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Disconnect hotkey

Started by Paul Fawcett, September 12, 2019, 05:21:59 PM

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Paul Fawcett

I searched and found here that holding the shift key while moving a segment will automatically unglue it.  But a far more common operation is to disconnect an item.  It would be really great to have the ability to hold a key (say "Alt") and have the piece that is subsequently selected automatically disconnected (so ready for dragging right away).

Tom Springer

Paul,

I'm having trouble understanding this one.

One can position the mouse on a track item, right-click the mouse to get a pop-up list of functions one can choose from, then left-click on the disconnect option and the track is disconnected.  The hand never leaves the mouse.

What is using the ALT key approach doing differently?
Tom Springer

(Unintentional Pyromaniac)

Paul Fawcett

Tom,


I'm a bit surprised. I would have thought it would be self-evident why "grab and go" would be preferred to going through the whole multi-click rigmarole for what is surely one of the most common operations that you need to perform while refining a plan. It's struck me as a real nuisance since pretty much since I started using AR...


Quote from: Tom Springer on September 12, 2019, 10:03:07 PMPaul,

I'm having trouble understanding this one.

One can position the mouse on a track item, right-click the mouse to get a pop-up list of functions one can choose from, then left-click on the disconnect option and the track is disconnected.  The hand never leaves the mouse.

What is using the ALT key approach doing differently?

Tom Springer

Paul, maybe I don't understand why one would want to press the ALT key with the hand not on the mouse when I can do everything with the hand on the mouse and not lift it off the mouse.  Granted it is additional mouse clicks, and maybe that's seen as extra steps.

I just find that moving the mouse with my hand to position the mouse on the track item, then right-clicking with a finger on that hand, clicking on 'unglue' option from the pop-up, then clicking on the 'disconnect' option, then clicking on the track piece and dragging it seems to me that I'm doing it all with just one hand ... and my other hand doesn't have to set down the beer can and pick it back up again ...

I generally have the Show->Glue option off, so the glue markers don't fill my screen, so I want to have to unglue to deal with things so I accidentally don't move the wrong item.

It would be convenient, probably, if there was an 'unglue and disconnect' choice in the pop-up list, to save the extra mouse click.

It's just me, and why I asked the 'why' about this, because I prefer to just use the mouse over 2-handed approaches unless the 2 hands are necessary, so I was trying to understand the request more.
Tom Springer

(Unintentional Pyromaniac)

Paul Fawcett

Quote from: Tom Springer link=msg=22247It's just me, and why I asked the 'why' about this, because I prefer to just use the mouse over 2-handed approaches unless the 2 hands are necessary, so I was trying to understand the request more.

Funny thing about preferences - they're just that. I have two hands, one of which is generally doing nothing. So if I can (optionally) put to work the second hand to make things work more smoothly and quickly, so much the better.

Tom Springer

I'm all for convenience items.  Making things easier never is a bad thing.  I don't have the tough task of prioritizing things as a developer any more, so that's convenient, too.  (Pun intended)
Tom Springer

(Unintentional Pyromaniac)

David

@Paul: how often do you disconnect track items?
If you click on a connection, DEL will remove it.
For a selection of track, you can also use Cut/Paste (CTRL-X, CTRL-V).

It does not keep possible section information though.




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

Paul Fawcett

#7
Quote from: David on September 15, 2019, 10:48:29 AM@Paul: how often do you disconnect track items?
If you click on a connection, DEL will remove it.
For a selection of track, you can also use Cut/Paste (CTRL-X, CTRL-V).

It does not keep possible section information though.




For me, disconnecting track items is one of the most frequently used operations.  Disconnecting with DEL naturally only disconnects that particular connection - so a minimum of two connections to fully disconnect most tracks, but up to four for something like a three way turnout!  What I'm advocating is disconnecting all connections for an individual section (or all connections for multiple sections that have been selected with ctrl or sweeping while holding left mouse).  So selection is combined with disconnection.

I'll note also that for right-handed people, DEL is not a conveniently located key for a hot-key, as it is not located where the left hand naturally rests.  CTRL and ALT and SPACE are ideal for changing sense hotkeys, as there are typically both right and left hand CTRL and ALT on a full-sized keyboard, and SPACE is similarly well positioned for both left and right thumbs.

Finally, CTRL-X and V are great, but mostly I don't actually want to delete the section.
   



 


Nick the Cabin Boy

Without firing up AR to check, surely if you select a piece, whether it be a piece of flex or a three-way point (or combinations thereof), pressing Disconnect disconnects ALL selected connections, doesn't it?

Nick the Nomad
Bridport, Tasmania
Elizabeth Grove, South Australia
Building Pottersbridge, a fictional town a little North of London, served by a fictional Heritage Railway, in N

David

Hi Paul! I'm still wondering why you need the disconnect function so often.

Could you please tell in what context that is? Perhaps there's another way to accomplish what you want to do.
David Hoogvorst. Founder and Owner of DRail Software. Creator of AnyRail.

Paul Fawcett

Well, often it is when I wish to move section(s) of flex or perhaps a switch and set it aside momentarily without deleting while I try some other things in that area. I like to sketch and explore -- playing, basically.  But there are many instances where it comes up. For instance changing a flex radius to an easement you need to fully disconnect. Another example is where a flex radius is connected to a switch (or other continuing sections), and maybe you wish to adjust the angle of the flex. You generally will need to fully disconnect the switch, adjust the angle and or radius of the flex, reattach the switch (or continuing straight section) to see where you end up heading both with respect to the straight and the diverging section -- often you end up iterating the process of disconnect, adjust, reconnect a few times to get it just right. Or maybe I just want to rotate some sections a bit before I reattach to the rest... full disconnection again required. Anyway, it happens a lot. I'm pretty confident, by the way, that I'm pretty familiar with all the major features. 

Finally, as someone who in the dusty past has also done some software development, I'd like to gently caution you about making too many presumptions about how people will end up using your software. Even though, as developer, you may have some pretty strong preconceptions about how things should be done, I discovered that every users does things a bit differently, and sometimes in surprising ways. This is especially true in creative workflows. For instance, one thing I like to do is have several switches of different # already waiting unconnected on a layout in progress (instead of creating them new each time), so that I can easily eyeball the one I might want and quickly try it.  Could I create and delete as needed? Well, sure, but that's not the way I like to do it. Your mileage might differ, but its best not to be too judgmental about these things.

At any rate, it seems like a small enough wish to grant, I hope you will consider it.   


Quote from: David on September 17, 2019, 08:06:28 PMHi Paul! I'm still wondering why you need the disconnect function so often.

Could you please tell in what context that is? Perhaps there's another way to accomplish what you want to do.

David

Hi Paul! Thanks for the explanation. Indeed, I understand that people use the software in ways we could never imagine. But also, we often see that people don't know about a certain function that makes things a lot easier.


I see what you mean. In general, we've thought of a way to create user defined hotkeys, because we see that some users use a specific function more often than others, depending on their work flow.

Perhaps that will work for you too once we have it.
David Hoogvorst. Founder and Owner of DRail Software. Creator of AnyRail.

David

Paul, one thing that may help for now is to do the following:
Click on a piece of track, and RIGHT-click the disconnect button on the top menu.

Select 'Add to Quick Access Toolbar'.
You'll see the disconnect function appear on the line just below the title bar.

Functions on the Quick Access Toolbar can be activated by pressing ALT+digit.
So for instance if the disconnect function is in the sixth spot, press ALT+6 to activate it.
David Hoogvorst. Founder and Owner of DRail Software. Creator of AnyRail.

Paul Fawcett

Indeed. ALT-6 is a fairly awkward left-hand short cut, but by temporarily deleting all the other shortcuts I've made disconnect ALT-1 which is reasonably convenient (and then added back undo, redo, and save, which are the only other ones I actually use, and typically select with mouse anyway). It's still not ideal - but better.