Code search wrongly shows "no matches" when filtering results after selecting a page

[iTob191]

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Bug

Body

Steps to reproduce

1. Go to https://github.com/search?q=repo%3Aphp%2Fphp-src+scandir&type=code
2. Go to page 2
3. Select "C" from the list of languages on the left

Current behavior

It displays "Your search did not match any code" even though there are actually matches in the repository, just not enough for a second page.

Expected behaviour

The selected page is reset to page 1 and matching results are displayed.

Further notes

Same can be reproduced with the "Paths" filter as long as there are not enough filtered results for a second page.

[LiteBrite82]

I was able to reproduce, but can solve by clicking on the "code" tab in the left hand filter menu. Good catch! The question is, is it a bug or a feature?

If you are on the 2nd page of results and filter for results that don't have enough to spill over to the 2nd page; logically they shouldn't show on the 2nd page. But why not refresh the page and go back to page 1 when clicking on the code filter? Would "fixing" this break something else?

[iTob191]

If you are on the 2nd page of results and filter for results that don't have enough to spill over to the 2nd page; logically they shouldn't show on the 2nd page.

Absolutely. If there are not enough results for 2 pages, then the second page is of course empty. But I think it shouldn't be possible to navigate to an empty page in the first place. At least not via links in the GUI.

I see 2 usability problems with the current behavior:

1. When following the steps in the reproduction above, the most prominent thing on the page is the message "Your search did not match any code". Sure, there are other indicators that imply that there are actually some results like shown in your first screenshot. But as soon as the site has told me that there aren't any results, I usually stop looking for them and would thereby probably miss the other indicators.
2. This behavior is actually inconsistent. If you manually add the term language:C to the search input and press Enter, the selected page resets to 1. Same if you use the "Advanced" filters.

Would "fixing" this break something else?

In the case described above where there are not enough entries to display anything on the second page, I don't see how this would break something. However, in a case where there are enough entries for a second page, I'm not sure. I see points for both approaches. I'd probably still prefer to reset to page 1 for consistency.

[LiteBrite82]

Fantastic points! I love how thorough you are!

For functionality I was thinking more of front end caching of data and subsequent requests; more along the lines of efficiency. I'm not on the dev team and am unfamiliar with the tech stack. My current experience is small scale MERN stack and some basic GQL API.

The question in my head is, when a filter is selected with a mouse click, is the page using cached data from the original search request, or, performing a whole new search.

Totally un-necessary thought process, my ADHD is is hyper focused on dev right now....

Back on track to your final point. I agree; better UX / UI that way (resetting to page 1). Especially as the default messaging for the empty page 2 is "Your search did not match any code".

[iTob191]

The question in my head is, when a filter is selected with a mouse click, is the page using cached data from the original search request, or, performing a whole new search.

According to my browser's dev tools, there's no front end caching here and the filtered results are requested from the server.