Position in tree preserved on reopen.

[JohnLukeBentley]

Currently if you scroll some way down the BSP2 sidebar; close the sidebar; reopen it - then the sidebar opens to the top of the bookmarks. Your prior location is lost.

I suggest that the prior location should be presented when you reopen the sidebar (at least within the same browsing session). If not always then as an option.

[aaFn]

Yes, this relates to this #47 by @phmio
For now, I delayed that implementation, as the pull request happened at a bad time and was too far off from the main code which deeply evolved at the same time.

[JohnLukeBentley]

OK, great.

in #47 you rightly mention two issues.

The first is ...

BSP2 is made to function in multiple FF windows.
In case of such multiple windows, each time one bookmark is selected in any of the windows, the remembered value being unique will serve to all other windows .. would that be ok ?

Your question makes the answer obvious (as good questions often do): ideally, and if possible, the remembered bookmarks should be window specific. But I'm not sure this is vital....

... I generally work with a triple monitor setup so I very much face multiple windows of FF with BSP2 sometimes open on each window. To the extent that I close and reopen BSP2 I think this is generally with respect to one "main" window. That is, while the other FF instances are generally untouched. In other words, if the closing/reopening on the main window corrupted the other windows ... I'm not sure it matters so much.

... Maybe it will be a choice between how easy each option is to code. If it is significantly harder to track multiple windows then we could start with the general solution and see how that feels (as a user).

What to do in case a bookmark is selected during a search, but is in fact hidden (one of its parent folder is closed) ? What you propose in the PR forces it open and unhidden on next time the add-on is open. However, when you cancel the active search, it becomes hidden again .. so that wouldn't be consistent, because next add-on restart would reopen the folder while the user left it closed when stopping the add-on ..

Perhaps this is approached as a separate issue first: That is, I'd suggest that when you get a folder in the search result and you click on it then it should open the folder in the main tree (even if currently closed).

[aaFn]

On the first issue, since we are not guaranteed that window ids are the same across FF restarts when it reopens them (and as a matter of fact, I believe this is not the case ..), that looks not really appropriate to save values associated with window ids.
Since there is nothing else to identify an FF instance, that means only one value can be saved in local storage.

For the cases of BSP2 closed and open while the FF window remain, maybe something can be done .. by having a second structure in background memory organized by window id, not saved to local storage.

So each time a bookmark is selected, it would be saved once in local storage, window independant, and the last window who saved wins, and it would be saved in the background page per window id.
When re-opening BSP2, it would retrieve it from background per its window id ... if no value for that window, then take the saved value in local storage (and if none, start at top).

For the second problem, I guess a simple answer is to delete saved values (in memory and in local storage) when the selection is lost - for example when closing an ancestor folder containing the selection.

[JohnLukeBentley]

On the first issue: yes I don't think handling this across FF restarts is important. But within a FF session if you have available a Window ID, as you suggest, than that seems the key to making it work.

For the second problem, I guess a simple answer is to delete saved values (in memory and in local storage) when the selection is lost - for example when closing an ancestor folder containing the selection.

(Unless I'm misunderstanding): wouldn't we just want to preserve the state of the tree whenever selection (in the search window) is lost? That is:

• User searches for folder.
• Folder shows up in search pane.
• User selects folder in search pane results. This triggers: folder in tree is autofocused and opened (given we've assumed it is closed).
• User moves focus out of search pane (whether going to the tree; or moving focus to another app).
• State of tree with folder open is preserved.

[aaFn]

Yes, when focus moves out, selection is kept, so this is ok (selection is managed by me, resulting from focus at a given time, and making it permanent).
Selection on an element disappears when another element is selected, or when an ancestor forlder is closed, or when it is deleted (either directly or as a result of an ancestor folder delete).
There can only be 0 or 1 element selected (today .. as I do not manage yet multi-selection, cf. #29).

[JohnLukeBentley]

So on selection and how that relates preserving position in the tree ... I'm a bit too tired at the moment to see the interaction and the problems that might cause ... so I'll just leave you to it.

... Multiselect was on my list of suggestions to make. So I'm glad that's on your TODO list.

[aaFn]

Implemented in 2.0.66 - let me know how it goes, thanks aaFn.

[JohnLukeBentley]

Thanks aaFn. I've updated to 2.0.66 but don't see this option. There's a chance I'm reading past it. What's the text of this option?

[aaFn]

Hello @JohnLukeBentley , this is not an option, this is always on.
If you believe that should be an option, let me know.

[JohnLukeBentley]

In that case it's not working for me. I have restarted browser. Would you like me to clear my browser cache or [Reload all bookmarks from FF now]?

[aaFn]

Well, here is what should happen (after making sure you have 2.0.66 of course):

• Select a bookmark item anywhere in the tree, preferably at bottom of the tree
• Maybe wait some seconds to make sure the position is well written in local storage ..
• Close FF
• Reopen FF = BSP2 will focus (scroll down) to the bookmark you had selected when closing FF. Or if it does not exist anymore, then the first bookmark in the tree is selected (highlighted)

I tested on Win10 and Linux. Let me know if there is a problem on your side.

[JohnLukeBentley]

Ok that works.

But it doesn't work if the bookmark has been selected in virtue of a BSP2 search result. Moreover, even if I manually select the found bookmark (after a BSP2 search) that doesn't work.

[aaFn]

Ok, that's a bug :-)