HI,
I think that the GROUP TOOL ( And selections) Needs to work differently!
Nearly all "drawing" type apps have a MOUSE SELECTION of objects on a
screen by just simply clicking down and dragging around the objects you
want to SELECT. I see no reason why Eaglecad can't work this way. It would
be more intuitive.
The idea is that by clicking on any blank area of the schematic or layout
windows a "selection rectangle" also called "marquee" will appear WITHOUT
the need to select the GROUP Tool first
We should also be able to ADD or REMOVE items from the "Current" selection
by using the COMMAND/CONTROL Key ( for Add ) or SHIFT+Command/CONTROL (
Remove ) or even SHIFT CLICK for MULTIPLE selections!
The selection rectangle COULD stay visible until its done. and the objects
should stay highlighted until done.
Then once we have a selection we can Right Click and a Contextual menu will
appear ( or just choose a tool button) for all the possible actions that
can be used, ( I.e Duplicate, Delete, Cut, Copy, Rotate, Lock/Unlock etc)
And especially a new feature that allows this selection to be GROUPED
TOGETHER by giving the selection a NAME. (e.g "Power Supply"), and this
NAME can be seen in the BOM or elsewhere.(i.e the properties window for a
part.)
This way is we say group items together they can stay grouped ( if a name
is given) and then work with all the standard functions but worked on as a
group,This would be great for repeating parts a of a circuit including the
BOARD LAYOUT!
If a group of items is selected, then some new features like
ALIGN/DISTRIBUTE would also come in handy especially for the BOARD LAYOUT.
Pressing ESC cancels the selection.
Parts could be tagged with a small icon that shows its locked.
What do you think?
Dave M
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