how do I clear find result window with keystrokes/shortcut

Steve Aurelio

I use Find->Find All in Current Document frequently. When I want to clear the results window it is a right click-> Clear all. When using a mouse all day long it would be very helpful to have a command that I can map to a shortcut. I have searched but have not found anything in this area.

cipher-1024

If the focus is in the results pane, you can just cntrl-a, del. If you need to get the focus on the results pane hit F7. Sadly, since the F7 toggles between the results pane and the editor pane, an F7-select-all-then-delete macro would be a time bomb waiting to go off. Hopefully someone else has a better idea.

Alan Kilborn

@cipher-1024 said:

an F7-select-all-then-delete macro would be a time bomb waiting to go off.

Not to mention the fact that macros are really centric around editor operations, not rest-of-program operations. :)

@Steve-Aurelio said:

all day long

Curious why you feel the need to “clear”? A new search “minimizes” previous searches (after which I just tend to ignore them).

Alan Kilborn

I was intrigued by this, mainly for the “can we do this?” potential rather than its usefulness to me… :)

Thanks to Claudia’s (sniff, sniff) and Scott’s (sniff, sniff) earlier postings on the use of Python’s ctypes module, I was able to come up with this Pythonscript (that can be bound to a single keycombination) to do what the OP has asked for:

import ctypes
from ctypes.wintypes import BOOL, HWND, LPARAM

# helpers for ctypes:
WNDENUMPROC = ctypes.WINFUNCTYPE(BOOL, HWND, LPARAM)
FindWindow = ctypes.windll.user32.FindWindowW
GetWindowText = ctypes.windll.user32.GetWindowTextW
GetWindowTextLength = ctypes.windll.user32.GetWindowTextLengthW
SendMessage = ctypes.windll.user32.SendMessageW
EnumChildWindows = ctypes.windll.user32.EnumChildWindows
GetClassName = ctypes.windll.user32.GetClassNameW
curr_class = ctypes.create_unicode_buffer(256)

# other helpers:
WM_COMMAND = 0x111
NPPM_INTERNAL_SCINTILLAFINFERCLEARALL = 0x400 + 27

find_result_panel_hwnd = None

def foreach_window(hwnd, lParam):
    cc = curr_class[:GetClassName(hwnd, curr_class, 256)]
    if cc == u'#32770':
        length = GetWindowTextLength(hwnd)
        if length > 0:
            buff = ctypes.create_unicode_buffer(length + 1)
            GetWindowText(hwnd, buff, length + 1)
            if buff.value == u'Find result':
                global find_result_panel_hwnd
                find_result_panel_hwnd = hwnd
    return True
EnumChildWindows(FindWindow(u'Notepad++', None), WNDENUMPROC(foreach_window), 0)

if find_result_panel_hwnd != None: SendMessage(find_result_panel_hwnd, WM_COMMAND, NPPM_INTERNAL_SCINTILLAFINFERCLEARALL, 0)

Not sure if the OP is inclined to use the Pythonscript plugin to achieve the goal, but that’s neither here nor there to me. :)

Alan Kilborn

For the purists out there, stick a return False after the find_result_panel_hwnd = hwnd line and indented to that same level. The purists can also I’m sure find other problems or ways to improve. It works (for me) as above. :)

Meta Chuh

@Alan-Kilborn

Thanks to Claudia’s (sniff, sniff) and Scott’s (sniff, sniff) earlier postings

i have avoided to whine about their “temporal” leave lately, especially after a few of your reprehensions about this … and now you remind me again (sniff, sniff) 😉
at least scott is still around, albeit not active. 👀

reader’s note: for anyone that wants to try out the code from above, here’s the:
Guide: How to install the PythonScript plugin on Notepad++ 7.6.3, 7.6.4 and above:

Alan Kilborn

@Meta-Chuh

The sniffling was mainly for your benefit as Claudia and Scott will never see it. :)

Your guide is conspicuously missing how to set up PS with a portable N++ >= 7.6.3. Or was this discussed elsewhere?

Meta Chuh

@Alan-Kilborn

The sniffling was mainly for your benefit

i thought so, and my first thought was: how thoughtful of you :)

as Claudia and Scott will never see it. :)

hmmmmmh … sure about that ? what if someone else is claudia in disguise ? 😈🍏🐍

Your guide is conspicuously missing how to set up PS with a portable N++ >= 7.6.3. Or was this discussed elsewhere?

yes, e.g. here: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/17256/guide-how-to-install-the-pythonscript-plugin-on-notepad-7-6-3-7-6-4-and-above/1
or here: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/community/topic/16942/pythonscript-any-ready-pyscript-to-replace-one-huge-set-of-regex-phrases-with-others/12

but never as a stand alone guide, because apparently portable users usually know how to install it.

if it get’s asked again, i, or anybody else, might make a new guide about that.

(ps: in other words: i’ve completely forgotten that, while writing the guide … but hushhhhhhhh, dont tell anyone 😉 )