[Resolved] PR #4942 new option to show/hide sketcher constraints

[M4x]

If I've got it right, I like the combination of the hide / show button (renaming is a good idea I think) and the tracking. abdullahs last post made the idea behind it more clear to me. I although think that it's not self explanatory the way it is now (talking only about the checkbox / corresponding text).

I've to try this out.

[uwestoehr]

Is that not exactly the UI that Abdullah demonstrates above?

Yes, what he shows is amazing. But how can I get this? It is not in master and I don't find a PR.

[chennes]

Is that not exactly the UI that Abdullah demonstrates above?

Yes, what he shows is amazing. But how can I get this? It is not in master and I don't find a PR.

You've taken my quote out of context: your image shows exactly the thing that Abdullah demonstrates. It's in the master, and working fine (it needs to refinement of course, but it's in there). I don't understand what in the image you displayed is different from what Abdullah is showing. You have the show/hide buttons, and the three tabs with "View", "Automation", and "List" in them.

[uwestoehr]

You've taken my quote out of context: your image shows exactly the thing that Abdullah demonstrates. It's in the master, and working fine

I have shown what is in master. What abdullah shows is what I need and want:
https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 04#p535704
(That is what I proposed as PR.)

With master you cannot hide e.g. datums but show all other elements. Or I am now completely confused.

Edit: I understood it meanwhile partly, see me last post.

[GeneFC]

With master you cannot hide e.g. datums but show all other elements.

Took me a while to figure out the scheme.

I originally thought the menu list of constraints starting with "All" was a large collection of individual items that needed to be selected in various combinations.

However, I have come to realize that Datums and Geometry cover everything. The other menu items are subsets of those two.

If you want to hide only the Datums, just click Geometry. That should do exactly what you want.

Gene

[uwestoehr]

The buttons seem to work exactly as your checkbox. The only difference being that the checkbox has been converted into two buttons.

Ah, now I get it:
- I must first select the datums
- then press the button "Hide All"

The problem for me was that I did not want to hide all but only the Datums.
So can we please rename the button text to "Hide all listed"?
"Hide all" implies for me to hide everything and the problem is still for me that the button does this in some cases, see below.

Maybe there is some confusion in that several functions have been merged simultaneously. You do not need to use the Automation tab if you do not want this feature. The "Hide All", "Show All" buttons work totally independently from the tracking option.

Yes, this was indeed the problem. I was as totally confused. I am sorry, I did not want to annoy you, I needed the functionality yesterday in real-life and was upset that I could not achieve what I wanted.

---------------------

I still do not understand how the tracking functionality is not the best match for your use case (as per the first animated gif in my previous post). It basically enables to change the visibility by just selecting the "set" you want to see in the filter.

My problem is that I still don't understand the feature. So for example:
- I filter the Datums
- I enable the tracking

result: everything is hidden, but not the datums. Why? I did not say that something should be hidden nor what is hidden.

- now I disable the tracking
-> nothing happens
- now I re-enable the button
-> nothing happens

So I don't understand why the first time enabling the tracking options.

---------------

Again regarding to the hide feature:
- restart FC
- I first select the datums
- then press the button "Hide All"

result: only the datums are hidden -> fine so far

- now I enable the track option
- then press the button "Hide All"

result: now ALL is hidden, despite that still only the datums are filtered.
So the button to hide behaves different and it confuses me in what circumstances it does what.

Sorry again in case I annyoed you.

[abdullah]

(@abdullah, this is superb, this makes my sketches with tons of constraints so much more usable! Thanks for adding!)

My pleasure!! Thanks for all the reviewing and merging work you are doing

[abdullah]

1) In my opinion the buttons "Show All" and "Hide All" should be renamed "Show" and "Hide"
If I have understood well they are not showing/hiding All but just the current filter selection (unless this is All).

I see (also from the other posts below), that this has caused some confusion and renaming the buttons is the way to go.

Here "Show All" and "Hide All" was understood by me as "show all filtered", as opposed to the "hide"/"show" of the contextual menu that work on one constraint or a selection. But I see that having a filter option called "All" only generates confusion. I will change this. Thanks for pointing it out.

2) As uwestoehr, I also do not understand the purpose of the automation button.

[quote=abdullah post_id=535704 time=1632521755 user_id=3232
The tracking option performs a visibility control automatically based on the filter selection, thus the name "Automation".

But what kind of visibility control is "automatically" done with this selection ? Does it hide or does it show ?
I presume that it just let you toggle the visibility state (hides if it is currently shown and shows if it t is currently hidden) with a filter selection. If it works in this way it would be better to name it "switching hide/show".
[/quote]

The tracking does two things: it hides everything not listed and shows what is listed. The convenience of this (and thus the name automation), comes from the fact that any other control will not hide what is not matching the filter. Because the filter options are chosen to represent relevant groups of constraints ("Geometric"/"Datum"), it allows to center in one just subset of constraints (the one matching the filter selection) and hide the rest. Therefore the name of the checkbox, "if this is enabled, every time that you change filter, I will change the view to track your selection, i.e. to show you just what you have selected."

I have nothing against changing names to make things more clear.

[abdullah]

I although think that it's not self explanatory the way it is now (talking only about the checkbox / corresponding text).

I am open to ideas to make it more self explanatory.

[chennes]

I am open to ideas to make it more self explanatory.

Some ideas for that checkbox text:

• "Visibility tracks filter"
• "Show only filtered constraints"
• "Update constraint visibility on filter change"
• "Auto-show constraints for chosen filter"

These are probably starting to get a little verbose, but it's a hard idea to convey quickly.