[Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

I was thinking about the possibility of implementing a "find as you type" for apps.
Is there any way to run an app instead of the menu popping up?
Would anybody else find this useful?

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

I was thinking about the same thing. That would be so cool.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

are you refering to something that is similiar to gnome-do or launchy? because that would be invaluable!

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

we are referring to, the way you type and see the contacts, similarly if we could type and find apps.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

This would be very very very usefull when you have plenty of apps (like I do). I think best kind of implement would be that when you type something on homescreen, it would search for contacts, apps and bookmarks instead of just contacts.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

sounds good.

i would like it when you open up the menu and just start typing and it'll start filtering.

i think typing on the homescreen should be restricted to contacts, but then again, i guess this is just a question of preference?! could be an option.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

+1 On your idea.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

Maybe like for contacts but you would begin with one push of the spacebar and then begin typing the app name. So you only get a list of apps and simply press enter when the right one is highlighted to run the app.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

Great idea!

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

I've had this idea since PR1.2. It needs to happen. I keep all my apps in alphabetical order (standard) so just pressing a button would save me literally minuets a day looking for an application (I have a lot of apps).

One more thing to take into consideration is the fact that if I wanted to play Doom, in my mind the thought would be to press D (for Doom), but in the application manager it is PrDoom. Same with OpenArena and Quake. Maybe it would be good if the search looked more in depth.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

Well this should be possible with tracker without much difficulty. Does anyone know how to use its query API? A quick search on the internet only reveals sparql which I don't know the syntax.
I don't think that it indexes contacts but for that there is the osso api...

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

I had this idea already in February - see this thread for a 'concept':
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=43362

Back then there didn't seem to be too much interest :(

EDIT: Pasted the idea from my older post below:
***
Is it possible to capture the pressing of the 'space' key while on the desktop view? Currently when you start typing the phone starts searching through the contacts but hitting 'space' does nothing.

This could be used to launch an application. A dream app would be a kind of quick search / applauncher.

Use cases as follows:

* while on desktop - hit space
* text box opens to the bottom of the screen
* start typing and the app starts filtering your installed applications whose name matches the string you are typing

* launch an app from the list
OR
* hit 'search' (button somewhere - local search or launch Google etc.)
OR
* execute a script / command

User definable keywords would be nice for the searches and triggered functions. The TouchSearch widget has a nice UI - almost perfect for this case.
****


-markus

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

I had this too:
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=42811

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

How about if we had an app, like touch search, but only difference is, it searches for installed apps.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

I was just thinking about how awesome Launchy for the n900 seems. It is open source and uses Qt, so it shouldn't be all too hard to port for the device.

I could also index contacts, events and all kinds of other things. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just check launchy out!

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

I think what you are looking for may already exist.

Look in extras for a Widget called "App Search" http://maemo.org/packages/view/app-search-widget/

It works exactly as you describe, it is a small homescreen widget that when you click on it, it gives you a list of all installed applications. You can then search the list just by typing in the application name. It is an invaluable tool as I can never find apps in my menu!

Hope this helps.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

Now if we only could launch that program via keyboard-shortcut (like shift + space) it would be perfect!

If I have some app open and want to quickly open another one, then I think it's stupid to return to desktop just to hit the widget's schortcut... too many taps there.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

No need for 'shift' as pressing 'space' right now does nothing. So all that is needed is to capture the event of pressing 'space' on the homescreen.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

What if I'm in text editor program and want to quickly launch some other app? That's why there has to be some other key-combo involved aswell.

When I'm already at the homescreen, then tapping the shortcut for appsearcher is not a problem. It's just completely useless if you want to launch some other app when you have something else open already.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

There is a package keyboard-shortcuts for that (in my repository). It mostly uses 3-key shortcuts, as two keys (such as shift+space) are reserved to applications. Usable 2-keys shortcuts are ctrl+space, ctrl+comma, ctrl+period, ctrl+F7/8 (volume keys).

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

I wouldn't say it is completely useless. At least you can search and this
is really helpful if you have many apps installed.
Anyway, the quick-launch author has implemented
my app-search function for his app. You can open
the app search with the cam keys.

regards
Ncolai

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

Sorry, but cannot seem to find correct package which contains search as you type for applications in your repo.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

Completely useless was too strong word for it, indeed :)

Will try the latest quick launch, thanks for the tip!

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

There is no such program. What is there is a keyboard shortcuts program that allows you to run another program (such as the app-search program) by pressing some key combination.

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

What is the status for this? Is porting launchy an option for N900?

Re: [Request] "Find as you type" for apps
 

In case anyone finds this thread while searching for launchy or gnome-do, just wanted to provide a link to a thread where I show step by step how I used a couple of packages to achieve that functionality.
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=83643