#1374 Thread search: New Search option "Exclude comments"

[Tiger Beard]

Thead search today has the following options
Whole word
Start word
Match case
Regular Expression

I propose to add th option
Exclude comments

It would not list lines matching the format
<whitespace>//<anything></anything></whitespace>

Reason
CB already has the very powerful Ctrl-Shift-C, Ctrl-Shift-X feature to add or remove "//" to a block of code. I am using this very often during debug and test.
The search list is often flooded with commented-out sections. Sometimes its desired, but often its not. Using that option would allow to take out a lot of noise from the list (at least for people using comments ;-).

Disadvantages
obviously there is potential confusion since
* it only works on C++ style single line comments "//". It would not remove /* as multiline logic is probably overkill.
* there are no "//" in C, so for pure C programs that option would be not useful
* I do not know Fortran, but might be the same
I think the same disadvantages apply to the Ctrl-Shift-C, Ctrl-Shift-X feature, so it would be consistent
to add this to thread search despite these disadvantages. The gain imho would outweight those.

[ollydbg]

I take some time to read the source code of this plugin. I think if you want that option, you need to change this function:

    /** Return true if line matches search text.
      * This method must be implemented in derived classes to allows using
      * different search strategies (at least simple text and regular expressions).
      * @param line : the text line to match.
      * @return true if line matches search text.
      */
    virtual bool MatchLine(std::vector<int> *outMatchedPositions, const wxString &line) = 0;

You can see there is a function named:

    bool TextFileSearcherText::MatchLine(std::vector<int> *outMatchedPositions,
                                     const wxString &originalLine)
{
    wxString line;
    if ( m_MatchCase == false )
    {
        line = originalLine.Lower();
    }
    else
    {
        line = originalLine;
    }

    wxString::size_type start = 0;
    int count = 0;

    const std::vector<int>::size_type countIdx = outMatchedPositions->size();

    do
    {
        // "TestTest Test"
        // start word [0;4], [9;4]
        // match word [9;4]
        // none [0;4] [4;4] [9;4]

        wxString::size_type pos = line.find(m_SearchText, start);
        if (pos == wxString::npos)
            break;

        if ((m_MatchWordBegin || m_MatchWord) && pos > 0)
        {
            // Try to see if this is the start of the word.
            const wxUniChar prevChar = line.GetChar(pos - 1);
            if (wxIsalnum(prevChar) || prevChar == '_')
            {
                start++;
                continue;
            }
        }

        if (m_MatchWord && (pos + m_SearchText.length() < line.length()))
        {
            // Try to see if this is the end of the word.
            const wxUniChar nextChar = line.GetChar(pos + m_SearchText.length());
            if (wxIsalnum(nextChar) || nextChar == '_')
            {
                start++;
                continue;
            }
        }

        // We have a match add positions for it.
        if (count == 0)
            outMatchedPositions->push_back(0);
        ++count;
        outMatchedPositions->push_back(pos);
        outMatchedPositions->push_back(m_SearchText.length());

        start = pos + m_SearchText.length();
    } while (1);

    if (count > 0)
    {
        (*outMatchedPositions)[countIdx] = count;
        return true;
    }
    else
        return false;
}

So, I think you can modify this function to skip the lines if it start with "//".

Can you try it yourself?

[Tiger Beard]

Thanks for the hints and your time. I see what I can do.

[Tiger Beard]

Took quite a while but now i managed to get a working compile environment and implemented the proposal.
See patch #1436

The patch adds the option "Match In Comments". Its checked by default because then the behaviour is the same as today. It only works with C++ style comments "//" both full line and end of line. This info was put into the tooltip string.
Tested in Linux 22.04 with wxWidgets3.0.5 only.

i hope you find it a useful addition.