https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=455239

--- Comment #13 from Marty <[email protected]> ---
Some more recent comments in this thread are discussing a slightly different
but highly related issue here.

The issue you are describing/solving: The user types a search query. Different
results come in at different times and the results list is updated, resulting
in a different result for the same query. The user hits enter and may launch a
program that matches their search query, but wasn't the intended program.

The original issue: The user types a search query, and results are displayed.
The user types more letters. The new query is running while the old query is
still running in the background. The user hits Enter, and launches a program
that *doesn't even match the search query.*

Both are valid issues, but the original is distinctly worse in my experience
since you can't even circumvent it by typing the full program name, preventing
you from building muscle memory.

I think the focus should be on making KRunner *deterministic* with respect to
time. If you type a certain query, it should not matter if you hit Enter 1ms or
10s later, the result should be the same. This should solve *both* issues if my
understanding is correct.

In practice this can be implemented with two simple steps:
1. When a letter is typed, clear the current search (or filter it) immediately,
regardless of background searches.
2. If Enter is hit while search results are still loading or partially loaded,
the top result only gets chosen once full search is complete.

I am additionally im favor of not displaying incomplete search results in the
first place, but that is more about communication with the user than the core
issue: non-deterministic search.

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