Additional information

[MG2024]

Dear all, I found out in a post that there is a useful history panel. Never used it before. I would like to suggest adding a column with the predefined length/formula. It would be really handy to see where a measurement or custom variable is used. The variable tables only show the absolute value in mm/cm/inch. This would save a lot of time in the event of an error or change. If it is easier to extend the custom variables as line length, … would also be fine.

Now a second suggestion. I guess u will think “him again”. In order to define e.g. the handles of a curve the reference has to be in the history above. E.g. in the event that an auxiliary line was drawn incorrectly, wrong point chosen, it is not possible to change the 1st or 2nd point in case the line was used as reference. It’s very funny when you only realise it when you’re almost finished. Solution so far, all steps must be deleted up to this step. If it were possible to draw a new line and change the position in the history, you would only have to replace the wrong reference. I have no idea how time-consuming or whether it would even be possible to change the positions in the history. You can judge that better. Gr Michael

[Grace]

Hello again, Michael, @MG2024

@MG2024

I found out in a post that there is a useful history panel.

Not “him again”, I really do enjoy helping you. Yeeeesss… Just be careful with it and be sure to click on the last line before closing it, if you inserted something in the History and now wish to continue with your drafting. Also, be sure to move to the next line after you’ve inserted something & want to add something that references that new object. Most important is to take a backup before inserting anything.

@MG2024

In order to define e.g. the handles of a curve the reference has to be in the history above.

Please be sure that even if I am replying to your post, it will be read by the developers and they will think about it for a long time to come, weighing up the feasibility of your suggestion and how to implement and when, even if they do tell you that it’s not currently possible.

In the meantime, I am showing you how I overcome this problem.

Yes, it would be nice if all the editing could be done in the History, however… baby steps… already, if you click a line in the History, it shows the object in the draft, for example:

This makes it very easy to find an item, in a very busy pattern, so that you can quickly find it and fix it, if you have something not working as you want it to. And the Search at the top can quickly highlight all the instances where a certain reference has been used.

@MG2024

it is not possible to change the 1st or 2nd point in case the line was used as reference.

I’m not too sure whether you want to move the line to other points or whether you used the incorrect line as reference.

If you want to move the line to other points, you can click on the line and in the Property Editor (or right-click and select Properties, you can change the points to other points, as long as they were created before the line:

If you used the incorrect line reference and know the correct line reference, and don’t feel like going into the Formula Wizard to find the line, you can manually change the formula or parts of the formula. If you make a typing error, and there is no such object, the tool won’t accept the change and will revert to the original formula (in the case of the Property Editor) or the OK will be greyed out until you correct the formula.

These are just little tricks that I use to speed up my drafting and I hope that they help you, too.

[MG2024]

Hi Grace, thanks for the information. I could not find out how to change something in the history. I looked in the history itself for a move or delete option. Now I understand how to add a history row. " if I select a history row, blue dart is shown, the history is written from this point onwards"

[Grace]

Yes, but that blue dart won’t move to the next line. You need to move it manually after adding something to the line below, otherwise it may crash. This is also a reason why I suggest that a backup be made before adding anything in the History.

[Douglas]

Just a thought… what if we have an option to automatically make a backup if a user “inserts” a tool into the history. In other words, we can tell when the “cursor arrow” is at the last table row, or somewhere in between. If in between we can simply perform a backup.

[Grace]

I have mine set up to backup every minute, however, I like to do a backup before doing anything in the History, so the backup isn’t the problem.

I think it would be better if the ‘blue dart’ moves down to the new line after one has completed inserting an object so that one doesn’t forget to physically move it down before creating the next object.

[Douglas]

@Grace

I think it would be better if the ‘blue dart’ moves down to the new line after one has completed inserting an object so that one doesn’t forget to physically move it down before creating the next object.

Agreed.

Since I’m still working on the History dialog I’ll take a look… the issue though is that the History has nothing to do with tool creation AND it’s a non modal dialog (meaning it can stay open). What would have to happen is 2 fold… 1) The dialog would need to reset the cursor to the last row when ever it closes so it always opens with the cursor at the bottom row. Easy. 2) We would have to add a signal that every tool sends after the tool’s creation for which an open History dialog can listen for a signal. If the dialog recieves tool creation signal it excutes a slot (function) to move the cursor. Not so easy.

[Grace]

@Douglas

History dialog can listen for a signal. If the dialog recieves tool creation signal it excutes a slot (function) to move the cursor. Not so easy.

Oh, wow! I’m so sorry. I’ll stop asking for it.

[Douglas]

@Grace

Oh, wow! I’m so sorry. I’ll stop asking for it.

It’s ok… you can keep asking.

I took a quick look. Updating the cursor in the table might be a bit easier than I thought. I was thinking each tool would have to send an “update table cursor” signal, but that can probably be done in the mainwindow class after any non dialog tool is created or closes its dialog with an OK.

The only caveat I thought of is that if the cursor position is automatically reset after a tool is created each time… a user will have to move the cursor again if they want to insert another tool. Obviously easier to deal with than forgetting to reset the cursor.

[Douglas]

@Douglas

I took a quick look. Updating the cursor in the table might be a bit easier than I thought.

@Grace

You’ll be happy to know it WAS way easier than I thought. There’s already a signal / slot set up between the pattern doc and the history dialog. When ever the cursor position is set in the pattern doc it sends a signal back to the dialog to update the cursor position… basically it erases the icon in the old row and inserts the icon in the new row. All it took was this one line in mainwindow:

doc->setCursor(0);

to trigger the cursor to move to bottom.

[Grace]

Oh, wow! You’re a star. That is so very wonderful! I can’t thank you enough.

[Douglas]

Yeah… I always thought the cursor should auto reset to avoid users really messing up a pattern. I figured as long as I was looking at the History dialog again I’d fix this too. Should be one less potential issue where users could mess up. Heck, I’ve done it myself.