#51 Keyboard Accessibility: `&` to toggle filter

[GfE w3Hy]

The Problem

GhostCommander's support of a wide range of keyboard shortcuts out of the box is really helpful. For instance, / is a reliable, quick way to invoke the search dialog. However, the likewise frequently needed "Filter" function is far too difficult to reach by keyboard (if possible at all).(1) That's a real loss, as filtering the current directory view can be tremenduously helpful to quickly zoom in on (or out of) a subset of contained files, expecially if their count amounts to hundreds or thousands.

Suggested Solution

Make & act as if the Filter button was tapped, i. e.:

• if the filter is currently inactive, show the filter dialog with the previous filter string prefilled and focussed, so the user can type right away to append characters to the string, or pressEnter to activate the filter
• if the filter is currently active, deactivate it, keeping the filter string available for any reinvokations.

This semantic allows to use "& Enter" or "&" to quickly toggle the display of non-matching files (the additional Enter just confirms the dialog).

Additional Remarks

The choice of & is consistent with other established tools like less, where / requests a search string, and & requests a filter string, both of which then, respectively, become effective by pressing Enter.

(1) I don't know whether in theory, it could be reached by sheer endless tabbing around, because Tab focus gets lost or stuck just too often to even find out. But that's a different issue.)

[zc2]

& was added as a hot key for the Filter. Please give a try to the latest beta version
https://sourceforge.net/projects/ghostcommander/files/Betas/Ghost%20Commander%201.64.2b2.apk/download

[GfE w3Hy]

Awesome, thank you! Works like a charm!

Side note: #52

[zc2]

Thank you for testing