Introducing Global Search (within a Space)

[MarkSiedle]

The feature

Global search within a Space, directly from the UI.

What it enables people to do

Ever wanted to just search the Octopus UI for something? Or just navigate faster around the Octopus UI?

As our features have grown over recent years, so has our navigational complexity. We decided to do something about it, and are introducing a basic search field to help with two scenarios:

• Navigating our client-side app faster
• Finding server-side resources faster

Mockup

Find Area/Actions Faster

Using fuzzy-search to help you find common areas/actions of the UI available to you.

Find Records Faster

Quickly find server-side records faster, and go directly to them with ease.

What pain relievers or gain generators are we solving for people?

• We want to help you navigate Octopus faster (by letting our UI get out of your way)
• We want to help you to get to your server-side records faster

What this feature isn't

This feature does not cover all cases, but we hope it's a start in the right direction.

Known Limitations

• API search: You can only search API resources that are supported by our full table cache. Variables, for example, are not searchable for this reason.
• API search: Contextual documents are not currently searchable. E.g. Anything within a project (channels, triggers, etc.) or anything within a deployment target. So global search can help find your project, but it can't currently identify things inside that project.
• API search: Fuzzy search of the API is not currently supported. This is simplified to a simple .contains(...) search.
• Page-search: This only searches for pages, not actions within pages. E.g. You cannot currently search for "Add Environment", as this is not a page, it's a dialog-action within the Environments page. There are other actions such as "Add Project" that present a similar problem and are not currently supported.

Despite these limitations, please let us know if you find it helpful, what you think is missing, and where we can improve things :)

Who will care about it?

Well, kinda everyone 🤔 There's benefits to onboarding for first-time users, and it can help advanced users navigate even faster than before.

Elevator pitch for this feature

Have you ever wanted to type the name of the thing you're looking for an have Octopus just take you there? Maybe it's an account you use regularly, or a target/worker. Ever wanted to add something quickly, or get to a list faster? This feature has been designed with you in mind. We want to help you move faster!

How much noise should we make about this?

Let's see whether customers find this helpful to start 2021 before we make too much noise. Ideally people just start using the feature without any marketing, because it should be highly discoverable and intuitive.

[MarkSiedle]

Release Note: Introducing Global Search (within a Space)