Preference pages not shown in filtered preference dialog (regression)

[wahlbrink]

When opening a pre-filtered preference dialog, no pages are shown in the left tree.

Steps to reproduce

• Open a Java file in the Java editor
• Open "Preferences..." from the context menu

In 2026-06 RC2 the dialog looks like this:

It seems that the entries are displayed for just a very brief moment, but then disappear.

Expected behaviour:

The filtered preference pages are shown in the left tree, screenhot from 2025-12:

Tested under this environment:

Eclipse IDE: 2026-06 (4.40) I20260528-0011 (RC2)
OS: Windows 11

[HeikoKlare]

At a first glance, this seems to be caused by "type filter text" not being embedded as a hint for the filter but as an actual filter string (which does not match any entries).

It is a regression from:

• PreferenceDialog: render filter as native search field #3925

Reverting that change restores the previous behavior (@vogella fyi). Not sure if the previous behavior was a perfect implementation, but at least it did not have the reported issue, so a quick immediate fix could be a revert of that change.

I am not yet sure how severe the issue is, i.e., whether we need to think about an RC2 respin.

[HannesWell]

I am not yet sure how severe the issue is, i.e., whether we need to think about an RC2 respin.

Until Friday, i.e. before the promotion of the GA artifacts, a RC2a respin is easily possible:

• https://github.com/eclipse-platform/eclipse.platform.releng.aggregator/blob/master/RELEASE.md#rc2-respin

Since this is a clear bug and if the fix is very save, which I think a revert to the previous state is, I think a RC2 respin is justified.
I wouldn't do a 'forward' fix for the 4.40 maintenance branch at this stage. But on the master branch the latter could/should be done of course.

[merks]

SimRel needs final contributions on Wednesday. There is sufficient runway for that so I would support that.

[iloveeclipse]

I'm also for revert in RC2a, sooner is better.

[HeikoKlare]

Just to be sure that not all of us are waiting for others: @vogella will you take care of the revert? While technically simple, probably no one of us knows if you did further changes that may be somehow related to the one to revert and which could cause transitive bugs if we just revert this one. So your assessment on that would be valuable to reduce the risk of such as last-minute change as far as possible.

[vogella]

Just to be sure that not all of us are waiting for others: @vogella will you take care of the revert? While technically simple, probably no one of us knows if you did further changes that may be somehow related to the one to revert and which could cause transitive bugs if we just revert this one. So your assessment on that would be valuable to reduce the risk of such as last-minute change as far as possible.

I was about to ask who should to the revert... Yes, I can provide a revert (I did already yesterday, but wanted to wait for final confirmation / decision before pushing).

[vogella]

Tested with the revert.

[vogella]

The revert is for the 4.40 branch, I will handle master with a real fix. bundles/org.eclipse.ui.workbench/eclipseui/org/eclipse/ui/internal/dialogs/FilteredPreferenceDialog.java was not changed after #3925 so no other change is affected.

I tested the described scenario (thanks @wahlbrink for that) and it works fine again with the revert.

[vogella]

And to follow the clarification from @HeikoKlare: Just to be sure that not all of us are waiting for others: I assume project leads / PMC leads will handle the merge of the PR and rebuild request.

[vogella]

Revert is here: #4043