Does Freecad have a shortcut to access the formula field of the input field?

[leoheck]

Does Freecad have a shortcut to access the formula field of the input field?
I was not able to find something like that.

[chrisb]

Does Freecad have a shortcut to access the formula field of the input field?

It's the equal key "=".

[leoheck]

Cool thanks.

Now a better question. Why Freecad is not able to use the formulas right on the main input field by default? Why it needs a second input field?

[drmacro]

Cool thanks.

Now a better question. Why Freecad is not able to use the formulas right on the main input field by default? Why it needs a second input field?

Because...that's how it works.

The first field does not have the parsing engine.

[leoheck]

Alright, why it doesn't have this parse engine in the first input field instead of having 2 input fields?

[drmacro]

Alright, why it doesn't have this parse engine in the first input field instead of having 2 input fields?

I'd guess because the first field is a generic field, possibly QT5 base, and the second provides access to the internal parsing engine that spans several areas of FreeCAD and allows access to not only internal data, but, spreadsheets, dynamic data, linked objects, named dimensions, etc. that just isn't needed to be initialized to enter a simple value.

Or maybe the first field is just legacy and the second field is expanded functionality that came later.

But, just a guess.

[chrisb]

It is probably more efficient to use a value right away instead of checking for an expression, albeit a constant one.

[leoheck]

2 fields for the same thing doesn't make sense.

[drmacro]

documented behavior:

one is for direct entry of known value.

the second is for entry of an expression.

the second is accessed from the first by hitting the '=' key.

as the saying goes: "it is what it is"