Search results tab is blank after switching library

[ZodGaz]

JabRef version

Latest development branch build (please note build date below)

Operating system

MacOS

Details on version and operating system

MacOS Sequoia 15.0

Checked with the latest development build (copy version output from About dialog)

• I made a backup of my libraries before testing the latest development version.
• I have tested the latest development version and the problem persists

Steps to reproduce the behaviour

1. Do a fulltext search in a library
2. Switch to another db/library
3. Switch back to the first library and check the search results tab

Turning off and on the fulltext flag again will make the results appear correctly.

Doing a sort of "hack" where we reset the flag (if it is active) every-time a library is switched seems to prevent the issue, like this :
stateManager.activeDatabaseProperty().addListener((_, _, _) -> { if (preferences.getSearchPreferences().isFulltext()) { Platform.runLater(this::resetFulltextFlag); } else { content.getChildren().clear(); } });

But it's just an hack and also seems to create problems with threads concurrency (I can post a video of this behavior as well if needed).

Appendix

Screen.Recording.2025-06-02.at.23.19.03.mov

No errors in the log.

[ZodGaz]

follow-up: the issue is probably to be caused by the listener in MainTableDataModel

searchQuerySubscription = EasyBind.listen(searchQueryProperty, (observable, oldValue, newValue) -> updateSearchMatches(newValue));

This listener only triggers when the reference of searchQueryProperty changes (oldValue != newValue). However, in cases like switching databases or refreshing the current one, the same query instance or a semantically identical query is often set again, which does not trigger the listener. As a result, no search results are updated, and the table remains empty

Even attempts to manually call searchQueryProperty.set(Optional.of(sameQuery)) won’t help, and as said before an hack (like turning search flags off and on to trigger the listener) doesn't seem like a proper solution.

Any idea to how to fix, or where to look at least for a solution?

[Siedlerchr]

Thanks for the investigation, for a change listener you would need to something like set it to empty and then set the value again. My rough idea would be to do something like this. This would be somewhere registered in JabRefFrame and then you need to make the method public in MainTableModel and also in LibraryTab.
E.g. something like this:

        stateManager.activeTabProperty().addListener((observable, oldValue, newValue) -> {
            libraryTab.updateSearchMatches(searchQueryProperty.getValue());
// in library tab pass through to the main table
        })

[ZodGaz]

Thanks for the investigation, for a change listener you would need to something like set it to empty and then set the value again. My rough idea would be to do something like this. This would be somewhere registered in JabRefFrame and then you need to make the method public in MainTableModel and also in LibraryTab. E.g. something like this:

        stateManager.activeTabProperty().addListener((observable, oldValue, newValue) -> {
            libraryTab.updateSearchMatches(searchQueryProperty.getValue());
// in library tab pass through to the main table
        })

Thank for you answer, but this approach could be similar to refresh the flag? Because at this point we could do that, I did it and it works actually.. but then you got some brief microsecond of lag-refresh when you switch db. Maybe we can consider it for the future only when the fulltext search is on, and if fixing this issue will result too time-consuming.

[ZodGaz]

/assign-me

[github-actions]

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