quick_search/crates/quicksearch-gui/src/help_tab.rs
Jeremy Karst fe832109d7
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Added system-wide shortcut to launch app and search even while not running on both Windows and Linux.
2026-09-04 21:49:51 -04:00

645 lines
27 KiB
Rust

//! The Help tab: what QuickSearch is, how to start, how results are ranked
//! and what ends up in the index. Anything belonging to one control lives on
//! that control's hover tip (`tips.rs`); the query language lives in the
//! Search tab's syntax window; the complete technical reference stays in
//! README.md.
use crate::ui_util::hint;
/// Returns true when the "Show the introduction again" button was clicked.
pub fn ui(ui: &mut egui::Ui) -> bool {
let mut replay = false;
// Cap the column like a document page: a maximized window would
// otherwise stretch every paragraph into one long line. Only ever a cap,
// never a floor: `set_max_width` widens a `Ui` as readily as it narrows
// one, and text laid out wider than the panel is *clipped* by the scroll
// area rather than wrapped, so the ends of the lines simply vanish.
//
// Measured out here, on the panel: inside a vertical `ScrollArea` the
// content `Ui` is free to be wider than the viewport, so its own
// `available_width` is no guide to what will be visible. The bar's
// allocation comes off the top, or the last few characters of every line
// would sit under it (zero while the bars float, as they do by default).
let column = (ui.available_width() - ui.spacing().scroll.allocated_width()).min(620.0);
let scroll = egui::ScrollArea::vertical()
.auto_shrink([false; 2])
.show(ui, |ui| {
ui.set_max_width(column);
ui.heading(egui::RichText::new("Welcome to QuickSearch").strong());
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"QuickSearch is a search engine for the files on this computer \
and for the text inside them. It reads through your folders \
once, remembers what it found, and then answers from what it \
remembers rather than by going back to the disk. That is why \
results appear as fast as you can type, across hundreds of \
thousands of files.",
);
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"It never connects to the internet and nothing ever leaves this \
computer. What it remembers can be encrypted with a password, \
from the Settings tab.",
);
ui.add_space(6.0);
ui.label("The primary home of this software is:");
let link = |ui: &mut egui::Ui, url: &str| ui.hyperlink_to(url, url);
link(ui, "https://quicksearch.karsttech.com");
link(ui, "https://code.karsttech.com/jeremy/quick_search");
ui.add_space(6.0);
ui.label(
"The code is also mirrored to GitHub for easier bug reporting \
and issue tracking:",
);
link(ui, "https://github.com/DataScienceDIY/quick_search");
ui.add_space(6.0);
if ui.button("Show the introduction again").clicked() {
replay = true;
}
ui.add_space(6.0);
ui.label(hint(
"Where to look for what: hover any control for what that one \
control does and what to set it to. This tab covers the ideas \
behind them. The ? button beside the search box covers the \
query language. README.md is the complete reference.",
));
ui.add_space(12.0);
ui.heading(egui::RichText::new("Getting started").strong());
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"1. The first time QuickSearch runs it starts indexing your home \
folder on its own. The status bar along the bottom shows the \
progress, and searching already works while it runs, though a \
file it has not reached yet cannot appear until it does.",
);
ui.label(
"2. To search other places, open the Manage Index tab and add them \
to the folder list. Indexed folders are watched, so the index \
follows your files as they change, and adding one leaves \
everything already indexed alone.",
);
ui.label(
"3. Type in the search box on the Search tab. Results appear as \
you type, best matches first.",
);
ui.label(
"4. If the index grows larger than you would like, narrow it with \
the two filters under Content filters on the Manage Index tab. \
They are explained under What gets indexed, below.",
);
ui.add_space(12.0);
ui.heading(egui::RichText::new("Searching").strong());
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label("Plain words match file names, file contents, and paths:");
ui.monospace("quarterly budget");
ui.label(
"Filters narrow the results and combine freely with the search \
words:",
);
ui.monospace("type:Document modified:>=2024-01-01 report");
ui.label("The ? button left of the search box shows the full query syntax.");
ui.add_space(6.0);
ui.label(
"• A match in a file's name or path is highlighted in that \
column; a match in its contents shows a snippet of the \
surrounding text in the Content Match column, with the rest on \
hover.",
);
ui.label(
"• Right-click a result to open it, open its containing folder, \
or hide files like it from the results.",
);
ui.label(
"• Click a column header to sort by it; right-click any header to \
choose which columns are shown.",
);
ui.add_space(12.0);
ranking_section(ui);
ui.add_space(12.0);
what_gets_indexed_section(ui);
ui.add_space(12.0);
duplicates_section(ui);
ui.add_space(12.0);
ui.heading(egui::RichText::new("Updates").strong());
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"QuickSearch never sends anything off of your computer, so it \
never updates itself automatically.",
);
ui.label("To update, install the latest version yourself from:");
link(ui, "https://quicksearch.karsttech.com");
ui.add_space(12.0);
ui.heading(egui::RichText::new("The other tabs").strong());
ui.add_space(4.0);
let prose = prose_width(ui.available_width());
egui::Grid::new("help-tabs")
.num_columns(2)
.spacing([CELL_SPACING, 5.0])
.show(ui, |ui| {
let row = |ui: &mut egui::Ui, name: &str, what: &str| {
ui.strong(name);
cell(ui, prose, what);
ui.end_row();
};
row(
ui,
"Manage Index",
"indexing status and controls, the indexed folder list, \
and the filters that decide what is skipped",
);
row(
ui,
"Duplicates",
"files that are probably identical copies of each other, \
grouped; verify before deleting anything",
);
row(ui, "Logs", "warnings from issues during indexing");
row(
ui,
"Settings",
"everything QuickSearch can be told to do, in one \
place; hover any control for what it means",
);
});
ui.add_space(12.0);
ui.heading(egui::RichText::new("Terminal").strong());
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label("QuickSearch also searches straight from a terminal:");
ui.monospace("quicksearch \"quarterly budget\"");
ui.label(
"On Windows use quicksearch-cli. Either way, --help lists all \
the flags.",
);
ui.add_space(12.0);
ui.horizontal_wrapped(|ui| {
// The sentence is assembled from several widgets, so the
// spacing between them has to come from the text itself.
ui.spacing_mut().item_spacing.x = 0.0;
let quiet = |text: &str| crate::ui_util::hint(text);
ui.label(quiet(
"Building from source, configuration, query structuring and more \
are covered in ",
));
if let Some(path) = readme_path() {
let path = path.display().to_string();
if ui
.link(egui::RichText::new("README.md").small())
.on_hover_text(&path)
.clicked()
{
crate::platform::open_file(&path);
}
} else {
ui.label(quiet("README.md"));
}
ui.label(quiet("."));
});
});
crate::ui_util::more_below_hint(ui, &scroll);
replay
}
/// The tiers of `search::cascade`, collapsed to the ones a reader can act on:
/// its eleven ranks pair up (exact case, then any case) everywhere but the
/// fuzzy stages, and the pairing is an implementation detail here.
fn ranking_section(ui: &mut egui::Ui) {
ui.heading(egui::RichText::new("How results are ranked").strong());
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"Every result is placed in a tier by where it matched, and the tiers \
come out in this order. Within a tier, a match with the case you \
typed comes before one that only matches ignoring case, and a file \
mentioning your words more often comes before one mentioning them \
once.",
);
ui.add_space(6.0);
let prose = prose_width(ui.available_width());
egui::Grid::new("help-ranking")
.num_columns(2)
.spacing([CELL_SPACING, 5.0])
.striped(true)
.show(ui, |ui| {
let row = |ui: &mut egui::Ui, tier: &str, what: &str| {
ui.strong(tier);
cell(ui, prose, what);
ui.end_row();
};
row(
ui,
"Exact name",
"the file is called exactly what you typed",
);
row(
ui,
"Name contains",
"what you typed appears somewhere in the file's name",
);
row(
ui,
"Text inside",
"the words are in the file's contents, most mentions first",
);
row(
ui,
"Close spelling",
"a name or some text within a typo or two of what you typed, \
only while Fuzzy is ticked",
);
row(
ui,
"Path only",
"nothing in the name or the text matched, but a folder along \
the way did",
);
});
ui.add_space(6.0);
ui.label(
"The Rank column carries the tier a result came from, coloured from \
blue for a close match to red for a distant one. Sorting by any other \
column sets that ordering aside until you sort by Rank again.",
);
ui.label(hint(
"Results stream in while a search runs and are only ever added to the \
end, so the list never reshuffles under you as you read it.",
));
}
/// The two Manage Index filters, side by side, because the confusion they
/// cause is about which one keeps a file out of the index (ignore patterns)
/// and which one only stops its text being read (the whitelist).
fn what_gets_indexed_section(ui: &mut egui::Ui) {
ui.heading(egui::RichText::new("What gets indexed").strong());
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"Everything inside your indexed folders, minus whatever the two \
filters on the Manage Index tab take out. The filters do different \
jobs: one decides which files exist in the index at all, the other \
decides which of them have their text read.",
);
ui.add_space(8.0);
ui.strong("Ignore patterns: files and folders never indexed");
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"A pattern is compared against file and folder names, and against \
whole paths. It is never compared against what is inside a file, so \
nothing is excluded for the words it contains. A file kept out this \
way is gone from the index completely, contents included.",
);
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"• A pattern with no slash in it is a name: it matches any file or \
folder called that, anywhere under your indexed folders, and it has \
to match the whole name. Excluding an extension therefore needs a \
wildcard.",
);
ui.label(
"• A pattern with a slash in it is a path: it is matched against the \
whole path of a file or folder, and takes out everything underneath \
it.",
);
ui.label("• * stands for any run of characters, including none; ? for exactly one.");
ui.add_space(6.0);
ignore_examples(ui);
ui.add_space(6.0);
ui.label(hint(
"A path pattern has to match from the start, so Vacation/Diary on its \
own matches nothing: the leading */ is what lets it find that folder \
wherever it sits. Whether case matters follows the filesystem, so \
*diary* also catches Diary on Windows and macOS, but not on Linux.",
));
ui.label(hint(
"Adding a pattern takes out the entries it matches. Deleting a pattern \
from the list is what brings those files back, at the next indexing \
run; deleting the files it matched is never something QuickSearch does.",
));
ui.add_space(8.0);
ui.strong("Full-text extensions whitelist: which files have their text read");
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"This one limits contents only. Files it leaves out are still indexed \
and still turn up in results by their name and their path; what you \
lose is finding them by the words inside them.",
);
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"• Empty, which is how it starts, means QuickSearch reads the text of \
every file type it understands.",
);
ui.label(
"• To narrow it, enter one extension per line, the leading dot \
optional. Listing only txt, md and pdf keeps the stored text small \
and focused on documents, while every other file stays findable by \
name.",
);
ui.label(
"• A list that has anything in it also leaves out files with no \
extension, such as Makefile or README. Add the line (none) to include \
them.",
);
ui.label("• Anything after a # is a comment, so a line can be switched off in place.");
}
/// What a duplicate group is and is not. Written out here because the tab
/// itself has room for the caution and not for the reasoning, and because the
/// question it answers — "it says these differ, but they look the same" — is
/// the one the feature reliably provokes.
fn duplicates_section(ui: &mut egui::Ui) {
ui.heading(egui::RichText::new("Duplicates").strong());
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"The Duplicates tab groups files that look like copies of each other, \
biggest waste first, so the space worth reclaiming is at the top. \
Nothing there is ever deleted or moved for you; the tab only shows \
you the groups.",
);
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"A group is a strong suspicion, not a verdict. Indexing reads each \
file's size and its first few kilobytes and hashes those, and that \
hash is what puts two files in a group — the rest of the file was \
never read. Right-click a group and choose Verify copies are \
identical to read all of it and compare every byte, which is the \
answer to have before deleting anything.",
);
ui.add_space(8.0);
ui.strong("When the verification says two files differ and they look the same");
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"They do differ, in bytes you never see. PDFs and Office documents \
carry the date they were created and last modified, a document ID, \
and a revision number, all stored inside the file itself. Two \
invoices printed from one template, or one document saved twice, \
are different files on disk however identical they look on screen.",
);
ui.label(hint(
"The report says which byte disagreed and how big the file was. A \
difference in the first few hundred bytes of a document is almost \
always that bookkeeping; one in the middle of a large file is not.",
));
ui.add_space(8.0);
ui.strong("Groups you do not want to be shown again");
ui.add_space(4.0);
ui.label(
"• Hide this group, from the right-click menu, drops one group for \
good — the group that is not really a duplicate at all. It is \
remembered by content, so it stays hidden when those files are \
renamed or moved, and comes back if they are edited. Show hidden \
lists them again and Clear forgets the lot.",
);
ui.label(
"• Exclude leaves out whole sets of files: the box above the list \
takes the same patterns as the ignore filters, and the right-click \
menu offers this file's type and this file's folder. That is the one \
for a backup folder that is meant to hold copies.",
);
ui.label(hint(
"Neither hides anything from search. An excluded file is still \
indexed, still found by name and still found by its contents; it is \
only left out of this one listing.",
));
}
/// One ignore-pattern example: what it takes out, and the near miss it
/// leaves alone. The near miss is half the point, so it survives every
/// layout.
struct Example {
pattern: &'static str,
excluded: &'static str,
kept: &'static str,
}
const IGNORE_EXAMPLES: &[Example] = &[
Example {
pattern: "node_modules",
excluded: "a file or folder named exactly that, and all it holds",
kept: "node_modules_old",
},
Example {
pattern: "*.jpg",
excluded: "holiday.jpg, 1.jpg",
kept: "holiday.jpeg, holiday.jpg.exe",
},
Example {
pattern: "?.jpg",
excluded: "a.jpg, 1.jpg",
kept: "12.jpg, holiday.jpg",
},
Example {
pattern: "*diary*",
excluded: "Mydiary.jpg, and a folder named Diary with all it holds",
kept: "Pictures/Vacation",
},
Example {
pattern: "*/Vacation/Diary",
excluded: "that one folder, and everything under it",
kept: "Pictures/Diary",
},
];
/// Under this, three columns get so little each that the middle one wraps to
/// one or two words a line and the table is harder to read than a list.
const EXAMPLE_TABLE_MIN_WIDTH: f32 = 560.0;
/// The examples as a table where there is room for one, stacked where there
/// is not. Inside a [`crate::ui_util::stable_section`] because the two
/// layouts allocate different numbers of widgets, and a resize across the
/// threshold would otherwise rename everything below them.
fn ignore_examples(ui: &mut egui::Ui) {
crate::ui_util::stable_section(ui, |ui| {
let available = ui.available_width();
if available < EXAMPLE_TABLE_MIN_WIDTH {
for example in IGNORE_EXAMPLES {
ui.monospace(example.pattern);
cell(ui, available, format!("Excluded: {}", example.excluded));
cell(ui, available, format!("Still indexed: {}", example.kept));
ui.add_space(6.0);
}
return;
}
// The two prose columns share what the pattern column and the two
// gaps leave over.
let prose = (available - KEY_COL_WIDTH - 2.0 * CELL_SPACING) / 2.0;
egui::Grid::new("help-ignore-examples")
.num_columns(3)
.spacing([CELL_SPACING, 5.0])
.striped(true)
.show(ui, |ui| {
ui.strong("Pattern");
cell(ui, prose, egui::RichText::new("Excluded").strong());
cell(ui, prose, egui::RichText::new("Still indexed").strong());
ui.end_row();
for example in IGNORE_EXAMPLES {
ui.monospace(example.pattern);
cell(ui, prose, example.excluded);
cell(ui, prose, example.kept);
ui.end_row();
}
});
});
}
/// Width allowed for a table's leading key column, generous enough for the
/// longest of them (`*/Vacation/Diary`, in monospace).
const KEY_COL_WIDTH: f32 = 140.0;
/// Both tables' horizontal cell spacing.
const CELL_SPACING: f32 = 14.0;
/// A prose cell in one of this tab's tables, laid out in a child `Ui` of
/// exactly `width`.
///
/// Two things force the explicit width. Grid cells default to
/// `TextWrapMode::Extend`, which lays a long cell out past the panel and, far
/// worse, *widens the `Ui`* it was drawn in, so every paragraph below the
/// table wraps to that width and is then clipped by the scroll area. Wrapping
/// the cell instead fixes that but breaks the other way: a wrapped `Label`
/// reports its narrowest possible width as what it wants, and `Grid` sizes
/// the column to that, squeezing prose into a two-word ribbon. A child `Ui`
/// of a width we chose settles both. Pinned by
/// `tests::a_window_narrower_than_the_column_reflows_rather_than_clipping`.
fn cell(ui: &mut egui::Ui, width: f32, text: impl Into<egui::WidgetText>) {
ui.allocate_ui(egui::vec2(width, 0.0), |ui| {
ui.add(egui::Label::new(text).wrap());
});
}
/// The prose width for a two-column table: everything the key column and the
/// spacing leave over.
fn prose_width(available: f32) -> f32 {
(available - KEY_COL_WIDTH - CELL_SPACING).max(120.0)
}
/// Where this build left the README: under the install prefix's `share/doc`
/// (the .deb puts it in `/usr/share/doc/quicksearch/`), beside the executable
/// (the Windows installer and portable copies), or at the top of a build tree
/// a few levels above `target/`.
fn readme_path() -> Option<std::path::PathBuf> {
let exe = std::env::current_exe().ok()?;
let dir = exe.parent()?;
let installed = dir
.parent()
.map(|prefix| prefix.join("share/doc/quicksearch/README.md"));
installed
.into_iter()
.chain(dir.ancestors().take(4).map(|d| d.join("README.md")))
.find(|p| p.is_file())
}
#[cfg(test)]
mod tests {
/// The Help tab is the largest block of prose in the app and the only tab
/// with no other test, which makes it the widest net for the one thing
/// dropping egui's emoji faces could break: a character with no glyph,
/// painted as `◻`.
#[test]
fn the_help_tab_paints_no_missing_glyphs() {
let ctx = crate::test_ui::ctx();
let input = crate::test_ui::raw_input(egui::vec2(1000.0, 900.0), vec![]);
let out = ctx.run(input, |ctx| {
egui::CentralPanel::default().show(ctx, |ui| {
super::ui(ui);
});
});
assert!(
!crate::test_ui::painted_text(&out).is_empty(),
"the tab painted nothing, so the glyph check proves nothing"
);
crate::test_ui::assert_no_tofu(&ctx, &out);
}
/// Ranking and the filter rules live on this tab and nowhere else a user
/// can read without hovering, so a section quietly dropped from `ui`
/// would take the only copy with it. Tall enough a viewport that the
/// scroll area paints the whole document.
#[test]
fn the_tab_carries_the_sections_that_live_nowhere_else() {
let ctx = crate::test_ui::ctx();
let input = crate::test_ui::raw_input(egui::vec2(1000.0, 4000.0), vec![]);
let out = ctx.run(input, |ctx| {
egui::CentralPanel::default().show(ctx, |ui| {
super::ui(ui);
});
});
let painted = crate::test_ui::painted_text(&out).join("\n");
for expected in [
"How results are ranked",
"What gets indexed",
// One row of each table: the grids are the part most easily lost
// to a refactor, and the tooltips point here for them.
"Path only",
"*/Vacation/Diary",
// The duplicates section exists to answer one question in full,
// and the tab has room for the caution but not the reasoning.
"Verify copies are identical",
"revision number",
] {
assert!(painted.contains(expected), "no {:?}: {}", expected, painted);
}
}
/// The column is capped at 620 points so a maximized window does not
/// stretch a paragraph into one long line. A cap that is also a floor
/// lays the text out past the scroll area, which clips it rather than
/// wrapping it: the ends of the lines simply vanish. Galley rects are
/// pre-clip, so this measures the layout rather than the paint.
#[test]
fn a_window_narrower_than_the_column_reflows_rather_than_clipping() {
// 640 is the smallest window the app allows, and the UI scale
// divides it: 400 is roughly that window at 1.6x.
for width in [400.0_f32, 480.0, 560.0, 620.0] {
let ctx = crate::test_ui::ctx();
let input = crate::test_ui::raw_input(egui::vec2(width, 6000.0), vec![]);
let out = ctx.run(input, |ctx| {
egui::CentralPanel::default().show(ctx, |ui| {
super::ui(ui);
});
});
let overflowing: Vec<_> = crate::test_ui::painted(&out)
.into_iter()
.filter(|(_, rect)| rect.max.x > width)
.map(|(text, rect)| format!("{:?} reaches {}", text, rect.max.x))
.collect();
assert!(
overflowing.is_empty(),
"text laid out past the {}pt panel: {:#?}",
width,
overflowing
);
}
}
/// The near-miss column is half of what the examples teach, so the
/// narrow layout has to keep it rather than dropping to pattern-only.
#[test]
fn the_stacked_examples_keep_both_halves_of_each_row() {
let ctx = crate::test_ui::ctx();
let input = crate::test_ui::raw_input(egui::vec2(400.0, 6000.0), vec![]);
let out = ctx.run(input, |ctx| {
egui::CentralPanel::default().show(ctx, |ui| {
super::ui(ui);
});
});
let painted = crate::test_ui::painted_text(&out).join("\n");
for example in super::IGNORE_EXAMPLES {
for expected in [example.pattern, example.excluded, example.kept] {
assert!(painted.contains(expected), "no {:?}", expected);
}
}
}
}