Circle Options bar

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ljbuller
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Circle Options bar

Post by ljbuller » Sun Jun 16, 2019 4:15 am

I would like to see a coordinate entry on the options bar, particularly for a circle.
Take circle, center - diameter for instance.
If you can use existing geometry, no sweat. If you have to enter a coordinate then it becomes a bit more cumbersome.

If you can use the the existing diameter on tool entry, then the space bar works fine to focus on the command line.
If you have to enter a new diameter, then the space bar is useless until you tab through diameter and angle and the cursor is no longer in a text box.

Having the angle and reference point are nice options to have, but certainly not the primary options.
qcad screen.png
qcad screen.png (82.95 KiB) Viewed 7361 times
I have to teach off of a lap top with limited vertical space so I put the options bar at the top. So now I need to do a lot of top to bottom changing focus and if I am in the middle of changing any of the options, the space bar does not work.

If you have a better way to accomplish this, I would appreciate your comments.

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Husky
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Re: Circle Options bar

Post by Husky » Sun Jun 16, 2019 6:14 am

ljbuller wrote:
Sun Jun 16, 2019 4:15 am
If you have a better way to accomplish this, I would appreciate your comments.
Ok, here are my two cents: :wink:
ljbuller wrote:
Sun Jun 16, 2019 4:15 am
I would like to see a coordinate entry on the options bar, particularly for a circle.
Take circle, center - diameter for instance.
If you can use existing geometry, no sweat. If you have to enter a coordinate then it becomes a bit more cumbersome.
If you are limited in space then you should wisely decide which tools have to be visible all the time. If you just need them occasional then it makes no sense to allow them to steal the valuable space on your monitor. Maybe you like to think about how often you need this tools in a drawing session:

Husky-2019.06.15-01.png
Husky-2019.06.15-01.png (39.56 KiB) Viewed 7359 times

In my opinion a lot of them could disappear and you should use the menu or shortcuts to launch the tools.

ljbuller wrote:
Sun Jun 16, 2019 4:15 am
If you can use the the existing diameter on tool entry, then the space bar works fine to focus on the command line. If you have to enter a new diameter, then the space bar is useless until you tab through diameter and angle and the cursor is no longer in a text box.
If you enter a new diameter an ESC will exit the input and the space bar works again to jump to the command line.
Note: If you need to jump to the option bar use ctrl space.
If you need to jump inside an option bar to the next input field use the tab key for forward and the ctrl tab for backwards.
ljbuller wrote:
Sun Jun 16, 2019 4:15 am
Having the angle and reference point are nice options to have, but certainly not the primary options.
Ok, you already know what is important to you and what not. Get rid of the less importand icons as mentioned within my screenshot and see how it works out for you.

Tip: Before you play around with a new icon layout backup the qcad3.ini. If something goes really wrong you can go back to the current layout. :wink:
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ljbuller
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Re: Circle Options bar

Post by ljbuller » Sun Jun 16, 2019 3:51 pm

I could remove some of the circled tool bars and it would still not improve the vertical space on the screen, nor would it change the necessity to jump to the command bar.
I could remove the entire file, view, reset and option tool bars, but as soon as I open a command like circle - center - diameter the options tool bar pops up on a line (top or bottom) and the tool bar persists after the command it complete taking up vertical space. I guess I could leave the options tool bar floating, but then it just gets in the way of the rest of the drawing and I have to move it out of the way

Most other CADS (Autocad, Draftsight and others) place all tool options in one place, the command line, so you dont have to move all over the screen to get to them.

So lets hide the command line and open the circle - center - diameter command. the option tool bar opens and if we have to enter a coordinate, the only way to do that without snapable geometry is to open the command line.

The point I am trying to make is that all the data needed for a command should be in one place. The options bar takes up a vertical line that can be shared with other tool bars. The command line take up a vertical line that is mostly unused.

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Husky
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Re: Circle Options bar

Post by Husky » Sun Jun 16, 2019 6:25 pm

I have to admit that I have a problem to understand the problem .... :oops:

QCAD is extreme flexible to arrange the workspace. To have a limited space is an argument but honestly sooner or later everybody of us is likely to run out of monitor space. Me too and my monitor is not THAT small with 22".

That said, one day, I was also forced to make decisions what is partly a compromise to my work style. However - it works for me.
If I compare to your arrangement then I see you need from the widgets:

1. Property Editor
2. Layer List
3. Command Line (which takes already part of your model_space)

I need:

1. Layer List
2. Block List
3. Property Editor
4. View List
5. Command Line

Husky-2019.06.16-01.png
Husky-2019.06.16-01.png (58.92 KiB) Viewed 7339 times

So, I need two widgets more but my total used space for widgets is less than yours. And the command line doesn't eats up vertical model_space ...
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ljbuller
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Re: Circle Options bar

Post by ljbuller » Sun Jun 16, 2019 7:48 pm

The problem is the need to move from one side of the screen to the other to enter data common to a command.

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Husky
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Re: Circle Options bar

Post by Husky » Sun Jun 16, 2019 8:05 pm

Ok, you lost me. Without a solid example I can't reproduce the issue. There is no software product out there which concentrates all mouse, icon or shortcut action only in one location.
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