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| -rw-r--r-- | docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md | 54 |
1 files changed, 54 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md b/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md index 980aefb..15377ea 100644 --- a/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md +++ b/docs/superpowers/plans/2026-08-03-post-0.1.0-usability.md @@ -150,6 +150,7 @@ taking that too literally. | 83 | A rule named with spaces is written to the file and dropped by every reader | defect | S | **done** 2026-08-14, unreleased. The name is sanitised into an id, save validates, a bad id loads for repair | | 84 | A config problem blocks `test_mainwindow` on a modal nobody can dismiss | testing | S | open; measured 2026-08-14, `showWarnings()` calls `QMessageBox::warning` from the constructor | | 85 | Nothing on screen can be searched for by right-clicking it | workflow | M | **done** 2026-08-14, unreleased; see `specs/2026-08-14-search-from-message-design.md`. Split from 78; rebuilt the details dialog as rows | +| 86 | A right-click search can replace or narrow, but never exclude | workflow | S | open; follows 85. The `extend` bool has no room for a third choice, so this widens a signature rather than adding a menu entry | Sizes are rough: XS under an hour, S a sitting, M a session. @@ -577,6 +578,59 @@ here. **Size: S.** The diagnosis is the expensive part and it is already done. +## 86. A right-click search can replace or narrow, but never exclude + +**Observed (user, 2026-08-14):** "we've added the possibility to search clicking +on any element in the message pane, the current available search options are to +run the query from scratch or add to the existing query. A missing option is to +add negatively (not)." + +**Cause (verified in the code, 2026-08-14).** Item 85 shipped exactly two +operations and wired them through as a single boolean. Every surface builds the +same pair: `MessageView::addSearchEntries` (`src/messageview.cpp:566`) adds +"Search for this" and "Add to search" per offer, and +`MessageDetailsDialog` (`src/messagedetailsdialog.cpp:92`) repeats that pair per +row. Both emit `searchRequested(query, extend)`, and +`MainWindow::runSearchFromPane` (`src/mainwindow.cpp:1654`) branches on that one +bool: `extend ? SearchTerm::extend(m_queryEdit->text(), query) : query`. +`SearchTerm` has `extend()` and no exclusion form at all. So the gap is not a +missing menu entry over an existing capability; there is no third state for a +menu entry to select, and the signature cannot express one. + +**Approach.** Three changes, in this order, and the first is the only design +decision. + +- **Widen the signal past a bool.** A third operation makes `bool extend` wrong + at four call sites. An enum (replace, narrow, exclude) carried through + `MessageView`, `MessageDetailsDialog` and `MainWindow` is the honest shape. + Note that it crosses no thread boundary, so the `Q_ENUM` metatype trap in + `CLAUDE.md` does not apply here; these are direct connections. +- **Add `SearchTerm::exclude(existing, addition)`**, parenthesising both sides + exactly as `extend()` does, as `(existing) AND NOT (addition)`. The + parenthesising is load-bearing for the same reason it is in `extend()`: the + query bar can hold a hand-written disjunction, and an unparenthesised + `NOT a or b` binds so that the exclusion covers only the first term. This is + the whole of the testable surface and it needs no widget. +- **A third menu entry per offer**, wrapped in `tr()`. + +**Constraints.** + +- **Excluding from an empty query is not a search.** `extend()` returns the + addition alone when `existing` is empty; the same rule here would produce + `NOT (x)`, meaning "all mail except", which is a plausible thing to ask for + and an implausible thing to have meant by right-clicking a sender. Decide + deliberately: either suppress the entry when the query bar is empty, or let it + through. Do not let it fall out of the code by accident. +- **notmuch reports nothing for a malformed query**, so correctness is asserted + against the constructed string, never against a provoked failure or a result + count. `SearchTerm`'s own header records this. +- The details dialog must keep calling `accept()` BEFORE emitting, per item 85's + trap. A new action added to that menu inherits the same requirement, and its + mutation check hangs rather than fails. + +**Size: S.** The grammar is one function beside an existing one with existing +tests; the spread is the signature change across three files. + ## Deferred, unsized, or split out Items noted while triaging but not part of the original list. Same numbering |