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IDProjectCategoryView StatusDate SubmittedLast Update
0000823OpenMPTFeature Requestpublic2016-06-28 10:582017-04-25 17:35
ReporterRapture Assigned To 
PrioritynormalSeverityfeatureReproducibilityN/A
Status newResolutionopen 
Platformx64OSWindowsOS Version7
Summary0000823: Pattern selection with mouse or keyboard still quite temporary and inefficient
Description

The selection you make with the mouse (or keyboard) is still quite temporary and inefficient in OpenMPT. For example, when the song is not playing and you select parts or a pattern, no matter with keyboard or mouse, it only stays as long as you don't do almost anything with the mouse or keyboard.

Here's a list what I mean, when a selection in pattern was made:

Selection stays active if...

  1. middle-click (mouse wheel up down or click) -> selection stays, which is standard behaviour and OK!
  2. Right-click, right on the selection -> submenu appears, standard behaviour and OK!

But now the second, longer list, selection is unselected if...

  1. left-click anywhere on pattern -> standard behaviour, selection is unselected of course) -> OK!
  2. right-click NOT right on selection / elsewhere on the pattern, the selection disappears, which is not so good, it's better solved in Milkytracker for example, because selection stays and submenu appears anyway
  3. start/play the song -> selection is unselected. Personally, I find this very suboptimal. This is not the case in Milky/FT2, fortunately. The selection even stays in all following played patterns in Milky/FT2, a big plus if you have to copy the very same pattern contents in different patterns. Not possible in OpenMPT without making the selection yet again for each pattern, unfortunately.
  4. another pattern is selected manually -> selection is gone, which is also suboptimal.
  5. No Selection in pattern (with keyboard/mouse) is possible when a song is played. Suboptimal. It's possible in Milky/FT2/Renoise which is good but not always needed, because it's not very precise selection of course, but still, it feels better to be able to do this and sometimes you can even use it.

Are any (best: 2-5) of the above points in the second list possible to implement in OpenMPT? This would make working in OpenMPT much more comfortable, especially when having to make a lot of selections on a lot of patterns.

A quick list of what is better in OpenMPT compared to Milky/FT2 concerning pattern selection:

  1. Selection can be drag and dropped. Very good! :)
  2. Channels can quickly be rearranged by clicking on the specified channel and just moving it, instead of copy/pasting a track/channel in every pattern by hand. Big plus! :)

Sorry for some subjective things in my text, and sorry if this has been (partly) addressed before. Also sorry that it's not a short text file. Thanks for reading and discussing that with me! :)

TagsNo tags attached.
Has the bug occurred in previous versions?
Tested code revision (in case you know it)

Activities

Saga Musix

Saga Musix

2016-06-28 11:09

administrator   ~0002476

The main problem right now is that edit cursor itself is currently represented by a 1x1 fields large selection, i.e. when you move the edit cursor (or the play cursor during playback when "follow song" is enabled), this also moves the selection. This is pretty much hardwired into the cursor/selection logic and I tried to separate it before (to make the selections work more like in IT), but it's complicated and comes with all kinds of problems. So I sadly cannot promise an implementation of this very soon.
Rapture

Rapture

2016-06-28 11:36

reporter   ~0002477

Ah, thanks Saga for quick reply. Aww too bad though, as it's kinda very important for me, when I'm working on a lot of Modules and such in OpenMPT then (you know what I mean). Big plus is realy re-arranging the channel structure with one click of the mouse, this took big sweat from me already.
So you can't resolve any of point 2-5 in the 2nd list as of now? Workarounds or any tips, tricks would be most greatly appreciated here.
Saga Musix

Saga Musix

2016-06-28 11:42

administrator   ~0002478

2 could probably be fixed easily (I will have to check the code, no promise :), the rest is definitely out of scope at the moment.
Rapture

Rapture

2016-06-28 11:46

reporter   ~0002479

Last edited: 2016-06-28 12:05

Ok, thanks! Though 2 is the least-important one of the bunch. ;) As non-coder I can't comprehend why it is too difficult to let the selection be on the screen more. But as you said, fixing it brings too much trouble, so it's a pity really. If you have some online texts or so with tips and tricks for pattern selection workarounds, if there are any, I'd be happy.
Saga Musix

Saga Musix

2016-07-11 16:09

administrator   ~0002505

Point 2 has now been implemented in OpenMPT 1.26.03.00.
Rapture

Rapture

2016-07-11 16:41

reporter   ~0002506

Ok, cool and nice.
Midori

Midori

2017-04-02 15:29

reporter   ~0002955

Oh, very nice feature ideas, i think i can relate to every single one you listed, Rapture :)
Hope those issues get addressed sometime, even despite all those technical difficulties Saga mentioned...

If i can add something from myself:

  1. Multiple, independent selections with [SELECTION_KEY] + MOUSEDRAG would be really neat
  2. When I select every row of a channel with a key command (ALT+L by default IIRC, ALT+A with my custom mapping), and then switch between channels, holding the [SELECTION_KEY], i expect the current selection to expand, covering every row of adjacent channels, which is not the case, as it's being lost.

Issue History

Date Modified Username Field Change
2016-06-28 10:58 Rapture New Issue
2016-06-28 11:02 Rapture Description Updated
2016-06-28 11:03 Rapture Description Updated
2016-06-28 11:07 Rapture Description Updated
2016-06-28 11:09 Saga Musix Note Added: 0002476
2016-06-28 11:36 Rapture Note Added: 0002477
2016-06-28 11:42 Saga Musix Note Added: 0002478
2016-06-28 11:46 Rapture Note Added: 0002479
2016-06-28 11:47 Rapture Note Edited: 0002479
2016-06-28 11:48 Rapture Note Edited: 0002479
2016-06-28 11:49 Rapture Note Edited: 0002479
2016-06-28 11:49 Rapture Note Edited: 0002479
2016-06-28 11:49 Rapture Note Edited: 0002479
2016-06-28 12:05 Rapture Note Edited: 0002479
2016-07-11 16:09 Saga Musix Note Added: 0002505
2016-07-11 16:41 Rapture Note Added: 0002506
2017-04-02 15:29 Midori Note Added: 0002955