• Which the release of FS2020 we see an explosition of activity on the forun and of course we are very happy to see this. But having all questions about FS2020 in one forum becomes a bit messy. So therefore we would like to ask you all to use the following guidelines when posting your questions:

    • Tag FS2020 specific questions with the MSFS2020 tag.
    • Questions about making 3D assets can be posted in the 3D asset design forum. Either post them in the subforum of the modelling tool you use or in the general forum if they are general.
    • Questions about aircraft design can be posted in the Aircraft design forum
    • Questions about airport design can be posted in the FS2020 airport design forum. Once airport development tools have been updated for FS2020 you can post tool speciifc questions in the subforums of those tools as well of course.
    • Questions about terrain design can be posted in the FS2020 terrain design forum.
    • Questions about SimConnect can be posted in the SimConnect forum.

    Any other question that is not specific to an aspect of development or tool can be posted in the General chat forum.

    By following these guidelines we make sure that the forums remain easy to read for everybody and also that the right people can find your post to answer it.

Rubber Band Selection

tgibson

tgibson

Resource contributor
Messages
11,646
Country
us-california
Hi,

I have a suggestion for the rubber band selection. Currently the selection rectangle is always oriented N/S/E/W. This is fine for many airports, but if you have one that is oriented diagonally, this selection orientation is not very useful. It would be much better if the selection rectangle was oriented to the current rotation of the airport (i.e. it would always select a vertical/horizontal rectangle as viewed in the ADE airport display). That way I can rotate the view until things are horizontal/vertical, and select a nice big bunch of objects at one time.

Thanks,
 
I'm so glad to see someone else is thinking the way I do. I was very surprised to see how this rectangle was oriented and couldn't figure out why.
Also (unless I'm not using it correctly) it seems that it selects everything. It would be great to have the rubber band select only one type of objects determined on a first selected object. As an example, selecting a parking spot first then using the rubber band would only select parking spots.
 
I will take a look at it Tom. As I recall ADE uses code based on the third party graphics engine I use. Reference is 11006

Patrick. The reason why is above - if you rotate the ADE display you rotate the graphics engine 'canvas' and that is where the rectangle is drawn. As for selecting only one type of object - that is on the development list and will probably be a ProKey function The reference for this is 10936
 
Last edited:
If I'm allowed to intrude and add my opinion (and don't take it bad) I always wandered why on earth ADE didn't comply with the usual UI standards? The plain simple click'n'drag with its usual 2 acceptances: NW-SE to select all fully englobed objects, and SE-NW to select all objects touched even partially.

This, and the ctrl-C/ctrl-V key combinations to copy/paste multiple objects.

These manipulations are so common with all software everywhere, I never understood why ADE was behaving differently.

Again, no pun intended! ;)
 
Well it does use the Click and Drag Pierrot. As for Ctrl C/Ctrl V Ctrl C has been used by ADE for a long time as a short cut to Compile. We use a third party graphics engine and that does not entirely conform to the UI Standards. and finally I am a cantankerous and grumpy programmer who does not like being told what to do so I rebel against standards :yikes: - not true of course since I use industry coding standards when working on ADE.
 
Allez, vas-y Pierrot, j'suis avec toi ;)

I'll tip toe in to add a few:
  • Few forms popping up all over the screen though most are centered
  • Forms position not saved on closing of form, restored on opening
  • Escape key is not the default Cancel to close forms
  • Default button on Compile form is Cancel instead of Compile
I'm not complaining, just saying.
And ADE is better than MDL Tweaker anyway, MDL Tweaker is like a game of whack-a-mole. Must be that the EuropeanVisual Studio doesn't come with the StartPosition property :laughing:
 
Last edited:
  • Be careful what you wish for with the StartPosition property - I assume since you identify it you know how it works and how it relates to parameters supplied in ShowDialog. Also if you have multiple monitors then StartPosition can become a bigger lottery. In fact we have a new function that controls the positioning of dialogs by forcing them to be at a specific position with respect to the parent control. However there are over 100 dialogs and fixing them will take some time.
  • On remembering form position that is remembered for a couple of major windows but most are closed and disposed and eventually will always open at the defined point relative to their parent.
  • I take you point absolutely on the inconsistency of handling Accept Button and Cancel Button keyboard shortcuts
I am sure noone is interested but (excluding comments) there is over 250,000 lines of code and more than 1000 code files in the current version.
 
Last edited:
Jon, I believe you and I know by experience that I'm always surprised at the number of lines of code it takes to sometimes write something fairly simple.
I tell you what, I left FS for a couple of years and at the time I wasn't a big fan of ADE. I come back, you guys probably changed the graphic engine and now ADE feels like a Rolls Royce. I don't know how many people are on your team but you sure all are moving forward pretty fast.

George, I agree, I'm just throwing stuff to Jon's HoneyDoList, as if he didn't have enough already :rolleyes:
 
I guess I am the lead programmer and most of it is mine. Don (gadgets) has written several of the modules that ADE uses and there are folks like George, Jim, Martin and Helli who bear the brunt of my developmental nightmares ;)

There is another interesting and pointless fact about ADE along with most other programs. That is the 80/20 rule that says 20% of the code does something useful and 80% is defensive code to protect users from themselves and me from my own poor design :)
 
OK I must admit that typing an R before dragging is no big deal. The thing is, in my real-life-apart-simming I do use so many programs using the standard conventions that changing everything for only one - as good it may be - is not convenient.
It is like driving cars, all the same, but my ADE car has the gears up and down at the right foot, the brakes at the left one, accelerator in the middle, and the clutch on a lever behind the steering wheel.

Alt-F+C would become as instinctive as Ctrl-C for compiling, leaving the copy/paste function be used as normal. I spend much more time moving, copying, pasting scenery objects than compiling the whole stuff.
A reason why I would so much appreciate a multiple selection, making moves, copies, etc. far less cumbersomme.

I understand George's statement, functionality is the strong point of ADE. But ergonomics are not just style, it's the ease of use and pleasure too.

Again (and me too), I am not complaining just saying. ;)
 
I take the point on Ctrl County and I will look at that again.

As for the R. We changed this to make it easier to rubber band select on aprons and polys. Without some sort of modifier click drag will just move the object. We did have a time when aprons and polys were selected on the edge but that caused a whole other set of issues. Damned if we do damned if we don't. :)

Having said that l will open a new thread for suggestions on improving the interface.
 
Having said that l will open a new thread for suggestions on improving the interface.
Click to expand...

Jon, you are a sucker for punishment. Some would call it masochistic..

I'm with George on this one.

Don
 
scruffyduck said:
I guess I am the lead programmer and most of it is mine. Don (gadgets) has written several of the modules that ADE uses and there are folks like George, Jim, Martin and Helli who bear the brunt of my developmental nightmares ;)

There is another interesting and pointless fact about ADE along with most other programs. That is the 80/20 rule that says 20% of the code does something useful and 80% is defensive code to protect users from themselves and me from my own poor design :)
Click to expand...

I hate that part that I call "idiot proofing"...not nice!
 
scruffyduck said:
I guess I am the lead programmer and most of it is mine. Don (gadgets) has written several of the modules that ADE uses and there are folks like George, Jim, Martin and Helli who bear the brunt of my developmental nightmares ;)
Click to expand...
This you can say loud!
But Jon is a nice guy and we all love him.
Which makes our burden much easier
pfeif.gif


Helli
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top