> >
> > I have a question regarding the use of textStyle and textColor.
> >
> > Scenario:
> >
> > [keeping the style and colour with put]
>
Scott Raney said:
> The only other possible solution is to use copy/paste:
> copy line 3 of field 1
> paste
>
> [paste probably won't work]
>
> On the other hand, if it's really just for list boxes, the amount of
> data you're moving won't be that big and so there shouldn't be any
> performance problems doing it the way you've proposed. Also, you
> don't have to save the textStyle/textFont for the choices separately,
> just get them from the source list box field itself. For example,
> putting the following script in the source list box does everything
> you need:
> on mouseDoubleUp
> put the selectedText & return after field "choices"
> set the textStyle of the last line of field "choices"\
> to the textStyle of the selectedChunk
> set the textColor of the last line of field "choices"\
> to the textColor of the selectedChunk
> end mouseDoubleUp
>
Actually, you are right that inserting a few things from the source
into that target isn't that big of a deal, however, the list box may
contain a *considerable* amount of data (hundreds, possible thousands
of items) --Don't ask how the user is supposed to wade through it, I'm
not sure yet, hey it's alpha--. If the user selects them all, and adds
them, then it seems to take a long time.
I also do some really wacky manipulations in the target. For example,
the user can select two items, and "group" (not metacard group) them
together to make one item in the listbox. To make matters worse, only
certain words of the line are "styled". Of course, when I "group"
items, I want to make sure that the approperiate textStyle is applied
to the approperiate word.
Upon further reflection, I think that my routines to do the adding and
manipulation could be vastly improved.... I may be able to eliminate
the problem with some cleverer programming. (See light bulb appear
above head)
> > [I have an admittingly strange UI]
>
> I think a better UI technique would be just to use multiple-selection
> list boxes. My guess is that people will have a lot of trouble
> remembering which color/font goes with which type of thing.
> Maintaining the different things in different boxes and allowing
> people to select multiple things in each box would probably be easier
> for them.
> Regards,
> Scott
>
Well, you may be right. To help users remember, the source list box has
a title label that is something like: "Possible Xs, Ys and Zs", where
X, Y, and Z are formatted the same as those types are in the field.
It needs some user testing/usability studies. (As does everything)
-Earle
-- Earle Lowe emlowe@fsa.ca FSA Corporation Performance and system software for UNIX networks.