"Search for '(null)' in Spotlight" subtext when activating List Filter via Hotkey

[Chris Messina]

I activate a List Filter in a Workflow with a Hotkey combo:

 

 

and when I press option, "Search for '(null)' in Spotlight" is shown as the subtext of the action:

 

 

Hitting enter opens a Finder window, but of course it can't search for "null".

 

It seems like this behavior should be prevented?

[Andrew]

@chris very interesting discovery, and I'm astounded that this hasn't been spotted sooner (as the logic behind this hasn't been touched in a long time).

 

While default mod actions should work here (and there are cases where an empty string is valid as the fallback arg), it definitely shouldn't show null. I've had a bit of a reorganise of the internal logic for this in the next build so you don't see null anymore.

 

Cheers,

Andrew

[deanishe]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

I'm astounded that this hasn't been spotted sooner

We all know it’s there. We just don’t click on it.

[Andrew]

This behaviour should be improved in the 4.3 b1199 pre-release

[Chris Messina]

It's better...! Now it reads "Search for '' in Spotlight". 

 

Also, it is not normal that when I key down to an option from the List Filter and hit the "shift" key, an empty Quicklook preview appears?

[deanishe]

1 hour ago, Chris Messina said:

It's better...! Now it reads "Search for '' in Spotlight".

 

Well, technically Andrew did say "improved", not "fixed"

 

I noticed a related blemish: If I run a List Filter with keyword (note trailing space), holding ⌥ shows Search for 'keyword ' with default fallback (with trailing space), but ^ shows Search for 'keyword' in Spotlight (without trailing space).

[Andrew]

5 hours ago, Chris Messina said:

Also, it is not normal that when I key down to an option from the List Filter and hit the "shift" key, an empty Quicklook preview appears?

 

This depends upon what's in the arg field of the list filter... for the blank Quicklook, what arg do you have set?

[Andrew]

@deanishe it previously read '(null)' regardless of what was typed in the input box in this scenario. 😳 This is what's been fixed.

[Andrew]

4 hours ago, deanishe said:

I noticed a related blemish: If I run a List Filter with keyword (note trailing space), holding ⌥ shows Search for 'keyword ' with default fallback (with trailing space), but ^ shows Search for 'keyword' in Spotlight (without trailing space).

 

There is actually some underlying logic which is causing this to be the case. The default fallback gets the full typed query, the spotlight fallback gets the typed argument for the current context. You'll notice if you keep typing, the Spotlight one will change to showing the argument instead.

[deanishe]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

The default fallback gets the full typed query, the spotlight fallback gets the typed argument for the current context.

 

Interesting. What's the reasoning behind handling them differently?

[Andrew]

@deanishe a simplification of the logic is if you want to search e.g. Google, it's likely the entire input you want to search for. If you want to search in Finder, it prevents e.g. the "open" keyword from being included. It's difficult to second guess what would be the absolute right thing to do, but this logic has stood for many years.

[Chris Messina]

6 hours ago, Andrew said:

This depends upon what's in the arg field of the list filter... for the blank Quicklook, what arg do you have set?

 

I set a domain env variable, so perhaps it's not being substituted/passed resolved to Quicklook?

 

[Andrew]

@Chris Messina the variable should be correctly resolved so Quick Look should work - what is your {var:domain} set to? could this variable be missing a trailing / creating a URL which doesn't exist?

[Chris Messina]

10 hours ago, Andrew said:

@Chris Messina what is your {var:domain} set to? could this variable be missing a trailing / creating a URL which doesn't exist?

 

Nope... might be a Quicklook issue? QL seems all kinds of impaired on Big Sur.

 

[Andrew]

@Chris Messina very odd, and could totally be Big Sur being quirky. Out of interest, what happens if you put a simple but complete URL just in the arg field of the list filter?

 

I've tested on both Big Sur and Mojave using {var:domain}/help/ with domain set to https://www.alfredapp.com/ and I get quicklook as expected.

[Chris Messina]

1 hour ago, Andrew said:

Out of interest, what happens if you put a simple but complete URL just in the arg field of the list filter?

 

Ok. I think I've figured it out. The issue is that the link in question requires authentication and redirects to a sign in page. It appears that Quicklook doesn't handle this well, and so renders a blank page.

 

When I use shift to preview a link from another List Filter, it works as expected! 

 

I consider this resolved!