[PD] pasted objects now end up under the original object

[marius schebella]

Max Neupert wrote:
> i think it's worth it to look at how some other applications handle it.

one of the biggest problems with copy/paste right now in pd is, that if 
you copy a large amount of objects and you want to move them, but miss 
to click on a selected object, and instead move another objects which is 
close to a selected one, then you 1) unselect all copied objects and 2) 
move the wrong object. in this case, you can only  undo the last action 
(moving the wrong object), and end up with a big mess of copied objects 
at places where you don't want them.

in this case, it would be better to confirm the copying with the enter 
key, or draw a dashed selection line around the whole copied region and 
as long as you click within that region you are able to move the pasted 
objects.

max btw copies with an offset, similar to ctrl+d. one nice feature in 
max, if you use ctrl+d to duplicate an object, and you drag it for 
example to a spot 1cm right of the object that you copied from, then, if 
you hit ctrl+d again, max remembers the relative offset and will place 
the next copied object using the same relative information (in this case 
1cm right of the second instance).

and another nice max feature related to patching: holding the shift key 
in max when you connect two objects will connect to the object, but then 
automatically allow you another connection from the same origin. a new 
cord connection from the original outlet is created and you just have to 
click on the next inlet that should be connected to the same outlet.

marius.



> it is quite annoying if the same function is different across 
> applications and when you spent a lot of time in one program you get 
> confused working with a different one. (for example i regularily try to 
> go to edit mode in my PIM manager/address book with cmd-E and then 
> remember that it is not pd)
> 
> copy and pasting is an important part of pd. what is very confusing for 
> beginners is that things are pasted exactly where they where in the 
> first place. a typical situation is that someone has discovered a 
> certain thing in an help-patch and wants to experiment with that. so the 
> part is selected and a new window opened and pasted. nothing is drawn, 
> so the student presses cmd-v some more times and later realizes that it 
> all was pasted somewhere far off.
> 
> i'd recommend that pasting pastes by default in the middle of the front 
> window.
> cmd-alt-shift-v should do what the paste does now: paste to same position.
> 
> that's how it is in adobe products by the way.
> 
> ciao, max
> 
> Am 01.09.2008 um 13:09 schrieb Frank Barknecht:
> 
>> Hallo,
>> Miller Puckette hat gesagt: // Miller Puckette wrote:
>>
>>> Right, control-D should probably stay as it is, but separately 
>>> copying and
>>> pasting migt want to do something "smarter".
>>
>> What about this idea/specification for a possible smart placement:
>>
>> 1) user presses Ctl-C and copies objects from coordinates (xc,yc)
>>
>> 2) user presses Ctl-V, mouse is at (xm, ym)
>>
>> 3) Objects get pasted at position: (xc, yc) - the original coordinates -
>> but they don't get "anchored" yet.
>>
>> Now comes the new part:
>>
>> 4.1 a) If user moves the mouse now, the objects move to the mouse
>> coordinates (xm, ym) and they "stick" to the mouse from that point on,
>> until the next click.
>>
>> 4.1 b) Alternatively one could enter the "sticky" phase only if the user
>> clicks the mouse, i.e. as soon as the user after step 3) clicks into the
>> canvas, the objects move to the mouse position and stay selected for
>> mouse movement until the button is released at which point the objects
>> are anchored and possibly deselected. Deselecting could also require a
>> second click. I like b) better than a): it contains less surprises.
>>
>> 4.2)  This alternate path is taken, if the user doesn't use the mouse,
>> but the cursor keys instead after step 3): The objects move relative to
>> their new position at (xc, yc). They are still selected.  Mouse
>> movements don't affect their position anymore, mouse clicks will
>> deselect the objects. That's basically the old, non-smart placement,
>> which has its uses, too.
>>
>>> THe current strategy for figuring out which object you clicked on is 
>>> that, if
>>> more tan one object is selected, Pd prefers to drag an 
>>> already-selected one;
>>> this is much better than whatever I had going before.
>>
>> Yes, that's good.
>>
>> Ciao
>> -- 
>> Frank
>>
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