CODEWITHSUNDEEP
phpstorm
Kamal Ahmed
Kamal Ahmed

Reputation: 263

How to activate the main window of PhpStorm after clicking its floating Find in Path window

Let me explain the situation. I need to copy a lot of instances of a text inside a project of PhpStorm. So, I perform a 'Find in Path' action and a floating window appears with the matching results.

Now my problem is that after copying once from the floating window, if I click on another app window, then PhpStorm's main window/PhpStorm itself go to background, then if I want to copy text from the floating window again, I can not use any keyboard shortcut, I can not modify any line in the floating window because PhpStorm stays in background/inactive-mode even if I click on its floating window.

If I click anywhere in the PhpStorm except the main top-white bar of PhpStorm, then the floating window disappear, which causes me to perform the search again.

It is reducing my productivity a lot. Is there any way to make the PhpStorm active or bring it foreground when clicking its floated search window?

Please see the screenshot:

PhpStorm main window's inactive state after clicking its floating window

Upvotes: 0

Views: 443

Answers (1)

LazyOne
LazyOne

Reputation: 165148

Is there any way to make the PhpStorm active or bring it foreground when clicking its floated search window?

You are approaching the problem from the a bit wrong angle. There is a better solution than fighting the focus/foreground state.

There is a button in the bottom right corner of "Find in Path" window ("Open in Find" it says on your screenshot) -- click it and it will open search results in traditional / standard Search Results tool window (with grouping by folders/files, preview area etc)... so no floating and no auto closing on clicking somewhere.

P.S. Lots of people forgetting that results shown in this new "Find in Path" dialog/popup is still just a preview (TOP 100 matches only). Super functional (you can edit and stuff) but still preview only. This mainly applies to those who remember the way how this dialog (back then it was dialog window) looked before redesign (now it's more of a popup).

Because of the way how it is all presented now (results occupy majority of the popup space) people somehow automatically forgetting about "traditional" way of searching (clicking actual "Find" button to get search working) and focusing only on what they see on a screen right now.

This new "Find in Path" dialog/popup adds a lot of convenience for sure (you typed search text and results are straight away before your eyes). At the same time quite often you may see/hear "it does not show me all results" frustrated comments (as it shows top 100 .. and a single file may have 100+ hits in some cases) and alike. JetBrains needs to improve UX a bit in this area for sure.

Upvotes: 1

Related Questions