InfoQube IM - Community

Submitted by Tom on 2014/04/24 05:12

I dont copy/cut text much within IQ but this is definitely odd behaviour (imo):

Item field has focus - (note that when Item field has focus the whole row is highlighted)

I want to cut the text from the item field:

Ctrl+X => the text is cut

the cut text is XML - does not paste here properly but looks like this:

Am I doing something wrong or is this default / intentional behaviour ?

Note: when I copy, I get the whole row - with column headers and all filled fields. Again I'm not sure if this default.)

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Version 0.9.26Pre-Rel23 build 2014-04-22 16:41:28
Running in Portable mode

Win7 x64

Comments

I'm confused - as said, I dont havent copied text within IQ for a good while so I'm like a noob here.

I am unable to select a range of cells (in order to copy them) - the full item rows get selected - whether the cell range included the tree/item field or not.

Is this something to do with full-line-selection mode?

(I couldnt find that setting anywhere, dont know if it's still possible to disable it? I also couldnt find much about it here - but may have been searching for the wrong terms)

I see Item Copy & Paste - Selection - Drag & Drop says I should be presented with the copy dialogue when what I'm copying includes the tree column - is this out-of-date? It's not happening here.

It also says:

"a) Copying the content of a range of cells

When the "tree" column is not part of the selected cell range, copying works like it would in a spreadsheet like Excel: It will instantly copy the contents of the selected cell. It's then ready to be pasted anywhere.
(the tree column is the one showing the outline, and shows an expand/collapse button)"

This is not the case here - as said above the full rows get selected and *all* info in the rows gets copied.

There might be room for improvement there; there's some difference between copy and cut behaviour, maybe they could be ironed out to make things simpler.***

Your problem is probably that you always end up cutting/copying the full items (i.e. the whole XML thing) as you select the whole rows, either by clicking on the # column or by switching to "full line" mode.

That said, the basic selection and copy/cut rules should be relatively simple :

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Selection rules:

- If you click on the # column, the full row is selected.

- If you click on any other single cell, only that cell is selected.

- If you control+click (mouse has arrow pointer) you can select disjointed cells

- If you shift click and drag mouse has arrow pointer) , you can select multiple contiguous cells.

"Multi-columns / Full line" modes

However, if you have "Full line" selection mode activated, wherever you click will always select the full row.

Grid>Select mode`> Multi-columns / Full line

(F6 is the default keyboard shortcut to activate/deactivate this behaviour.)

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Copy dialog

Now, about the copy dialog : if you copy a single cell, IQ will just copy the text inside that cell as there's nothing more to do, really.

But if you select multiple rows or cells, it will offer you some options. If you select XML, you'll be able to repaste the items as they are in IQ -- either as "clones" or as "full copies". Other options are well explained I think

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cutting

Cutting is more geared towards moving items from one place to another in IQ, or to link them to another parent (that second part -- linking -- is confusing and could probably be removed since there are already other means of doing that)

If you cut :

- If you select multiple rows : IQ will always show a dialog and cut the full items (all fields). You can the repaste cut items in IQ, nowhere else. (Unless you want XML...).

- if you select multiple cells, only the content of these cells will be cut, without any possibilties (like the copy mode). It can be repasted anywhere as it's just text + HTML tags if any.

That said, copy will achieve what you want if you want to copy & paste text (not the XML) somewhere else.

*** My problem is mostly with the cut dialog : IQ talks about erasing, which is a bit frightening... It's not as clear as the copy dialog. Why not offer mostly the same options when cutting multiple cells (tab indented, select rows and columns...) ?

Also, maybe "full line" mode could be deactivated. It can be activated by mistake, and if you don't know it, it can be confusing and hard to deactivate.

[EDITED for clarity 2014 04 24 -- 10 21]

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Windows 8

Sony Vaio S Series 13 (SVS131E21L)

Ram:8gb, CPU: Intel i5-3230M, 2.6ghz

Many thanks Armando

now that you've given me the correct terminology (full line mode), I see I've been burned by this before: [How do I] Simply Copy Text from a Field ?

I switched back to multi-column approach. I've been using IQ only in very basic manner for a while now, so I couldnt even say how long the full line selection mode is active.

Still (obviously) a fairly confusing experience....

You're welcome.

Pierre once talked about removing the full line mode. Since selecting full rows is easily achievable by clicking on the # column, I wonder if it's really useful to keep that mode and if some people use it exclusively.

I've been burned by it too, a while ago... probably by accidentally hitting F6 and not knowing what happened.

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Windows 8

Sony Vaio S Series 13 (SVS131E21L)

Ram:8gb, CPU: Intel i5-3230M, 2.6ghz

Note that ctrl+shift+c always chow the dialog. (or Edit>Copy Special)

Before, you said :

> I should be presented with the copy dialogue when what I'm copying includes the tree column - is this out-of-date? It's not happening here.

I think that this is a problem. Right now, to mimic the multi-columns mode, the dialog isn't shown if only one item is selected. The result can then be surprising if you have a lot of columns in your grid and all you wanted is some cell text from the tree column...

e.g.

# ItemCreated Ordre nbParents Icon_Type Icon_Statut Order Item _DeleteTasksRelatedValues xTitre Citation Texte Vu Titre_bib Notes ClassementContexte AddStringAfter2_tgsPIdPe_Rédac WIKITag ProjetNom VerifieContexte MotsClefs Mnz_tgsOmi OK FOCUS EnAttente Followup FollowUpDate Done ItemModified IDItem Desuet Check DoAcYN

- ----------- ----- --------- --------- ----------- ----- ---- ------------------------- ------ -------- ----- -- --------- ----- ------------------ ------------------------------ ------- --------- --------------- --------- ---------- -- ----- --------- -------- ------------ ---- ------------ ------ ------ ----- ------

<img>text_trans</img> Test 0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

(This is perfectly ok if that's what you want, of course.)

"Test" is the text from the tree column.

When in full line mode -- if Pierre keeps the mode-- I think that user should always be shown the copy dialog. Otherwise : room for some frustration and confusion.

Also, IMO the first item of the copy dialog could probably be : "Tree column only"

... instead of just "Tab-indented outline", which is less self-explanatory. The note in parentheses could give details about the fact that it's tab indented, which is not that important.

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Windows 8

Sony Vaio S Series 13 (SVS131E21L)

Ram:8gb, CPU: Intel i5-3230M, 2.6ghz

In a constant effort of simplifying the UI and clarity, I'm considering removing the Full-line select mode (and consequently the whole grid > select mode menu as I don't see any real benefit from this select mode.

Any objections ?

I think it's a good idea. But let's hear about others.

(see also see the end of my other post about the copy dialog wording of the first selectable item)

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Windows 8

Sony Vaio S Series 13 (SVS131E21L)

Ram:8gb, CPU: Intel i5-3230M, 2.6ghz

[quote=Pierre_Admin]

Any objections ? [/quote]

no objections here -

but wondering about the new "Tree column shows outline labels" - I dont use it myself (not yet anyway) but I see it hides the "#" column. Which could possibly mean difficulty in full-row selection (?)

[quote=Tom]

[/quote]

Good point !

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Windows 8

Sony Vaio S Series 13 (SVS131E21L)

Ram:8gb, CPU: Intel i5-3230M, 2.6ghz

Yes, although I was advocating for Ecco like outline styles (and still am), I'm not happy with this implementation.

Jon

Specific comments, recommendations ?

Sure.

1. On a positive note, I like the change you made when displaying the outline labels within the tree column.

2. The not so good: The change to the current labels looks incomplete. When I print something for colleagues, the sequence is OK unless I go past the third level, then it looks unfinished, inconsistent and a bit chaotic. I use Harvard outline style (maybe one of the modified versions) in Ecco and this is fine. It is orderly, logical and predictable. You know where you are just by looking at the outline number. I know that you will implement further changes but until you do is it possible to toggle between the "old" style IQ numbers and the new style?

I mentioned printing and have one huge request. Fit to print does not do what I need. The biggest problem is getting the information within the margins of the page, no matter how many pages long. Can you add Fit to width?

Thank you Pierre.

Jon