Bug 167424 - Dolphin "Open with..." dialogue should act more like Alt+F2 dialogue
Summary: Dolphin "Open with..." dialogue should act more like Alt+F2 dialogue
Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 359233
Alias: None
Product: kfile
Classification: Unmaintained
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Ubuntu Linux
: NOR wishlist
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: kdelibs bugs
URL:
Keywords:
: 206538 (view as bug list)
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2008-07-25 14:01 UTC by Sudrien
Modified: 2018-04-10 20:44 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
OpenWith example (36.19 KB, image/png)
2012-04-03 21:40 UTC, Alvise
Details

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Description Sudrien 2008-07-25 14:01:15 UTC
Version:           1.0.99 (using KDE 4.0.98)
Installed from:    Ubuntu Packages

Dolphin's "Open With..." option in the file context menu is... old? Or simply less intuitive than krunner.

1. Update style based on krunner (black with curves)
2. Auto-suggest application while typing
3. Show matching application icons while typing
4. Don't show extra command line options

For example, if I do an "Open With..." and type in "kwrite", I have no confirmation that the program exists or will work. However, If I select it from the utilities menu beneath, I get "/usr/lib/kde4/bin/kwrite %U", far more information than I need (I think).
Comment 1 Peter Penz 2008-07-25 14:05:09 UTC
Thanks Sudrien for your input, that's an interesting idea. I've set David Faure and Aaron J. Seigo to CC.

(@David and Aaron: it's about replacing the "Open With..." dialog maybe by KRunner)
Comment 2 m.wege 2009-01-17 18:41:13 UTC
I just wanted to file the same back. This menu is one of my most hated things in KDE. The functionality the krunner-menu provides for finding the app is much better.
Comment 3 Alvise 2009-03-03 21:53:55 UTC
This feature, once ready, should be used also by Konqueror and any web browser being part of the KDE umbrella
Comment 4 m.wege 2009-03-03 22:02:52 UTC
Would be cool if this could be realised in KDE 4.3. I do not know how complicated it is, but since the menu already exists, it is hopefully not.
Comment 5 Panagiotis Papadopoulos 2009-05-25 00:15:58 UTC
this would be an huge improvement for KDE :-)
Comment 6 Alvise 2011-12-11 14:45:41 UTC
This feature seems to have been added since 1 or 2 releases now... Shall we close the feature request?

Thanks Devs
Comment 7 m.wege 2011-12-11 15:04:52 UTC
Aehm, Alvise, I do not know what you mean. I am running KDE 4.7.2 and nothing has changed.
Comment 8 Jekyll Wu 2011-12-11 16:18:39 UTC
*** Bug 206538 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 9 Alvise 2012-04-03 21:40:36 UTC
Created attachment 70128 [details]
OpenWith example

Here is the proof with an image: when I write "kwr" in the textbox, the dialog automatically proposes me several programs.
Maybe this is an OpenSuse specific patch ? But for me this feature reuest is now done
Comment 10 Alvise 2012-04-03 21:43:18 UTC
Please note that this feature works also when opening mail attachments in kmail...
Comment 11 m.wege 2012-04-03 21:59:39 UTC
Ah, ok. Did not notice that. It's definite not an improve. But still it is missing the easiness of Krunner. The list of known applications could be removed, instead of that the dialogue could show the icons + names matching just as the user types like krunner does.
Comment 12 Todd 2012-04-04 08:22:38 UTC
The problem with that approach is that it only matches the name of the executable (binary, i.e. in /usr/bin/), not the "user-friendly" name that you see in the application list (which is defined in a .desktop file).  

It also doesn't have substring matching like krunner (alt+f2) does.  In other words, it will only match if the the characters you type match the beginning of the executable name

This leads to several problems:

1. You need to know the executable name, which is often not the same as the 
2. Many applications specify command-line arguments for opening files.  Typing the command name will not include those, meaning you will not necessarily open the file the way the developers intended, or perhaps won't even open it at all.
3. It often happens that the open with dialog does not realize that an application is already listed, and will try to create a new entry for it.  This is unpredictable, sometimes it does sometimes it doesn't.  This would end up polluting your system with a ton of custom file openers that are not properly updated when you do software updates and are not removed when you uninstall software.

Let's use the application "Plan" from the calligra suite as an example.  At least on my system, it is listed in the application list as just "Plan".  However, its executable name is "calligraplan".  So try using krunner (alt+f2).  If you just type "pla", it will find it just fine.  It will also find it if you type "calligraplan".  However, try using the "open with" dialog.  If you type "pla" or even "plan", it won't find it.  It will only find "calligraplan".
Comment 13 Nate Graham 2018-04-10 20:44:47 UTC
Guess what!? We did this recently!

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 359233 ***