I just tried the extension on English Wikipedia, and after searching, I saw my query flash in the query box for a moment, but then it disappeared. I recently suggested the extension to someone who wants to learn more of the advanced syntax, but didn't realize the constructed query was hidden. Some users would rather type their queries, and could use the extension as a learning tool (and/or to remember a keyword you haven't used in months), but hiding the query makes that harder.
Topic on Help talk:Extension:AdvancedSearch/Flow
Hi, there should not be any query flashing at all. This probably was an already fixed bug. We considered the behavior you suggested for the same reasons as you did but decided against for technical and UX reasons. We still want to help the users to learn the keywords with our extension. That is why we have the info-icons next to each search option, when hovering the option is explained including how this can be used by keyword.
Would it be possible to have a URL parameter or developer setting or some other way to display the generated query? In discussion of exact search it's not at all clear what's happening (though it seems likely to be either "term1" OR "term2" or "term1" "term2"), and seeing the generated query would make it clear what is happening, so we could have a more well-informed discussion about what should be happening, or how it should be described so people interpret it correctly.
Hey, thank you for the proposal. I created a Ticket for this to have it on our list of potential improvements.