Open Bug 1285795 Opened 9 years ago Updated 1 year ago

The new «choose file» dialog doesn't allow to enter the file

Categories

(Core :: Widget: Gtk, defect, P5)

Product:
Core
Component:
Widget: Gtk
Version:
47 Branch
Type:
defect

Tracking

()

People

(Reporter: Hi-Angel, Unassigned)

References

Details

(Whiteboard: tpi:+)

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Ubuntu; Linux x86_64; rv:47.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/47.0 Build ID: 20160606113944 Steps to reproduce: Triggered the «choose file» dialog. E.g. to reproduce, press the button «Browse…» right to the «Attach a file» label on this site. Actual results: Opened a window to choose a file with neither option to enter the path, nor option to enter the file. http://i.imgur.com/7PncSFn.png Expected results: The opened window should at least to have an option to enter the name. It matters for a few reasons: first, one can't choose a hidden file (i.e. a file starting with dot in the name). Second, it's just a matter of usability: in the old dialog it was possible to quickly enter the name with autocompletion, without opening directories with thousands files, and trying to find in this mess the next directory to open. But now it's not possible, which is very annoying.
Component: Untriaged → Widget: Gtk
Product: Firefox → Core
(In reply to Hi-Angel from comment #0) > Opened a window to choose a file with neither option to enter the path, nor > option to enter the file. http://i.imgur.com/7PncSFn.png Have you tried typing? This is the regular GTK file picker dialog, and even while it doesn't have a visible text input fields, you can trigger it by typing (search) or Ctrl-L to manually input location.
(In reply to Tomer Cohen :tomer from comment #1) > Have you tried typing? This just sorts files out, it doesn't enter a path. > This is the regular GTK file picker dialog, Well, a bit unfortunate that Firefox is the first app where I saw GTK3 file picker dialog — because other apps I'm using either Qt or GTK2. And even more unfortunate is that in a browser it is not so rarely used option. > and even while it doesn't have a visible text input fields, you can > trigger it by typing (search) or Ctrl-L to manually input location. Oh, I love easter eggs! Now I imagine: everyone complains about how Firefox usability falls down with every release, and we just silently laughing on them in reply — we know what they don't, the magic Ctrl-l combination! Psst, don't tell anybody, it going to be our little secret, they'll never guess it!
Well, let me share with you another easter egg in reply: did you know that on Windows OS it is possible to copy a text from MessageBox? Yeah, one have to just click «Ctrl+c». Isn't that funny how everyone complain about it, and praise Qt's (and GTK's?) MessageBox'es for possibility to select the text? Silly users, there's an easter egg!
Blocks: 1284391
Status: UNCONFIRMED → NEW
Ever confirmed: true
Priority: -- → P5
Whiteboard: tpi:+
Show hidden files is available in the context menu in GTK+ 3.22.19 at least.
See Also: → https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=759073
The comparison to ctrl-C for "copy" is not valid, and the snarkiness doesn't help. It's possible to copy without knowing the shortcut by using the entry in the Edit menu. That same menu lists the shortcut, so the user can learn to use it in the future. There is no menu item for entering file names in the gtk picker, and no way to discover how to do this without searching out documentation. Hiding the file name entry field is entirely unnecessary, as there is plenty of space for it in the dialog. This is a bug in gtk, and I don't expect it will get fixed in firefox.

Holy "§$"$§!!
CTRL-L!!

I was SO ANNOYED by this file chooser dialog for YEARS because of that! What an unusable mess!
CTRL-L FTW!

(How could anyone with a sane mind EVER release a software with such a file chooser, lacking the most important component: an input field to choose the file!? - beyond my comprehension.. - or maybe it was a Google dev who wanted to promote Chrome? :D)

Anyways, how is it, that even after FOUR YEARS this absolutely basic bug is still not fixed?

Kudos @Tomer for CTRL-L!

Now I am one of the 42 people for whom Firefox's file chooser is actually useable! :)

If you mean standard Gtk file chooser dialog you can use '/' key to enter file path.

Ha! Indeed!
As I am usually "somewhere above" in the file hierarchy where I want to be, I never tried typing an absolute path..
Starting out with ~ also works, but anything else opens the search.
Intuitive! :D

Well.. being the tech nerd I am (using Linux since mid-90s), I found that out... today!

Time for retirement I guess (or for implementing a file chooser with node.js, running in a docker-container on Kubernetes..).

@multicorenop don't feel ashamed, the design where a user can't find how to do something is a bad design. The file-chooser should have a button that allows to start typing the path, not an obscure shortcut which as you rightfully mentioned pretty few people know about.

Yes, I really like the KDE version where you have those buttons per hierarchy in the location line. There you can single-click to instantaneously go to any level above, or click right next the end to switch it into a TextField.

Severity: normal → S3

Since this is a bug in gtk and can't be fixed in firefox I wonder if we could implement the following workaround. Can we add some text to the dialog box that says something like "Type control-L to enter file name"? The big problem here is not so much that there is no way to enter a file name, it's that there is no way to discover how to do so.

(In reply to Jim Rees from comment #11)

Since this is a bug in gtk and can't be fixed in firefox I wonder if we could implement the following workaround. Can we add some text to the dialog box that says something like "Type control-L to enter file name"? The big problem here is not so much that there is no way to enter a file name, it's that there is no way to discover how to do so.

I agree it might be a good idea

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