MySQL Bugs: #29163: Pressing Command-A does not select all text as expected in query entry field

Bug #29163	Pressing Command-A does not select all text as expected in query entry field
Submitted:	17 Jun 2007 17:27	Modified:	22 Jun 2007 7:10
Reporter:	James Schend	Email Updates:
Status:	Won't fix	Impact on me:	None
Category:	MySQL Query Browser	Severity:	S4 (Feature request)
Version:	1.2.12	OS:	MacOS (10.4)
Assigned to:		CPU Architecture:	Any
Tags:	GUI, keyboard shortcut

Description:
When editing a query in the query entry field, pressing Command-A does not select all text as expected.

How to repeat:
1) Connect to a MySQL database server
2) Enter the following query in the query entry field: 'SELECT COUNT(*) FROM USER'
3) Press Command-A to select the text of the query; The computer will beep, and no text will be selected

Suggested fix:
Command-A should select all text in text fields.

Thank you for taking the time to write to us, but this is not a bug. Please double-check the documentation available at http://dev.mysql.com/doc/ and the instructions on
how to report a bug at http://bugs.mysql.com/how-to-report.php

Actual shortcut for "Select Query Area" is Cmd + L, not Cmd + A

I'm not suggesting that the shortcut for "Select Query Area" be changed from Command-L to Command-A. Rather, I'm saying that Command-A should be a shortcut for the "Select All" operation which should exist in all text areas (or any area with anything selectable, for example, the results grid.)

As seen in Apple's Human Interface Guidelines, all Macintosh applications should provide a "Select All" menu item in the Edit menu, which has the shortcut Command-A:
http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuidelines/XHIGMen...

In addition to being specifically required by Apple, this command is expected by nearly all computer users. Most of us have muscle-memory that Command-A is select all, and the easiest way to complete replace a field's text is to position your cursor in the field, press Command-A, and begin typing the new content.

Once again, I'm not suggesting that the Command-L shortcut be removed; only that Command-A perform the action expected by users.

I'd like to re-open this entry so that my latest comment can be examined. I believe the initial bug report was not understood, so I added clarifying text. Since there has been no reply, I am assuming that it was not read due to the "Not A Bug" status of this bug.

I was also instructed to see the "How to Report a Bug" page, but I don't exactly understand what part of that process I was not following. In my search to see if this bug had been reported before, I came across this entry: http://bugs.mysql.com/bug.php?id=28863 which states that the Select All shortcut works as expected (in the query entry field) in Windows. I can only conclude that its failure to work in Macintosh OS X is indeed a bug.

Thank you for the feedback.

But original idea of query area was to create it similar to location bar in web browser. So Cmd + L shortcut is correct for this.

Thank you for the feedback.

But original idea of query area was to create it similar to location bar in web browser. So Cmd + L shortcut is correct for this.

If you are trying to replicate the behavior of a web browser, every web browser on Macintosh supports Command-A to Select All in the location bar. Additionally, your own Query Browser supports Control-A on Windows, which is the Windows equivalent to Command-A.

The simple fact of the matter is that Command-A should select all text in all text fields.

1) Safari web browser will select the address bar if you click in it and press Command-A.
2) Firefox has the same behavior as Safari. Those are the two most popular web browsers on OS X.
3) Query Browser in Windows has the same behavior as those browsers.
4) If that wasn't enough, Apple own documentation say that the Select All shortcut is required for all GUI applications.

Why is it that this is not a bug?

Is it possible to have another developer look into this issue?

Thank you for the feedback.

All GUI Tools developers looked into this report already and my previous comment contains summary of the discussion.

I only can change status of the report to "Feature request" as having additional Cmd + A shortcut is good feature.

This bug is not scheduled to be fixed at this time.