Components z-depth

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 15, 2011 at 7:24am

Then how would you move it up and down the stack? Because you can only do so when the thing is selected, in which case you can't see what you're doing. What if two things are selected? Which one gets displayed on top then?

 

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David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Pieter Segeren on April 15, 2011 at 8:05am

Hmm, I guess I meant just the case of overlapping panels.
If more are selected it would mean I'm doing something else than reading their contents, and I don't need any special z-depth sorting for that moment. Only if I select just one, this would mean I want to see its contents.
I don't know a better way to describe it, than as an automatic Ctrl+Shift+F in the case that only one panel is selected.

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 15, 2011 at 12:09pm

If you select just one panel, it might mean you intend to Copy it. Or maybe you wanted to disable it. Or maybe you tried to click on the scrollbar or the resizing borders and you missed by a few pixels.

 

Making lasting modifications to the document (automatic Ctrl+F) based on selection is not something I like the sound of. Hitting Ctrl+F should not be a big problem if you're right-handed as your left hand will probably be somewhere near the keyboard. (Are you right-handed?)

 

I feel this is slightly too weird a request, but it's out in the open now in case anyone else feels like saying "me too!".  :)

 

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David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Pieter Segeren on April 15, 2011 at 1:49pm

:) As the inventor of Grasshopper I know you've got the best understanding about the implications of my or any idea. So if it is a weird idea in your opninion, that's very likely the case. (Still I don't see how a copy or disable assignment would be conflicting with a focus issue, but it's not that important.)

I guess I have too many panels in use to check the paths in my definitions, so they tend to overlap. I do get rid of most of them when I'm done, or make them small enough to show just enough info. I am right handed, so I'll use the shotcut key when needed.

Thanks for answering my question nevertheless :)

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 16, 2011 at 3:41am

How about I add a wholly new interface feature to address this specific problem? Maybe it won't work because you really need all the panels on the screen at the same time, but it's an idea.

 

What about a separate window that will contain the information normally visible inside a TextPanel whenever you click on a parameter (free floating or linked). It's also a bit of an odd idea as you'd change the contents of that window by clicking on the Grasshopper canvas, but you can put this window anywhere, even on a second screen. 

 

I'm not quite sure how this would work with multiple windows, but I might come up with a solution for that.

 

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David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Pieter Segeren on April 16, 2011 at 6:45am

Maybe we should talk about this in dutch, because I don't exactly understand what you are saying. Do you mean a separate window that displays what would otherwise be displayed in the Panel, just by hovering over an output of a component?
If so, I do think that would help, but since there are no "me-too"s on this subject I don't think you need to bother David. But still, if you think there is a use for this feature...
It was really a minor remark, and it hadn't been an issue before. It's just that I was on the assumption that it was common policy in many software packages to have the currently selected item in focus.
Thanks again for thinking with me though:) Much appreciated!

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on April 16, 2011 at 7:55am

That's almost exactly what I meant, except hovering wouldn't be enough. I was imagining you actually have to click on a parameter to see the contents. I can do both, but hovering is probably too volatile a method to control this.

 

It probably wouldn't take more than 15 minutes to code this up. I'll just add it and we can see if it's any good shall we?

 

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David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Pieter Segeren on April 16, 2011 at 8:45am

:) You be the judge, if you too think this will be a thing users want. None have spoken up so far... But I think I will benefit from it.
Don't want to give you any monkey-ideas. Trying hard to be constructive; I love your GH:)