Automatically select new text to edit

• Oct 27, 2019 - 06:04

I have never had an occasion to have "Staff Text," "System Text," or "Expression" appear in a score. I think we should just be able to type what we want it to read once a new text object is created. We should not have to triple-click the object in order to edit it.


Comments

Triple click??

Once a new text objext is created, you can directly type, just like your request.

If you want to modify an existing text object, a double click is needed.

In reply to by Jojo-Schmitz

Yes, triple-click. I should have been more specific -- this happens when I add text from the palette. If I add staff text with Ctrl-T I can type directly. But adding text from the palette, you need to click to edit, followed by a double-click to select the whole thing.

In reply to by lhoffman3

You don't have to select something before you double click to edit it.

True story: This has been know to cause people with defective mice problems, because they think they are clicking a note and in reality they are double clicking it (due to the mouse malfunctioning) and putting the note into edit mode. These users then report this as a bug here. Fortunately the symptoms are clear enough someone usually realizes the problem and suggests the user check for it.

In reply to by mike320

I don't have a mouse problem, I've been doing it this way for years with different mice. Try it yourself: select a note, and double-click "Staff Text" from the palette. A new staff text item appears attached to the note, which reads "Staff Text." Now if you triple-click this item, it not only "opens" if for editing, but it also selects (highlights) all of the text inside, so you can just begin typing.

What I think would be useful is when you create text from the palette, it immediately goes into a state where the new item is open for editing and all of the text is highlighted.

In reply to by lhoffman3

I didn't say you have a mouse problem, I was pointing out that double clicking an item puts it into edit mode even if it wasn't previously selected. Selected or not, triple clicking a text item puts it into edit mode then selects the text inside to you can start over writing the existing text. This is not always what someone wants to do when they edit text. I often want to add to the end of the text or change the formatting of a single word (like make it bold). If double click selected the entire text, I would then need to pause and then click somewhere else to avoid accidentally deleting my text. I'm not trying to be snarky, but who do you think MuseScore should accommodate. The answer is that the programmers made a decision based upon what would cause the least amount of damage if the user did the wrong thing and what they perceived to be the more common expectation. There are also common functions used in many programs and the programmers consulted this as well, so the results would be mostly what users expect.

As for text being entered from the palette being immediately opened for editing, the problem arises when you apply the text to several items at once, which is totally permitted. Which one should be put into edit mode? This is part of the flexibility of MuseScore. When you use the shortcut, you get what you are asking for and can only apply the text to one item. When you use the palette, you can get multiple items applied that you will likely want to go back and edit if you use the default. These defaults serve 2 purposes. One is as an example of how to create a text of that type. The other is to give you something you can apply from the palettes for each text type. I have several staff texts in a custom palette that I often apply to several notes at once. I used the examples, edited them, saved them and now use them for my own purposes. Also, I never want these texts to be entered in edit mode.

When I first encountered the different results from using the palette and shortcuts, I thought it was a bad idea and complained here in the forums. After having use the program for several years I now realize the different results from the two ways of entering text is good. It gives you flexibility and you need to use the right tool for the right job.

In reply to by mike320

"As for text being entered from the palette being immediately opened for editing, the problem arises when you apply the text to several items at once, which is totally permitted."

OK, I don't think I've used it in this way, which is interesting. I'm more of a copy and paste guy, but I see the advantage. Of course it makes my problem that much worse: now I have to triple-click multiple "Staff Text" items to get them to say what I want. A solution would be that if you create multiple objects from one palette entry, then changing one immediately after creating it should change all of them. If you're using a custom palette, you can Esc out to avoid changing anything -- probably not ideal from your perspective, I realize. Perhaps text elements could have an "Edit on Creation" checkbox, that could be unchecked for your custom palette workflow.

In reply to by lhoffman3

If your purpose is to apply the same text to several notes, then a custom palette is the way to go. That's what it sounds like to me. In the next release (3.3) this will especially be easy. Create your text, ctrl+shift+drag it to any palette, including a new one if you want - you don't even have to create a custom workspace. Then apply the new text to several items as once. If you don't need it in the future you can delete it or if you want to save it for later hide it.

In reply to by lhoffman3

The palette text is really just there for show, it's not expected anyone would actually continue to use it once they learn about the keyboard shortcuts, which are much more efficient. Not just Ctrl+T to enter a single text, but also Alt+Right to move to the next note for more text, etc. If you do have a single text element you want applied to multiple notes, copy/paste is great for that. Or it's a single text you apply often, a custom palette. You shouldn't ever need to actually type the same text over and over, triple click or not.

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