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On SO, when typing in the "Type to find users" text area, the users auto filter. Some times after a short period (< 30 seconds), it resets back to the unfiltered view.

(Using Google Chrome under Win7)

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  • Same here with Chrome. I spent a minute or two looking for the tab that had the filtered view before it dawned on me that the filter just reverted. (NB: I usually have an insane amount of tabs open)
    – user50049
    Jun 23, 2010 at 11:09
  • No-repro on XP + FF 3.6.3 (I used Andy's method to test).
    – Jon Seigel
    Jun 23, 2010 at 12:27
  • I'll toss in the IE8+XP no-repro vote. But I also got to test FireFox on my Windows 7 ship, and there, too, I had no repro. Very strange.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Jun 23, 2010 at 13:24
  • Reproduced on a different Win7 machine using IE8. Hard to consistently repeat, but try this: type "John" and wait for it to filter. Then backspace to remove "ohn" and type "ill". Wait. Wait some more. Refreshes to unfiltered. Jun 23, 2010 at 16:08
  • A single letter is insufficient to build a search, the term needs 2 letters minimum. So the "J" left over from John will be treated as a blank filter (which shows top rep users). Looks like your list is updating to that point, but forgetting to update past that.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Jun 23, 2010 at 17:01
  • @ccomet: I might have narrowed down the repro steps, updated my answer if you want to try and confirm.
    – Andy E
    Jun 23, 2010 at 20:15
  • 2
    Okay, now I can repro with both sets of steps.
    – Jon Seigel
    Jun 23, 2010 at 20:52
  • Was able to repro on FireFox on Win7, following a combination of both steps.
    – Grace Note StaffMod
    Jun 23, 2010 at 22:07

3 Answers 3

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I can reproduce this as well (FireFox 3.6.4, Vista), but my steps are a little different than Andy's.

If I type a single letter, the search takes several seconds (around 10+), if I type two more characters before the search finishes, it will display the updated results, however when the initial query finally finishes, it resets the display.

My XHR tab on Firebug looks like this:

alt text http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/3568/26973481.jpg

Like ccomet said in the comments, a single letter isn't enough to do a search, but for whatever reason, the request is still sent to the server and takes an incredibly long time to finish. It will overwrite any other searches that were completed earlier.

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I just tested it in IE and Firefox, so I can confirm this. I tried in Chrome but it didn't happen. It seems to only repro if the results aren't coming from the browser's cache (so type something you haven't typed before). The results appear and then are replaced by the top user list very shortly afterwards, it was 5-10 seconds each time for me.

The obvious work around for the time being appears to be to just re-enter the characters in the filter box.


I think I've narrowed down the repro now and it doesn't seem as bad a bug as I first thought.

  1. Enter some filter characters. Wait for the results to load.
  2. Delete the characters and wait a second or so.
  3. Type some more characters. Wait for the results to load.
  4. Wait a few seconds and viola, the loaded results revert back to the top list.

It appears as though the timer that resets the results isn't cancelled when a new request is made.

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Hmm, good catch.. we don't want to filter until the string is at least 2 chars long.

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