Bug 427318

Summary: KDE4 file dialog: impossible to select an existing file for renaming and saving
Product: [openSUSE] openSUSE 11.1 Reporter: Forgotten User Drfk9mafMw <forgotten_Drfk9mafMw>
Component: KDE4 WorkspaceAssignee: E-mail List <kde-maintainers>
Status: RESOLVED FIXED QA Contact: E-mail List <qa-bugs>
Severity: Major    
Priority: P2 - High CC: drankinatty, mrmazda, pg.radadia, xavier
Version: Beta 2   
Target Milestone: ---   
Hardware: i586   
OS: Other   
URL: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=170979
Whiteboard:
Found By: --- Services Priority:
Business Priority: Blocker: ---
Marketing QA Status: --- IT Deployment: ---

Description Forgotten User Drfk9mafMw 2008-09-18 11:39:32 UTC
It is not possible to select an existing file in the KDE4 file dialog in order to do some minor changes to the filename for saving a new file:

Upon clicking on an existing file, the dialog closes instantly and asks if the file should really be overwritten.

The desired behavior should be to place the name into the filename field and let the user either change it or overwrite the file by pressing Save without changes to it.
Comment 1 pragnesh radadiya 2008-09-20 03:42:49 UTC
marking bug as upstream resolution
Comment 2 Forgotten User Drfk9mafMw 2008-10-14 08:48:24 UTC
I am reopening this bug since the behavior is not gone even in 4.1.2. The file dialog is a shame with this behavior. Neither is it possible to choose an existing file for renaming when saving, nor can one choose several files for opening, e.g. in Kate or the like.

The responsible person seems to think that this behavior is what users expect in a single click environment. I totally disagree. Even then, one would expect to be able to select and then click OK to open, imo.

I am increasing severity, too, because it potentially leads to file loss when existing files are overwritten accidentially!
Comment 3 Forgotten User Drfk9mafMw 2008-10-20 17:08:54 UTC
Here is a KDE bug report which fits:
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=170979

We have seen 4.1.1 and 4.1.2 spring to life without any fix to this :(
Comment 4 Forgotten User Drfk9mafMw 2008-11-08 19:07:32 UTC
Still not fixed in 4.1.3 either :(
Comment 5 David Rankin 2008-11-17 03:42:23 UTC
Folks -- This is still *not* fixed in Beta 5!

	In KDE4, I had already saved a file and I wanted to save another with a like name. My thought was to choose the previously saved filename and then add -01 at the end of the name and save. As soon as I chose the filename, the dialog immediately closed, selecting the original filename and then immediately proposed to overwrite the very file I wanted to keep. This is the nuttiest half-Gnome like dialog behavior I have ever seen in KDE and it goes to the very core of a desktop.

	A save as dialog has two purposes: (1) allow the user to select a previous file name to 'save as', or to change the name and then save the file contents under the modified file name and (2) to allow the user to type in an arbitrary name and then save the file contents under the new arbitrary name. KDE4's file save dialog has been rendered incapable of preforming this, the most basic of desktop tasks.

	The inability to allow you to select an existing file to put the name in the filename text-box so that you can modify the name and then save the file under the new name is fundamental to productivity. On a daily basis, the U.S. Federal court system distributes pleading via download of pdf files. All of the files require that my staff 'save as' from an index distributed by the court. The files require a naming convention of 'cause no.'_'plaintiff'_v_'defendant'_'pleading name'_'attachment no.'.pdf which looks something like this in the real-world:

89CV0010_MyClient_v_TheDefendant_RespMotionSummaryJudgment_Exh01.pdf
89CV0010_MyClient_v_TheDefendant_RespMotionSummaryJudgment_Exh02.pdf
89CV0010_MyClient_v_TheDefendant_RespMotionSummaryJudgment_Exh03.pdf
89CV0010_MyClient_v_TheDefendant_RespMotionSummaryJudgment_Exh04.pdf
89CV0010_MyClient_v_TheDefendant_RespMotionSummaryJudgment_Exh05.pdf
89CV0010_MyClient_v_TheDefendant_RespMotionSummaryJudgment_Exh06.pdf
89CV0010_MyClient_v_TheDefendant_RespMotionSummaryJudgment_Exh07.pdf

	When the file save as dialog doesn't allow you to pick a previous file name, that means that staff can't just select a simple file name and change 01 to 02, etc., they have to try and (1) remember the exact file name they just used and (2) retype the entire name without error simply to change a single character. This is a biggie that needs to be addressed before release.
Comment 6 pragnesh radadiya 2008-11-17 05:10:48 UTC
> used and (2) retype the entire name without error simply to change a single
> character. This is a biggie that needs to be addressed before release.

i think there is auto completion feature is there so there is no need  write entire name to change single character. 

Comment 7 Xavier Callejas 2008-11-17 05:17:40 UTC
why don't just use 'Control' keyboard key while you click on the file?
Comment 8 Forgotten User Drfk9mafMw 2008-11-17 07:57:28 UTC
For three reasons:

1) it doesn't help
2) it is illogical for a desktop which aims for easy usage to require a keyboard sequence for something that simple
3) the described behavior is the same for the File Open dialog!

It is impossible to select several files while holding Ctrl or any other key in order to open them in applications which support it (such as Kate, Kile, etc).

And *please* don't waste time to explain that this new behavior is a step forward in desktop evolution. It's simply a bug.
Comment 9 Forgotten User Drfk9mafMw 2008-11-17 08:01:29 UTC
Maybe I must explain my last comment and item 3) a little closer for some of us: it is *overly* and *hugely* annoying that clicking the "wrong" file accidentially in File Open (yes, that happens sometimes) and it opens *right away*. This defeats the purpose of any Cancel, OK, or Save button in the dialog since there is no chance to ever click them.

Please accept that this is a bug in kdelibs. It drives me mad. Please!
Comment 10 Forgotten User Drfk9mafMw 2008-11-17 10:41:33 UTC
Apparently, there is a fix for this in upstream SVN:
http://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=170979

Please incorporate this patch to the KDE version delivered with 11.1! Thank you very much in advance!
Comment 11 Stephan Binner 2008-11-17 14:25:53 UTC
*** Bug 439637 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 12 David Rankin 2008-11-17 18:39:32 UTC
(In reply to comment #7 from Xavier Callejas)
> why don't just use 'Control' keyboard key while you click on the file?
> 

Why would I want to do that?

	I haven't had to control-click anything in 5 years to put the focus on a file name in konqueror. I'm a one-armed man damn it, and holding the control-key and moving the mouse at the same time is a real bitch...
Comment 13 Stephan Binner 2008-11-18 17:34:01 UTC
Submitted changed package.
Comment 14 Forgotten User Drfk9mafMw 2008-11-18 17:58:30 UTC
Thank you very much!