True "Mouse selection mode (Windows standard)"

[koger]

Here is a short copy-paste from the helpfile for Mouse selection mode (Windows standard).

"Left mouse button The mouse works as in file manager. Look in your Windows manual for an explanation of how it works."

What's file manager, the Windows 3.x file manager or Explorer?
Assuming that it's Explorer, I mean referring to the Windows 3.x in 2007 would be a bit ridiculous

The behaviour isn't as in Explorer, it's not possible to multi select files by dragging the rectangled selection box over items.

[ghisler(Author)]

It refers to the standard file manager, which is the Explorer on newer Windows versions. In Explorer, you can select files with Ctrl+Clicking and Shift+Clicking. Unfortunately TC cannot support the mode where you drag a rectangle, because in TC an entire line is selected, not just the file.

[Samuel]

Isnt there a way to implement this?

Sometimes, its anoying to be not able to just drag a rectangle around the files. Is this full line selection really needed?

Would be a very nice feature.

[JohnFredC]

The Salamander forum debated this very topic a while back and the development team there settled on an option to toggle full row selection on/off. When off, the standard windows selection marque behavior applies.

There never seemed to be a solution that would accomodate both behaviors, since there appears to be an un-breakable link between the row-highlight visual attribute and the corresponding row-selection behavior in Windows.

If one could break that link, then it would be possible to highlight the full row, but keep the marque selection behavior.

[roentgen]

2JohnFredC
Latest beta of foobar2000 just implemented something like this, which is quite a shame IMO as it used to have a TC style of selecting and now has a mouse-driven explorer box.

I guess noobs will rule the world some day

[Hacker]

I just wonder - what sense does it make to select files using a rectangle? Are any files specially grouped in rectangles? Why select files using rectangles? I don't see any sense in that, any usefulness at all.

Roman

[icfu]

I just wonder - what sense does it make to select files using a rectangle?

It doesn't matter if it's a rectangle, a lasso or whatever, but a visual indicator is always needed if full row selection is off.

It's not a quality feature of TC to not be in the need for a lasso, it's just a limitation of alternatives to full row selection.

Icfu

[JohnFredC]

I just wonder - what sense does it make to select files using a rectangle? Are any files specially grouped in rectangles? Why select files using rectangles? I don't see any sense in that, any usefulness at all.

All forms of file display and selection in TC have rectangular geometry. Users frequently use sorting and filtering activities to force files into contiguous rectangular areas to ease selection and other activities.

Some of us use a gestural approach to computer interaction. A selection marque allows a user to simply "wave" the mouse to make a selection. A practiced mouse user can make a contiguous selection in less than a second with a simple "flick" of the wrist. In icon or thumbnails mode and in combination with [shift] and [ctrl] this can be particularly efficient, especially when the selection areas are non-contiguous, but it can also be helpful in detail mode.

This same selection paradigm (ie. using a mouse-drawn marque) applies in 3-D modeling software. I use Rhino, which has different marque selection modes depending upon which direction you move the mouse. In Rhino, a left-to-right "swipe" selects only those objects that are complete enclosed by the marque. A right-to-left "swipe" selects all objects that are touched by the marque (complete enclosue not required). I wish TC had this flexibility.

Hopefully, automobile steering wheels will never be replaced by keyboards.

[Hacker]

JohnFredC,

All forms of file display and selection in TC have rectangular geometry.

Hm, concerning selection I see only up <--> down, in Brief and Thumbnails view also left <--> right. Where is a rectangle?

Users frequently use sorting and filtering activities to force files into contiguous rectangular areas to ease selection and other activities.

For instance? I have never seen files sorted in a rectangle of say 5 x 7 files that have a specific attribute (eg. *.mp3 files), I have always seen them in lists.

Roman

[JohnFredC]

2Roman...

I don't even know how to respond. Everything displayed by TC (and most softwares) is rectangular. I see no curves anywhere, under any circumstances.

A simple sort on file extension groups files into rectangular areas, for instance. Even non-contiguous selections are presented by highlighted quadrilateral tilings in the display space.

Apparently you and I interact with TC very differently. That's OK by me! I work with the keyboard too, sometimes, but my typing skills are horrendous, whereas my mouse and pen skills are fine-tuned.

[Hacker]

JohnFredC,
It seems we are talking at cross purposes. You are talking about mouse vs. keyboard selection, while I am talking about rectangle selection vs. linear selection.

A simple sort on file extension groups files into rectangular areas, for instance.

That's the point. It does not. The grouping is linear, one after another. They are not arranged in squares.

Just let me give you this example, where in my opinion rectangular selection would be useful for selecting the *.mp3 files:

Code: Select all

----.txt ----.txt ----.txt ----.txt ----.txt
----.txt XXXX.mp3 XXXX.mp3 XXXX.mp3 ----.txt
----.txt XXXX.mp3 XXXX.mp3 XXXX.mp3 ----.txt
----.txt XXXX.mp3 XXXX.mp3 XXXX.mp3 ----.txt
----.txt ----.txt ----.txt ----.txt ----.txt

However, I have never seen such distribution of files in any file list, TC nor Explorer nor elsewhere. Thus I conclude rectangular selection is simply useless. CMIIW.

Roman
P.S.: Correction: Useless in file management. In RTS games it is indispensable.

[icfu]

However, I have never seen such distribution of files in any file list, TC nor Explorer nor elsewhere.

Explorer => View => Symbols => Sort symbols by... => Shows as groups

Icfu

[Hacker]

icfu,
Hm, ok, I hope Symbols are equivalent to Icons in my English XP version. I have tried that and they are still sorted linearly, according to the first letter of their filenames. I don't see anything similar to the example I gave above, no rectangles / squares from which the rectangle selection mode could benefit.

Roman

[icfu]

You can not only sort by name but also by date, so your example can easily be constructed.

Icfu

[Hacker]

But still they are shown in linear order.
I do not see how my example could be constructed, other than by artificially naming the files and adjusting the window size so that they wrap at the exactly right place, eg. (the files with capital names are to be selected):

Code: Select all

| a b c d e |
| f G H I j |
| k L M N o |
| p Q R S t |
| u v w x y |

Roman