because the search could be so huge)?  It could be
implemented such that if you select "workspace", those search options are
disabled.  Only if you have something selected (e.g., a type, package or
project) before you open search will you see the option when the dialog
opens. If you switch the scope to "workspace", they'll be disabled (and the
current selection set back to "Type").  Conversely, if you go into the
dialog, with nothing selected and change the scope to "working set", the
options will become enabled.

The alternative is to allow the user to search all advice (or declare
parents, or ...) in the entire workspace.


Notes:
======
I have not separated out "Declare parents" as a separate "Search for" item,
and have assumed that those will be captured by the "inter-type
declaration" search.  See above for some discussion why this might not be a
good idea -- but my dialog is getting big!  If you think it should be a
separate item, then we *really* need to address real estate issues.  Even
now, the dialog for the AspectJ search is longer than all the others, so
the dialog is now about 100 pixels longer that it used to be.

You may notice a bit of a hack.  When the search string entry field is
disabled, you'll see a "*" in it.  This is to force the Search button on
the dialog to be enabled - it's only enabled when there's something in that
entry field.

Note that there are problems with the keyboard mnemonics on this page.
"After" and "Search for" both use 'a'.  "Pointcut" and "Case-sensitive"
both use 't' (this was a problem on the original Java Search dialog, where
"Type" and "Case-sensitive" both used 't').  I may be able to make them
unique, but not without changing them from the original Java page -- as I
already did with Type (which is less than desirable).  I gave up on this
one 'cause it was driving me nuts ;-). 'j', 'q', and 'x' are the only
alphabetic characters not used!

Okay, that's enough for now...  This is getting long!

Julie Waterhouse
AJDT Development Team