[Octave-bug-tracker] [bug #56800] uigetfile ('MultiSelect', 'on') is not compatible with "Recent" file dialog feature

[Mike Miller]

URL:
  <https://savannah.gnu.org/bugs/?56800>

                 Summary: uigetfile ('MultiSelect', 'on') is not compatible
with "Recent" file dialog feature
                 Project: GNU Octave
            Submitted by: mtmiller
            Submitted on: Sat 24 Aug 2019 10:07:10 AM PDT
                Category: Octave Function
                Severity: 2 - Minor
                Priority: 5 - Normal
              Item Group: Incorrect Result
                  Status: None
             Assigned to: None
         Originator Name: 
        Originator Email: 
             Open/Closed: Open
         Discussion Lock: Any
                 Release: dev
        Operating System: GNU/Linux

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Details:

The uigetfile function with the 'MultiSelect' option enabled fundamentally
expects that all selected files will be in the same filesystem directory. The
return values from uigetfile are a cell array of file names and a single
directory containing all of those files. That is the Matlab API that we are
attempting to match.

However, when a user is running in GNOME, the file selection dialog offers a
"Recent" files view, which shows a list of files that span multiple
directories. In this case, a user may multi-select files in the "Recent" view,
but only a single directory will be returned.

I expect that other desktop and windowing environments may offer something
similar.

This is a relatively minor issue, but it is definitely possible for a user to
select multiple files with this interface and receive misleading return
values. This seems to me like a shortcoming in the design of this function.

Example return values:


>> [fname, fpath, fidx] = uigetfile ("MultiSelect", "on")
fname =
{
  [1,1] = hosts
  [1,2] = octave
}

fpath = /home/mike/
fidx = 0


The files selected were actually /etc/hosts and /usr/bin/octave.




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