collection selection/focus behavior

[sjk]

This change was made in 5.0.2:

• Collection listing leaves item view selected when changing collections to allow for use of keyboard shortcuts on items.

It's no longer possible to repeatedly use up/down-arrow keys for sidebar collection list navigation, which was convenient for me, because input focus now insists on being on an entry whenever a different collection is selected.

Also, Tab key usage behavior (with/without modifier keys, e.g. Control) can be hard to predict. Sometimes it makes the Title field editable, which I've never liked (in any app) because of increased risk of accidental modifications. Sometimes it moves input focus to the toolbar search field, or into "focus limbo" where further keyboard input seems blocked. For a comparison, (Shift-)Tab works consistently in iTunes.

I might follow up later with suggestions to improve this but just wanted to mention it now.

[Conor]

Thank you, in trying to add polish to avoid a UI highlight of the collection view for a split second when clicking with the mouse I broke the keyboard navigation of the tab bar. It's now back in DVDpedia Beta 16 as well as allowing for mouse navigation in the collection view. Thank you for pointing that mistake out quickly.

[sjk]

And thank you for fixing it so quickly, Conor. I'm satisfied with how (Shift-)Tab and arrow key navigation is working now that it seems predictable …

Starting with a single entry selected in List view, Tab still makes the Title field editable (which is consistent with other apps, even if personally undesirable) while Shift-Tab moves focus to the collections list and stays there so Up/Down-Arrow navigation between collections (hurray!) is possible again. Starting from the toolbar search field, first Tab moves focus to the collections list and second Tab moves to the entries list. Starting from the collections list, Tab moved focus to the entries. Starting with multiple entries selected, repeated Tab usage moves focus across each editable field of the "first" entry but never make them editable, eventually reaching the toolbar search field and collections lists and cycling through all of it again.

Repeated Shift-Tab usage cycles through the collections list, toolbar search, and entries regardless of the view and how many entries are selected.

Whew.

Fleshing that out reminded me of possible confusion when multiple entries are selected with View > Details enabled, sometimes complicated by switching views. A simple example is how details for a single entry are displayed when multiple entries are selected. Especially with discontinuous selections, it may seem like only one is selected (without glancing at the status bar count). I'd prefer something like '<n> entries selected" be displayed in the detail/content pane instead of any single entry's. Here's how that looks in DEVONthink:

I'll save some of the entry selection + view switching issues for another time.