Find and Goto dialogs

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myoolneer
Posts: 1
Joined: 09 May 2019 10:37

Find and Goto dialogs

Post by myoolneer »

Morning all.

I have 3 enhancement requests for your consideration.

1) Have the Goto dialog remember which of Hex/Dec/Oct was last used (this might be more of a bug-fix than an enhancement request since HxD remembers pretty much everything else).

2) In the Find dialog, please allow Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to cycle between the tabs.

3) When Goto's seek origin is "current", please allow negative offsets to seek backwards from the current position.

That said, I have to say that I love how lightweight and neat this editor is. Thank you!

Regards,
myoomyoo
Fireboyd78
Posts: 14
Joined: 02 Jan 2013 10:34

Re: Find and Goto dialogs

Post by Fireboyd78 »

That first one is definitely a new bug that should be fixed. I've used HxD for many years and it always used to remember your selection, at least for the current session. Now it seems to "force" hex every time you open the dialog.
Maël
Site Admin
Posts: 1455
Joined: 12 Mar 2005 14:15

Re: Find and Goto dialogs

Post by Maël »

1) Have the Goto dialog remember which of Hex/Dec/Oct was last used (this might be more of a bug-fix than an enhancement request since HxD remembers pretty much everything else).
Yes, it's a bug.
2) In the Find dialog, please allow Ctrl+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab to cycle between the tabs.
Confirmed bug, split into another topic: https://forum.mh-nexus.de/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=1035
3) When Goto's seek origin is "current", please allow negative offsets to seek backwards from the current position.
Would you expect this to work also with hexadecimal values (which are currently treated as unsigned, always)?
Maël
Site Admin
Posts: 1455
Joined: 12 Mar 2005 14:15

Re: Find and Goto dialogs

Post by Maël »

Maël wrote: 16 Jun 2019 09:27
1) Have the Goto dialog remember which of Hex/Dec/Oct was last used (this might be more of a bug-fix than an enhancement request since HxD remembers pretty much everything else).
Yes, it's a bug.
I had a look at the code again. Strictly speaking it's not a bug, but this behavior had a purpose:

The offset base should be the same as the one selected in the hex editing window. Since it is set to hexadecimal by default, the goto dialog will jump back to it each time it is opened again. The point of this behavior was for consistency reasons: display all offsets in the same way, e.g., those in the hex editing window (blue column) and those in the goto dialog (or select block dialog, etc.).

Then again this might be confusing in practical use, as the goto dialog is not really specific to a hex editing window but more of a cross window function. Possibly, you would also want to jump to the same offset in several files, and then it would be confusing if the offset base would change depending on which file is active.

Ideally, I would like a solution for this that considers both problems.

Because, if your offsets are displayed in hexadecimal in the hex editing window, and then suddenly displayed in decimal in the goto dialog, this can be confusing, as well.
Maël
Site Admin
Posts: 1455
Joined: 12 Mar 2005 14:15

Re: Find and Goto dialogs

Post by Maël »

I checked in version control. The behavior is like this since version 1.5.0.0 beta, so since quite long ago. To test, click on the blue offset label to change the offset base to decimal, or select dec in the combobox on the toolbar. Now open the goto window, with Ctrl+G. Decimal will be selected by default.

Comments on the UX design conflict mentioned in the post above would be appreciated.
Maël
Site Admin
Posts: 1455
Joined: 12 Mar 2005 14:15

Re: Find and Goto dialogs

Post by Maël »

As mentioned, point 1 is not really a bug.

Point 2 was fixed in HxD 2.3 (see the linked topic).

Point 3 needs feedback to my questions.
bnvbc
Posts: 9
Joined: 21 Apr 2019 16:58

Re: Find and Goto dialogs

Post by bnvbc »

Regarding this subject:

- Please make HxD remember the last tab used - I never need text search so it's an additional unnecessary click to go to hex search.
- Please make HxD remember the last used search direction - I never need 'Forward' but 'All' so it's another unnecessary click.

Thank you.
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