Note inputting ideas

[MVega]

The new scroll wheel button feature is great. But I'm wondering if it can't be taken even further.For one thing - is there a way for right-clicking to automatically bring up the note dialogue? Instead of having to place a blank note and then open the dialogue.This would solve another problem I have -- I often accidentally right-click on a note when I mean to select it -- but doing this deletes the note. And no matter how much I try, I keep making this mistake again and again, and lose a lot of time because of it, because I then have to undo this before moving forward. (I think the confusion comes from it not being standard Windows behavior -- right-clicking is never a selection function, only an options function.)But, if right-clicking automatically opens the dialogue, it would lose this delete note confusion -- instead, you could add a 'delete' note option in the dialogue (and the DEL key can still delete a selected note anyway).Meanwhile, with the note dialogue open :1). The note number should default to the last note placed -- there's no reason to restart from 0 if I'm working on, say the 7 - 10 fret position. A lot of the time, I'm going to place the same note, or one near by to it.2). Following on that, the scroll wheel should allow us to scroll through the note numbers! No more lifting the hand off the mouse to type on the keyboard (and remember, I'm usually holding the guitar in my lap in order to verify notes when I'm charting). And by defaulting to the last note placed, most of the time we'd only have to scroll one or two or three spots, instead of going through the entire list. We can still use the cursor or arrow keys to select a different string (for building chords) and using the checkboxes. This way the scroll wheel should be reserved for notes.Right-click a second time can close the dialogue.I'd also like a checkbox option in the dialogue -- perhaps at the top--  for Repeat Last Note. This would serve as an automatic copy/paste function. (I think this would be especially helpful for charting bass lines.)I don't know how much, if any, of this is possible. But I think it would really help speed up the charting process.

[cstewart]

You don't have to enter the note menu to change the fret.  Place it with right click and hit control+the fret number.

[MVega]

Ah, yes, I forgot that one. Partly because there's a lot of key commands to learn, and I know I won't have time to work with the program for the next few weeks, so I know I'll forget them anyway. :-P

 

But also because I'm just looking for a more ergonomic way to do this.

 

Maybe I should just learn to steer everything from the keyboard. Is there a way to select notes using the keyboard (since the arrow keys are used for scolling)?

 

Anyway, it's just an idea. I have the feeling there's a bug in the note menu -- see my other post on that.

[raynebc]

For one thing - is there a way for right-clicking to automatically bring up the note dialogue? Instead of having to place a blank note and then open the dialogue.

If you want, I could probably make a user preference to launch the edit pro guitar note dialog automatically whenever a new gem is placed. I don't want to make that the default behavior because I'm sure it will annoy some people. Let me know if that would work for you.

This would solve another problem I have -- I often accidentally right-click on a note when I mean to select it -- but doing this deletes the note. And no matter how much I try, I keep making this mistake again and again, and lose a lot of time because of it, because I then have to undo this before moving forward. (I think the confusion comes from it not being standard Windows behavior -- right-clicking is never a selection function, only an options function.)

Right clicking isn't used to select a note in EOF though, it places one. In EOF, the input modes that add gems via right click do so by toggling the gem on/off, not just adding it, and this is intentional behavior. By any chance are you using left hand style mouse controls? EOF has no way to check whether the mouse is configured right hand or left hand style in the OS. You might want to consider "Rex Mundi" input mode in the preferences though, that changes the right mouse button to bring up a context menu instead, and you place a gem on any of the lanes (lane 1 is the bottom string) by pressing the normal (not numberpad) 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 keys.

But, if right-clicking automatically opens the dialogue, it would lose this delete note confusion -- instead, you could add a 'delete' note option in the dialogue (and the DEL key can still delete a selected note anyway).

I probably would prefer not to put a delete control in the edit pro guitar note dialog, its logic is already pretty huge and complicated (over 700 lines of code).

1). The note number should default to the last note placed -- there's no reason to restart from 0 if I'm working on, say the 7 - 10 fret position. A lot of the time, I'm going to place the same note, or one near by to it.

This is more of a workflow preference. I wanted people to be able to open the dialog and just type the fret values they wanted without having to delete any of the numbers first (a leading zero is fine, EOF will treat input of "010" the same as "10"). Especially for chords this is preferable because they often need a different fret number on each string. If all notes in the chord have the same values, it definitely saves time using the CTRL+# shortcuts.

2). Following on that, the scroll wheel should allow us to scroll through the note numbers!

Do you mean raising/lowering the number in the input field that's in focus? That's an interesting idea, but it could be complicated to implement. If that's what you had in mind, I could look into how easy or hard that would be.

Right-click a second time can close the dialogue.

That could be complicated. Would it perform the OK or the cancel command? I don't want it to be too easy for users to perform controls unintentionally.

I'd also like a checkbox option in the dialogue -- perhaps at the top--  for Repeat Last Note.

That could probably be done without too much difficulty, but should it copy and then apply the changes (leaving the dialog open), or should it copy and close the dialog?

I don't know how much, if any, of this is possible. But I think it would really help speed up the charting process.

I never personally use EOF to author with only one hand free, but I don't mind trying to make it easier for people to wield an axe and a mouse to pump out the charts.

Maybe I should just learn to steer everything from the keyboard. Is there a way to select notes using the keyboard (since the arrow keys are used for scolling)?

There's a "Feedback" input mode that somewhat imitates the controls of a Guitar Hero era chart editor, which was entirely keyboard driven. It's pretty alien to me, but I added it at the request of some folks that were really used to that editor. There are details in the manual (Editing Songs > Edit modes) about each of the input modes. I have to fix a bug with this though, because EOF won't let you open the edit pro guitar note dialog without explicitly selecting a note first, even though in Feedback input mode, note manipulations are supposed to be able to implicitly select whatever note is at the current seek position if none are explicitly selected.