[Feature] Search bar on homepage

[realgooseman]

Hi @Klocman,

Long time BCU user here, thanks for this useful piece of software. I've read some previous issues, I know you're busy and the project is not your priority right now but there's one feature I would like to see on BCU. I also think the UI is a bit outdated and I'm aware there's not much possibility with WinForms so a re-write of the UI is needed, but that's a different topic.

This request is intended to Klocman and/or any person that's willing to implement this feature.

New feature :

A persistent search bar on the homepage instead of having to hit F3/Ctrl+F to see the search bar on the sidebar. Here is a quickly made mockup to have an idea about how it would look like :

1 : The filter button next to the search button would regroup everything in the sidebar that is under the search bar
2 : People might like the sidebar, so maybe add option to toggle between sidebar or homepage searching

Why is this feature needed :

It will make searching easier and help with faster discovery of software packages.

[guiohm]

Well, for me, I checked the "Always show sidebar" in the View menu, and right after opening the program I can type what I'm searching for without even having to focus on the search field. So it quite convenient like that I think.

[Klocman]

Currently if the sidebar is hidden there is no way to search, so adding a limited search box in that case would be useful.