623749 - On Windows, map Control-A (Ctrl+A) to Select All in the Web Console input

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(DevTools :: Console, defect)

Description

[Erik Vold]

ctrl + a is doing what the Home keyboard button does, move the cursor to the beginning of the line. I'm expected this hotkey to select all though.

Comment 1

[Rob Campbell [:rc] (:robcee)]

this is working as-expected. Ctrl/Cmd-E would go to end of line except for bug 609744.

You need to select a line or focus the console output area for Cmd/Ctrl-A to work.

Comment 2

[Erik Vold]

(In reply to comment #1)
> this is working as-expected.

Why is this behavior expected? and how is this behavior useful? since the 'page up' key seems to do exactly the same thing and now I can't find a hotkey to select all..

> Ctrl/Cmd-E would go to end of line except for bug
> 609744.

ok, idk why you bring that up though..

> You need to select a line or focus the console output area for Cmd/Ctrl-A to
> work.

I'm referring to the console's input area (which I didn't make clear before sorry), so I don't think the howto's of selecting output are relevant.

Comment 3

[David Dahl :ddahl]

(In reply to comment #2)
> (In reply to comment #1)
> > this is working as-expected.
> 
> Why is this behavior expected? and how is this behavior useful? since the 'page
> up' key seems to do exactly the same thing and now I can't find a hotkey to
> select all..

All consoles on all platforms map control-a to beginning og line and control-e to end of line. This is actually very helpful to those with this muscle memory.

Comment 4

[Erik Vold]

(In reply to comment #3)
> (In reply to comment #2)
> > (In reply to comment #1)
> > > this is working as-expected.
> > 
> > Why is this behavior expected? and how is this behavior useful? since the 'page
> > up' key seems to do exactly the same thing and now I can't find a hotkey to
> > select all..
> 
> All consoles on all platforms map control-a to beginning og line and control-e
> to end of line. This is actually very helpful to those with this muscle memory.

Hmm I see, so Google Chrome is doing the same, but Firebug does not..

And how is a user supposed to select all?

Comment 5

[David Dahl :ddahl]

(In reply to comment #4)
> > All consoles on all platforms map control-a to beginning og line and control-e
> > to end of line. This is actually very helpful to those with this muscle memory.
> 
> Hmm I see, so Google Chrome is doing the same, but Firebug does not..
> 
> And how is a user supposed to select all?

Sounds like we need to file a bug. Just checked my linux terminal - they make you use a menu item. perhaps we map it to alt - a?

alt-a actually does it for me on linux. awesome.

Comment 6

[Rob Campbell [:rc] (:robcee)]

let's reopen this rather than file a new bug but modify the summary.

Alt-a is not going to work on all platforms. On OS X, it produces 'å'. Maybe ctrl-shift-a?

Comment 7

[Philip Chee]

Err Rob, the way we normally do it here in Mozilla land is to have platform specific key bindings so that we can be consistent with platform conventions.

Comment 8

[Rob Campbell [:rc] (:robcee)]

(In reply to comment #7)
> Err Rob, the way we normally do it here in Mozilla land is to have platform
> specific key bindings so that we can be consistent with platform conventions.

yes, I know. The input line's a bit special, though I'm inclined to believe that we should probably change ctrl-a/e to do what users expect in Windows.

Comment 9

[David Dahl :ddahl]

(In reply to comment #7)
> Err Rob, the way we normally do it here in Mozilla land is to have platform
> specific key bindings so that we can be consistent with platform conventions.

what would be the platform conventions in this case? Apple-a on mac (which should work), alt-a on linux just works, not sure about windows.

Comment 10

[Rob Campbell [:rc] (:robcee)]

cmd-a works on mac (select-all, no change required)., ctrl-a goes to beginning of line (expected, emacs keybindings for text widgets).

ctrl-a in linux should go to beginning of line. you say alt-a selects all? That's probably correct there.

ctrl-a on Windows (different from what we have now). Only change required.

Comment 14

[Frank Yan (:fryn)]

(In reply to comment #10)
> ctrl-a on Windows (different from what we have now). Only change required.

On both Windows and Linux:
If ctrl+a is mapped to select all, ctrl+e should not be mapped to end of line.

(Additional context: On Windows, ctrl+e had been mapped to the search box, since at least before Firefox 2 (we took it from IE). It got removed and wasn't put back for 4.0 due to a string freeze fiasco, but we'll likely put it back for 4.x.)

> ctrl-a in linux should go to beginning of line. you say alt-a selects all?
> That's probably correct there.

In all the input fields I've used in Firefox on Linux, both ctrl+a and alt+a select all. I don't think we should break this, but if we must map ctrl+a to beginning of line, alt+a should still select all.

> cmd-a works on mac (select-all, no change required)., ctrl-a goes to beginning
> of line (expected, emacs keybindings for text widgets).

I agree. If we really want to match the convention of emacs keybindings that Cocoa text widgets use, ctrl+shift+a should select to beginning of line, and ctrl+shift+e should select to end of line.

Comment 16

[Frank Yan (:fryn)]

ddahl just convinced me that the Web Console is actually a command line interface for the browser/web, so I'd like to revise my position.

On Windows:
Ctrl+A - use default keybinding (Select All)
Ctrl+E - unmapped
since even Windows's cmd.exe doesn't use emacs-style keybindings.

On Mac and Linux:
Ctrl+A - beginning of line (no change)
Ctrl+E - end of line (no change)
Ctrl+Shift+A - select to beginning of line
Ctrl+Shift+E - select to end of line

On Linux:
Alt+A - Select All

Comment 17

[Paul Rouget [:paul]]

triage. Filter on PINKISBEAUTIFUL

Comment 18

[Rob Campbell [:rc] (:robcee)]

still a bug!

Comment 19

[Will Carter]

Hey I'm new to the group and would like to look at this more to get my feet wet. Have we established a convention for Windows yet or is it still up in the air?

Comment 20

[Frank Yan (:fryn)]

(In reply to Will Carter from comment #19)
> Hey I'm new to the group and would like to look at this more to get my feet
> wet. Have we established a convention for Windows yet or is it still up in
> the air?

As I understand it, this just needs a patch.
I recommend comment 16's list of mappings, but Ctrl+A -> Select All is the most important one.

Comment 21

[Cory Gackenheimer]

(In reply to Will Carter from comment #19)
> Hey I'm new to the group and would like to look at this more to get my feet
> wet. Have we established a convention for Windows yet or is it still up in
> the air?

Is this fair game to work on, or are you still working on a patch for this?

Comment 22

[Frank Yan (:fryn)]

(In reply to Cory Gackenheimer from comment #21)
> (In reply to Will Carter from comment #19)
> > Hey I'm new to the group and would like to look at this more to get my feet
> > wet. Have we established a convention for Windows yet or is it still up in
> > the air?
> 
> Is this fair game to work on, or are you still working on a patch for this?

I'd say, take it! :)

Comment 23

[Mihai Sucan [:msucan]]

(In reply to Rob Campbell [:rc] (:robcee) from comment #18)
> still a bug!

Please CC me when I'm added as a mentor to a bug. Thank you!

Comment 24

[Cory Gackenheimer]

Attachment: Control + a on windows will select all in Web Console

Comment 25

[Mihai Sucan [:msucan]]

Comment on attachment 716181 [details] [diff] [review]
Control + a on windows will select all in Web Console

Review of attachment 716181 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks for your patch!

Giving r+ with the comments below addressed.

::: browser/devtools/webconsole/test/Makefile.in
@@ +125,5 @@
>  endif
>  
> +ifeq ($(OS_ARCH),WINNT)
> +MOCHITEST_BROWSER_FILES += \
> +		browser_webconsole_bug_623749.js \

can you please rename the test to something more self-explanatory? Maybe "browser_webconsole_ctrl_a_select_all_winnt.js".

::: browser/devtools/webconsole/test/browser_webconsole_bug_623749.js
@@ +1,4 @@
> +/* Any copyright is dedicated to the Public Domain.
> + * http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/ */
> +
> +// Test for https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=623749

Please explain what the test does. Maybe: Test for bug 623749 - Map Ctrl+A to Select All, in the Web Console input, on Windows.

@@ +14,5 @@
> +
> +
> +function runTest(HUD) {
> +  jsterm = HUD.jsterm;
> +  jsterm.setInputValue("Ingore These Four Words");

typo: s/ingore/ignore/

@@ +17,5 @@
> +  jsterm = HUD.jsterm;
> +  jsterm.setInputValue("Ingore These Four Words");
> +  inputNode = jsterm.inputNode;
> +
> +  //test select all with control + a

nit: space after //

::: browser/devtools/webconsole/webconsole.js
@@ +3114,5 @@
>        let closePopup = false;
>        switch (aEvent.charCode) {
>          case 97:
>            // control-a
> +          if (Services.appinfo.OS != "WINNT") {

nit: instead of nesting everything, you could do an early break for winnt.

@@ +3133,5 @@
>            closePopup = true;
>            break;
>          case 101:
>            // control-e
> +          if (Services.appinfo.OS != "WINNT") {

Same as above.

Comment 26

[Cory Gackenheimer]

Attachment: new patch to reflect requested changes

Thanks for the review, I have submitted a new patch file to address the items from the previous review.

Comment 27

[Mihai Sucan [:msucan]]

Comment on attachment 718008 [details] [diff] [review]
new patch to reflect requested changes

Cory: thanks for the quick update. Next time please fold the two patches. The second patch requires the first one.

You should use MQ with HG, see http://mercurial.selenic.com/wiki/MqTutorial

MQ helps a lot with managing patches.

I'm going to push this patch to the try servers.

Comment 28

[Mihai Sucan [:msucan]]

Attachment: folded patch

Folded the two patches.

Pushed to the try servers:

https://tbpl.mozilla.org/?tree=Try&rev=55aad1ec327e

Once results are green I'm going to land your patch.

Comment 29

[Mihai Sucan [:msucan]]

Landed the folded patch:
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/fx-team/rev/b1ba5ea6168b

Comment 30

[Frank Yan (:fryn)]

Cory and Mihai, thank you for fixing this! :)

Comment 31

[Tim Taubert [:ttaubert] (inactive)]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/b1ba5ea6168b

Comment 32

[maxlath]

Hi, (I'm new to Bugzilla, excuse my question if I got something wrong)
so Ctrl+a has been map to Select All for Windows, but what is the situation on Linux? Neither Ctrl+a or Alt+a seem to be working. If there was no patch for the Linux case, shall I open a new bug or reopen this one with a different title?
Thanks in advance :)

Comment 33

[Paul Rouget [:paul]]

(In reply to k from comment #32)
> Hi, (I'm new to Bugzilla, excuse my question if I got something wrong)
> so Ctrl+a has been map to Select All for Windows, but what is the situation
> on Linux? Neither Ctrl+a or Alt+a seem to be working. If there was no patch
> for the Linux case, shall I open a new bug or reopen this one with a
> different title?
> Thanks in advance :)

Works for me on Linux.

Comment 34

[maxlath]

my mistake, the Alt key was catch by an addon, sorry to have bothered