tim@k.cs.cmu.edu.ARPA (Tim Maroney) (09/19/85)
Again my thanks to everyone who responded to my query about selecting multiple files in the Standard File Package. My final decision was to extend the "SFSAMPLE.TEXT" example program in the "Examples 2" disk of the latest Software Supplement. This work is proceeding rapidly and well, and I will post the sources (Lisa Pascal, unfortunately, but it should be easy to translate) when I finish, which should surely be by Friday. While this dialog will specifically deal with files, it should be easy to modify it to deal with resource names and whatever other lists of strings are desired. Considerably more of the code will be in place than in the "SFSAMPLE.TEXT" example program. There is one question, however, concerning the user interface. Shift-clicking is the standard way of implementing "extend selection". However, in this case I don't think that's right, for two reasons. First, I don't think this is user-friendly; it is not self-explanatory and is probably not known to most naive users of the Macintosh. Second, if shift-clicking extends the selection, then a plain click would set a new selection; this creates the possibility of inconvenient errors. For instance, imagine that you've just gone through the list and selected five files by shift-clicking, then forget to hold down the shift key (or let your finger slip by accident) for the sixth. Your five existing selections go away, wasting your time and perhaps inducing you to defenestrate your Macintosh. Because of this, I intend to just make a click mean "extend selection". To deselect a file name, you will have to click again on it. This is the most user-friendly and error-proof way of doing it, as far as I can see, but I would welcome comments on this evaluation. -=- Tim Maroney, Carnegie-Mellon University, Networking ARPA: Tim.Maroney@CMU-CS-K uucp: seismo!cmu-cs-k!tim CompuServe: 74176,1360 audio: shout "Hey, Tim!"
barmar@mit-eddie.UUCP (Barry Margolin) (09/20/85)
In article <546@k.cs.cmu.edu.ARPA> tim@k.cs.cmu.edu.ARPA (Tim Maroney) writes: >Because of this, I intend to just make a click mean "extend selection". To >deselect a file name, you will have to click again on it. This is the most >user-friendly and error-proof way of doing it, as far as I can see, but I >would welcome comments on this evaluation. I would like to propose a modified version of your solution. Provide a check-item (or radio buttons) in the dialogue that lets the user specify that multiple selections should be permitted. This is because the current mechanism is optimized for the normal case of selecting a single item. If multiple selections are the norm for a particular use of the routine, the caller can initialize the item to be checked, and even make it unchangeable. And if the caller is not prepared to accept multiple selections (as in the standard Open... dialogue), the item can be disabled completely. -- Barry Margolin ARPA: barmar@MIT-Multics UUCP: ..!genrad!mit-eddie!barmar
bhyde@inmet.UUCP (09/25/85)
"Hey Tim" The purpose of standard user interfaces is to provide the user with dependable consistent unsurprizing service. Consider that this these standards are used in MacDraw for objects, the Finder for documents, MacWrite for selection regions, etc. etc. Changing this isn't user friendly. The short comming of shift click is that for huge multiple selections it is a lot of work. For example to sellect most of the files in a folder of fifty files is a pain. In such cases alternate methods (nonstandard--bizzare methods) seem called for, wild cards etc. The only models for those I'm aware of those are the querry mechinisms in the data base products. They all seem sort of clunky. The finder convention of allowing a sellected file to be desellected via an additional shift click is some help. For example one can drag sellect the entire folder's contents, sort-size desellect a few, sort-alpha desellect a few, and then sort-kind and resellect a few. ben hyde, cambridge.