758637 - Searching for a file giving its path pattern

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Webtools Graveyard :: DXR, defect, P3)

Description

[Lionel Dricot]

How do you search for the file names matching some pattern in DXR? E.g. MXR has http://mxr.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/find?string=nscoord. I can’t figure out how to do that with DXR. Searching for “path:nscoord” gives “Error: unknown search parameters”.


If the feature is implemented then it is currently not discoverable.

Comment 1

[Erik Rose [:erik][:erikrose]]

You have to get the Advanced Search box to show first; it presents a "path" field. Hit Return while in the search field, and the Advanced Search should appear. This is silly, and we should improve its discoverability. :-)

Comment 2

[Erik Rose [:erik][:erikrose]]

This is annoying but shouldn't block retiring MXR, so I'm removing the whiteboard phrase.

Comment 3

[(no longer active)]

I disagree.  This is one of the main functions of MXR, and should be treated as a 1st class citizen in DXR.

We probably don't want to add a separate box to the default search UI, but it should look in the file names as well.

Comment 4

[Erik Rose [:erik][:erikrose]]

Fine with me.

Comment 5

[Erik Rose [:erik][:erikrose]]

This is pretty discoverable now, with the Filters menu listing "path:" as its first item. It's also quite flexible: you can search for "path:addon*addons*ome" to find files whose paths contain "addon" and then some stuff, then "addons", then more stuff, and finally "ome" (and more stuff). As you can see on the roadmap (https://wiki.mozilla.org/DXR_Roadmap#Top_of_the_Heap), we still plan to surface path matches even better, but I don't think it's fair to shoehorn that into this ticket. I'd like to call this done, for MXR-retirement-blocking purposes. Reopen if you feel very strongly.