Re: [artworks] A very useful keypress for 2.8

  • From: Martin Wuerthner <lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: artworks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2007 22:01:58 +0200

In message <d86b1dfa4e.signwork@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
          Nick K <signwork@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> However if you tap any shape within the group with ctrl held down that
> shape can be moved independently but stays attached to that group
> wherever it is placed

That is Xara's "select inside" feature. In ArtWorks, as in Draw, you 
can only select top-level objects, and therefore you can only select 
groups as a whole, not an individual object in a group. In Xara, you 
can still individually select (and edit!) objects while they are 
inside a group or inside other compound objects like ClipViews, 
blends, contours, etc.

Unfortunately, ArtWorks does not have a mechanism to allow the 
selection of an individual object inside a group and it probably will 
never have. That said, it would still be possible to allow specific 
operations on group members in the Selector. "Move inside" for 
ClipView objects is actually planned for one of the next versions. 
While doing that it would probably be easy to make this work for group 
members as well.

I could imagine something along the following lines: You select the 
group or ClipView object in the normal way. Then, you enable the 
"select inside" feature, e.g., by clicking on an option in the 
Selector info bar. While that is enabled, the original selection 
remains but you can create an "inside selection" by selecting and 
deselecting individual group members. The "inside" selection could be 
shown with differently coloured blobs. Dragging while there is an 
"inside" selection would then move the inside selection only instead 
of the whole group. All other ArtWorks operations would still affect 
the normal selection (i.e., the group object) because the "inside" 
selection would be specific to the Selector tool. While that would not 
be quite as powerful as a general "select inside" model as in Xara, it 
would at least allow the most common operation of moving group members 
without having to dismantle the group.

> the amount of time I would save over a year would give me a much
> needed holiday   - so please Martin....

Give me half the time you save and we have a deal. ;-)

Martin
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Martin Wuerthner           MW Software          lists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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