SearchFix.md

status	landed
summary	FNS_SearchFix replaces the network editor find bar's literal prefix search with a Python search (contains, case-insensitive, wildcards, inside child networks), keeping its arrows and Home toggle; a Legacy toggle brings the old behaviour back.
since	2026-10-01
verified	2026-10-01

SearchFix: a find bar that finds things

Owner's ask, 2026-10-01. The find bar of a network editor pane (/ui/panes/pane_find/<pane name>) only finds what you type exactly as the start of a name, in the network you are looking at. Searching SimpleScene does not find FNS_SimpleSceneChanger, and there are no wildcards.

What is there today (read live, TD 2025.33070)

Part	How it works
Search field search/text1	Text COMP, editablecontinuous; parameter1 reads its text
The search	merge1..3 build the tscript lc -d -s <path>/<text>*; eval2 runs it; convert1 -> select1 -> results
path	the pane's network, from ../../panebar/$pane/panenav/eval6
Picking a result	datexec1 on results: opset -C on <path>/<result>, then desk -e 4 $pane when Home is on
Back / forward	tscript panel scripts step the current row and select + home the same way
Home toggle	home/out1 channel v1
Close	neteditor -f 0 -p $pane, then clears the text

So the old search is a case-sensitive prefix glob over the current network's children, run through tscript.

The list

1. The package. FNS_SearchFix, depth-1 under /FNSTools, adopted into PrivateInvestigator, extension SearchFixExt in Python. Active turns the patch on and off; off restores TD's find bar exactly as it was.
2. Patch every find bar, now and later. One per pane, named after the pane. /ui is rebuilt on every project open, so the patch is applied on init and to every copy that appears later (a watcher on pane_find). To verify while building: a second pane's find bar arrives as pane_find/pane2.
3. Search in Python. A Script DAT in each find bar feeds results; TD's tscript chain is left in place, unwired, so Active off reconnects it.
   • Default: case-insensitive, matches anywhere in the name.
   • Wildcards when the text has *, ? or [...], matched the way tdu.match / fnmatch match.
   • Several words: every word must match.
   • Ranking: exact name, then prefix, then contains; shallower first.
   • Scope and caps: see open questions.
4. Pick, step and home in Python. Back, forward and the result pick go through ui.panes: enter the result's network if it is deeper, make it current and selected, and home on it when Home is on. TD's tscript handlers are switched off while the patch is active and back on when it is not.
5. Legacy toggle, off by default: the old prefix, case-sensitive, current-network search, in Python. A parameter on the tool and a toggle in each find bar.
6. Shipping. Catalog entry, packaging/docs/FNS_SearchFix.md, a pre_release hook that runs the common strip, a release-notes line.

Decided (owner, 2026-10-01)

• The controls go through a registry (owner, 2026-10-01, superseding "no registry yet"): bar_template is published into every find bar by FNS_PaneSearchRegistry (docs/PaneSearchRegistry.md), so any tool or developer can add controls there too. SearchFix itself only patches the search: the results feed and TD's tscript handlers.
• Scope is a depth limit per pane, default 1: this network only, like today. Each find bar has its own Deep toggle; switching it on shows a number field (a copy of TD's Numeric Field basic widget, Value0 bound to the widget's own Depth) and searches that many levels down. The tool's Depth is where the field starts. /ui is rebuilt on open, so a pane's values last the session. Higher values search inside child networks with findChildren(maxDepth=N) (depth= matches one exact level and finds nothing). From /, /ui, /sys and /local are skipped.
• Matching uses the shared tiered matcher scripts/shared/FuzzyMatch.py (CommandPalette and SearchPalette run on it): by default its strict tiers (exact, prefix, word start, substring); a Fuzzy toggle, off by default, adds initials, typos and subsequences. A word with *, ? or [ is a wildcard against the lower-cased name.
• Python only. Nothing new is written in tscript; TD's tscript handlers are switched off while the patch is active.
• The depth field counts like findChildren(maxDepth=N) (owner, 2026-10-01): 1 is this network, the same as Deep off, and it can be typed with Deep on. 0 finds nothing there (measured: maxDepth=0 returns no operators), so the field stops at 1.

The shortcut

TD toggles a pane's find bar on Ctrl+F while the network editor has the keyboard. The bar takes the keyboard as it opens, and from its search field the shortcut does nothing, which is what read as "never closes" (owner, 2026-10-01). Nothing in TD says whether a bar is open: the container, the pane bar and the pane's geometry read the same either way.

The first version kept its own open/closed flag per pane and fell out of phase as soon as TD closed a bar on its own. What works is the search field's focus panel value, read in the Keyboard In DAT's onShortcut before TD handles the key (measured by logging every press): it is 0 on the press that opens a bar (the field takes focus the same frame) and 1 on every press made while typing in it. So the tool closes a bar only when its field has focus, with the bar's own close button pressed and released on separate frames, and leaves every other press to TD.

Verified while planning

• A pane's find bar is created the first time it opens: opening pane2's with neteditor -f 1 -p pane2 made pane_find/pane2, a full copy whose path names that pane's network. It stays after the bar is closed.
• The network editor pane API covers picking: owner is settable, home(zoom, op) and homeSelected(zoom) exist.
• The label's "nothing found" text reads the same tables as results, so feeding results from Python keeps the label honest.

Still open

• Cost. The field edits continuously, so the search runs per keystroke: cap the number of results as well as the depth.