Jumping to already-open tab in other split view when opening file is annoying and makes it hard to work on multiple files.

[will-ca]

Short Summary

In most other editors I've used, opening a file always opens the file in whichever editor panel is currently active. This allows the user to explicitly control which files are open and where they are displayed, which makes it easy to, E.G., work on multiple files at the same time, or work on one part of a file while referring to a different part of the same file.

In Komodo, using opening an already-open file causes that file's tab to be activated in whichever editor panel it's already in. This severely undermines the value of having a split view, because it, E.G., makes it very difficult to view two different files at once if they're both already open in the same pane, and to open one file in both panes at once.

Additionally, when you first split the view, the same file is initially open in both panels at once and editing and scrolling works great in both of them. And when you first open a file that isn't already open in either split pane, it will pop up in whichever pane is currently active. So the split view implementation clearly is capable of handling the same file in both panes at once and of detecting and respecting which panel the user has explicitly selected, but the tab-switching mechanism is consulting the combined tab lists of both panels when deciding whether to open a new tab or switch to an existing one.

Steps to Reproduce

Open a split view.

Open a file in one only pane of the view.

Place the active text cursor in the other view.

Open the file through either the project browser or Commando.

Expected results

The file opens and displays in the split pane that the user has explicitly selected.

If the user had another file in the unselected pane that they intended to compare the newly opened file to, it remains open and visible.

Actual results

The file opens and displays in the split pane where it was last opened.

If the user had another file in that pane that they intended to compare the newly opened file to, it is now lost in an likely quite long and largely hidden tab list.

The pane that the user had explicitly selected is basically worthless because it doesn't show what the user wants.

In order to get both files displayed at the same time, the user has to 1) manually drag the newly opened file's tab to the correct pane, 2) find and switch back to the original file in an unorganized tab list, 3) possibly find and get back to their original code position, and 4) repeat this process again half time whenever they want to view a different pair of files at once.

It is additionally practically impossible to have the same file open in both panes at once, short of deactivating the split view completely and re-creating it.

User frustration and lost productivity. Possible incentivisation to switch to another editor because of a really quite minor but disproportionately disruptive interface quirk.

Platform Information

Komodo Edit, version 12.0.0, build 18431, platform linux-x86_64.
Built on Tue Jan 14 18:20:37 2020.

Additional Information

[th3coop]

@will-ca I don't follow. Can you write the repro steps using file names? I do'nt know what file you're referring to when you say something like Open the file through.... Using a.txt and b.txt or something.

Can you make the ticket more concise in general? You've mentioned several issues in one ticket. I know that at least one is not a bug but it's a small section of one of your paragraphs. Will address below.

It is additionally practically impossible to have the same file open in both panes at once

Right click the File tab > Placement > Splitview