Add a way to search branches by name in Explorer

[vadimcn]

• GitLens Version: 8.3
• VSCode Version: 1.23.1
• OS Version: Ubuntu 16.04

Our remote repo has a lot (>100) of dev branches where people store their work-in-progress. It's a total drag to find a particular branch in GitLens Explorer, even if you know the exact name.
It would be nice to have one of those search-as-you-type boxes for branches.

...well, it looks like current VSCode API does not allow having input boxes in custom tree views. I think having "Search Branches" item in remote's popup menu, which opens a quick pick dropdown, which opens selected branch in Results view (or simply exposes it in in Explorer) would be a decent compromise.

I know there's "GitLens: Show Branch History command", but I much rather prefer to see results in a tree format, so I can examine individual file diffs. Besides, it searches branches in the repo that the currently open file belongs to, not the one I've selected in SCM sidebar, which is a kinda surprising UX.

Thanks for your work!

[eamodio]

Great suggestion. Sadly as you saw vscode doesn't provide any mechanism for a search or filter box right now (though their new Outline view supports it, but no word yet on an api for extensions).

I will look into providing some commands to jump into the explorers.

FYI, GitLens largely works based off the current file (to support scenarios of not opening a repo, opening a file that isn't part of the open repo, etc). But there are definitely cases where I should be looking for other contextual clues -- like focus in the SCM, etc. I know of a few cases where I still need to add some fallbacks -- e.g. say the open file isn't part of a repo, right now certain commands fail, when they should either fallback to the open repo (if there is one and only one), or maybe open a quickpick to choose the repo for the command.

Although in the case you mention, I will look, but I don't think I have access to know what repo you have selected in the SCM view.

Thanks for your suggestion!

[eamodio]

FYI open microsoft/vscode#50062

[Edza]

This is supported in visual studio teams explorer. Our team has 100s of branches. This would be helpful. Prevents me from switching completely to vs code.

[Edza]

Looks like it is fixed now:
microsoft/vscode#50062

Would be great to have it done. I might contribute and help with this. :)

Should now change status away from "blocked" @eamodio

[eamodio]

While this "works" today in GitLens 10 and the latest VS Code, I still call this one blocked. VS Code did add automatic support for searching/filtering by typing, but it has serious limitations and usability issues imo. VS Code also provide no facility for an extension to hook into that process or control it in any way.

So there really isn't a good way for GitLens to provide the type of filtering/searching that I would like to have here.