Quick Line Draw and HotKeys Lost?

[shaeffer]

Hi Eric

Eleven months since I last bugged you about this, but is the quick line draw ability near the top of the list by now? Again, this tool ability was available for many years (at least since ver. 7.8 in 2004) so hopefully it is taking some priority over new features?

Just to be clear (in reference to your last reply), in pre-11, a hotkey did not define the complete line details. The hotkey simply initiated the Ray (or Segment or H-line or V-line) command with whatever defaults it had, say Alt-R to draw a ray. I assume by now that ability is already in 11.x. What I am referring to is the ability to type keyboard keys immediately after the hotkey to further define the details of the line (so you don't have to draw the line first, and then edit it afterwards). Say by default that Alt-R draws a Ray of color red and thickess 1. Pre-11, 'Alt-R,C,3' would draw a ray with cyan color and thickness 3. Or if the line already exists, a 'click,C,3' would change it. Try it in 10.6 - it is so quick and easy to draw (or edit) exactly the line you want.

You mention creating a custom toolbar for this!? ... that would be a step backwards. Please, just repeat the line draw functionality that existed before ver 11. I thought that getting back 10.6 features had priority.

Thank you
shaeffer

[eostrom]

Although hot key functionality is likely something that will be expanded in the future, implementing this in the fashion that you describe here isn't something that will be done in eSignal 11. The alt key is already used for a lot more hot key functions in eSignal 11, changing this default behavior isn't something that we are looking to do as of right now.

The closest work around for this as of right now is the customize toolbar feature along with keyboard shortcuts to draw lines.

[shaeffer]

Hello Eric,

Using the Alt key was just an example. Just to clarify ... is there presently a hotkey (either in the program by default or user definable) that allows one to draw a Ray? Or to draw a ray does it have to be selected first from a toolbar?

Regards
shaeffer

[eostrom]

I believe the following two links can help you out with these

http://kb.esignal.com/article.aspx?article=5028&p=1

http://kb.esignal.com/article.aspx?article=5048&p=1

please let me know if there are further questions on this. Thank you

[shaeffer]

Hello Eric

I looked at the links you provided, thanks. I see that in 11.5 there is already a hotkey for a trend line (Alt+T) with the default color, blue and width, 1. To clarify the ability in 10.6 that 11.5 does not have, below lists the steps required in each version to draw a green trend line with a width of 2.

In 11.5
-------------------------------------------------
1. Alt+T to start the trend line draw tool
2. Click the start and end points of the trend line on the chart to draw the line
3. Click anywhere off the line to unselect it
4. Right click on the line and select Edit from the popup menu
5. Click on the color box
6. Click on the Green box in the popup
7. Right click in the empty area in the Edit Chart window to close the color box popup
8. Click on width box
9. Click on width 2
10. Click on the Close button to close Edit Chart window

In 10.6
------------------------------------------------
1. Alt+T G 2 to both start the trend line tool and define the line you want
2. Click the start and end points of the trend line on the chart to draw the line ... done!

To draw a specific trend line in 11.5 takes ten steps, in 10.6 it takes two steps.

And to edit an existing line in each version? It takes seven steps in 11.5 (steps 4-10 above) and two steps (Click the line, then G 2) in 10.5.

In both cases drawing a line starts with its hotkey. I don't see why the ability can't be added to 11.5 to modify a line just as was done in 10.6 and earlier. Clearly it saves time to be able to draw a line the way you want it the first time, as opposed to drawing it first and then having to edit it.

Even though I've hardly used it yet, it seems there are a lot of useful new features in 11.5. I hope you still intend to include all the pre-11 features into 11. Will this feature be included?

Thanks
shaeffer

[eostrom]

I understand the difference between the two that you have put here. This is something that we are looking to the add the program at some point. As of right now I don't have a build number or schedule for when this will be added though. It will not be implemented in the exact same way as it was in eSignal 10.6, but simplifying how line tools are quickly drawn in the 11 series is something that we are looking into.

Also as a side note. You can create any line you would like as a drawing template, you can then create a hotkey for that specific line and use that to draw the line. This drastically reduces the steps needed to draw a specifc line in eSignal 11. You can also set up as many of these hotkeys and templates as you like.

[shaeffer]

Hi Eric,

Interesting approach you are taking to this. I wasn't aware of these line-draw templates. These templates.. can you see them all together in a drop down menu from which you can pick the desired line type/color/width with one click? I could see that as a relatively efficient (3 steps) way to draw exactly what you want (once you've created all your favorite templates).

Thinking about the large number of possible combinations of colors x widths x line types (trend, horizontal, vertical, etc), there could very soon be a huge number of templates. And given the number of existing hotkeys already assigned to other purposes, I can't image there are many combinations with Alt, Ctrl, Shft remaining to use for specific line draw templates hotkeys. My gut feel is that the 10.6 method is a lot simpler, and if it wasn't broke, why change it?

But good to hear you are addressing the issue - maybe you'll create some better way then the (so simple and easy) method in 10.6. :-)

Cheers
shaeffer

[eostrom]

Thank you for the feedback on this. We are working to expand and adjust the program to make it more user friendly and this feedback will help.