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The property editor for lists (rendered as a multi-column table or as a list) should support a filter field to help locating items quickly in a long list. This feature needs to be carefully implemented in consideration of the manual element ordering controls that we provide to the user. It is likely that the solution will be to disable the move-up/move-down controls. The add action may also have a similar issue. This facility will probably need to be available on the opt-in basis. While it is expected to be very useful for long lists, it would just take up the screen real estate for shorter lists.
Troy, We could use your input on this item. Ideally, the solution could be applied to all tables. I don't really want to make a case-by-case decision of which table is likely to have enough content to warrant this. There are two approaches that I can think of. 1. Use standard filter field (as you see in eclipse preferences). The nice thing about this approach is that it is standard and quickest to use with immediate feedback as you type. The downside is that it takes up a text-field's worth of vertical space for every table. 2. Use a button that opens a dialog to enter a filter condition. The nice thing about this approach is that it is compact. The downside is that it is harder to actually use the filter function. Please weigh in on these options. You may also be able to come up with something better.
Response from Troy: ------------------- Most of the alternatives that I think of to the 2 ideas you mentioned involve some invention and probably custom widgets. Popping a dialog for filter criteria, while perfectly functional, seems fairly inelegant and antiquated... even for browser based UIs, much less an IDE. For an easy entry into adding this functionality I'd go with your first idea - using the standard filter field. However, I'd make it optional so we can have it appear where it makes sense. There are lots of places it would really seem silly to have it appear, and probably only a few per editor where it'd be potentially useful (e.g., in weblogic.xml, possibly only on the Security Role Assignments - > Principals list). We could make our best guesses where to apply it and revise if and when we learn more. Re: the Move Up/Move Down buttons, since we're disabling them for the Sort case we could do the same here. The connection between the states is probably even more obvious here.
