Being able to select an action from the huge list by typing a few letters is fantastic. However, if nothing comes up, one is always left with the niggling doubt that perhaps such an action does exist, but is in a package which is switched off.
Two suggestions:
* Detect if the letters typed match an action in an uninstalled package (presumably you’d have to change the way uninstalled packages are treated - they’d have to be minimally parsed)
* On the package screen, allow a similar functionality: searching for the name of an action in any package.
Since the list of packages on Package Management is apparently not sorted, it can actually be a very slow process trying to work out if a technology is supported or not.
Steve
PS I’m only making this number of wishlist requests because I like the product 
Steve - I know what you mean. Just the other day I was looking for a “Pause” action… but couldn’t remember what it was… took me a while to figure out that it was called “Delay”.
> Detect if the letters typed match an action in an uninstalled package (presumably you’d have to change the way uninstalled packages are treated - they’d have to be minimally parsed)
Definitely not possible. The IDE has absolutely no knowledge about uninstalled actions and never will.
> On the package screen, allow a similar functionality: searching for the name of an action in any package.
This isn’t really going to give you anything extra than using the normal Action Type filter… (but agree that the packages should be sorted).
One idea we’ve been toying with is being able to put an action in more than one category… but then you get even more actions to sort through …
Anyway, keep the ideas coming… we do appreciate it 
.t8
Yeah, my similar experience today was looking for a way to datestamp files - eventually found it was called "touch".
Suggestion: Allow actions to have keywords that are also searched. It might be slightly unintuitive *why* "touch" is coming up when you're typing "stamp", but at least you'll find the action ...
(and while I'm suggesting random things, consider changing the icon for MessageBox - it looks like there's a problem with that step every time I look at it. Considering that that exact same icon is used to represent a script validation error...)
Steve
that keyword idea is a great one…
Keywords are a good idea - even if they aren’t visible to the user, perhaps each action has a list of synonyms that are also searched. I had a similar experience the other day looking for something using Microsoft terminology, but it was listed with Delphi terminology I think? Can’t quite remember what it was, but I remember thinking at the time that a synonym search would be a great idea.
One idea we've been toying with is being able to put an action in more than one category... but then you get even more actions to sort through ...
I definately like this idea! There are some commands that straddle more than 1 category and I always have a time trying to find them, especially since the categories (and even the items in the categories) aren't sorted!
For example, loading a variable from an INI file - should be listed under both Variables and INI Files categories.
If you right click in the Action Types you can sort the categories. The actions within them aren't sorted by design as they are displayed in the order that they are registered in (which is set by the action designer as it makes more sense to have certain actions in a certain order).
On the keyword thing, it would be really cool if, for example, the unix equivalent of each command, where applicable, was a keyword. I wanted to make a directory, so I searched for “mkdir”. It took a couple of seconds to find it was called “create directory”. With good, unique, keywords, you could get an awesome workflow:
1) Ctrl+I
2) Type "mkdir"
3) Press enter
4) Fill in parameters
5) Press enter
=> A new create directory step, all with keyboard, without having to guess anything.
Steve