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Cosmetic problem

Started by Jeff, April 11, 2010, 04:45:51 PM

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santerdam

I am sure David is the best person to answer your question. But let me guess : Because you can connect 2 different sections and merging them into 1 single section was not wanted, the AnyRail team decided to create automagically an isolator.

An isolator in AnyRail is a special state of a connection. It is not a physical part and it cannot exist without a connection. You can't go to a shop and buy a box of AR-isolators. As soon as a AR-connection is broken, the isolator is gone in AnyRail.

Sander

Jeff

#16
Yes, it's obviously a 9th dimensional construct, capable of being there or not, depending on its own rules...

Which are:

1) Connecting non-Section track results in no isolator and the track becomes one section

2) Connecting a Section to a Section creates or calls into existence an Isolator and the two sections remain unique.

Only by invoking The Holy Isolator's 9th dimensionality can you have things both ways at the same time. I look forward to hearing from David on the subject. As you can tell, I don't actually use track as mentioned in Rule #2, since I rarely use sections at all. I'm glad the whole thing is clear, now...
Later,                                                AnyRail Fanatic
Jeff                      and Unofficial Guy Who Knows Almost Everything About It

railfettler

Hmmmmm.........

It does happen.  Isolators appear, a reason must be at hand.  We will all have fulfillment when the answer is revealed.  My son often uses the word "random".  There must be a greater logic.

Greg

David

The current logic when connecting track is as follows:

1. If neither has section info, nothing happens, the track is just connected.
2. If one has section info, and the other hasn't, the track is connected and the section is extended.
3. If both have (different) section info, an isolated connection is inserted.

Copy/paste retains a copy of the section info. However, you probably can't tell the difference between the original and the copy. When connected, their section info is considered different, so rule 3 applies.

My suggestion is as follows:
- Keep copy/paste as it is. However, change the name of the section with an additional counter (e.g. "(2)" ) whenever the section name already exists. This solves both the problem described above, and works as it used to work when copying/pasting between layouts.
- Add a function to remove all section info from the selected track at once.

Would that help?

David.

David Hoogvorst. Founder and Owner of DRail Software. Creator of AnyRail.

santerdam

David, my suggestion to retain the section info only when copying a complete section. A copy of only a part of a section (e.g. single piece of track) shouldn't duplicate the section info.

Most likely I am missing the point of your suggested new function for removing the section info. It looks to me that this function is already available.

Sander

Jeff

Well, it's not as simple as removing section info from anything being copied to the clipboard, unless it's an entire section (which AR obviously knows). I agree that copying an entire section should result in a difference in section info. IF the section is named, perhaps you could cause AR to pop up a section naming window (with the original name inserted and Selected to facilitate changing it if you want to)? Finally, it would be good to put your 'Rules of Connection' into the manual/Tips forum.
Later,                                                AnyRail Fanatic
Jeff                      and Unofficial Guy Who Knows Almost Everything About It

David

@Sander: 'Remove section' is not available now when multiple sections are selected.

David.
David Hoogvorst. Founder and Owner of DRail Software. Creator of AnyRail.

santerdam

Thanks David, I didn't think of the situation with multiple selection.

Sander

Jeff

Ditto that. And I agree that it SHOULD be available.
Later,                                                AnyRail Fanatic
Jeff                      and Unofficial Guy Who Knows Almost Everything About It

santerdam

Quote from: santerdam on April 14, 2010, 01:37:04 PM
David, my suggestion to retain the section info only when copying a complete section. A copy of only a part of a section (e.g. single piece of track) shouldn't duplicate the section info.
David, can I have your reaction on this suggestion ?

Sander

David

Hi Sander, yes that seems reasonable. Still, my main fear is that things get terribly unclear to a user when sometimes it does copy the section info, while at other times it doesn't. Hence the idea to rename the section to make it very clear what happened. Combined with a quick way to remove all section info, it should suit most.

David.
David Hoogvorst. Founder and Owner of DRail Software. Creator of AnyRail.