Odd position of commands in find and replace

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vwnisus
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Joined: 2016-04-24 00:13:31

Odd position of commands in find and replace

Post by vwnisus »

In Find and Replace when I enter a command such as "Capture()", it is superscripted and partly disappears upwards, but as soon as I type a character, it then moves down. Here are some screens to show the effect:
Find & Replace 3.jpg
Find & Replace 3.jpg (51.75 KiB) Viewed 3297 times
Find & Replace 2.jpg
Find & Replace 2.jpg (50.06 KiB) Viewed 3297 times
Find & Replace 1.jpg
Find & Replace 1.jpg (69.66 KiB) Viewed 3297 times
Is there a way of avoiding this?

macOS 12.3 - Nisus Writer Pro, version 3.2.2
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phspaelti
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Re: Odd position of commands in find and replace

Post by phspaelti »

vwnisus wrote: 2022-03-23 10:12:13 Is there a way of avoiding this?
Use Powerfind Pro :wink:

The behavior of the PowerFind bubbles seems to have changed over the years. Now they don't even look like bubbles anymore. It seems as if the current bubble font doesn't have a correct setting for line height, which seems to be why they disappear and overlap like this.

I would consider this a bug.

Also: how about introducing display preferences (contours, colors, display size, etc.) for find bubbles?
philip
dgbchr
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Joined: 2022-02-17 08:50:51

Re: Odd position of commands in find and replace

Post by dgbchr »

I reported this (though not quite so extensively) in another thread, and Martin is aware - see https://nisus.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12028&start=15

There was also a suggestion earlier in that thread about how changing zoom levels can fix the issue or at least improve it.

Thank you for bringing it up again though and for the screenshots you included!
vwnisus
Posts: 58
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Re: Odd position of commands in find and replace

Post by vwnisus »

Thank you for the responses.

I tried changing zoom, fonts, paragraph spacing. And the size of the Find and Replace window. They do make some difference but still get things such as:
CleanShot 2022-03-24 at 11.22.26@2x.jpg
CleanShot 2022-03-24 at 11.22.26@2x.jpg (82.33 KiB) Viewed 3252 times
I hope the developer can fix this.
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phspaelti
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Re: Odd position of commands in find and replace

Post by phspaelti »

To explain a bit more clearly what I meant:

The Powerfind "Bubbles" -- capture symbols, repeat symbols, wildcards, etc. -- do not seem to have any line height. If your expression consists only of such bubbles then they will slip above the limit of the find box (as in your second image). If your find expression extends over multiple lines, any line which contains only bubbles will overlap with the previous line.

This aspect can be "fixed" if you set the paragraph spacing to fixed line height and give the line height a reasonable size. Obviously this will only work if you are not using "Formatting Sensitive" Find.
You can also "fix" it by adding an actual text character on the line of the find expression, but if that character is not part of the expression, you will need to remove it again.

A second problem is that text characters and bubbles do not align on the text line. This is why the "From:" appears higher than the "Capture()". This could be seen as a "feature", as it gives a visual cue for the difference. Personally I preferred the old system where the bubbles actually looked different and had some visual indication of bubblehood. I think if would be nice if Nisus could add preferences for this.

I agree that something should be done about this, especially the first problem. This is particularly so, as Powerfind is most useful to people who are not that fluent in Find/Replace(Grep) language. The current situation makes the Powerfind feature confusing and very difficult to use.
philip
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phspaelti
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Re: Odd position of commands in find and replace

Post by phspaelti »

Just to illustrate with screen shots:
Here an expression consisting only of repetitions of the Return Special Character. Here I set the line height to fixed 18pt
Find Dialog 2.jpg
Find Dialog 2.jpg (147.39 KiB) Viewed 3242 times
And here the same with automatic line height
Find Dialog.jpg
Find Dialog.jpg (122.92 KiB) Viewed 3242 times
philip
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martin
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Re: Odd position of commands in find and replace

Post by martin »

phspaelti wrote: 2022-03-23 10:54:35 I would consider this a bug.
Yes, this is a bug, plain and simple. It was introduced by one of the newer macOS system versions, but I forget which.
Also: how about introducing display preferences (contours, colors, display size, etc.) for find bubbles?
You can already control the color of PowerFind bubbles in your Nisus Writer Appearance preferences, in the Colors section, under the category "Automatic Text". Or at least you would be able to, if not for this bug. Right now the bubbles draw with no background, so changing the color has no effect.

We will get all this fixed, sorry for the nuisance.
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martin
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Re: Odd position of commands in find and replace

Post by martin »

This issue with PowerFind bubble should be fixed in Nisus Writer Pro 3.3
vwnisus
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Re: Odd position of commands in find and replace

Post by vwnisus »

Thank you for fixing this.
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