[PythonCAD] noticed some more wants using pycad for a cabinet drawing

[Art Haas]

On Wed, Nov 09, 2005 at 03:31:46PM -0600, John Griessen wrote:
> I have started using the constr. lines and have difficulty removing them.
> It seems like they are not selected the first try, but then after doing sel,
> mousepoint, esc., <ctl>x they are deleted.

The problem is a long-standing issue in the user interface. There is no
indication that you've selected the entity when you click on it or
enclose it within a box, but as you found out when you did <ctl>+x they
were selected and cut. This selection shortcoming has been the focus of
some recent patches and discussion, and hopefully the next release of
PythonCAD will have addressed this problem.

> Is there a unselect function?
 
There is code in the interface neutral part for deselecting a selected
entity, but there is unfortunately no menu/mouse code in place for
actually doing this task. :-(

> How about a keyboard shortcut file like many cad programs use?  Could it
> have ways to combine existing functions so I could string together <esc>
> sel and then be pointing the mouse, for example?

There are some keyboard shortcuts already in place. I'm not sure what
your example above does, however. You want to select something and then
point the mouse?

> How about the method of using more than one window open on the same design?
> Possible with this implementation of window toolkit parts?  The use of this
> is to zoom in to two zones, then make a polygon such as a rect. by clicking
> corners in each zoomed zone.

This is something I've wanted to have for a while, and while currently
it is not possible to do (or would be extremely kludgy), this ability
will be part of PythonCAD. I'd started working on some code to
restructure the display of the drawings - look in the gtkshell.py file
for the current state of things - and when the switchover from the
GTKImage class to the ImageView/ImageDisplay classes happens then there
should be the means to display a drawing in various windows, and in each
window view distinct regions of a drawing while using all the displayed
windows for selections. I'd hoped by now that PythonCAD would have made
the switch, but the last couple of months have not been my most
productive time.

Art
-- 
Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities
the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind.

-Thomas Jefferson to James Smith, 1822