Selection: We need your feedback

Skippy · November 2015

I kind of like the cumulative selection but I think varying from the norm with basic things like selection can make stuff frustrating and make it harder to switch back and forth between programs .

If you cant change it to ctrl selection then its going to be different from the norm either way and you might as well stick with how it is by default. However I would love to see an option in preferences to change between the two so people can choose for themselves.

I agree with others about space bar being awkward though, my finger goes up to esc to deselect after years getting used to that.

3dcad · November 2015

3dcad said:

I would like to use double-esc to escape function and select the same function again. For example end current line but select line tool again.
I know this can be done with dblclick on last point, but that is another thing I find difficult to remember before I have already clicked the final point in position.

I need to draw this one back, I just noticed myself hitting esc multiple times just to be sure that no tools are selected.

Maybe 'End' -button would be good for ending sketch figure but keep tool selected. This would be handy in situations where one needs to add many lines which are not continuous.

andrew_troup · November 2015

3dcad said:.... you can also double-click free area to deselect and for me this is even better than escape would be.....
.

When designing machinery (in particular) it often happens that there is no "white space" free area to double-click on.
You tend to be zoomed in to a particular detail.

andrew_troup · November 2015

I think cumulative selection in the feature list (where things, once selected, stay selected) is a potentially confusing and cryptic and borderline dangerous behaviour.
There are multiple risks, but here's one of the more consequential ones: (Sorry that it's a bit difficult to describe concisely)

Let's imagine a user building a selection to delete several items.

What can happen is that the user was performing another task, involving selecting a sketch, then scrolls that item off screen to find (say) the name of a plane to which the sketch plane is to be transferred, then gets interrupted.

Coming back to the computer, s/he remembers the need to deleted several features, and starts by picking the first of these (in the normal Windows or Mac interface, this would clear any current selection)

In Onshape, the selected item off screen is like a hand grenade with the pin half out: when the features are deleted, the unseen but still selected sketch is also deleted. This may balance the model on the edge of failure (perhaps, again, the failure point will be off screen, both in the graphics area and the feature list). The user may invest considerable effort on adding or editing features, which will all be lost when (hopefully) the user correctly diagnoses at what point things went pear-shaped, and is forced to revert the model to that point.

- - - -

I have suggested elsewhere that alphabetical keys be used for modifiers, and specifically the "C" key used instead of "Control" so that all the learned interface elements do not have to be unlearned and then substitutes learned.

I really think Onshape need to use this or some other, better way to make the browser hijack pill less bitter, and easier to swallow.

mathias_wulff · January 2016

I am missing/cant find an option to unselect elements with a mouse drag.

This could be done with a keypress + mouse but I have a feeling that the key combinations are limited on the browser - so a right click + choosing "Unselect" would also be a great way.

I feel the best way to unselect is if one only unselects elements that are fully within the selection - that way its more precise in selecting elements that are closely located.

3dcad · January 2016

I would have thought it un-selects with dragging again - but it didn't. I would expect this behavior as it would be consistent with click select.

@mathias_wulff If you select from left to right Onshape selects only geometry that is completely inside - if you select form right to left it will take everything that is even partially inside. This is very handy when you get it into muscle memory.

mathias_wulff · January 2016

@3dcad oohhhhhhh - thank you!

Interesting with the direction having meaning.

Could be that dragging from down to up could unselect. Does it make sense?

michael3424 · January 2016

@mathias_wulff - how does OS know if you are swiping up-to-down vs left-to-right or right-to-left? Any swipe is going to be a vector that points at least a little into one of the quadrants so would have a component in both up-down and left-right.

klaus_krämer · December 2023

I'd propose to make "ESC" a shortcut for "unselect all" as I cannot find a way to alter that in preferences, because it comes natural and first intuitive choice to unselect all. Often I hit ESC rather unconsciously, even if I experienced its non function for many times, because nearly any other software behaves so with ESC.