Project item drag and drop between multiple project explorers

[Tomi Maila]

When one drags and drops a project item from one project explorer into another project explorer, LabVIEW removes the items from the source project and adds the items to the target project. This is not the behaviour I'd expect. I'd expect LabVIEW to add the same items to the target project without removing the items from the source project. This is how most applications seem to work.

EDIT: According to local NI this is not a bug but a feature. One should use Ctrl + Drag & Drop to accomplish the functionality. I kind of disagree.

[TobyD]

QUOTE(Tomi Maila @ Sep 4 2007, 03:25 AM)

When one drags and drops a project item from one project explorer into another project explorer, LabVIEW removes the items from the source project and adds the items to the target project. This is not the behaviour I'd expect. I'd expect LabVIEW to add the same items to the target project without removing the items from the source project. This is how most applications seem to work.

EDIT: According to local NI this is not a bug but a feature. One should use Ctrl + Drag & Drop to accomplish the functionality. I kind of disagree.

I'm with you Tomi. This does not seem consistent with other drag/drop functionality in LV. For example, if I drag any item from one VI to another the default action is to copy, not move. The only time I have to hold the ctrl key is when I want to copy an item within the same VI.

[Neville D]

I think the NI behaviour is completely consistent with normal Windoze behaviour.. if you drag and drop a file from one folder to other, it moves the file.

Ctrl drag will copy the file over..

Neville.

[TobyD]

QUOTE(Neville D @ Sep 7 2007, 09:57 AM)

I think the NI behaviour is completely consistent with normal Windoze behaviour.. if you drag and drop a file from one folder to other, it moves the file.

Ctrl drag will copy the file over..

That is only true if you are dragging to a location on the same partition. If you drag a file to a different partition on your hard drive (or to a different drive altogether) it will copy the file. I might agree that NI got it right if this was true in LV as well. Unfortunately I can't create two projects on separate partitions to test this out because I only have one big partition on this machine.

Regardless, it does not seem to be consistent with Drag & Drop behavior in the rest of LV.

[hfettig]

I agree with Toby. It should be consistent within LabView and therefore to default to copy.

And if you think about it that would also make it sort of consistent with Windows Explorer, if you consider two projects as two different partitions/drives.

Within the same project it should move (as it does) and between projects it should copy.

[Neville D]

QUOTE(hfettig @ Sep 7 2007, 11:08 AM)

And if you think about it that would also make it sort of consistent with Windows Explorer, if you consider two projects as two different partitions/drives.

You could also argue that two different projects => two different folders and it should be a move between them. Either way, its not a big deal once you know the behaviour.

Neville.

[TG]

QUOTE(Tomi Maila @ Sep 4 2007, 10:25 AM)

When one drags and drops a project item from one project explorer into another project explorer, LabVIEW removes the items from the source project and adds the items to the target project. This is not the behaviour I'd expect. I'd expect LabVIEW to add the same items to the target project without removing the items from the source project. This is how most applications seem to work.

EDIT: According to local NI this is not a bug but a feature. One should use Ctrl + Drag & Drop to accomplish the functionality. I kind of disagree.

I agree with you Tomi.

I wouldnt agree to this being a feature, quite the contrary, since a thing like this can waste much time when

trying to figure out "what the heck just happened!"

[Val Brown]

QUOTE(TG @ Sep 8 2007, 05:50 PM)

I wouldnt agree to this being a feature, quite the contrary, since a thing like this can waste much time when

trying to figure out "what the heck just happened!"

Well as the saying goes: I couldn't fail to disagree with you any less...

I think NI chose the correct metaphor and implementation for this feature, it's not a bug.

Of course we all know that a bug is just a feature of the software (ie something it actually DOES), that someone doesn't like. So, from that perspective it's both a feature and a bug, depending on your preferences, basic orientation/metaphor, anduse of other tools. FWIW, I like it this way.