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Motif and CDE 2.1 Style Guide Reference

Find (Choice and Dialog)

Reference

Description

The Find choice can be one of the following:

  1. A dialog choice that initiates a search for objects or data associated with the contents of the current window

  2. A dialog that allows the user to specify the criteria to be used for the search

  3. An action choice within the Find dialog

    Figure 27. Find Choice and Dialog.




    View figure.

    4. When to Use

    Required
    Provide a Find choice in the Edit menu to search for elements that match specified criteria. These elements may either be:

    1. Within the view itself

    2. Within objects that are represented in the view

    3. In other objects, with the data in the view used, in part, to identify the other objects and/or the search criteria

      4. Required
      When Find is chosen, display a Find dialog window that allows a user to specify the parameters of the search. For example, when using the Find choice to search for text, allow a user to specify the text to be found, the direction of the search, sensitivity to text capitalization, and similar parameters.

      Guidelines

      Required
      If Find is used to find one match at a time, and more than one match meets the criteria, keep the Find dialog displayed.

      Required
      When the user specifies new criteria (and matches are to be found one at a time) and chooses the Find push button, find the first match and display it in the dialog.

      Required
      When the Find dialog remains displayed after the user chooses Find within it, find the next match when the user chooses Find again.

      Recommended
      If you want to allow every match found to be replaced, then use a Replace choice instead.

      Recommended
      If Find or Replace is used to find matches only within objects that are represented in the view, place the choice on the Selected menu.

      Recommended
      If the find operation is used to search for a single element, when the next match is found, move the active cursor to the matching element.

      Recommended
      If the find operation is used to search for a combination or sequence of elements (such as a word made up of text characters), select the next matching combination or sequence found.

      Recommended
      If Find is used to search for an element (or elements) outside of the current window, open a window to view the matching element within the object in which the next match is found. Then remove the window in which the previous match was found (unless it was the one from which the find operation was initiated).

      Recommended
      If Find is used to search for an element (or elements) within objects represented in the current window, move the cursor in the current window to the object in which the next match is found. Also, open a window to view the matching element within that object.

      Recommended
      Avoid changing the contents of a window as a result of a find operation, except to scroll the next match into sight and to indicate that it matches the search criteria.

      Recommended
      When Find is available in the Edit menu to search for elements within objects represented in the current window, the semantics for Find (for example, which objects it applies to) match those for choices in the Selected menu.

      Recommended
      When Find is used to search for elements within the current window, provide a choice within the Find dialog that indicates whether the search should be restricted to the currently selected elements.

      Recommended
      If Find is used to search for a combination or sequence of elements (such as a word made up of text characters) within a single selection scope, and discontiguous selections are supported in that scope, provide a choice within the Find dialog that determines when the next matching combination or sequence is found and selected, according to the following:

      1. The current selection should first be deselected

      2. The newly selected matching elements should be added to the current selection

        3. Recommended
        If the find operation is used to find matches within a single selection scope, include a choice within the Find dialog to determine whether to find matches one at a time (the default) or find all the matches at once. If the user chooses this option, Find selects all the matching elements (or combinations or sequences of elements).

        Essential Related Topics

        For more information, see the Edit Menu and View Menu reference pages.

        Supplemental Related Topics

        For more information, see the Object and Selection reference pages.

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