GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 647954
'Select All' in Contacts does not work
Last modified: 2011-04-16 21:49:46 UTC
When needing to send an email to all contacts, I clicked on 'To' in Compose, and in the Contacts window, R-clicked in the Search panel and chose "Select All". But that did (apparently) nothing (no addresses were highlighted, nor did the 'Add' buttons become available).
Right clicking an entry widget and choosing "Select All" will select all the text in the entry widget. Since there was no text in the entry widget, it did nothing. Arguably, GtkEntry should not show "Select All" when there's no text to select. In any case, not an Evolution bug.
I don't understand that. If I have just entered an 'entry widget' text, why would I then want to 'Select All' of it? Also - to get back to the original requirement - if the 'Select All' does not select all addresses, what is the official way of doing just that?
That's just how all entry widgets work. You'll see exactly the same thing in any GTK+ app with a stock entry widget. If you're using GNOME, try it with Accessories -> Calculator or Accessories -> Character Map, for example. You can select all contacts listed in "Contacts" box by clicking in that box and pressing Ctrl+A. It would probably make sense to be able to right click in that box (or any of the boxes in that window) and have a "Select All" option shown.
> You can select all contacts listed in "Contacts" box by clicking in that box > and pressing Ctrl+A. Hardly intuitive, is it?! To return to what you said earlier: > Right clicking an entry widget and choosing "Select All" will select all the > text in the entry widget. The Search box is what is usually known as a 'filter'. For example, if I enter "fred", all contacts whose address contains the string "fred" will be shown. So in that context what would the purpose of R.clicking and choosing 'Select All' be? Just entering the string says "Select all containing this string'*. It seems to me that R.clicking in the Search box and choosing 'Select All' was intended to 'select all addresses', in which case the fact that it does not indicates a bug in Evolution. There seems no other point in the option. (* There seems to be some minimal string constraint on this function. I tried entering "@", which should presumably have selected all addresses containing "@" (i.e. all addressses!), but it was a No-Op.)
(In reply to comment #4) > It seems to me that R.clicking in the Search box and choosing 'Select All' was > intended to 'select all addresses', in which case the fact that it does not > indicates a bug in Evolution. There seems no other point in the option. I'm pretty sure the GTK+ developers didn't have that in mind when they wrote that popup menu. It's not Evolution's code. Choosing "Select All" in any entry widget is equivalent to pressing Ctrl+A in that entry widget. It selects all the text in that entry widget. Similarly for the "Cut", "Copy" and "Paste" items in that popup menu. > (* There seems to be some minimal string constraint on this function. I tried > entering "@", which should presumably have selected all addresses containing > "@" (i.e. all addressses!), but it was a No-Op.) 3 characters is the mimimum, I believe. So we don't do stupid things like search an entire company roster for the letter 'a' as soon as you type 'a'.
I filed bug #647962 about GtkEntry showing a "Select All" option when there's no text to select.
> Choosing "Select All" in any entry widget is equivalent to pressing Ctrl+A in > that entry widget. Well, that doesn't seem to apply to the list of Contact addresses there: Ctl+A does work, wheareas R.click (hoping to see Select All') doesn't do anything! It's all a kludgy mess trying to use GTK+ gadgets in this context. There's no meaning in providing the R.click/Select All option in the Search filter field; entering text implicitly selects all addresses containing that text! As someone who is trying out Evolution as an alternative to its KDE counterpart, I am most disappointed - in fact sad -at this lack of intuitive facility here (and in other areas). But there are a lot of good things in Evolution (including swift reaction to bug reports :-) ), so will persevere a little longer...
(In reply to comment #7) > Well, that doesn't seem to apply to the list of Contact addresses there: > Ctl+A does work, wheareas R.click (hoping to see Select All') doesn't do > anything! I already addressed that in comment #3. > There's no meaning in providing the R.click/Select All option in the Search > filter field; entering text implicitly selects all addresses containing that > text! Bug #647962 addresses Select All being enabled when it shouldn't be.